How Jury Rigged is Your Car?

[Jo-Jo the Circus Boy]

How is everyone's car doing now that its 3 and a half months since competition. I know our car has places where it is being held together by jb weld and structural hose clamps. What's the most jury rigged thing your team has done to your car to keep it going for a few extra weekends of testing?

[Jo-Jo the Circus Boy]

How is everyone's car doing now that its 3 and a half months since competition. I know our car has places where it is being held together by jb weld and structural hose clamps. What's the most jury rigged thing your team has done to your car to keep it going for a few extra weekends of testing?

[Skeeter]

We patched a leak in our fuel line with quick steel, who knew that stuff could handle 50 psi.

[Willy]

http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_eek.gif http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_mad.gif http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_mad.gif http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_eek.gif
We bent one of our a-arms one day at the track so we drove over it with a truck to straighten it.

[Fuji]

HAHAHA we built our own Duct Tape brand 5 point harness one day testing because we forgot our belts http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_eek.gif

[Fuji]

oh yes and we also used half a bottle of grey goose as extra fuel just to get in afew extra laps....top that one! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

[gug]

this isnt really jury-rigged, but we managed to catch a valve seat that flew out the exhaust. in typical australian style, we said "she'll be right mate" and went on to put a valve straight through a piston. big bloody surprise. for the record, i wasnt there when this happened, and i was not the one who said she'll be right.
other than that, the '02 car probably had about 200 zip-ties on it, it really was a piece of artwork.

- if it isnt coming, you need a bigger tool.

[Andy K]

For us the question is whether the car was jury rigged during the comp... Just as our second driver for the autocross hit the starter button, some ethanol vapour ignited in our CF intake plenum, blowing it clean off our intake runners. Luckily I had gone to pick up the free sample bag of Loctite goodies, so we used just about every product in there as well as a few zip ties. We proceeded to set fifth fastest autocross time when we started her up again. We've only broken a halfshaft since, but that's about to be repaired. Other than that... no problems. Sorry guys! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_razz.gif http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Andris Kanins
McGill Racing Team - Body Design

[Skeeter]

haha anybody else have a story

[Garbo]

Our intake blew itself into little bits at a local auto-x. With 5 mins to our next driver, we slapped the little btis together with duct tape, taped in the map and set the fastest time of the day... the neat thing about a duct tape plennum is that it is variable volume.

[A Reinke]

we have a story...took the car out to its first autocross here in IL, and the first driver makes a run in it, all good. as he's leaving the course, he cuts a corner too sharp around a fence post at the track entrance, and rips the rear wheel off the freaking car. tore the upright rod ends, bent the toe-link mount on the frame, and pulled the driveshaft out of the rear end.

needless to say, i didn't get to drive that day. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

its fixed now though, welded back up and replaced the square tube at the frame. suspension setup is way off, but hey, it'll run probably. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

~Adam

[DoItDoug]

We had a whole weekend full of jury rigging last week...jury rigged the whole car right around a freakin' LIGHT POLE!! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_mad.gif Take a look...

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/lrains/Accident%20Pictogram.ppt

(It's in powerpoint, so just open it...Enjoy)

Doug Temple
'02 VT FSAE
www.vtmotorsports.com (http://www.vtmotorsports.com)

[Brent Howard]

That sucks Doug. Hope that the damage can be fixed. Good luck

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

[Chris Boyden]

Ouch http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_redface.gif....and I thought we had problems at the parking lot this last weekend. That's definitely a big bummer.

[Terry]

We popped out a bearing on the driveshaft U-joint because I lost the clip and tried to wire it in. No damage, but can't find the bearing anywhere!

[El Mug]

Hi, whit our 2002 car, we run over a sidewalk about 15cm high and half meter long, we broke the carter, and the A-arms, and that really sucks. By th way Doug, I can open your picture, and Ì`m really curious.

Equipo F-SAE USB
Electronics

[Andy K]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by El Mug:
By th way Doug, I can open your picture, and Ì`m really curious.

Equipo F-SAE USB
Electronics<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>BTW, it's a full Power Point presentation, not just a picture...

