E-Crosser...The Model

And as promised here is the progress so far on the the scale model.    Nothing really to report other than it is still moving forward.

The next thing to build is the new suspension arms.

The Frame

Woody in the Pilot's Seat

 Till next time.

More Updates and New Suspension

Well it's the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona weekend, so I figured, since I'm online watching the race(or at least I'm looking for a site to watch the streaming of it) I might as well update my progress with the E-Crosser.

There has been a lot of progress with the suspension these past weeks.  I've done a tonne of research on how the control arms will work.  From the standard Sentra suspension (since I know it so well) to F2000, and Formula Ford.  What I chose as my inspiration was a homenade open wheel car, I believe it was a Formula Ford.  The pictures I saw were exactly what I wanted.

It was basically a double A-Arm configuration, but where I changed it up was I am going to use Koni yellows, with ground control coil-overs instead of specific race shocks and springs.  Cost is alwyas an issue so let's stick with the basics.  I am using these because I know them well from the Sentra, and infact I will be using the Sentra's rear combination for both the rear and front of the E-Crosser.  This will allow me to fabricate the same A-Arms for both the front and rear saving time.

Rear Suspension without the wheel

Front Suspension

The Whole thing

I'm really thinking this thing is really looking awesome.  I'm going to have to figure out a few more things such as steering, and how to cover the electrical, because it sometimes rains.  Also, the I have not decided on what spindle to use.  Should I use a Sentra's or fabricate my own...who can say right now.

As for the 1/6 scale model, the main body is almost complete.  I will upload the photos this coming week  I've only stuck my fingers together once with the glue.  I have 911 on speed dial just in case I glue my eyelids.  You never know with me.

Till next time, I'm going to enjoy the 24 Hours of Daytona, and be back early next week with model photos.

The New and Improved Base Frame...

While looking at the last version of the balsa wood frame...oh, let me first say, Happy Christmas everyone, hope your holidays treated you well, and the New Year's came without a hitch.  Go figure the world didn't end when the Mayan calendar switched from one to another.  Gee, everytime I switch my calendar from the past year to the new year I always wonder, will this be the end of the world?  Go figure nothing ever happens.

Anyways, as I was mentioning, I was looking over the last frame and noticed a few things were just not right.  First, the 1/4" balsa I used just looked too thick.  The scale was accurate as it would have been 1 1/2" tubing but I just didn't like the thickness, and in the actual car I am still debating 1" tubing or 1 1/2" tubing. tubing. So decided to go with 3/16" balsa sticks to be an in between.  I like the the look better.  

Secondly, I was not happy with the triangulation of the frame so I redid it, with a much wider stance now for the batteries.  I can now fit more banks of car batteries in case I need more.

The last frame I built I did without using the technique of pinning.  This time around I pinned the frame as one of my co-workers is an avid model maker of model airplanes and he suggested it.  It was so much easier to accomplish what I wanted.

So you wonder what pinning is.  Well here it is.

Since I built this all digitally it was easy to print up a scaled top view frame on paper.  I just printed off the base frame first at 1:6 scale.  I then basically just traced over the printout with the balsa wood sticks, cutting the lengths directly on the printout.  To keep the pieces steady and tight against each other I pinned down lengths of scrap balsa against the frame lengths and glued the frame pieces in place.  To make sure everything was square I used a small set square just for the added piece of mind, because if something was not perfectly square I would end up with a bent frame.

For a better explanation here is the link I used.to learn how to pin properly.PINNING TECHNIQUES.

Here is the new frame.  It certainly looks prettier than the last version.

To give a sense of proportion, here is the frame in place with the driving position in rough place.

I think I will continue doing this during my lunch hour at work.  It is definately a better place to do it with more room, less pets, and less distractions.

Till my next post. 

Let's get Physical...Physical...

I just wanted to show that progress has begun on the 1/6 scale model that will be the future E-Crosser.

As my scaled assistant is demonstrating, this new frame is full of potential functionality.  It may look rough, but this was the moment that all this time designing and refining has come to something physical.

The front of the car is on the floor.

Enjoy looking at this piece of history. :)

I'm Famous...Kind of...Not Really.

So as the title states I'm not really famous.  The other day I was casually going through Googlestreet View, walking through my neighbourhood when I noticed that there was a new arrow pointing down my driveway.  It's technically not just my driveway since about 50 other people share it to get to all their own garages.

