Showing posts with label POT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label POT. Show all posts

Monday, September 8, 2008

Day 8

It was very cold this morning and it seemed to get colder as the day went on (winter is fighting back).

Today Bruce focused on finishing the half shafts (the car won't be going far without these!). I spent some time organising a sign writer to make decals of the sponsor's logos to go on the car. This included sizing them up and making a pattern for the logo going on the top of the front windscreen.

The radiator turned up today. This encouraged me to look at the details of how we are going to plumb this thing in. Turns out we have a bit of fluffing about to do (always the way). The inlets/outlets on the radiator, inverter and the pipe to the back of the car all have different diameters. Paul is going to make appropriate adapters for the pipe which solves most of the problems. Still leaves us with the inverter to motor connection which we will sort out with an appropriate size change adapter (could change the inlet on the motor or inverter, but I would rather not play around with these, at least until we have fired it all up). To get everything ready for Paul, I removed the aluminum pipes from the car and cut of the ends we don't need. The radiator receives air from the front air intake which is at ankle hight. This air is channeled up through the near horizontal radiator before exiting through the middle of the bonnet (this increases down force and reduces drag.

Now that the heavy engineering is finished in the cabin, I set about tidying up. After vacuuming I installed the POT box and connected the recently fabricated connecting rod (also attaching a return spring to the arm). Everything lined up nicely and the travel is good. It is all mounted above the level of the steering column, so it is well out of the way.



Earlier in the morning we also went and checked out the trailer progress. Everything is looking good. Discussed a few minor details like hook locations. The trailer will have a scissor jack at the front to control the tilt angle. We sourced one of these from a wrecker. Tried to get a common one with some corrosion protection which I think we did a reasonable job of (looks like it is anodised).

Thats all for today.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Day 7

Sunday. A bit of a late start all round. Gave me a chance to write a few emails and read up on a few things. Bruce and his son have introduced me to rFactor which is a virtual racing game, so I spent a bit of time exploring opportunities here. With the digital models Michael has done and help from Bruce and Co I expect we will be able to get a virtual electric Saker into the game without too much hassle (I'm sure Bruce will want to do a few petrol powered ones as well).

Anyway, after everyone arrived, Bruce started his day by feeding the animals (as usual, except this time the film crew captured the moment). While this was happening, I tidied up the lower seat mounts (wire brush and file) before giving them a coat of paint. The upper mounts are aluminum, so these don't need any paint. Bruce then set about mounting the seats in a position to cater for the larger drivers (small and medium drivers will need an appropriately sized insert). The upholsterer will be taking the seats on Monday so this job has been finished just in time.

The POT box had its first test installation, after fabricating the aluminum mounting bracket. I tested out the travel of the arm and link. It all worked fine when connected to the POT arms bottom hole, but not so good when connected to the others. I will need to cut a small amount off the corner of the retaining cover to remedy this. The picture below shows all the parts (from the left the aluminum parts are: spacer, retaining cover, POT arm and mounting bracket).
Bruce and I also spent a fair bit of time discussing inverter and contactor placement within the car. Fair to say we discussed and measured a number of different options. It's surprising how many new options you can come up with when you have physical items and the car in front of you. After believing we had determined the perfect location on at least two occasions we finished the evening having settled on what we believe is the best location, combining safety, low center of gravity and short cable lengths (no guarantee we wont change our minds overnight though). The inverter will be mounted in the rear, flush with the rear firewall standing vertically on its end and the contactor is to be mounted above the motor (the contactor is not overly heavy, but it is quite voluminous).

Tomorrow we need to do a final check off of the things we need to do, organise or purchase. We already know we need to go into town to get a few things so we also want to double check our shopping list is complete. So far we have:
  • Check up on the delivery date of the steering wheel and boss kit
  • Get the seats to the upholsterer
  • Get the external emergency knob and cable (it will activate the internal cuttoff switch)
  • Complete the machining on the half shafts
  • Design and fabricate the mount points for the inverter and the contactor box
  • Mount the batteries for the temporary battery pack
  • Mount the 12V axillary battery
  • Size the temporary battery pack cover/enclosure and arrange to have it made.
  • Check on the trailer progress
  • Complete the 12V auxiliary wiring
  • Complete the high voltage wiring (Inverter, contactor and battery pack)
  • Tidy up the interior and dash
  • Get the front window installed
  • Install the fire extinguisher
  • Install harnesses (just clip them in hopefully)
  • Wheel alignment/spring height
  • Finalise transport arrangements to get myself and the car back to Auckland
Should be easy!?

Friday, September 5, 2008

Day 5

Friday. Today we completed the welding for the motor mounts and the seats (Bruce and I prepared the parts and Paul did the welding).

Also, we began fitting out the accelerator POT with appropriate attachments to connect it to the accelerator pedal (required the creation of an arm and a bracket to fit in the Saker's pedal box). We plan on using a rod and a couple of ball joints to connect the accelerator pedal to the POT arm. As well as the internal POT spring we will add a spring to the POT's arm to prevent it staying open if something goes wrong.

Earlier this morning I had a quick look at the on board computer to prepare for the wiring. I have come to the conclusion that this will be very easy to get going. I'm looking forward to when the internal wiring can begin as this starts to make it feel real. We still need to create the fittings to hold the inverter, contactor box and the batteries. When this messy work is complete, then we will start the wiring. Hopefully the wiring will start on Monday at the latest.

Before I go, if you haven't noticed yet, the greenstage website has been updated and it is no longer just a stub. It shows our imediate high level goals and ways in which you can become involved. Check it out: http://www.greenstage.co.nz

Enjoy.