Gar Posted May 7, 2011 Author Share Posted May 7, 2011 (edited) Had several "Magiver Hour" mods on the drive train in the last few days... even thought we were busted past repair, but managed to patch bits back up for a start at least. I'm now looking forward to a serious failure cause right after that.... it's beer time. The core mistake I made was the overdrive in the gear case. What this did was concentrate all the torque issues into the gear cluster, freewheeler, and input shaft. I busted pins and sprockets, then dealt with chain/sprocket wrap and my chain jumping teeth. I finally (and shamefully) eliminated the rear suspension so that I could get rid of all the chain slack. Now all my race start probs are gone, but my race end problem showed itself.... I actually bent the 3/4 diff case input shaft! I straightened it and put an ouboard bearing on the other side of the sprocket, and beefed up the derailure spider to take that new load. I expect the shaft to deteriorate and maybe even break off where it had been bending, but as I said, that signals beer time. Overall, it has been a very fun activity.... race day tomorrow, the car is on the trailer tonight. The event will get some fluff news time, so if I see a clip, I'll post a link. Gar Edited May 7, 2011 by Gar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gar Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 Beautiful day for the race. Musta been 30 entries. I trailed the field in a golf cart with tools and drinks. I really believed we'd be out of it on the first hill, but our machine and our "pilots" delivered a very impressive showing. The course is 15 miles long. We powered along losing a few places from our LeMans start, but passing several broken racers through city streets and neighborhoods 9 miles to the park where a couple of tough sections were set to foil the vehicles. We hit the sand pit at 20mph sending a shower of sand into the air and the faces of the first two peddlers' faces and were still going on the other side. The chain jumped out of its track and required a screwdriver and hammer to dislodge it where to wedged in a guide. I told the guys it's time to replace those crunched links, but they wanted to keep going till it broke. The next hazard was the up-hill mud pit, and it was huge. I hopped off the cart to aid in the push, but everyone was going so fast, I could only watch em go.... airborne at the speed hump that kept the goo contained, then splat!, dead in the middle with a slosh of mud the coated spectators three deep into the crowd. Well, our rider's adrenaline must have reached its peak trying to peddle through because they cleaned the drive collar smooth where thread used to be, rendering our racer unable to finish under peddle power. I hooked a strap to the golf cart and pulled em through the remaining miles of the course, getting many jeers from the sidewalk and the other racers. Our bar team hosted the finish line party beer at the museum. There were burgers, dogs, chicken, salads, and pastries for everyone....sunburned faces, rubbery legs, costumes in wet and tattered condition, and many many well earned grins and high fives. Gar We'll be back next year with beefier parts and a new theme vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spridget Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Awesome work Gar! Looks like a ton of fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gar Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share Posted May 9, 2011 Gar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gar Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 Long, but amusing clip of the worse parts of the course to get through. Gar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gar Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 Recap of the killer failure. Nearly all bikes employ a thread on the rear hub where the sprocket cluster screws on. I'd cut a rear hub and mounted it to my gear case input. The tension of four guys on the chain trying to turn that input through those threads was too much, and they stripped. The bar owner wanted to display it near his place, so I welded it hard, early last week when I took this picture, so it can be peddled back and forth from a secure parking location. Close inspection revealed that the freewheeling bearing balls had also begun busting out of their races. I think we'll use the same frame next year, but I'll look for a tranny to use on it by then, plus, I'll use a small sprocket on the input shaft, inside the case. All your interest was very gratifying... that and the build made this a lot of fun. Gar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gar Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 I'm really surprised the thread still gets views. I'm building a car for this year's race and set up an entry for it. http://www.fordcontour.org/topic/14342-this-years-kinetic-sculpture-race-vehicle-build/ It's a link to my Kelmark gallery page. The pix are located here. http://kelmarkgt.freeforums.org/gar-s-2012-kinetic-sculpture-t190.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gar Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Link to the 2012 vehicle build. http://kelmarkgt.freeforums.org/gar-s-2012-kinetic-sculpture-t190.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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