hybrid go-cart funding

[keebler303]

jfettig

more info would be great. how elaborate did you get with engine mods, what kind of drive, centrifical clutch, torque converter, etc.
any tips or anyting?
how did your team do?

strombom

that shell comp. looks cool but it would be expensive to go to europe to compete.

Thanks guys
Matt

[JFettig]

strombom: We wont be competing this year I guess, Im not exactly sure where we were competing.

Keebler: We ended up in 5th, average of 505MPG. We were short on time and short on people with effort so there werent many modifications to the engine, basicly just a starter, got rid of the shield and made my own air duct to keep the warm quite warm but not overheating. I also made my own exhaust pipe.

We didnt have enough sponsorship for a good clutch, I woudl have liked to optimize the drive, we just ran from engine to back wheel(cannot remember the ratio) but something upwards and over 100 teeth on the back would have been ideal.

Weight isnt the biggest thing, but lighter is better. aerodynamics are relatively important, about the same as weight but drive train and smoothness are of the most important part from what I found.

I'll upload a few more pics, Check out this other OHC someone had there. and last years FSAE car.

Jon

[keebler303]

Thanks Jon

the ohc is pretty sweet, is that a modified ohv or just an ohc from another engine?
i know fuel injection seems to be popular, any comments?
how about reducing the cylinder bore?
is a starter necessary or just nice to have?
could you take a guess on how much time you put into it?

Thanks for answering all the questions.
Since we'd be a rookie team i'd like to know what we're getting into.

Thanks
Matt

[JFettig]

I know nothing about that other than I took that pic. This whole competition was a high school thing. I have been suggested to reduce the cylinder bore size, A starter is a must because the engine doesnt run all the time, the method used is typically 'burn and coast' where you would get up to speed and coast then do it again. I dont know how the higher end ones do it but I am willing to bet it is like that.

I put a lot of time into it, we built the whole thing in a semester, I had design ideas beforehand and just finalized it within the early part.

Every day in school, I put about 1-2hours, I put some time in afterwards, some saturdays etc. If If I would have ever done it again, I would have done a lot of things different. like a few I stated, make drive-train better, My steering and tracking and all was great. I probably would have gone a little shorter if possible, but its kind of hard especially how some of the guys were a foot taller than me.

you'll want to use an air filter, we didnt because it wasnt required and would have less restriction, but it was actually spitting a little gas out there(it could have been because the motor kind of sucked)
I would have also liked to do a little modification to the motor and carb, mainly rejeting the carb to not let it use so much fuel, make it nearly spudder.


Jon