ARM24: Bearing Fruit

ARM24: Bearing Fruit

General ARM rules
Previous ARM

Background

Keith Davis, a 30-year-old car mechanic and enthusiast from Charlotte, North Carolina, was on the lookout for a weekend car to go along with the Mk7 Golf GTI that serves as his daily driver. After an extensive search of various online ads, he found an '87 SVP Bearclaw 5.7 GT near where he lived, and decided to buy it right away. It was in good condition inside and out, but after a few months, he began craving more - for one, its stock output of 240 bhp, though adequate when new, is no longer sufficient for him. Instead of selling it, however, he hit upon the idea of asking someone else to restomod it, for a price - and when it’s done, he wants to take it on the drive of his life.

Donor Car

This is the 1987 SVP Bearclaw in its current state.

Click on the link below to download the car for use as a base for your project.
ARM24-yourname-pleaseclone_-_SVP_Bearclaw_V8_5_7_GT.car (89.2 KB)

Cloning tips
After importing the .car file in the link above, be sure to clone its model and family simultaneously before you start by clicking on the Clone All button (the first button from the right in the bottom row in the picture below). I recommend exiting and re-launching the game before changing the trim/model year.

armclone

Basic Rules

  • Maximum price (as shown in Detailed Stats section of testing tab): $40,000 AMU
  • Model, trim, family and variant years must all be set to 2020.
  • Use default techpool values (+5 in all areas).
  • Both the body and chassis sliders must be set to 0. Maximum and minimum quality for all other sliders is +3 and -3, respectively.
  • The stock chassis type and material (corrosion-resistant steel monocoque) must be retained.
  • No V16s (I don’t have the DLC yet).
  • No race parts (race intake/exhaust/diffuser or semi-slick tires.)
  • All submissions must be accompanied by an ad with at least one picture on this thread.

Advanced trim settings

  • Wheel concavity, rim center offset, lip thickness, chassis tunnel size, front and rear firewall positions, exhaust/intake sportiness, and engine coordinates/rotation are all unrestricted.
  • Tire diameter, tread width, and sidewall/tread curve may be changed in moderation (minor adjustments are fine).
  • Maximum wheel offset of 40.
  • The adjustment range for both chassis track width and front and rear ride heights is between -5 and +5 inclusive.
  • The adjustment range for both front and rear wheelbase is +2 and -2 inclusive.
  • All other advanced trim settings must remain unchanged.

Body Mods

  • All pillar morphs (A-, B-, and C-pillars) must remain unchanged; all other morphs are unrestricted. Please note that some morphs may break certain fixtures when adjusted.
  • The use of morphs and 3D/body molding/patchwork fixtures to change the car’s shape is allowed, at extra cost (see below).
  • The car comes with a fully detailed 3D-fixture interior which can be undergo anything from a simple retrim in different materials to a more extensive rework at no extra cost.

Other Requirements

  • In general, the restomodded car should be statistically superior to the original; as such, a small downgrade in one particular stat (up to 10%) while others are significantly improved is acceptable, but a downgrade in multiple stats will most likely lead to rejection.
  • The car you’re working with is built on a 40-year-old platform; due to wear and tear, its suspension should be retuned or completely overhauled.
  • A 3-way catalytic converter of some sort is required.
  • Maximum engine loudness of 60.
  • Regular (91 RON) or premium (95 RON) unleaded fuel is required.
  • Whatever you do with the car, keep it street-legal in terms of aesthetics and equipment.
  • Unless the exterior color is very out of place, I won’t judge it - anything that suits the car will do.

Extra-Cost Options

The cost of the following options will be added to the base price of your restomodded car if applied:

  • Changing suspension type: $1000 (per axle)
  • Partial engine swap (defined as changing either the cylinder head type or material, but not both): $1500
  • Changing panel materials: $1500
  • Changing engine orientation: $2500
  • Changing the car’s looks drastically using morphs/3D fixtures/patchwork/body molding: $2500
  • Choosing a different body style within the same body set as the donor car: $2500
  • Changing only the gearbox type and/or number of gears: $1000
  • Complete engine swap (defined as changing family bore/stroke, engine configuration, block materials, and/or changing both the head type and material): $3000 (includes transmission type swaps)
  • Drivetrain swap (replacing stock RWD layout with FWD/AWD/4x4): $3500 (includes transmission type swaps)

All other changes are free of charge.

Priorities

:star: :star: :star: Major Priorities

  • Exterior Aesthetics - In general, if it looks right, it is right.
  • Performance/Sportiness - It needs to be a significant upgrade on the original in terms of both handling and straight-line pace.
  • Drivability - Even the most powerful muscle cars shouldn’t be too difficult to drive.
  • Prestige - Keith wants his restomod to draw a crowd, for the right reasons.
  • Offroad (if your car is built as an offroader) - Off-road vehicles are useless if they can’t go off-road.

:star: :star: Moderate Priorities

  • Comfort - It may be a weekend toy, but it’s shouldn’t leave Keith worn out after a long drive.
  • Reliability - What use is a car that breaks down all the time?
  • Purchase and running costs (fuel consumption and servicing costs) - A restomod shouldn’t be a money pit in the long run. Besides, if Keith wants to use all of his budget when buying a restomod program, the car should deliver accordingly.
  • Safety - Keith has decades of his life ahead of him, and doesn’t want it to be cut short in an unfortunate accident.

