DAY 22 - pedal box/muffler

Spent some time modeling the muffler. Most of the time was however spent on doing something about the pedal box. After the new suspension design, it just wasn't possible to have a floor mounted pedal box. The area around the pedal box is very cramped up mainly because of the steering rack and column. The steering column has to be in the right position, the pedal box has to be in the right position, everything has to be in the right position! and there ain't no space to move things around.

took a few minutes to model this















heres another rough design. Much better than the old one. I hope i can use my unis help to get this and most of the other parts cut and machined












fits pretty well. gives some good space for the steering rack too because the master cylinder can be located higher up unlike a floor mounted pedal box.

DAY 21- suspension

I spent the entire day redesigning the suspension. I had to do something about the current length of the wishbones. the lower wishbones were just too short. I had to find some way of lengthening them without increasing the front and rear track. Also i had to make sure the new design would allow for future changes (in case i make a huge mistake in the positioning of the wishbones now, all i have to do is to remove the mounts and redesign them or place them in a new position). This is what i came up with. The biggest issue was to increase the length of the wishbones withouth increasing the wheelbase.



Currently the front wishbones are beside the passengers legs. I just couldn't increase the length of the bottom wishbone as its not possible to decrease the width of the cockpit. I had to find some way to increase the difference in length between the lower and upper wishbones. Also this design is a bit crappy since the mountings (Grey pieces holding the wishbones) stick outwards too much
and this might affect the aerodynamics.




This is the new design. By raising part of the cockpit floor (only the area where the passengers foot is) a couple of centimeters, the lower wishbone mount can be placed under the legs. the wishbone will still be able to rotate the required amount without colliding with any part of the chassis.








this looks a lot more durable. The new design also allows the upper wishbone to be moved further in. This means that the mounts don't stick outwards like before. The same stuff was applied to the rear suspension. The suspension mounting positions can still be easily modified in the future.

DAY 20 - pedal box

Thought I'd get some rough design on the pedal box since i have the master cylinder.



steel plates welded together. Ill see where i have to add more plate to strengthen it. Also will have to cut holes in areas where there is no stress to save weight. Still a lot more work to go, this is just a rough design.










ill have to design the mounts soon. Very tight.

DAY 19 - master cyclinder

Went out early in the morning to the scrap yard and picked out the master cylinder from the nissan pulsar. I removed the brake booster as i wouldn't really be needing it. Its too bulky and heavy as hell.




its in a very good condition

















solidworks model

DAY 18 - clean up

I just cant seem to write my blog everyday, i am way too lazy. From now on ill write when there are some major improvements in the design. The past few days were spent thinking and cleaning up the solid works models to make everything neat.

the suspension is all tidy now















did some rough work on the steering column and rack position














triangulated the chassis with 25mm diameter and 1.6mm thickness tube














it currently weighs 70kg

DAY 15 - chassis

Did a second measurement of the engine mounting positions and got it into solidworks. Designed a bit of engine mounting. Its easier to get the engine to drop from underneath the car, because thats how it is in the bike, it drops from under.

the red circles are the engine mounting positions.


















the other side



















this is how the engine might be mounted. Gotta provide a bit more support at the top. ill see how it works out
























































the red pipes are the seat mounting locations. ill weld the pipes onto the chassis and run bolts through them to hold the seat. mite add a few more so that the seat position can be varied.

DAY 14 - chassis

Did some improvements on the chassis. Measured out the cockpit dimensions and built a cardboard model of it in my backyard just to see if 2 people would fit in it comfortably. It was perfect. enough room for 2 big people too.

the chassis is made out of square tubing (30mm x 30mm) with a thickness of 1.6mm. The reason i am using square tubing is that its easier to cut, weld and mount stuff onto it. once the design is complete, i mitght replace some sections of square tubing with round tubing in areas where nothing needs to be mounted onto it.

The chassis also has to be triangulated, but this will only be done later on when most of the chassis dimensions are fixed. For triangulation i would use round tubing (20mm diameter and 1.6mm thickness). This is the idea for now, things might change...

