66 Miata Batmobile Build

Rear Concept

I photographed the Thunderbird tail-lights I got for the rear, propped up at the angle I originally designed. I dropped it into Photoshop and tried to design a somewhat streamlined rear end that integrates the lights.

Before:

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After:

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It's nice to be playing with concept designs again. Imagining is always the funnest part.
 
I would love to come work on that thing some time! I'm an Austin guy myself, and that couldn't be more perfect for this city! Great work!
 
Tail Lights

I only test-fired the Bat-Laser on the lowest setting, shooting up into the sky because I wasn't sure of its penetration strength. It blew a hole in a cloud two miles up, from what I could tell.

I got to work on modifying the tail-lights.

Looking at the mockup, I wanted the center jet exhaust to have more visual mass compared to the other lights. I wanted a 12" steel bezel for it, so I went to Petco and bought one. Who knew they carry Jet Turbine car parts?

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I put a bolt through the center and turned it on a drill (poor man's lathe). I used 100 grit sandpaper to give it an even matte brushed look:

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Nice and brushed:
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I used my dremel cutting wheels (all of them!) to cut out the bottom and slits up the sides so the 61 T-Bird tail-light squeezes in snug:

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I cut a grill from the scrap front grill metal.
The stock lightbulb still fits in there.
Jet exhaust time!
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All Beveled Right

I also noticed from the mockup of the rear that the side tail-lights need to be beveled so that they face more rearwards.

I had one tail-light already broken that I could play with, and I practiced cutting it with both dremel and jigsaw - the old thermoplastic is really brittle but still melts. I found it easiest to cut it with the jigsaw (the first pass makes the cut but the plastic melts back together - the second pass chops out the melted plastic beads) and then hold it to my belt sander to get an even ring.
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I made a template from the first one to do the others the same:
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Three beveled, one in the mail. I found the cheapest/nicest 58 Thunderbird tail-light on Etsy of all places, sold as 'wall decor'. It's the first thing I've bought from Etsy.

View attachment 86105

Also, I polished up the chrome on the housings. The old black lacquer between the ribs came off easily enough with some acetone.

I think the beveled tail-lights look really good when propped up at an angle.
I might adjust the angle of the V-tail so that the tail-lights are on average pointing perfectly rearwards.
 
So, you're going to add the wooden frame to the front and rear of your car? Isn't that kinda heavy? Wouldn't fiberglass be much lighter?

Even though, looking very nice and 'tight'

thanx for sharing this, really great.
 
Hello Exetor999,

There's no wooden frame - there's foam, hot glue, elmer's glue, fiberglass resin, fiberglass tape, carbon fiber tape, chipboard cardboard, polyurethane foam, fiberglass resin, spackle, house primer, and enamel paint.

The front shell weighs 65 lbs, a lot more than I was originally hoping.
A fiberglass one piece front end would weigh 45-50lbs. A fiberglass shell would be a lot stronger and a lot smoother.

When the whole thing is done and driveable, I will have Batmobile Alpha, sort of a rolling lumpy prototype. If I choose to go to Batmobile Beta, I would resculpt with thick thick spackle, pull molds, smooth the molds from the inside and then have a dupe professionally sprayed with fiberglass. That would then require finishing and steel reinforcement for mounting.
And the results might not be too much better, or too much lighter, than Batmobile Alpha.

I don't know if I'll ever get to Beta - I'm focused solely on Batmobile Alpha right now. Beta is the fictional better Batmobile that keeps me moving forward on the one I have in reality.

I think I've been stalling on getting the front done and test-mounted. All that's left for me to do is the wiring harness and the side tie downs. Then it'll be ready to bolt on.

It's scary to face the moment of truth - it might drive down the freeway fine, or it might vibrate, shake, squeak or otherwise flop horribly above 30mph.
 
Creebobby, what may help with vibration would be to use rubber spacers between mounting brackets, that should also reduce or eliminate squeeking. Now stop stalling and finish building so you can revel in your own Batmobile.:)
 
Creebobby,

Outstanding work! Utterly brilliant! I am so looking forward to seeing how this comes out
 
Hello Exetor999,

There's no wooden frame - there's foam, hot glue, elmer's glue, fiberglass resin, fiberglass tape, carbon fiber tape, chipboard cardboard, polyurethane foam, fiberglass resin, spackle, house primer, and enamel paint.

