coastertrav

UPDATE!!! 1/31/09

Time for another shop update!



Over the past few days we have gotten quite a lot acomplished, and the car is going to just fly together here in the near future. The control arms are about completed, they just require a final welding. The motor mounts have been started on, and the rear roll hoop supports have been put into place. Matt, Blake, and David have started on mounting the steering rack, and Shaun has begun CNCing the aluminum spindles. Doug, Ken, and Mark have really been making leaps and bounds on the bodywork, and the molds for the carbon sidepods are almost finished.

Starting the spindle on the CNC machine.







Completed product sitting on the other blanks.



Matt, Blake, and David working on the steering rack mount.









The frame with one of the roll hoop supports in place.



Close up of the attachment system. These were the parts I was working on with the lathe last time.



Bobbles working on the control arms on the jig.





Me cutting out gussets for the control arms.



Doug, Ken, and Mark working on the sidepods.










Doug seemed fully entertained by the styrofoam.




Soon the suspension will be installed on the frame, and we will have a rolling chassis. The carbon undertray has not been started yet, but is coming up on the list, and the mounting of the motor in the frame is happening very soon.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

blue steel!

coastertrav

UPDATE! 5-05-09

So classes are over down here in sunny Orlando, and the car is almost done. Everything is in final assembly, the wiring is almost completed, and the car is 24 hours from running (that update will come soon).

All of us are spending the next week out at the shop, and it is going to be crazy out there. The car has to be ready to go to Superchips tomorrow, we are taking it to Orlando Speed World on Thursday for some testing on their track, and we leave for Michigan next Monday morning.

Things that still need to be done:

Bodywork - The side pods are done, but they are working on the diffuser and have nothing painted.

Wiring - Final chassis wiring/cleaning everything up.

Drivetrain - Final install needed.

Motor - Fluids flushed, intake manifold/injectors installed, fuel pump and fuel lines run.

Secondary firewall - needs to be put in and riveted in place.

And probably tons of other things I'm missing.

Some pictures I took last night.

ECU wiring and power/ground distribution.



Dash panel, and you can see the shifter on the left.



And the left side coolant system.



How she sits now.



Updates coming directly from the shop from here on out...

Saml01

iTrader: (9)

Im insanely jealous and regret never joining the FSAE team at my school.

coastertrav

I'm not going to lie, that was a terrible decision on your part.

Odd enough, most of the School down here doesn't even know we exist. But, at the same time, sometimes when I wear my SAE shirt around campus random people come up and tell me how bad *** we are.

the_man

Your shop pwns my old team's shop. People always figured we were a fraternity when we talked about "SAE."

y8s

iTrader: (8)

is your seat back a gas tank?

coastertrav

Yeah, I know what you mean. I go party with Chads and Jills, but for some reason get mad respect when I tell them I am in SAE yo.

Nope, there is a secondary firewall that covers it up and we have a fiberglass seat that goes in there too. The firewall isn't in because we are working in that area because the fuel pump and battery fit in there as well.

Saml01

iTrader: (9)

Had I known I would have been this into cars 2 - 3 years later I would have done it, but such is life. Back then I was more concerned with computers, technology, science, and the latest gadgets, no one owned a car and I had no reason learn about mechanics in depth other then what car i want to buy when I have money.

the_man

Once when I was driving one of our old cars, it kept cutting out. A couple guys then started screaming and frantically gesticulating that I should stop immediately. Turns out that there was a nice, big, fat electric cable (forget whether it was from the alternator or the battery) shorting/arcing on the fuel tank, which of course I couldn't see, because it resided in the inch or so between the fuel tank and the seat.

After that, we ripped out all the wiring, threw it in the garbage where it belonged, and completely rewired the entire car. In an afternoon.

I miss those days.

coastertrav

Some pictures from Superchips. We went there to get some tuning done, but really spent the whole time trying to diagnose a starting issue. We will probably head back later this week.

wayne_curr

iTrader: (8)

The school i'm going to transfer has a pretty good SAE team I hear. How tough was it for you to get into it?

240_to_miata

iTrader: (2)

ours is junk at Uconn.

**** still doesnt run, frame was welded by 2 yr olds, no inovative thought what so ever, running microsquirt and no1 even knows wtf a standalone is....not to mention the motor with bad rings and basicly no compression.

They are fucked because its run by a bunch of non-car guys who dont know the first thing about working with their hands. Truely dissapointing and nothing i want to be a part of.

naarleven

iTrader: (2)

At FSU they let anyone come really, as long as you're willing to help out.

coastertrav

Ours was easy to get into. You just show up and start helping. If you are cool and know your stuff, you stay. If you are a douchebagel and are a general know-it-all/knows nothing, we light you on fire "accidentally" (totally happened BTW).

Luckily for us most of the guys in here race or have raced in the past, and are generally pretty knowledgeable.

Same here. Actually isn't FSU's team mostly made up of FAMU students?

naarleven

iTrader: (2)

Our engineering department is joined with FAMU. But, I wouldn't know, I wasn't able to do it this year.

Next year I'm going to start showing up to meetings.

coastertrav

I promise you it will be the best idea you will have in your entire college career.

coastertrav

UPDATE 5-07-09

Tested the car today, drove it under it's own power and the car had a hard time going into gear. As it turns out we sheared a piece on the throw out shaft in the transmission, because it was only designed to take the force from your hand, and not full pressure from your legs. Swapped it out for another one and got a clutch stop working, then we did some late night road tuning.

Some pictures from it's first time out.












Cannot wait to see this monster out on the track...

neogenesis2004

iTrader: (12)

MY roommate at VT was in FSAE for 2 years. According to him its pretty hard to get into at VT.

coastertrav

Yeah, VT is serious about their SAE stuff.