Right now the chassis weight is 62kg (solidworks worked it out), the steel tubing has a density of 7850 kg/m^3

62kg is not bad for now, i am looking at 80 - 90kg once everything is completed. However ill try to make it as light as possible.


it has a height of 0.35m (black tube to black tube) and height of the roll bar is 1m from the bottom black tube.










































the wheelbase is approx 2.15 m. About 0.2 m shorter than the westfield XTR2 with a 1300cc hayabusa engine. However the wheel base might increase if i find i need some extra space for the front suspension, pedal box and steering rack. Ill try my best to stick with this.











the seats have to be slightly modified to give space for the roll hoop. i Will chop off the corner sections.

DAY 13 - solidworks modelling

Spent the entire day doing 3d models of the parts. Tried to make them as accurate as possible.


front



















back, a little more work has to be done on the upright.


















steering rack




















thought I'd show some pics of whats happening. A lot of stuff still floating around in my head.

DAY 12 - parts pickup

Picked up the parts that i wanted from the scrap yard. Payed out $350. Have to get the parts cleaned up soon. Very rusty.



front uprights, discs, calipers and hub from the isuzu. the uprights are sized very well. It was tough to hunt this down cause all other uprights from double wishbone suspensions are too big and heavy since they are mostly found in large cars and vans.










rear disc, calipers and hub from the nissan pulsar. looks great. I will try to swap the isuzu's hubs, calipers and discs for a pair of nissan pulsar's. The only problem is the brake mounting is slightly different, have to work something out.










Another view from the back. Greasy stuff. Might have to get the steering arms chopped off, or maybe ill just leave it there.













the left axle, its in very good condition. I couldn't get the right axle as it was damaged. ill find another pulsar. shouldn't be a problem













the isuzu's steering rack. its very light .
















the free tool cabinet i got from the scrap yard. Helps a lot. My mums very happy with it.

DAY 11 - seat design

The width of the cockpit would mainly depend on the size of the seats. I started designing the seats today so that i could get a feel of the chassis dimensions. I was supposed to buy a pair of seats from a Suzuki for $ 120, but these seats are too heavy and bulky. A lot of weight is wasted in unnecessary mechanisms for adjusting the seat which i do not require. I really wanted to get a good pair of fiberglass seats, but they cost about $200 a piece (2nd hand). I ended up designing a very simple seat consisting of square section steel tube, sheet metal and some rubbery foam (compressible) which is very cheap. It should cost around $80 a seat which is not bad because i am getting exactly what i want. Also since the car is extremely compact, custom seats would help save a lot of space.

the seat mounting is yet to be made. i will do it later when the chassis is being designed.





seat dimensions

DAY 10 - scrap yard

TODAY I FINALLY GOT THE PARTS I WANTED. The guys at the scrap yard removed it in a few minutes. Spent 2 hrs at the scrap yard finalizing what i wanted and the costs.

this is what i got

front uprights, brake discs, calipers, wheel hub (Isuzu front)
rear uprights, brake discs, calipers, wheel hub (nissan pulsar front)
the entire steering rack and part of the steering column (isuzu)


the total cost was $ 320 , $60 of which was for the labor. I got a free tool cabinet.

the guy offered to give me a set of 4 rims and tires for $100, i mite pick them up too.

All the parts will be ready on Monday for collection.

there are some problems though. I might swap the Isuzu calipers for another pair of Nissan pulsar calipers if they can be mounted easily on the Isuzu uprights. The Nissan's calipers are a lot better. I have to do some research on how hand brakes work cause they are required by the Australian design rules to make the car road legal. I think only the rear calipers of cars support a handbrake. I am not sure gotta check up.

Overall it was a good day, more parts after a long wait.

DAY 9 - scrap yard

Spent another morning at the scrap yard selecting parts. Very hard to get them out. Ill go back tomorrow early and get the help of the guys working at the scrap yard to remove the parts for me. they do charge, but it pretty damn worth it instead of suffering with my tools.

