914 safety upgrade idea Options

[JeffBowlsby]

Someone recently posted their story of their SUV getting rear ended and the trailer hitch preventing a lot of damage. So...

Is it possible that a heavy steel plate or even a dense carbon fiber reinforcement plate could be fabbed to fit between the chassis and behind the front and rear bumpers (stealthy) to add crash protection? I am thinking it could be about the thickness of the dogbone spacers and maybe the bumber bolts feed through it to hold it in place. For the 1970-74 cars.

Good idea?...Bad idea?

[FourBlades]

How about filling the bumpers with energy absorbing foam, like polyurethane or
some closed cell expanding foam?

I was wondering what would happen if you filled the longs completely with some
kind of semi rigid expanding foam. Would that increase side impact protection
and would it keep moisture out as well?

The idea would be to allow the bumpers and longs to absorb more energy in a
collision and thus not deform as much in a major impact.

This is not my area of expertise so it could be just a dumb idea.

John

[ArtechnikA]

I was wondering what would happen if you filled the longs completely with some
kind of semi rigid expanding foam. Would that increase side impact protection
and would it keep moisture out as well?

When it's been tried before it has had the effect of keeping moisture -in- long after it would otherwise have evaporated. (The factory foam-filled sections of a 914 are a case in point...)

But maybe you have access to a better class of foam than has been available in the past. I wouldn't try it in a moist climate, but go for it if you want.

Other things to be aware of: lots of foams make a lot of toxic fumes in a fire and yes I understand your plan is to evacuate quickly in the event of fire, but you're also planning -not- to have the fire in the first place... (You're also planning not to -ever- need bodywork involving welding...) And most foams expand due to chemical reaction, which sometimes means residual reagent that can set off its own reaction.

Creativity is a wonderful thing. This -has- been tried in the past which means you have the advantage of others' learning experience. You may have techniques and materials not available to the pioneers.

But also consider that (like the 356...) the 914 is from an era when collisions were to be avoided rather than survived, although the 914's crumple zones are way better engineered than any 356. I still plan to drive my 356, but I do so in a -very- heightened sense of situational awareness. They're not (passively) "safe" cars like the multi-air-bagged modern stuff.