This week's objective was to get the new car up and running, which was a goal that had been originally due by March 15, but due to a number of unforeseen technical difficulties was delayed until just this past Saturday. Considering the new car was only a frame when I first began my internship, it has been exciting to seen the finished product come to fruition in just a few short weeks. With that having been said, without further ado, let's get in to what I was up to this week.
On Tuesday, I was assigned the construction of the foot box, the piece of metal that goes underneath the brake and gas pedals and provides a rest when either foot is disengaged from its pedal. I used Gold's foot box as a model for the current one, but took a few additional considerations when attempting to replicate it. First, it was requested that I use a thicker grade of sheet metal for this car's foot box, as a problem with the previous car's was that it became dented with repetitive use. In addition, the slightly different frame necessitated slight measurement changes that had to be incorporated into the dimensions of the new foot box. When all was done, I gave the flat foot box metal to a team member so that it could be bent at precise angles using off-site equipment. Since I did not know how much room to leave between the foremost edge of the foot box and the front panel of the car, when I came in on Thursday, I learned that I overestimated it by about an inch and had to cut it down once again. Thankfully, by leaving myself a little extra margin, there was room for error in case the piece happened to be the wrong length. Also that day, I took off the uprights from Gold and put them on the new car so that we could get it up and running. I then fabricated some brass weights for the mechanical CVT.
On Thursday, I helped Louis, the chassis lead, weld on the tabs to the car for the paneling and gas tank cover, which turned out to be quite challenging as the tabs were very thin and it was easy to burn right through them. We ended up cannibalizing the better, thicker tabs from the "test chassis." I also took off various parts from that car and grinded the welds off them. Finally, I deconstructed Gold and organized the parts to be used as spares when the team goes to competition.
On Saturday, first I found the percent difference in weight between the stainless steel uprights and brackets and their cast iron counterparts, which weighed significantly less, it turns out. Then, I helped Stephen screw the flex line for the brake's into the T cross with plumber's tape and generally replaced the old flex line with the new. There were a variety of hobshobble, miscellaneous tasks that I partook in that day as well, but they were so small and insignificant I won't bother mentioning them. For my final act of the day, I helped precisely measure and model the panels on the car for the purposes of designing the vinyl decals that will go on them. Late that night I finally witnessed the car in its (almost) final form, and was amazed at how quickly things had come together.
Like always, thanks for reading,
Max
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