:star: Minor Priorities

  • Utility - The restomod won’t be used for carrying large and/or heavy loads, nor does it need to.
  • Offroad (unless the car is built as an offroader) - If the restomod isn’t meant to go off-road, then it won’t need to be capable of such feats.
  • Practicality - Keith already has something more practical than the Bearclaw for a daily driver. Also, with regards to this stat, removing rear seats will not count towards the “maximum decrease of 10%” rule.

Client Preferences

  • In the short time he has owned the Bearclaw, Keith has grown to love the sound and torque of its normally aspirated V8, and as such he would also prefer it if the restomod had the same engine type. He loves a good turbo engine, though, given his experience with the GTI, and knows a good forced induction setup when he sees one.
  • Keith also prefers road-focused builds, but the rise of the Safari modification trend in recent years has made him less averse to off-road conversions. Whatever you do, you are free to make it as mild or wild on the outside as you want.

Submissions

Download link

Donor car: ARM23-yourname-pleaseclone_-_SVP_Bearclaw_V8_5_7_GT.car (89.0 KB)

Be sure to clone the model and family simultaneously as shown above.

Model and family name: ARM23 - (your forum username)
Trim and variant name: whatever you want

Be sure to post an ad (including at least one picture of your car) for your restomod proposal in this thread. You may also include additional pictures and lore if you wish.

To submit your entry, please DM me your .car file on the forums (not Discord).

Timeframe and deadlines

Rules discussion, deliberation and feedback begin on Monday, July 3rd GMT, and end no later than Monday, July 10th at 12:00 am GMT.

Submissions should open on Tuesday, July 11th at 12:00 am GMT and close on Tuesday, July 25th at 12:00 am GMT.

Notes

This is the first time I have ever hosted an ARM, and special thanks to Ch_Flash for hosting the previous one (and providing inspiration for the rule set in the current one).

4 Likes

Fuel type and economy? Armstrong steering?

As stated above, you are limited to 91 RON or 95 RON unleaded, and anything not listed as an extra-cost option (such as changing the steering type) will not incur any additional costs.

And regarding fuel economy, it’s listed as a moderate priority (as part of purchase and running costs).

The first ARM to feature a autoverse car, which has been legal since the start. That is an interesting twist on it.

I repurposed the car from a test mule intended for CSR156 - I was going to submit it there with some changes until I realized that another test mule turned out to be more promising.

Does complete engine swap include a drivetrain swap, or the other way around, or do their costs stack?

Race undertray?

Engine and drivetrain swaps are separate options with different prices.

As for the race diffuser, I’ll classify that as a racing part, and therefore its use will not be allowed.

Looking over the rules and they overall look great. The lore car is definitely an interesting twist I expected to see far sooner! I assume ditching the three questions rule was an intentional choice? Just noticed it was missing and wanted to make sure it wasn’t an accidental deletion.

I deliberated on whether or not to implement the three questions rule, and eventually decided that it would be unnecessary for this round.

Changing cylinder head type does or does not include changing its material?

Replacing the stock OHV head with any other head type only costs $1500 on its own. If any other aspects (such as head and block materials) of the engine family fitted differ from stock, it is treated as a full engine swap costing $3000.

Also, before launching this ARM, I cloned the donor car and its engine family to test the effects of various modifications that can be applied, and price them accordingly.

I managed to make what I intended with no engine architecture changes whatsoever, but to spell it out for anyone else’s example, if I got this straight:

Replace cast iron OHV heads with cast iron DOHC heads, no block changes: $1500
Replace cast iron OHV heads with alu OHV heads, no block changes: $3000

IMHO, doesn’t make much sense…

One more pricing question, probably my last: does a full drivetrain swap (engine unchanged) include transmission upgrades?

A drivetrain swap should include a transmission swap at no extra charge.

Also, replacing the head material on its own (without changing the block material) should cost $1500, if the pushrod head is also retained.

Can we get some of a briefing at least on the client in general? Besides “Wants more power”? General likes and dislikes besides the stars? (For instance, engine preferences, stylistic opinions).

Oh, also: With 2+2 seating, removing the rear seats decreases practicality by over 30%. It’s just about impossible to claw back that much to get it within the 10% margin. Are we allowed to ignore the “No more than 10% decrease” rule with regards to practicality, or do we have to keep 2+2?

I just added the client’s preferences, and in light of the practicality penalty incurred when removing rear seats, I have also chosen to deemphasize this stat by rendering it exempt from the “maximum decrease of 10%” rule.

1 Like

Is this a real car or is it part of the Automationverse?

Nvm, just found out that it’s the latter for my question

The base car is named ARM23, should probably update that @abg7

Does changing the body type (e.g. to a convertible) allowed/priced? Might have missed it, but the car shape rules only specifies fixture/morph works.

I guess you might want to just cut the roof with fixtures instead of swapping bodies to a convertibles because of stats, but I was curious about it.

Changing body styles by selecting a different body type from the body set is treated as costing the same as using morphs, 3D fixtures, patchwork, or body molding to reshape the car (such as making it look like a convertible even though it actually isn’t), with an identical cost of $2500.

1 Like

For Advanced Trim options, are we able to slightly adjust Front/Rear Wheelbase offset to center the wheels ?