After Finalizing our design and acquiring a large rod of 7075 Aluminum, our hubs were machined fully in under 3 days.  This is how it was done:

1) The rod was cut into four pieces here in the Dalhousie machine shop.

2) Technicians Albert and Mark power through and rough out two hubs each in under 4 hours, making some serious chips:

3) Hubs are taken to SureShot Dispensing Systems to get brake rotor, drive stud and tripod housing profiles CNC cut as well as slots for retaining single lug nuts by Brian and Steve.

4) Threads and finish work is done back at Dalhousie by Mark and the hubs are ready to go! these things are insanely light!

Tripod housings have been CMM’d (coordinate measuring machine) by Rob Warner in the advanced manufacturing department. This machine automatically scans the profile of the housing taking coordinate measurements at each point and ultimately providing us with the outside profile. This exact profile allows us to CNC our hubs to give a tight fit around the housings and properly transmit power and torque to our wheels. Thanks Rob!

Diff Mounts are half complete with the chain tensioning disks fully machined. These are what hold the bearings which retain our limited slip, clutch pack differential. Machining by Mark MacDonald and design by Damon Surgenor.

Our newly designed intake, exhaust and engine control systems have provided 9.4% more area under the horsepower curve in comparison to last years package. We have also achieved a max power of 74hp and a max torque of 40.2 ft-lbs. Check it out:

Black Graphite header wrap turned white with heat, intake looking sharp

GoPro pictures edited by Andy

Thermal Imaging of the exhaust to help trim cylinders individually and of the intake to ensure it would not melt or fail. Thanks to Brennan and GasTOPS for lending us their thermal camera and expertise.

Videos to come soon…

See below for some pictures of powertrain updates:

New dry sump oil pump is in from one of our sponsors, Dailey Engineering. It looks and fits really well.

Intake is painted and clear-coated to protect surface. With a gold eagle carefully painted it is starting to come to life

Wrapping the headers for heat insulation to reduce heat in the engine compartment and increase exhaust gas velocity

Headers completely wrapped and ready to re-install on engine. Black graphite header wrap sponsored by Thermotec. Stainless steel collars turned a nice gold color once they saw some heat

Intake and Exhaust assembled and ready for final testing

After the engine and engine computer (ECU) were completely wired, we had to set the master spark timing which tells the ECU when the first piston is at top dead center. This was found by investigating our spare engine internals and using a timing light while cranking our new engine over.

After a few days with no sleep, the engine is finally wired and ready to dyno test. See below for pictures of:

Wiring (new Motec M400 ECU with custom labels heat shrunk for easy trouble shooting)

Fuel tank fabrication (internal baffles to prevent sloshing during cornering, braking and accelerating)

Intake primed and painted

Adjusting the engines cam position reference for top dead center and final dyno setup

March 2nd: Exhaust headers are finished! Some pretty snazzy welds from our main man Albert!

.

Feb 26th: Primaries tacked in and ready for final welding!

Feb 20th: Exhaust fabrication is well under way with exhaust collars machined and primary tubes cut.

See below for some pictures of our frame fabrication progress and renders of our most up to date CAD assembly. We expect to have the frame finished next week and begin assembling components!

Things are really starting to come along here! The team has finalized the design of the frame and body. See below for the latest rendering.

In order to compare the performance of this years engine package we needed baseline HP and Torque curves from the 2011 car. To do this we ran the 2011 car on our schools engine dyno. Once we have fabricated all of the parts for this years engine package we will compare the two.

The 2011-2012 team is currently designing a barrel style throttle body for this years car.  The team used a butterfly style throttle body last year. The new throttle body is currently being rapid prototyped for testing. Key features of the new design are:

-No restriction from throttle plate at wide open throttle

-Rotational actuation with simple assembly

Cad model and rapid prototype process can be seen below.

The team is nearing completion of the 2011-2012 frame design. it will be fairly similar to last years frame with several changes including:

-Rear bulkhead widened to bring rear sprocket in which will reduce misalignment in driveshafts

-Drivers cell lengthened to allow more room for driver’s knees around steering wheel

Here is a render of the frame design so far with a conceptual nose cone…

Render by: Corey Ireland

The 2011 competition vehicle’s frame has been finalized and sent out for manufacturing by Cartesian Tube Profiling. The team expects to begin welding the profiled tubes in January.

The Atlantic Formula Racing Association has a wealth of experience with regards to the design, fabrication and setting up of open wheel racers. As a group of enthusiasts who build, maintain and race Formula-style cars, their insight is invaluable to our team. To find out more about the Atlantic Formula Racing Association, visit their website at:

http://www.atlanticformularacing.com