Today was a fairly eventful day out at the shop. We were told we had to get the engine off of the dyno, so we spent the first part of the meeting getting it disconnected and unbolted. Mark worked on making the bosses the endlinks will thread into for the suspension, they are going to be little works of art that no one will see. Shaun finished milling the pedal assembly, made from billet aluminum, and they way about 10lbs less than last years assembly (even though this year we have an extra pedal). Also, the aero guys have started on the bodywork, creating the molds out of Styrofoam that we will lay the dry carbon fiber over. Finally the car is starting to look more car-like.

The motor back off the dyno.



This years frame is just about finished, just a few final bars and the suspension tabs left.

Front:


Rear:


Shaun showing off his new pedal assembly.



Mark (Bobbles) working on the lathe.



One of the suspension bosses during production.



The finished product (The piece on the right threaded onto the endlink. These pieces will be press fit, then welded onto the end of the control arms giving us plenty of suspension adjustment).



Laying out the patterns for the bodywork. The pieces are cut out in Styrofoam, glued together, then shaped by hand into the final shape of the body part.





Mark D. cutting out the pieces on the bandsaw.



Some of the completed components.



One of the sidepods on the frame (remember, the Styrofoam is just a mold).





Here you can see a before and after of the shaping process. The front is completed while the back is the new pieces.




We have ordered a few new parts that should be coming in soon, and progress should be getting quicker and quicker. Saturday is going to be really busy, and we have another meeting on Monday due to not having class.

Until then...

 

Also a few quick pictures of last years FSAE car











From the Homecoming parade:

 

i wish my shitty school had a shop half as nice as that and i wish we did Formula SAE...not the gay baja

 

Baja is not gay, neither FSAE, and the fact that you go to a school that offers either is a bonus

 

My buddy loves his Baja stuff, and it's sick what they are doing this year!

Awesome pics, thanks for them. It has helped me figure out how I'm going to go about making new wheel wells on my front end lol

What do you guys lay on the foam to keep the cloth from adhering to it?

 

We are using prepreg carbon fiber. Also the molds are one time use, so it is going to be lay the carbon, bake, add desired number of layers and repeat, then destroy the styrofoam on the inside to get it out.

There is no resin to spread over the layers, therefor nothing to soak into the styrofoam.

 

How come Im not in any of these pictures?

-Blake

 

Because you are not cool enough...

Here you go...ya gay.

 

Any updates?

 

you can do different things to act as a mold release, probably the cheapest and most common would be to put a layer or two of masking tape over the piece and then rub it down with a wax paste like you would use to wax your car. ive also seen the plastic wrap used to mask off a car when being painted pulled tight over a part and then shrunken with a hair dryer or heat gun to the shape of the part (kinda like doing window tint). just use your imagination.


hey coastertrav, do you know what your guys source for prepreg is?? ive done a few wet layup pieces and would love to try some prepreg stuff but cant find a supplier, if you can find out please let me know.


edit: i see a conduit bender in the background in the second pic. this wasnt used to bend the cage was it???

 

Things are moving down at the shop lately. The front suspension is done, just waiting on the uprights, and the diff casing is finished. The bodywork molds are almost all done, just finishing up on the final sanding. Also the air shifter prototype was tested yesterday, and worked well enough to be considered a success, so that plan will be implemented on the '09 car. Also, I've got some pictures from the casting the Baja guys are doing. They are sand casting their own transmission housing, and miscellaneous other parts.

Front suspension, in its final layout.



LJ threading the holes one half of the diff.



As the car sits now. Controls being mocked up (pedals/steering).



Casting around back.

Matt checking the temperature to make sure it is ready to pour.



Pouring into the mold.





Finished products next to the plastic prototypes.





Testing the air shifter on Sunday.



Jason helping Matt get harnessed up. You can also see the air tank tied to the side of the frame.





Matt coming down the road after a run.





Then they let me have a go. I cannot describe this car any better than the pictures of a speed virgin after his first time can. (Thanks to Matt for the pictures)





Going out for the first run.



Breaking after blasting up to fourth gear.







Some pictures of the setup on the car. Just thrown on there for a proof of concept.

Air tank and solenoid assembly.



The air ram.



So, now that we know that works, time to get it on the new car.
___________________

That was from a different forum, same thing though. Also not my posting.

 

So jealous, you can't understand. Half our Mechanical Engineering Dept. here at U Miami is the Internal Combustions Lab yet never any interest in getting SAE off the ground

 

If Travis doesnt want to ask our body team, I can do it for you.

We use a mandrel bender, it is directly viewable in any of the pictures.

 

why not use aero tubing for the front arms

 

I didnt design the arms, but Im sure because of cost, and we dont go that fast.

 

Looks great guys. To who ever said baja was gay is rediculous. Baja and FSAE are a blast. I did both all four years of ME school. Interested in the completed pedal assy. It looks mega overkill.

 

Dang, I forgot all about this thread.

Got Wide - We got all our prepreg from Lockheed Martin, as they had some that had expired it's shelf life, and while it is past it's life span to be used on experimental aircraft, it will do fine as the bodywork for our car.

We have a tube bender in another bay, but I can't seem to find a picture of it.

Also the molds are taped off with blue painters tape, and a mold wax is used for the release agent.

The arms were made from tubing because that is what we had around. At the speeds and forces we experience, aero tubing is not needed nor cost efficient. Maybe some other year, but for now, this way will work fine.

I have been slacking on the pictures lately, but mostly because it doesn't really look like much has happened. We didn't really get anything done over spring break, and the company that was going to machine our uprights for us ended up not doing it. We have a bunch of smaller projects that have been getting done though.

The Baja car:





Some sweet pieces they had cut.





Pouring the mold for the seat.







Starting the mold for the nose cone.



Our sweet diff. We are using the center torsen out of an Audi AWD system as we can fully adjust it.





Welding the gas tank.

 

curious. its an engineering class right . but its not exactly a fab class. so what do you guys do ? pick a guy and say " learn the trade!"

 

Nice build. Be careful using the emery paper on the end of the shaft. Your hand can easily slip off and go right into the chuck.

 

Nope, not a class.

It is just a club on campus, and these are some of the projects we do. We don't get any credit towards our degrees or anything like that, but it does look great on a resume. We all do learn a lot, and at the beginning of all this, I had never used a lathe, CNC, mill, or really done any major fab work, but now I feel fairly proficient in all of it.

Apparently I need to upgrade my Photobucket...

 

Looks like the seat mold is getting poured into his anus. Nice looking project though.

 

Nice project, how did you guy do last year? What is your motors powerband looking like with that manifold?

 

Last year was UCFs first time ever taking a car to competition, and I believe we placed around 103 out of 160. That was mostly because our paperwork really wasn't in order, and we used too much fuel in the endurance race.

This year we should be in the top 20 for power output. I believe our best was around 92hp, with over 65 ft-lbs, and the intake is tuned for the same rpm as the stock F4i cam to maximize output after 7k rpm.

 

What days are you guys out at the shop? I'm a UCF alum (recent grad) and it's nice to see some good work coming out of there

 

We are out there Wednesday nights (7:30pm), and Saturdays (11:30am), drop on by if you want to check it out.