The Google Cameracar must have driven down the driveway thinking it was a street or something and I happened to be working on the Sentra that day.  I never noticed it since I was probably under the car. 

So now you all can see what I have to work in when I do car stuff.  In the back of the garage I have a small work bench with a wall of shelves, and I have about half a metre on either side of the car, give or take a foot depending on how I park the car, to maneuver tools, tires, myself, or what have you.  So doing what I was doing that day was not an easy task.  I was swapping out my front cv joints/halfshafts and outer transmission case seals.  I must have just started because I can see that the passenger tire was off, and I had my light set up looking into the wheelwell getting ready to work on taking the joint out.

Too bad they didn't come a little later.  You would have seen me on the drivers side all sweaty and angry looking trying to get the "bleaping" seal in straight.  Thanks to one of my neighbours for helping with that since he was a mechanic and new a few tricks to get seals in straight.  Canadians sure are friendly to strangers.

As for the E-Crosser, my supplies finally came in a few days ago.  BALSA WOOD and HOT GLUE STICKS!!!  I can get started soon on making this model.

In conclusion, If anyone wants an autograph, send me a cheque for 50 dollars with your name and address. For that price I will write a short note with a photo of my Sentra saying how I love you for being such a huge fan.  This will make a perfect Christmas gift for any of your loved ones.  They will appreciate it for years and years.

This Chair won't Fit!

And so I need to make some frame adjustments.  The race seat I used as a template is about 25" wide at the shoulders and as you can see, things just don't fit.  This width is one of Kirkey's larger width seats.

Let's refine this.

I will have to widen a few points on the frame around the driver's shoulders, as well as widen the area where the batteries sit.  This is fine though because this may allow for more room for more batteries is I need to.

Oh No!  The seat won't fit!

E-Crosser:The Next Generation.

Well, I decided to post preliminary renderings since I have not posted much lately.  The model is rough and is not completely sorted yet so there are still errors but I wanted to show the progress so far of the E-Crosser in a couple of renderings.  One with the sheet metal, and one without.

Again this frame is not optimized yet, and it could be much too heavy.

I'm going to be adding some sheet metal areound the cockpit to deflect any debris that the tires will kick up to protect the batteries and the driver.

The placement of the 4 batteries is sorted out, but since electrical is not my thing...yet...I'm not sure if I will need more to run the E-Crosser for a maximum of 8 hard runs in a raceday.

There are no transaxles here, or a motor.

I've also added 18cm to the wheelbase.

Right now I have not worked out the wings so they are not accurate at all to what they will look like, except for the width.

Also, the suspension has not been weighted so it is riding very high.

Enjoy.

View without the Sheet Metal

View with Sheet Metal

The Race Season is Over, and...

So the race season is complete.  It was a busy year, but I made it through with little grief. The last race I ended up 2nd in class landing me a third in class for the season.  Not bad.

During the winter Wayne Yeates and I will be developing the front splitter for the Sentra, as well as the brake ducting through the front bumper.

But really, the big, big news is, I have recently started developing the E-Crosser further.  New renderings should be available within the week of what I have in mind.

I have decided to build my own suspension rather than using a Miata Suspension. 

"Why?", you might wonder.  Simple, weight, simplicity, and cost.  I will be able to build the suspension parts for a fraction of the weight.  I may still use the Miata's suspension dimensions, however, I am starting to think that I want to be able to build the same control arms for both upper and lower, and use those for all corners of the car.  This would mean that I could build 8 control arms (4 upper, 4 lower) and use the same jig for all of them.  This will be shown in the new renderings.

Also, creating my own suspension allows me to have the frame the way I want it, rather than be forced to use the same geometry used by Mazda.  This also means less measuring of the Miata parts and a lot less cost in materials since I don't need to source out a Miata.

I have placed the order for all my balsa wood and I bought a 1:6 scale pose model so I can get started working on the 1:6 scale model of the E-Crosser.  That is definitely on the agenda for this winter off season.  I am planning to have the model complete by the end of winter.

Anyways, hold on to your goochies, because I'm back on the horse.  OK that makes no sense.

Renderings are coming soon with the next phase of development.

Later

I've been out of commission...but I'm slowly getting better.

