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The New Westfield Project - one year on......


fatbaldbloke

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Very clever... and does it all work as planned?

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Cool, just curious though, can you not apply the filtering over time or adjust the sample rate to a live analogue input on the Aim dash? Or did you just decide to centralise all the processing in the one outboard box for simplicity?

I did look at this but I couldn't see in the documentation for my version of the Mychron3 that I could change the displayed sample rate to the live dash display. You can change it in the download so the data trace on the laptop is damped. I could have missed it, but I looked quite carefully, and once we'd determined the concept it wasn't a great deal of work to turn it into reality. It's quite neat being self contained though, if I want to tweak the sample rate or output voltage etc we can just reprogram the chipset.

Very clever... and does it all work as planned?

The truth is I don't know. I'm still finishing the car off and I don't want to use it much until I've had the geo set and the protective film put on the carbon bits on 6th August. It's quite a simple concept really, and with both the microprocessor in the back and the Aim dash being programmable we should be able to tune it to work quite well.

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Excellent, I love these little "mini-projects"; I've got one I'd love to do myself, just haven't a clue how to. :down::blush::suspect:

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That's a really clever idea and sounds like it gets round the problem well. Will be interesting to hear how it works, but can't see it not working as you have got so much adjustability available.

It could be worth selling to McLaren, they run out of Fuel every now and then also Ferrari :d:p:d

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The only bit I understood about all that was..........

"and fuelled by a couple of pints of Adnams finest"

The best beer made. Now what was all this about a fuel gauge?

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Nearly finished now. This week I've changed the mirrors for a pair that are a little bit elevated. I felt that the view with the original pair was a little limited, much happier now.

m220712001.jpg

I've finished the central carbon panel for the boot. If I'm honest it's not my finest piece close up. It was right at the end of the carbon roll and the weave was a little loose so not perfectly uniform, mind you it proves it's real and not di-noc...

m220712002.jpg

Next, and something I really don't enjoy, was to make the kevlar sump guard. It's just a flat sheet to be bolted under the dry sump where the original aluminium floor had been cut away. Here's the panel, made up from 4 plies. I hate trimming this stuff, it's hard work and it doesn't trim nicely it just goes hairy around the edges and looks pants. Mind you it does the job, tough as anything.

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And here's the "finished" bit in place. At least I don't have to look at it. It's just good to know it's there and protecting the expensive engine over speed bumps and the like.

m220712004.jpg

Left to do is to make a carbon pedal cover. I'll knock up a mould and have a go at that this week. I also need to upgrade the Aim dash/datalogger firmware and tweak the sensor settings as I replaced a couple during the rewiring. I'm having a bit of a challenge connecting to a pc at the moment, which is a tad embarrasing as I work in IT, but it's just another hurdle to be crossed. Then it's off to NMS and Radical Engines for setting up.

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I hadn't really planned on using the car until NMS have set up the suspension geometry properly in a couple of week's time as I've only set it up quickly with a spirit level and some fishing line on my non-flat garage floor...but the weather was so nice and the Northants Group had arranged a blat out to the Earls Barton classic car evening, it just had to be done.

m250712001.jpg

I left with a list of "debug" jobs to do.

Re-route the throttle cable as it stuck once, fortunately only at a fast idle.

Calibrate the temperature gauges. My instinct is the oil is about right but the water is showing higher than it's actually running.

Set the water pump threshold a little lower as the fan thermostat is coming on before the pump.

Calibrate the speedo - can I really have passed everything on the A45 just doing 60???

Look forward to NMS sorting the geometry, it wasn't bad but a little loose, a bit sensitive to bumps.

Brakes need bedding in.

On the good side everything else was fine, nothing actually fell off even after a quite spirited drive home, I only stalled it twice... and the homemade digital fuel gauge worked an absolute treat.

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How's the Adnams beer gauge?

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FBB - its a lovely car and great to see it in the flesh.... pictures dont do it justice - it's a corker!!! James

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How's the Adnams beer gauge?

Original post now corrected...

...and the homemade digital beer gauge worked an absolute treat.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Went to NMS this morning for the full geo and corner weighting. In reality it wasn't that far out with my spirit level and string, but just enough to be nicely noticeable on the way back.

In full road trim, half a tank of fuel, two seats, the later chunky RAC roll bar, extra diff bracing, reverse motor, fire extinguisher, lights, etc it weighed in at 485 kg. I don't really know how that compares to other road busa's, but with the power available at that weight I know it's quite lively... :)

I'm not going to post the corner weights, as that was with me in the driver's seat, but let's say that if I wanted to shed 20kg the obvious place to look would be the beer and pies department...

I then went onto Daventry this afternoon and had some 3M protective film fitted to the rear wheel arches to keep the stone chips at bay.

Just the carbon pedal cover to make now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had to go into work on Saturday, the weather was glorious, so the 'Busa had a run out. One of the other guys in work is a keen "snapper" and took this photo in the car park, with the scenic backdrop from a Milton Keynes industrial estate...

m18082012001.jpg

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I Thought the same but more corgi! interesting photo on those MK blocks!

and a great car

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One final bit to make, and that's the carbon pedal cover. For the amateur this is quite a tricky bit as it has a compound shape with the clearance bulge that goes over the steering column...which is why I've left it till last. :)

So, first thing was to make a pattern. This may not be the classical technique but I've started with making the basic shape with some abs plastic sheet on a wood frame. I've then cut a piece of plastic pipe and wrapped it in a clear film to make the bulge. All finished with some filleting wax to blend the corners.

m260812007.jpg

I've then used Easy Composites Unimould system to make the mould. After waxing the pattern the first stage is to brush on the gel coat. Next is a fine layer of fibre glass and the coupling coat.

m260812006.jpg

After that comes four layers of coarser fibreglass in the filled resin layer, which completes the mould

m260812005.jpg

All that's left when it's removed from the pattern is a rub down with 1200 wet paper and a polish.

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