E Production Rx-7 Build
Looooooooong story.
Cliffnotes: A masters program + Internship is a lot of work with less then stellar benefits to put towards car. Car moved to the coast and is being built for a different class.
Cliffnotes: A masters program + Internship is a lot of work with less then stellar benefits to put towards car. Car moved to the coast and is being built for a different class.
Thread Starter
Fabrineer
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 976
Likes: 1
From: Charlotte, NC
The car is no longer an E-production build as Farberio said. I have been searching for a shop to put all of my fabrication tools. Currently, the car and the tools, are in storage. I have definite plans of finishing it, but need a place to work on it.
I moved to Charlotte, NC after getting my master's degree for a job down here. I have rotors from Carlos Lopez on the way, and am working on a design for an integrated variable length intake and slide throttle assembly, complete with CFD analysis to optimize the intake plumbing.
My build is being changed to a general track car, but that allows me to do this cool stuff with the intake. I have nearly completed the roll cage, but can't weld it at this point in time due to the work space constraints listed above. The new plans with the car are as follows:
-Dry sump
-10,000 RPM and associated mods to achieve this
-Ceramic apex seals
-CLR Racing rotors - scalloped, balanced, clearanced, and lightened 9.7:1 rotors
-A better transmission - either synchronized or dog-ring will do. Since I don't plan on racing this car anymore, I think I would prefer a synchro box due to ease of shifting and less maintenance. Does anyone know of a synchro box that can shift at 10,000 RPM? S2000 or Rx8 series 2? The associated issues with mating an s2000 transmission to a rotary can be overcome.
-Variable Length intake
-Slide throttle assembly
-Semi peripheral ports - Defined Autoworks has had awesome results from this setup on their 3 rotor, so I see no reason not to use it
-Drive by wire, mostly for better control of staging in the semi-peripheral ports seamlessly
-Custom data logging system... a couple guys at work have built one using an arduino board and I plan on following their lead on this one
-Custom controller for the drive by wire and variable length intake system. Hopefully to be integrated with the standalone engine management and datalogger.
-The suspension will likely stay as it is for now, but custom control arms, both front and rear, will come down the road. I currently have CAD data for the rear control arms since I took those to a coordinate measuring machine a few years back. Once I collect data on tire temperatures, this may be useful. Perhaps the only thing that needs to be done is to lighten them up? I'm not sure I can engineer better suspension than Mazda did, however.
That about sums it up for now. Sorry for keeping you guys on hold for a couple years.
I moved to Charlotte, NC after getting my master's degree for a job down here. I have rotors from Carlos Lopez on the way, and am working on a design for an integrated variable length intake and slide throttle assembly, complete with CFD analysis to optimize the intake plumbing.
My build is being changed to a general track car, but that allows me to do this cool stuff with the intake. I have nearly completed the roll cage, but can't weld it at this point in time due to the work space constraints listed above. The new plans with the car are as follows:
-Dry sump
-10,000 RPM and associated mods to achieve this
-Ceramic apex seals
-CLR Racing rotors - scalloped, balanced, clearanced, and lightened 9.7:1 rotors
-A better transmission - either synchronized or dog-ring will do. Since I don't plan on racing this car anymore, I think I would prefer a synchro box due to ease of shifting and less maintenance. Does anyone know of a synchro box that can shift at 10,000 RPM? S2000 or Rx8 series 2? The associated issues with mating an s2000 transmission to a rotary can be overcome.
-Variable Length intake
-Slide throttle assembly
-Semi peripheral ports - Defined Autoworks has had awesome results from this setup on their 3 rotor, so I see no reason not to use it
-Drive by wire, mostly for better control of staging in the semi-peripheral ports seamlessly
-Custom data logging system... a couple guys at work have built one using an arduino board and I plan on following their lead on this one
-Custom controller for the drive by wire and variable length intake system. Hopefully to be integrated with the standalone engine management and datalogger.
-The suspension will likely stay as it is for now, but custom control arms, both front and rear, will come down the road. I currently have CAD data for the rear control arms since I took those to a coordinate measuring machine a few years back. Once I collect data on tire temperatures, this may be useful. Perhaps the only thing that needs to be done is to lighten them up? I'm not sure I can engineer better suspension than Mazda did, however.
That about sums it up for now. Sorry for keeping you guys on hold for a couple years.
Thread Starter
Fabrineer
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 976
Likes: 1
From: Charlotte, NC
Guys, its been over a year since I did anything on this. I'm just getting back to her again. Here's the story:
-Had to finish my Master's degree, write my thesis, defend, etc.
-Got a job in North Carolina as an aerodynamicist using my degree in Aerspace Engineering and my focus, Computational Fluid Dynamics, for Pratt and Miller Corvette Racing. Awesome job.
-When I moved, I didn't know a single person here, especially one with a shop (props to GTORX7 for helping me out when I lived in Ohio!). Hence, the car and tools went into storage.
-Finally, I decided that I could rent 3 single car garages in my apartment complex and set up a fab shop in one, the car and toolbox in another, and use the third as storage.