I'm finally getting over a major eye flare-up from the Granular Corneal Dystrophy I have.  This episode all started on Canada Day weekend, and is just now getting settled.  I still have a little discomfort, and a bit of light sensitivity.  I have never had a case this bad in my life, but I'm really hoping that it is completely gone for my race on Saturday, and my week-long stay-vacation starting Monday.

On the Friday before Canada Day I had to replace my O2 sensors in the Sentra, becasue I failed spectacularly on my emissions test. (I did get the conditional pass though so no need to worry about driving illegally without valid plate stickers). Because I have a modified exhaust I need to extend the secondary O2 sensor which means I had to splice it.  Now this was a job and a half since finding steel wire is not so simple.  I have about 4 other O2 sensors so I made the lengths out of multiple pieces, and crimped them with wire couplers.  Long story short, I had to wait until my eyes were clear enough to finish the job, so the Sentra was on jack stands for a good week and a half before I could get to finishing the job. 

The final front bumper splitter has been pulled and this thing looks amazing!  Granted I could only get white textured ABS but I really don't care.  I'll post some pics of it.  Now I have to build the support rods, and Wayne Yeates of Way's Performance Services will build the undertray out of alluminum sheet.  I think this won't be ready by the end of the race season, but it'll be ready for the 2013 season.  I can't wait to get that sorted and test it out.

Next thing to deal with after this weekend's race is the steering column issue I am having.  The popping and sudden alignment changes is still ongoing.  I checked the bracket bolts and they are fine.  It may be an internal thing, so I may need to get my spare rack and pinion and have it rebuilt.  We'll see.

Also, my clutch is starting to go it sounds like, but I'm hoping it will last till the end of the season.  It's just another thing to deal with.  Joy.

Not a terribly exciting post, I'm still not in my normal feel-good mental states.
Till next time...

Tiretail Continued...Mac and Tee.

In an effort to make transport easier for all my race stuff, I have designed and had fabricated a tiretail to haul my tires. 

In the previous installment I showed the concepts that were developed virtually before the actual fabrication.  As promised I said I would show pictures of the final product.

It works perfectly well.  The rear springs (which are heavy 600lbs) held the extra weight well.  I lost about an inch of travel in the rear shocks and I didn't bottom out over any undulatins in the road.

At highway speeds (I would not drive any faster than 100km/h) there was very little change in handling.  The only difference I felt was when making turns I could feel the extra weight swinging around.

For the days that it rains, I decided to fill the frame with expanding foam since I could not fully spray the inside with rubberized asphalt underspray.  This will plug all the holes so the frame doesn't start to rust from the inside.  I still have to clean it up a bit, but I didn't have time to do any sort of cleaning up of the foam before my race.

You can also see the new exhaust tip I decided to go with to deflect hot exhaust gases away from the tires.  Someone at the races asked, "What's with the macaroni exhaust?"  Now I shall dub this design...Mac and Tee.

Here are a few pictures of the fabricated tiretail.  Fully adjustable to accommodate anything up to 18" in diameter, and a width of 255...like I could ever or want anything that size anyways.

Until next time...

And so the Season Starts...

The last couple of months has been interesting.  Getting the car ready for the Spring season has been a difficult process.  This was multiplied because I was needing to get the Sentra ready for a long distance road trip to Washington and then to Charlottesville, Virginia.  What usually is a 6 week process was cut down to 3 weeks. 

Changing struts and shocks, changing suspension setups, changing tires, going over all wear items, maintaining brake calipers, going over all the bolts to make sure they are torqued to spec, alignment, changing some of the fluids, and the list went on and on. Whew.

Overall it was a great trip(it always is, we've done this trip 3 times now), except for one snag.  I noticed when I got into Washington, my front tires were so worn on the inside they were basically slick.  In the garage of the hotel I lifted the car, put the camber to 0 and hoped that that was enough to get through the trip.

It wasn't.

One rainy day, as we were driving to some caverns in the Shanandoah I noticed the car was very, very, squirelly.  I don't mind a little squirelliness.  In fact, that is the way I like it best, with a little toe out on the front alignment.  This however, was almost impossible to control at highway speeds.  When we got off the exit and got to the Caverns, I checked the tires in the parking lot.