The front shell weighs 65 lbs, a lot more than I was originally hoping.
A fiberglass one piece front end would weigh 45-50lbs. A fiberglass shell would be a lot stronger and a lot smoother.

When the whole thing is done and driveable, I will have Batmobile Alpha, sort of a rolling lumpy prototype. If I choose to go to Batmobile Beta, I would resculpt with thick thick spackle, pull molds, smooth the molds from the inside and then have a dupe professionally sprayed with fiberglass. That would then require finishing and steel reinforcement for mounting.
And the results might not be too much better, or too much lighter, than Batmobile Alpha.

I don't know if I'll ever get to Beta - I'm focused solely on Batmobile Alpha right now. Beta is the fictional better Batmobile that keeps me moving forward on the one I have in reality.

I think I've been stalling on getting the front done and test-mounted. All that's left for me to do is the wiring harness and the side tie downs. Then it'll be ready to bolt on.

It's scary to face the moment of truth - it might drive down the freeway fine, or it might vibrate, shake, squeak or otherwise flop horribly above 30mph.


Hey, thanks for the explanation. Now that you have TWO of these cars (I read the post where you went out and bought the black one) you have to take one and turn it into the batmobile from the first movie. I always loved that one.
Thanx
 
AWESOME build! You've got to bring that down to San Antonio for Texas Comic Con in June.
Or hope I'll see at Wizard World later this year.
 
Test mounted the front!

I test mounted the front!

I built a wiring harness for the Bat-hood, as well as side nylon strap tie-downs.
I also had to build a push-rod so that I could release and lift the hood once the Batmobile front was bolted on.

View attachment 88831

Here's the chopped hood installed:
View attachment 88832

It took me a full day to the the hood mounted. Here it is:

View attachment 88833

The first thing I discovered is that the hood will not open with the Bat-front on. The two tail tips near the windshield pillars bend back into the body. I would need to cut them off in order to be able to lift the hood.
More than that, it is extremely heavy all bolted together, and would be precarious to prop up, though it is possible. Also, getting the hood to release requires either two people (one lifting and one pulling the lever) or a car jack to put upward pressure on the front when the hood release lever is depressed.
I need to access the miata's engine every thousand miles at the very least to add oil, so not being able to lift the hood is a real barrier to having this be a daily driver.

Also, the way the hood mounted, I could not undo the bolts. All the bolts that go through the hood go through two layers of steel structure, and the springyness of the steel limits the tightness of the bolts there. I used coupling bolts to attach bolts from the top, and once they were as tight as the bolts going through the hood, all the bolts spun round and round with no way to loosen them (without acces underneath the hood). (In any case I was able to undo the whole hood completely and get it all off, but I'll have to fix how it mounts before remounting.)

More to come . . .
 
Mounting stuff.

More problems:

Since I couldn't open the hood with the front on I had to shorten the wiring harness on the bat-hood. So now I bolt on the bat, then crawl underneath and plug in the lights. Doesn't take long, but it's not convenient.

Well, did it work? Could I drive around? Was it stable? Did it break apart on the freeway?

Yes, it worked! It was very stable, I could drive on the freeway all day with no problems. It has enough flex that it wobbles on big bumps, but I think that helps protect it in the long run. The weight slowed me down a bit and ruined some of the spritely handling. It felt like a bigger car.

I had the front mounted for a week, and I worked a few shifts delivering pizzas with it . I also put on red reflective tape around the mouth.

It was amazing how much the red tape around the mouth gave the car instant recognition. After I put it on, I kept hearing people say, "Batmobile!" as I drove by.

I was surprised at how much of a dude magnet the thing was. Guys would pull off the road to come gawk. I was hoping for an even number chicks. Chicks dig the car, right? Apparently they don't.

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Rain.

And then the rain came.
A huge thunderstorm passed through. There seemed to be little effect or damage from the water. Then, several days later, some of the panels around the wheel-wells and turn signals were mushy to the touch. It looks like water got in through some cracks and got trapped underneath the skin, turning the chipboard into mush.

Also, the sun was already doing a number on the thing, with lots of cracks at the seams. When the sun heats it up, the foam inside wants to expand and the lumpies get worse. The whole thing is a mishmash of hardnesses that don't expand equally when sunbaked.

I pulled the front end off and opened up the panels where the water was trapped. It's all dry now but I have some repair to do, and more importantly, I have to decide how to proceed.

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