-I decided that I'm not moving forward with building the car to E-Production rules. I recently ran a ChumpCar race, and while it was fun, I'm more into track days. If I feel the need to wheel-to-wheel race, I can always rent a ride with some work buddies running ChumpCar.
-Because I'm no longer planning on E-Production, I can now build the car as I see fit. So, I've decided to do several things:
(1) Build a more integrated (somewhat heavier than E-Production) roll cage. This will primarily be to increase the vehicle's torsional rigidity.
(2) I bought CLR racing rotors: lightened, balanced, race clearanced, and scalloped. With this, I plan to rev the engine to 10,000 RPM. All necessary systems must be upgraded, including dry sump, ceramic apex seals, and hardened stationary gears. The primary focus with the high rev limit is to increase power according to the power equation: HP = Torque * RPM / 5252. Keeping peak torque constant, power rises linearly with RPM. Obviously, the work is in achieving the same peak torque at a higher RPM as you can at a lower RPM.
(3) The power increase will require a shorter intake manifold. However, I am interested in making a variable length intake manifold to increase torque at lower RPM ranges, without sacrificing peak torque at the designed peak torque RPM. This will be integrated with a slide throttle assembly to reduce (eliminate) energy losses in the flow across the throttle valve at wide open throttle.
(4) Because I don't have to run E-Production rules, I can now run a radiator vented through the hood. This causes a considerable increase in front down force, and one does not want more down force in the front than rear. Therefore, I need to do aerodynamic analysis on the vehicle to aerdynamically balance the car. I am not shooting for GT car levels of down force; rather, I want a balanced vehicle. Think along the lines of skirts, a diffuser, and a small spoiler, or wale-tail. No wings with airfoil cross sections.
(5) I am still retaining the E-production wide body kit, because I like the way the AWR kit looks, its well made, and I already own it, ha! I don't want a giantly-wide car.
(6) Again, because I don't have to follow the E-Production rule set, I can put 17" wheels on the car, for appearance, availability of tires, and to fit larger brakes under the car to accomodate the higher horsepower realized by the engine that does not have to follow E-production rules. Balance is the key here, not to put huge brakes on it. But 17" rims on an FC look good.
Anyway, I'll be posting pictures of my garage set up first, and then some pics of the roll cage. I have made progress on it since I last posted. I owe you guys some pics :-P
-Had to finish my Master's degree, write my thesis, defend, etc.
-Got a job in North Carolina as an aerodynamicist using my degree in Aerspace Engineering and my focus, Computational Fluid Dynamics, for Pratt and Miller Corvette Racing. Awesome job.
-When I moved, I didn't know a single person here, especially one with a shop (props to GTORX7 for helping me out when I lived in Ohio!). Hence, the car and tools went into storage.
-Finally, I decided that I could rent 3 single car garages in my apartment complex and set up a fab shop in one, the car and toolbox in another, and use the third as storage.
-I decided that I'm not moving forward with building the car to E-Production rules. I recently ran a ChumpCar race, and while it was fun, I'm more into track days. If I feel the need to wheel-to-wheel race, I can always rent a ride with some work buddies running ChumpCar.
-Because I'm no longer planning on E-Production, I can now build the car as I see fit. So, I've decided to do several things:
(1) Build a more integrated (somewhat heavier than E-Production) roll cage. This will primarily be to increase the vehicle's torsional rigidity.
(2) I bought CLR racing rotors: lightened, balanced, race clearanced, and scalloped. With this, I plan to rev the engine to 10,000 RPM. All necessary systems must be upgraded, including dry sump, ceramic apex seals, and hardened stationary gears. The primary focus with the high rev limit is to increase power according to the power equation: HP = Torque * RPM / 5252. Keeping peak torque constant, power rises linearly with RPM. Obviously, the work is in achieving the same peak torque at a higher RPM as you can at a lower RPM.
(3) The power increase will require a shorter intake manifold. However, I am interested in making a variable length intake manifold to increase torque at lower RPM ranges, without sacrificing peak torque at the designed peak torque RPM. This will be integrated with a slide throttle assembly to reduce (eliminate) energy losses in the flow across the throttle valve at wide open throttle.
(4) Because I don't have to run E-Production rules, I can now run a radiator vented through the hood. This causes a considerable increase in front down force, and one does not want more down force in the front than rear. Therefore, I need to do aerodynamic analysis on the vehicle to aerdynamically balance the car. I am not shooting for GT car levels of down force; rather, I want a balanced vehicle. Think along the lines of skirts, a diffuser, and a small spoiler, or wale-tail. No wings with airfoil cross sections.
(5) I am still retaining the E-production wide body kit, because I like the way the AWR kit looks, its well made, and I already own it, ha! I don't want a giantly-wide car.
(6) Again, because I don't have to follow the E-Production rule set, I can put 17" wheels on the car, for appearance, availability of tires, and to fit larger brakes under the car to accomodate the higher horsepower realized by the engine that does not have to follow E-production rules. Balance is the key here, not to put huge brakes on it. But 17" rims on an FC look good.
Anyway, I'll be posting pictures of my garage set up first, and then some pics of the roll cage. I have made progress on it since I last posted. I owe you guys some pics :-P
is all I have to say
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