My stomach fell when I saw what I saw.  Both my front tires were completely corded on the inside 2 inches.  That incident completely ruined our day because I had to find a garage that would get the tires I needed and have them mounted.  This town had to have had a population of 500 at most, but by blind luck, I found a shop that could have some BFG G Force Sports in a 215-45-17 size delivered within a few hours.  So by 1pm we were on the road again heading back to our Bed and Breakfast without seeing the Caverns.  Oh well, maybe next time.

I realized that my alignment was a bit off and I added way too much toe out while getting the car ready for the season, so I scrubbed off my tires completely in 700 kms or so.  Live and learn I suppose.  This was going to be the last summer on these tires anyways.

Also, this year I decided that I was done with carrying my race tires in the car.  I can only fit 2 in my trunk, and 2 more have to go in the rear of the cabin right behind the front seats.  Plus, all of the other equipment and stuff I carry with me adds up to one full car. 
To make things easier, and faster I decided to design a tire tail to fit in my receiver hitch.  A tiretail is basically a trailer frame that has no wheels, and hangs out behind the car.  It's a lot of vertical weight for the hitch to carry so my receiver hitch needed a lttle reinforcing with 3/16" thick alluminum plates to be able to carry the weight and then some of the tires. 

As usual I worked with Wayne Yeates at Way's Performance Services.  Since he has so much knowledge about all things racing and all things about car stuff in general he was a perfect person go over my design and refine it.  Once we came up with a final structure in 3D Studio Max, I went to Metal Supermarkets to get the steel and alluminum tube, and had Wayne weld it up.  He did such a crazy good job, and he even added some details to make it even stronger.  He really is the best mechanic I have ever dealt with, he is defiantely a friend of mine.  Here are the tire tail designs starting from initial concept to what the final one.  I am still painting the final piece but once that is done I will post it up.

This first concept was a simple design however, it would have been too top heavy, and would probably rock around a lot. We figured it would have too much twisting going on as you drove with the full weight of the tires hanging up high on the cross bar. 

This second concept incorporated a straight frame to lower the centre of gravity. No jiggling here.  Once I did some calculation though I figured that this concept was much too heavy, and I knew I could come up with something that was a lot lighter.

The third concept was a variation of the second, except it was much lighter. This design incorporated an exhaust deflector in the front so I would not melt the tire right behind the exhaust.  After some research I found some people who arrived at the track with a melted tire, soI figured I didn't want to do that.  I was still not happy with the complexity of this concept so I knew I had to move on.

The fourth concept gets rid of the bulky side frame to keep the tires upright at all times.  The tires would be tied down with a rachet tie down strap. Easy. The exhaust deflector grew and spanned the entire length of the tiretail. This allowed me to use this thing with any car with a receiver hitch no matter what side the exhasut was on. But, the weight would have been too much so on to the next concept.  Also, it did not give me the flexibility if I decided to use wider tires.  This design was strictly for a 225 width tire only.

This was the fifth and final concept. It is similar to the previous version, except for a few exeptions.  I decided to use an adjustable system. This is just a 1" alluminum square tube that would be drilled and sleeved. The perpendicular steel frames would be drilled in 1" increments so if I decided to use wider tires, I could easily adjust the bars to accomodate the different sized tires.  I got rid of the exhaust deflector altogether, and decided I would just weld a 45 degree bent exhaust tip to the car's muffler to direct exhaust away. This was a simple solution in reducing a lot of weight from the tiretail.

I used more reinforcing supports and added some heavy L brackets on the bottom to be safe. I double walled the main middle frame tube using a 1.25" steel tube with a 1" square tube slid inside and welded, effectively doubling the wall thickness.

 

This was the assembly sheet for Wayne to follow so when he got the jumble of pre-cut metal tubes he knew what to do with them.  He added many of his touches to this design to strengthen it.  The final piece is so pretty. 

On a non racing note, my wife and I also decided to adopt a 3 year old pointer/lab dog.  And he has been a handful.  I don't have experience with a child, however, this can't be far off.  Bradley was a farm dog, and he has to be socialized.  He had heartworms as well so for the last 2 months he has not been allowed to socialize with dogs or get excited in any way, because elevating his heartrate can cause a worm or a piece of a worm to block an artery and if that happens in the brain then he could have a stroke.

