Frame members tack welded

Today we tack welded our rear roll hoop onto the bottom plane of our frame. Since the bottom of the rear roll hoop had shrunk a bit when it was being welded, some force was needed to fit the rear roll hoop onto the bottom plane.

We have also tack welded together our rear back plane and the rear engine members. Our engine members were then tacked to the back of our bottom plane.


After the engine members and the rear back plane had been tack welded, there was some concern as to whether the engine and the gearbox would be able to fit into the engine area. As a result, we took an old engine from a previous car and made a slightly oversized mockup of the gearbox to see if they would fit inside the engine area. Both fit well within the back area of the car.

Clevises finalized

Today we finalized the clevis's that we made yesterday. The edges have been smoothed out and deburred, and each clevis test fitted with a rod end and bolt to make sure that they work.

Machining and design

Today we machined three clevises out of a steel square tubing. At the moment they are still fairly rough, but this is because we have yet to measure the correct angles that they will be fishmouthed to the frame.

We have also finalized the CAD designs for the seat belt mounts, the seat belt covers, and the light bar.

Rear roll hoop welded

Today we welded the rear roll hoop together.

Unfortunately, there was some shrinkage during the welding process which resulted in a gap. Luckily, it is still possible to fit our rear roll hoop onto our bottom plane by forcing it in.

Combining motion and simulation

Today we learned to combine Solidworks Motion and Simulation to obtain results on the moving components of our car. We were also able to obtain results which showed that our trailing arm was within safe limits.

More FEA

Today we experimented more with Solidworks FEA. This time we decided to run analysis on simple parts so we could experience with FEA before moving on to more complex parts.

FEA trials

Today we attempted to teach ourselves FEA with the help of Youtube and Solidworks tutorials. It was a long and difficult process since we had not had any training in FEA whatsoever and slow computer processing speed would increase the time it took to see our results. Coupled with random crashes, we got very little data about the strength of our designs today.

Two more jigs done

Today we finished the jig for the front top plane and fishmouthed one of the footwell members into place.

We also built jigs to hold the rear roll hoop in place. The rear roll hoop is now ready to be tack welded onto the bottom of our frame.

Tack welding and jigs

Today we we tack welded together the bottom of our frame and the rear roll hoop.

We have also made a jig to hold the rear back plane in place and fishmouthed the square engine members. The square engine members are now ready to be tack welded to the bottom of the frame and the rear back plane.