MWHS Green Team

Shell 

We began by marking where the shell would be cut. We utilized plastic strips, cut one inch thick, and mapped out the basic bottom frame. We cut the shell down into a more managable and desirable shape. We cut the shell down using an angle grinder with a cutting wheel and a compressed air cutting tool.

 

Bottom Frame

We made the bottom frame by matching up the plastic strips to the metal pieces. We tacked the metal pieces together that were held in place with wooden jigs.

 

Side pieces

We made the side pieces by securing the top shell with brackets. We then used PVC pipe to get the proper shape, length, and angle. We then cut out the supports from round stock.

 

Top Frame

We made the top frame by connecting the side supports, assuring it also fit the shell. We used the pipe bender to make the complex curves of our car, using only a single bar. When the top bar was in place, we tacked the side supports to the car. At this point, the car was starting to take shape, and we could start to see our vision coming to life.

 

Roll Cage 

The roll cage was made in a similar manner as the top bar. We formed the bars to fit the shell. We bent two round bars into the shape of the arc and then tacked them in. Following the six inch rule, we added in latteral supports on the roll cage using triangle arrangments.

 

Welding

When all of the components were tacked in place, we had Adam weld the frame together. He spent four hours welding the frame together. Everything that added structure or a function to the car had to be welded.

 

Seat 

Tj designed the seat and then installed it. He used one of our scrap roll cage bars for the seat arch. He bent it to fit into the car. We used some of the left over perferated steel to make the rest of the seat, and then we reinforced the seat with a support bar.

 

Floor 

We used perferated steel for the floor. We marked out the shape of the floor with masking tape, and then used the plasma cutter to cut it out. We then tacked the floor onto the car.

 

Rear Bracket

We went to the storage unit to look at some of the previous cars that Millard West had built to gather ideas about the rear bracket. We created a rough draft and then went to work. TJ, Connor, and Dave constructed the back.

 

Suspension

We used an existing suspension kit. We centered it perpendicular to the frame, and then tacked it into place. After everything was in place we fully welded the suspension in place.

 

Paint

We painted the car frame after it was all welded into place using black matte spray paint. The task was completed outside.

 

Spindels

The spindles needed to be custom made so they would fit the dimensions of the other parts. We had to line them up perfectly so that the car would turn without error.

 

Wheels

The wheels were the easy part of the car. We had to make sure that they were angled so that the wheels don't snap off when making sharp tunrs.

 

Brakes

After mounting the brakes we needed to connect them to our pedals. It took a little while but we figured out a configuration that would work and we istalled the brake lines. After the lines were installed we needed to tighten and strengthen the brakes. 

 

Accelerator 

We needed to connect the accelerator to the pedal. We needed to make an l bracket to mount the accelerator to the car and allow the arm to move. We made the bracket, attached it to the car, and connected the arm to the pedal. 

 

Wiring 

We wired up the car and made sure that it ran. We went through and checked all the connections and made sure that they were tight and secure. 

 

Test Drive 

After all the wiring was completed we were able to make our first test run. This first test run showed us a few things that we needed to work on in order to make the car run better and to be safer overall, primarily we found out the brakes needed a lot more adjusting. Once we fixed these problems we took all four of the teams cars on a team race. We cleared out a parking lot and ran the cars for an hour. Our car was the best car there that day as two cars lost power very rapidly, and another one would not run at all. This test run was a suprise as our car (the heaviest) was keeping pace with our advanced car, and lapped the black car twice.