Because of this lack of excercise, he has a tonne of pent up energy so controlling him has been a chore.  Plus we have 3 cats, so we are slowly trying to socialize him to them.  It has not been going well.  Imagine cat's flying across a room, and a dog tearing around trying to catch them, knocking everything over in the process.

We finally got his clean bill of health a few days ago, so training is intensive now.  Our trainer is amazing and it has been completely eye opening that there is hope that Bradley will be a good dog.  But the amount of physical and mental drainage is unbelieavable.  I'm sorry but, there is no way that a hyper 80 pound dog is easier than a child.  With a child, all you do is pick them up if you don't like what they are doing. That's not so easy with a strong 3 year old dog.  Plus as kids get older you can reason with them.  Good luck with that with a dog.  It's all about hours of training every day, and that is what we have to do.

On the way to pick Bradley up someone decided to make a right hand turn from the left hand lane. When I saw that they were making this move, and I was in their blindspot, I gassed it. They ended up turning into my rear left fender and bumper so I had to get that sorted out as well. She was very understanding and I got the money within a day. Still, this took out a lot of time to get the car prepared for the season though, and I had to do my Advanced Autoslalom school in a somewhat banged up car.

The autocross season has started now, and I can't wait to get onto the track again.  I had to miss the first race because Bradley had his final exam on the same day.  But, the next race there will be a Scion FRS there and I cannot wait to try it out.

As I stated earlier, I also went to the ILR Advanced Autoslalom School and it was a great experience.  It was a full day of classes and track time with racing instructors.  The head instructor is Ian Law who has a number of SoloI and SoloII championships.  I learned so much, even though I have had a many years of years competing. 

I decided to use my street tires for this and I do have to say, the BFG G Force Sports are not track tires, or even close to the BFG G Force KDW's I used to have.  They had good stick, and the sidewalls were stiff(not as stiff as the KDWs) but because the treadblocks are smaller they chunked like a S.O.B.  Well, another live and learn situation.

Anyways, the E-Crosser has been put on hold for a month or so more until things at home settle down.

Till next time.

It's Splitsville...Part 2

It's been 2 weeks since the first prototype was vac-formed.  A lot of revisions had to be made for this version and my spare time was taken up doing this, but I think the results show how far this design has come.  I have made it double walled to add some rigidity to the piece, and also, it is about 1.25" shorter so it will not hit ground during some of the rougher portions of the track pavement.

There is also a 2.5" Lip around the entire mould to allow a lot more surface to attach the aluminum undertray to.  This undertray will be fabricated up by Wayne Yeates of Way's Performance Services.

I removed the 3 support ribs that were in the fron of the original version.  I figured that since there are support rods those should not be required.

This time I used Adobe Illustrator to create the template that I would be using to cut out the mould.  I made very precise measurements from the bumper, instead of just tracing around the bumper like I did the previous version.

I printed up the template, and layed the bumper over it and adjusted as needed.  I also, had to remember that ABS has a shrink rate of 3-8% so I averaged it out and brought down the template 5%.

Once the template was finalized I used a scroll saw to cut 3 layers of 3/4" MDF(Medium Density Fibreboard).   I screwed and PL Premiumed each layer so this thing is completely solid and should be around for hundreds of pulls.  This solid piece was then sanded to make 1-2 degrees of negative draft so it could be extracted easily from the ABS form.

The large horizontal splitter was cut using 1/4" HDF(High Density Fibreboard) and was only screwed into the Main MDF body with 4 screws.  I plan on this being replaceable as it is a thin piece and could snap when trying to eject it from the ABS.

During the test pull there were a couple of issues.  A vaccuum leak prevented the left and right rear corners to get completely sucked onto the mould.  This was a minor leak and everywhere else sucked nicely to the mould.  It looked pretty good other than that, almost like a final working piece.  Even the test fit to the bumper cover was almost perfect.

Also, releasing the mould was a very painful experience as it took about 15 minutes of banging on the finished test piece. the MDF body cracked a bit and will have to be repaired.

After examining the mould we discovered that their was actually a very slight positive draft on a couple of inches of the mould, which prevented it from being released from the the formed piece.  That will have to be sanded down to create some negative draft.

Also, after this last test, I am going to add alot more draft to the inside of the mould where you won't even see it when installed.  I will add 5-10 degrees just so it will be a very simple process of extracting the mould from the ABS final piece. 