Andris Kanins
McGill Racing Team
2002/2003 Body Design
2003/2004 Suspension

[ethanL007]

wow, that light pole sucks.
note to self; dont show to advisor.

Ethan Lessard
Team Captain
UNH Precision Racing
www.domesticpc.com/fsae (http://www.domesticpc.com/fsae)

[karter]

hate to ask but, how close is the "track" to the pole?

[gug]

jeeze, how bruised up was your driver? anything broken? (on the driver that is, its pretty obvious stuff is broken on the car...)

- if it isnt coming, you need a bigger tool.

[Frank]

is that basketball court.. and you've gone off the court through the fence, and into the pole?

ouchies

regards

frank

[zorr0]

We once had an incident with a fire and built a plenum almost entirely out of a gatorade bottle and duct tape. It had an adjustable vacuum leak, as the cap was still sticking out the end. I also have bits of a Mountain Dew can shimming the rack. It was a quick fix in Detroit, but they're still there.



http://www.auburn.edu/~zornmat/eagleside.jpg

http://www.auburn.edu/~zornmat/pics/img_0399.jpg]

[DoItDoug]

Hey Guys,
I thought you all might get a kick out of that. Well, the situation with the VT car never should have turned out the way it did. We were doing driver training for the new team members and the throttle body spring got stuck for one of them. We think the spring uncoiled just enough over the last year or so to get caught (tough to explain). Anyway, he locked up the fronts, didn't pull the clutch, and skidded a LONG way, in a VERY straight line, to the fence. The track, which is in a large parking lot) was well laid out (the VT police always check our safety procedures). Anyway, the driver walked away with no injuries (except a few slaps to the back of the head by team members). However, the chassis help up incredibly well. Granted, we'll never be able to take suspension data off of it again, but for the most part, everything behind the front shock bulkhead is OK. She'll live again...

Doug Temple
'02 VT FSAE
www.vtmotorsports.com (http://www.vtmotorsports.com)

[Michael Jones]

Wow...crash is even more spectacular than ours. Although your timing was better. Better to wrap yourself around a light pole in early September than early May.

Pics of that are up on our website now I believe.

---
Michael Jones
Coordinator, Student Project Teams, College of Engineering

Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[EliseS2]

We have a very large chunk of wood inside our engine block. Yes wood. Yes it is there on purpose.

[Brent Howard]

What is the wood for? Post pics if you have them.

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

[Michael Jones]

Slow-burning fuel cell, I'm guessing.

---
Michael Jones
Coordinator, Student Project Teams, College of Engineering

Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[Matt Gignac]

Seriously dude, why is there Wood in your engine? Was it part of the original design or some quick fix

[Frank]

ummm,

i kinda designed this sway bar,

and i wanted 1 bar and 2 different pairs of arms, they were to have small splines.

problem is, i made the parts, and then found out that no-one in AUS can cut splines that small. 32/64 14 spline

one guy offered to EDM the internals, but the cost was high.

I considered the idea of an interferance fit and TIG welding them together.

I gave them to a trademan at uni to weld up,

he machines the interferance away and locktights them together http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

so (in a rush to drive) we decided to oxy weld 'em togther. The sealed bearings kinda caught on fire.

we'll find out 2morrow if it works

Frank

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

HAHAHA found this in the search,
to the top with this one as competition is a week away

[MikeDutsa]

we only have had one bad wreck this year, and is was just a 6in curb at like 15mph. a few bent rodends was all.

[Dr Claw]

Um...i'm gonna have to get back to this thread later tonight for part two of this post, but we crashed our 2000 car sunday (almost all back together actually), and have had an absolute SLEW of issues with our 2006 car this year.

but anyways, we were testing a mock turbo system on our 2005 car earlier this year and held our fuel rail on with hose clamps, and what we like to call structural bark. The bark/landscaping-mulch spaced off the fuel rail from the plennum so the hose clamps wouldnt pull the injectors clear out. thing ran for upwards of 30 hours like that. i'll post pictures soon.

The funny part though, is that our turbo guy had damper bump stops in first, and moved to the structural bark after taking the system apart and then losing the bump stops.

