Expanding foam

[lamborgini112]

Okay i've heard about this from many places and in the interest of trying stuff out i wanna do it but i have no clue where to begin. I understand that you put this is in the hollow cavities in the car, it adds little weight and lots of rigidity and is great if prepping for a full suspension overhaul(yeah i'm getting there) but anywho where do i get the foam, where do i put the foam. will my 2000 dollar audio system sound like crap. Anybody?

[kinkyllama]

I'm glad you asked...and I hope someone knows the answer. lol.

I don't think it's cheap otherwise I would have probably heard of it being used more often with the time attack guys and what have you.

[7-even]

the foam is not easy to use you need to calculate the exact amount needed for each specific spot. it is 2 diferent liquids you mix together causing a chemical reaction that produces foam wich then dries and hardens. a little bit of liquid makes ALOT of foam. the other thing is that it will dry and somewhat adhere to each serfice making removal difficult. the other stuff available is the spray insulation foam you can get at home depo or almost any harwhere store. comes in a spray pain can. some people are starting to use these foams to make custom body kits/parts as you can spray it on and when dry shave it to shape and fiberglass it saving a bunch of time. as far as using it to srengthen a car. i wouldnt sugest it it will deleat any crumple zones where it is used on a car its messy and i dont see it being worth much on a car as the frame and body twist it will brake loose and do nothing for rigidity. also if you dont like the result good luck getting it out of the car. as far as time attack goes, not positive but i would say they dont use it because if it comes loose it does nothing for the car but take up space, makes crashes more dangerous and also would probubly hinder the ease of changing body pannels. welding doesnt come loose and wont be dangerous in an accident.
just a thought i would look for something else to use

[kinkyllama]

...Well I've seen it used on a couple time attack project cars but only by companys with deep pockets. I wouldn't really bother doing it personally. I'd bet seam welding the chassis would have the same effects. It would most likely cost more but I doubt it'd be nearly as much work. With foam you'd have to strip the car to the shell and block off all the places the foam could sneak out. Seam welding takes time but it's much more simple and mistakes aren't as easy to make.

[lamborgini112]

some tricks i was looking up mentioned that alot of old school hotrodders used to do the foam to their frame rails and hollow body pieces. some other stuff they mentioned was the japanese putting rivets on all the major seams and when using a body kit if they are the stick on kind to rivet them on and remove the excess factory metal you don't see behind for weight reduction. I've also heard of using a spacer on the hood hinges to raise the back of the hood and inch or two to allow heat to escape but i've also read that this actually creats a high pressure point that forces air the wrong way and can do more bad then good.