Spraying the mould also with sandable primer on the next revision will be sanded sound to a "baby's bottom" smoothness level.  We couldn't use silicone spray on this mould since it was bare MDF and it would have just absorbed the silicone and caused it to swell or warp slightly.  So using the primer will seal the MDF and allow us to use the silicone spray which will create slippery surface so extraction will be even easier.

If only this test piece worked out, because, by accident, we used a piece of scrap ABS, thinking at first it was polystyrene.  Only after the test pull was complete we could smell that it was ABS.  Ah well.

 

Test Pull Rear-So Pretty.

 

Test Pull front

 

Test Fit Front-Perfect Fit!

 

Test Fit Rear

Also, I had to build some custom brackets that will hold the support rods from the splitter to the bumper.  U-Brackets are hard to find so I had to cut a Flat T-Bracket, and use a brake press to make the U-Brackets I needed.  It turned out pretty well.  The rest of the hardware will be from Brafasco as they have everything I need.  I've never been there and I'm quite excited aboutfoing to a showroom full of hardware.

So, hopefully, this coming week I will make all the revisions and repairs required on the mould and do 1 final test pull on the vacuum former.  Then it should be ready for the final piece with white 1/8" ABS.  Yes, I said white because the suppplier only had white and really, I could really care less what colour this thing is.  As long as it's functional, I will be super happy.  I can paint it black easily enough.

That's it from my end.  I'll update soon with the next version of this splitter.

We Gotta "Split"

Over the last few months I've been working with a Vacuum Former who just so happens to be an avid car customizer and has experience building custom vehicle parts.

I'm working on some designs for a bumper splitter that may be adapted on the E-Crosser but for the time being this front splitter will be used for the upcoming Autocross season, specifically for PITL(Push it to the Limit)race series.  I say specifically because the rules for the Provincials state that no aerodynamic aids can be used in my class(DSP), and I do not want to be pushed up a class because I will be seriously outgunned.  In the PITL series I can use these aero-aids without being bumped up.  If I race in a Provincial race, I will not be using it.

There is a story behind this splitter.  It is a bit long of a story but if all you like are pictures scroll down to the picture of the the first concept of this bumper splitter.  To spoil the story, the first concept was a bit too mild, and the mould only survived the test pull on the vacuum-former.  Here is a link for anyone who has no idea what vacuum forming is.-VAC-FORMING-  

After a fairly successful race last season, I believe it was race#5, I went out to do some fun runs.  Fun runs are basically just unofficial untimed runs of the autocross track.  These runs are ones that I like to go out to try and fix areas where I screwed up or just couldn't get right during the race.  However, this time wasn't a good time for anyone in the Sentra, or the Sentra for that matter.

I had been having some severe over-steer throughout the day and I was trying to correct it with small mechanical changes such as tire pressures and adjusting the shocks.  It ended up that my rear R888's were done as dinner and were hard like lego blocks.  Nothing was working but I was determined to get a section down right that had been plaguing me the entire day.  It was a left-right chicane at the end of a short straight-of-way which then made a left hairpin turn.  Well, long story short, I took the chicane but I oversteered and then over corrected straight into a post.  It wasn't a terrible crash, and I can't remember if I had mentioned it before on this blog, but better this happen on the track rather the street.  The damage was to the bumper some brackets and the front grill.  Nothing that wasn't fixable, and nothing a few zip-ties didn't temporarily fix for the drive home.  Just so you know, everything was fixed within a week.

Since I had purchased a new bumper from a race team that races in the Ontario GT-Sprints, for a great price, I had this spare bumper that was going to get fixed anyways, so I decided it gave me an excuse to design a front splitter.  Plus since I was upping the front spring rates by a bit I needed to compensate for the increase in understeer.  A front splitter was my solution, plus it looks really really awesome cool!  OK, so it actually doesn't look that cool,  Maybe to the "Fast and Furious crowd" so I'm designing this splitter to be able to be installed and un-installed at the track.  I can say right now, this thing is going to be pretty extreme and it has to be large to be some-what functional at Autocross speeds.