[JR @ CFS]

two days before the FS UK comp last year we were testing a different rear sproket. After four laps the chain decided it no longer wanted to be a part of our team. It put a hole in the crank case...that was the start of the nightmare that was QFR's '05 competition. We put the engine back together with a bit of JB weld. It bent the output sproket and caused a small oil leak which was picked up in the tilt test. She eventually wet herself during the sprint and spread most of our oil over the track. After a hurried 2 hour engine change, thats cams et al, we set a decent enough time on cold everything. Come the endurance, we got one flying lap out of 6 with the rest being blocked by slower cars and then eventually a short out with the emergency cut off switch and our firewall :S That was the end to our challenge. I wonder how they are getting on this year http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dr Claw:
Um...i'm gonna have to get back to this thread later tonight for part two of this post, but we crashed our 2000 car sunday (almost all back together actually), and have had an absolute SLEW of issues with our 2006 car this year.

but anyways, we were testing a mock turbo system on our 2005 car earlier this year and held our fuel rail on with hose clamps, and what we like to call structural bark. The bark/landscaping-mulch spaced off the fuel rail from the plennum so the hose clamps wouldnt pull the injectors clear out. thing ran for upwards of 30 hours like that. i'll post pictures soon.

The funny part though, is that our turbo guy had damper bump stops in first, and moved to the structural bark after taking the system apart and then losing the bump stops. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

where is part two?
me and another guy were pissed about discovered lackage of money to go to competition and drinking at the time of reading this the ease the pain, we laughed for prob 5 minutes about the structural bark!

[Dr Claw]

I'm going to have to hunt down pictures of the structural bark for you....im kinda embarrassed that i dont have pictures of it on my computer, being the picture fiend that i am. In the mean time, enjoy these:

Pic 1 (http://community.webshots.com/photo/548106081/2081946530074791088PfoSal)

Pic 2 (http://community.webshots.com/photo/548106081/2283674190074791088uInzWa) You might have seen this one..

Pic 3 (http://community.webshots.com/photo/548106081/2718808600074791088UYGaia)

Pic 4 (http://community.webshots.com/photo/548106081/2553620240074791088oPayuV)

Pic 5 (http://community.webshots.com/photo/548106081/2930400290074791088StwIaW)

Pic 6 (http://community.webshots.com/photo/548106081/2284231350074791088pRkYTJ)

Thats right, Lawrence Tech-*no-logic*-al University. stop by and see us at comp http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[57JoeFoMoPar]

as well engineered as some of the stuff on our 06 car is, there is an equal amount of stuff that is a complete clusterf*ck.

Pedal box was slapped together as a temporary fix for a poor design, then left alone since it never broke. it's still in there and doing just fine.

ghetto-engineered steering set-up that has worked better than we could have ever imagined.

Our car was built on a wing and a prayer. Nothing wrong with jury-rigging if it works

[Jersey Tom]

Its amazing how the shit that's rigged up the last two weeks before competition works better than anything else that's been made all year. And looks GOOD.

[RonBurgundy01]

Tom,

I have to argue with you that stuff done in the last 2 weeks does not always A) Work and B) Look Good.

Last year one of our guys decided on a last minute steering system change to a variable ackerman arrangement. Not sure if your familiar with it but it involves a top mounted rack with some tie rods that join into a clevis. This clevis is attached to a vertical shaft with a clevis on the bottom (around the height of the steering pickup on the upright) then a steering rod runs from this vertical pole to the upright. (On both sides of the car).

This system can actually work if done correctly, however in the last week before the comp with running on nothing but pizza and red bull the brain is not really working properly. He decided to use the same material to make the steering system as what was used on the anti roll members! HAHA! Hows that! Using material that is DESIGNED to flex to run a steering system. I am sure you can visualize the results!

I feel good knowing that i was not involved with that particular design and i feel a hell of a lot safer knowing that the guy responsible for it is no longer in the team!

Also, at the minute our new chassis is partially welded to the point of being able to see the overall shape but everything else is held in place with duct tape. WORKS A TREAT! Not sure that anyone who comes to look at the cars progress thinks the same though. HAHA. Especially our head of school!