DAY 8 - research

Unfortunately i woke up late, and when i got to the scrap yard with all my tools, i was still unsure to which parts i need to pick. Instead of wasting time, i checked out some seats. i found 2 good looking cheap ones from a Hyundai. The problem is all these common seats are just too heavy and i ain't willing to spend around $150 for a fiberglass seat. So after i got back home, i decided ill build my own seats. It shouldn't be a problem.

I also started doing a solidworks model of the R1 engine to not waste any time. theres still a lot of work to be done on it. Most of it will be an approximation except for the engine mounts, clutch lever, gear box lever and other important parts.

heres a preview of it

DAY 7 - research

Still another day that needs to be spent on research. Went back to the same scrap yard and had another look at the wheel uprights. After some thinking, this is what ill be using.

Front uprights - from a rear wheel drive ford or an old Japanese car that has double wishbones at the front

Rear uprights - from a front wheel drive car with a McPherson's strut at the front wheels. Plenty of these are available. I will have to modify it slightly though to fit my double wishbones.

Also have to pick up a pair of axles, cv joints etc which will most probably be from the same car i picked the rear uprights from.

A steering rack and arms will be picked up from a small car. I saw some good ones from a couple of daihatsu's.

Ill see if i can get hold of some old ball joints from the scrap yard, or else ill have to get some new ones.

approximation of total cost

front uprights - $35 for a pair
back uprights - $35 for a pair
axles, cv joints etc - $ 80
ball joints - $ 50

so that sums up to a good $200. hope i can get it cheaper though. i gotta wake up at 7 am to get to the scrap yard cause the sun here is a killer. (i have to remove the parts out with my own tools). Getting up at 7am during holidays is a near death experience.

DAY 6 - research

After the hard work from the past few days, i decided to take some rest and do something lighter for today. I did some research on the wheel uprights that i would require. I checked out some scrap yards and i found a couple of old fords that have what i want. It was hard to find though because i am looking for one from a car with double wishbone suspensions and not the common mcpherson struts. they cost around $35 each, not a bad price. Also took my radiator to get it repaired, but no one could do the job because it was made from aluminum and couldn't be welded easily, also it was way too damaged and it would be more efficient to get a new one. However i found out the cost of a 2nd hand Yamaha R1 radiator and its $300. Thats extremely expensive. The good news is, i found some very good radiators from some small cars that will do the job and will only cost me around $80. I'll go pick one out in the next few days.

DAY 5 - starting the engine

Once again the goal for today was to get the engine to start. With the engine now free from the rest of the bike, i was able to bolt the carburetor assembly to the intakes with ease. I then reconnected the wiring harness. It was pretty easy as i had labeled the various wires the other day. It took a bit of time and knocking to get the exhaust pipes bolted to the engine as 2 of the pipes were misaligned due to the accident. Once all that was complete, i then pressed the ignition button and i could only hear the starter motor and the sound of the fuel pump sucking in the fuel. A couple of tries and still the engine never started. Then as i was checking to see what was wrong i had spotted the choke. I had completely forgotten about the choke. I thought ill give it a shot. I tried again and this time pulled the choke wire and FINALLY, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. The engine had started. It sounded AMAZING. I ran the engine for only a few seconds as i did not have a radiator. But for these few seconds, i was the happiest man alive. Everything was worth it, all the 4 days of work and the 1300 bucks. It was all good. I am glad there ain't any major problems with the engine. Ill have to get the engine fully serviced soon and more importantly find myself a radiator.

the engine along with the exhaust pipes



















another pic from the front














the wiring harness connecting the engine to the battery and other electrical components












the muffler fitted to the exhaust pipes. i hung the muffler to the roof to give it some support. it was easier to run the exhausts the opposite way rather than having the pipes go under the engine.

DAY 4 - engine removal

First thing i did was to get the bike laid on the floor so that it would be easier to slip out the 60kg engine. Then went ahead and removed the engine mounts. It was extremely tough to unscrew the mounts, needed all the force in the world. Spent the rest of the day removing the engine from the frame. A very very tiring day.

the bike laid on the floor














another pic of the bike on the floor













the engine slipping out of the frame. i had to move the front forks downwards to give space for the engine to come out.











left side of engine






















right side of engine






















the rolling frame