Here is concept 1.  This was the test pull using 1/8" styrene.  These test pulls are specifically done to see how the the mould performs and to see if there needs to be any revisions.  The final productuction piece will be using 1/8" ABS (ABS is much more resilient than styrene), with a .060" thick aluminum undertray that will extend back to the front lower tie bar.  The alluminum undertray is going to be custom made by my friend Wayne Yeates of Way's Performance Services who I have had a long and excellent association with in developing this car.

As you can see the top was pretty rough.  The mould actually imploded in the vac-former when it was under pressure.  Concept 2 that I am working on will survive many, many pulls so if one gets damaged in a race, I will have the mould to create another one easily.

Also, I am deleting the reinforcing ribs and just leaving the new one straight.  Support rods that are attached to the front of the splitter to the bumper frame will keep it stiff and level.  It will also be 6" deep (2" deeper than the one you see here).  This revised version is going to be big...I mean really BIG.  It will also be about 1" shorter in height just to avoid hitting the ground on the uneven pavement.

So that is the progress so far on things and it's somewhat relevant to the E-Crosser.  The second revised mould will be complete within a week, so wish me luck on that one.

Happy Family Day in Ontario, President's Day in the States, and any other day you may be celebrating with a day off.

So Sorry I have not made an update lately.

To all those 3 people who may come to this blog, I am sorry I have not made any updates lately.  I've been extremely busy at work, and coming home to do a blog has not been my highest priority.  But to give you the low down.

I have been working on a new front splitter design for the Sentra for next year's season of Autocross.  I'll be posting some pics in the near future of the mould I am working on so I can then just have vac forms created out of ABS. 

Building a mould for vac forming will allow me to create a new splitter easily if one happens to get damaged or destroyed.

In the new year I will start on a scale model of the E-CROSSER.  So hopefully by the end of Spring I will have a cool mocked up model to show you.

Everyone have a great Christmas, and I'll be back soon...hopefully.

Well the race season is almost over.  The Sentra survived with some teething issues, but now that it's getting closer to the fall and I will start having some time, I will be starting with 3d modelling an accurate model using the Miata suspension.  Once I have completed that, I will be making a scale model in balsa.  Hopefully that should be completed in the beginning of the coming year.

My buddy who is helping me out with this should be getting a welder soon so we can perfect our welding skillz. 

Oh and as for the French trip...

Paris was amazing!  I wish we stayed there for at least 3 more days to make it an even 5 days.  The driving wasn't so bad, but the round-a-bout around the Arc de Triomphe was something else. 6 lanes of cars, with no lanes all trying to get to their exit road.  That was fun in a sort of chaotic fear for my life kind of fun.

We went to the Peugeot Showroom on the Champs-Elysées and I actually got to touch one of their 908's.

 The best part of the trip was actually driving the Napolean Route through the Alps. We started from Vence and went to Grenoble, which was another great city nestled in the Alps.  We had a Citreon DS3 and let me tell you...It was a beautiful car to drive in the twisties that are throughout the Alps.  It was a little low in power but the handling was amazing!  Very close to being balanced with a hint of oversteer.  it was basically a perfect car for the location.

If only I could have brought it home with me.  Well, I kind of did, however this one only has about a cubic centimetre of cabin room, and it only is setup for going straight.  Plus the colour is all wrong, but other than that, it's a DS3.  Oh, and it has no suspension other than 2 springy axles, and the tires have a UTQC of about 10000, and it uses gravity to move, but other than that it's a DS3.

We also went to Monaco.  It was money...literarlly, the place is made of it.  Take a look at this yacht and you tell me, is this excess?

One last piece of advice to anyone who wants to go to France.  DO NOT TRAVEL ON JULY !st, EVER...EVER!  Apparently that is the busiest day on the highways and we searched for a hotel for hours to stop at.  We ended up stopping at a reststop at about 2am in the morning after a fruitless search to find a bed.  We ended up sleeping in the car, which is very common there.  The rest stops were full of people sleeping in their cars, or on inflatable mattresses in parking spots, or just at a table in the rest stop's restaurants.  it was mass chaos.  I even had some guy walk up to the car in the middle of the night and just look at it and smile.  I wound down the window and apparently he was just admiring the car.  It would have been creepy if I wasn't half asleep.  I don't blame him though It was one sweet car.  Did I mention I brought one home?

Anyways, until next post. I might even talk more about the E-Crosser.