Cheers All

Matt

[StoopidSavant]

http://stoopidsavant.com/v-web/gallery/albums/050420rfr/Img_7057.sized.jpg

[Dr Claw]

Structural Bark!

http://community.webshots.com/photo/548106081/2792804130074791088CIzWGq

It's a real close up, but we ran it like that until...we stopped running it like that. i dont remember the exact reason for not running that car anymore.

[Jersey Tom]

Dude, bark and hoseclamps? Awesome!!

I woulda given you guys a 130 in design. Creative use of 'engineering' materials

[Dr Claw]

that car did make semis at detroit, just didnt have the..landscaping materials or the turbo for that mater.

I remmeber why we took that car apart now though... We stripped the frame to get it powdercoated for the NAIAS last year http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_mad.gif. That car has never run since.

[pengulns2001]

hey the bark and hoseclamps worked great... i was trying to convert that car from NA to Turbo in 1 week... i had to cut some corners but it worked http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Dash]

Digging this one up cause its hilarious.

We lost our old impact attenuator right before competition one year ( the crash tested one ) and tried to make a replacement using cardboard and Great Stuff expanding foam.

Looking back on it, I about cried laughing it was so ridiculous.

[AxelRipper]

well there were 2 very important things that managed to get us through competition this year that most people will look at strange. These we affectionately refer to as the DP racing designs after our chief engineers (Chris D, and Louis P).

The first, which was done last year at competition as well, is the DP starter kit. This involves using extra parts to create the necessary extra force to get the car hot started during endurance. I would like to divulge more information, but it is a highly classified system.

And the second, which came about in the weeks leading up to competition this year is the DP intake, otherwise knows as the Double-Down fuel system. Due to the fact that we could not get the car to start reliably on fuel injection, we decided to put the carburetor back on the engine. However, due to the problems of running a carburetor inches in front of a restrictor, we would wind up going lean. A lot. So what do we decide to do? Add a fuel injector down stream! Brilliant!

Unfortunately, I have no real good pictures of how incredible the series of tubes used for it are. The first one is the intake itself, the second you can kinda see all the lines in the back of the car.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5857953&id=648196759

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5937924&id=648196759

[woodsy96]

I like it (except the duct tape belts. That's just asking for trouble).

We took our '04 car out a couple of months ago, but had some cooling issues due to no sidepods.

Soggy corragated cardboard + ice cream container lid + duct tape = pretty good inlet ducting.

I believe Jimmy has some photos...

[Ockham]

There's a guy on our team who always gets cold feet right before endurance, and duct tapes the snot out of our Road Warriors. Our shiny endurance PR photos are marred by an eighteen-inch (30cm) strip of racer's tape up the right-hand side of the nose cone. The nose cone wasn't a problem - that car ran out of gas with four laps to go. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

@Dr Claw: Looked over those photos of the cracked block, and it has me worried about the two-stage Pace C6 pump on our engine. Please tell me the F4i casting is thinner in that location, or that you guys use some gonzo-heavy pump (Dailey, for example). Our first-gen dry sump worked fine (until one of our guys set the main oil feed on a 2x4), and I'd hate to have it go pear-shaped on us.

[Mikey Antonakakis]

At the 09 competition:
"Oh crap I don't want it to rain into my vertically-oriented throttle body! Let me find some cardboard, duct tape, and some plastic emergency ponchos and build a nice roof for it." Some jerk from another team was making snide remarks about it to me, but hey, it worked.

I also designed and built a muffler this year, didn't have time to fully pack it or weld it internally, so it rattles like crazy at low rpm, but sounds great at speed. It was also too loud. I anticipated this, and designed it so if I needed, I could add another muffler in series and still have both fit in one sidepod. Went from 117dB with one muffler to 109.2dB with 2 mufflers, for the cost of a few pounds situated at the bottom of the main roll hoop and about an hour of my time to lay out, cut, weld, and assemble it, woohoo! We missed accel and skidpad by about 30 minutes, but I blame that on the hours we were set back on the way there when the truck got a flat tire. The perfect fit in the sidepod was also helped by our ENORMOUS body, but hey, we didn't have time to shave all that foam from our body mold. I don't think any part of our body shell was within two inches of any part of the chassis, except the mounting points. Oh well.

[AxelRipper]

well my post finally showed up, but the pictures did not.