Project Progress Report (2007/03/31)

[tom_eberhard]

Originally Posted by OdieTurbo

[]Install front air dam made of Lawn Edging from Home Depot.

Awesome job on the test stand Tom!

Thanks! Hey I had an idea for the air damn: cutting it correctly the first time around is going to be tricky. So from watching American Chopper and other metalworking videos the key is to make a cardboard pattern first. Just take a bunch of newspapers, duck tape them together into a large sheet, and then place it where it's going to go. Then use a marker to mark the outline of where you have to cut. Cut the pattern with an extra inch, and transfer it to the lawn edging material, then cut the lawn edging.
I also checked out your side mirror mods, that's a cool idea.

Tom.

[tom_eberhard]

Originally Posted by Wazabi Owner

*Started the install on a certain alternate fuel source for my vehicle (maybe I shouldn't talk about it if the tax man is listening )

To do within a month

+++Mow (trust me, it takes FOREVER to mow - generally about 3 or 4 evening or a FULL day)

"certain alternate fuel source" Now there's a subtle description!! What could it be?? LOL.

And a FULL day of mowing!!?? That looks like a non-core activity that some high school kid would love to do for $25. (Although I have no idea how much they want these days. They might just laugh at $25.)

Tom.

[tom_eberhard]

Hi there,

I did pretty good this week:

Finished all of the handlbar stuff as far as I can tell. Pics of the sequence can be found here:
http://www.greenplanetgarage.com/Pro...s/HandlebarII/

A friend has Solidworks and will let me use it. Solidworks is an expensive CAD package that will also do some stress analysis and aerodynamic modeling.

Have not bought the 3D model of the car, but as soon as I do I'll put it in Solidworks.
Did not get started with the roll cage.

The stoopid gas tank cap didn't come with a key, so I removed the part that would snap it shut on the tank. Of course now it doesn't really close properly. I'll have to come up with a contraption to keep it closed.

Did some research online and it turns out someone else is building a hybrid car with a small engine in it. It's on teamswift.net (swift as in the suzuki swift). I think he's planning on using a DC motor. I registered on the site but the admins have not blessed my registration so I can't post there yet. Grumble.
Anyway, the link is here. He seems to work pretty fast:
http://www.teamswift.net/viewtopic.p...er=asc&start=0

Finally decided to use gassavers.org to track my mileage. I must have one of the worst cars for this, a friggin' Chevy Express VAN. I'm going to baseline it with the first tank and then make small mods and see what happens. The best mod would be to fix the CRX and not drive the van, ha!

Did some design work for the transmission. Lookin' good on paper...

How's it going with your projects?
Tom.

[Bill in Houston]

My next project is a belly pan. I procured a 4x8 piece of coroplast. I need to get some black paint. My wife and kids will be out of town for a couple of weeks, in a couple of weeks, and I will get the pan built then.

[tom_eberhard]

Attached the two throttle cables. (It is kinda weird that there's two of them, the second one is to close the throttle faster than the return spring I guess...)That part is working now. Other than that, pretty much nothing else substantial. (No exciting pics of two cables, sorry.)

Waiting for CAD software to arrive at my door.

Looking forward to the 4th, that's going to be a solid "work in the basement" day.

Goals for the week:
Connect the battery
connect remaining electrical things
fluids
gas cap
Finally start up the damn thing already. Get it to start if it doesn't.
Call a friend of my Dad's about legal issues when converting cars and doing engine swaps, etc.

Tom.

[tom_eberhard]

- Happily spent most of the 4th and the rest of the week welding up a table on which I'll be able to weld the frame and battery racks. The hard part was getting it to be flat.
A bunch of pictures of the progression can be found here:
http://www.greenplanetgarage.com/pro.../weldingtable/

- The CAD software arrived today! Happy Happy Joy Joy.

- Connected the battery. The terminals were not exactly compatible with the non-Suzuki battery I had, so I made some connectors out of aluminum. Yer basic drilling and scrounging for bolts exercise. It was awesome to see the tach rev up and then down, all the LEDs come on and off.

- Talked to that lawyer friend of my dad's. She was more concerned with infringing hybrid patents, but I was asking about how to find out which kind of laws apply for homebuilt cars if you want to sell it at some point. A friend recomended SEMA.org, but I didn't really find anything there.

Does anyone know where I should look for laws about kit car laws and homebuilt cars? For aircraft I think you build your plane, get it inspected, and then you get an "experimental" registration. What do you do for homebuilt cars?

- Bought the coolant today.

Goals for the week:
Play with the CAD software.
Check oil and add coolant.
Start it and figure out why it doesn't start. Fix it and start it. Repeat as necessary.

How's your stuff going?

[BumblingB]

I would of put this in my own thread BUT I figure big brother may be watching. Today I drove my car on WVO!!! Finally after months and months I got this thing done. I put 60 miles on my car today and the fuel gauge didn't move a bit!! What is ultra cool is my car has a range of 1400 miles now on both tanks.

Tomorrow's goal is to do the finish work. Basically complete the dash - install WVO fuel gauge - various lights - 12V power supply etc. I'm a happy camper!!

[UfoTofU]

tom_eberhard

You gotta love craigslist. Here in Maine I just scored a supposedly "non-functional" xbox and a 15" Apple Studio Display.

Granted the LCD on the display was toasted but the xbox worked fine and I had it modded to play all the old school console games in under an hour!

[tom_eberhard]

Originally Posted by Wazabi Owner

I Today I drove my car on WVO!!! Finally after months and months I got this thing done. I

Congratulations!!! That is AWESOME!!!
I bought a diesel a couple of years ago and never finished (or really started) the conversion, so that's really cool. You realize that you have to post some pictures of the conversion, right?

No radical victory on my end:
- fixed the electrical wiring to the clutch sensor that was cut by the @#$@ that sold me the part. All he had to do was unscrew one little screw and turn the handlebar and then he would have been able to disconnect the cable as intended by Suzuki. But no, it's faster to cut!

- Got somewhat sidetracked and started making a welding cart for my welder. I do need to practice welding thinner steel so it's actually not a complete waste of time.

- Tried to start the engine and it didn't start. (Surprise!) But I heard the starter motor turn, so that's a good sign.

- Installed the CAD software and started going through the tutorials.

Tom.

Hi, I'm building the three wheeler on Team Swift.
http://www.teamswift.net/viewtopic.php?t=29720
I just wanted to let you know I fixed the pictures so you don't have to be a member to see them. I hope you like them.
john