McLaren F1 (Virtual) Build

McLaren F1 (Virtual) Build

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crosseyedlion

Original Poster:

2,170 posts

197 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
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Hi all

Not quite sure where to put this on PH, but with my TVR almost finished I'm beginning to embark on a whole different sort of project.

A (Virtual) build of a Mclaren F1.

"What the hell does that mean?" I hear you ask, In essence its a very good excuse/driver to research and reverse engineer as much about my absolute dream car as possible. At the same time enhancing the basic CAD skills I'm starting out with (As an active automotive engineer, these are valuable skills).

It'll be a long process, and the chances are fairly incomplete - but the important thing here is that I'm not too fussed about replicating 100% of the parts on CAD, but those I do tackle must be thoroughly researched and replicated.

Quality NOT Quantity.

So far I've visited the car on display at the peterson auto museum in L.A. and collected a fairly good catalogue of photos showing various areas of the car.

I have SolidWorks 2007 (old but it'll do the trick) and an old version of ANSYS (for structural analysis. I meant it when I said thorough. Every part must be near enough functional should I ever wish to get them made.)
I also have "imageJ" for measuring images once a scale can be deduced.

Basically a study into the finest ever car to be created.

I've also found out the following carry-over parts:
Rear Lights - Bova Coach(/Truck?)
Front Indicators - Lotus Elan/Esprit
Headlight Projectors - BMW E34
Key - BMW E36 (or similar Era BMW)
Boot Lock - BMW E36/E34
Mirror Switch - Corsa B
Electric Window Switches - BMW E36
Indicator/Headlight Stalks - BMW E34 based
Mirrors - VW Corrado
CD Changer - Kenwood KDC C-600 (may be useful for scaling)

I thought I would tackle the pedal box first and found these:




Using the below below chart (the ISO specifications for Allen Head Bolts) assuming some of them are M8 it got me started to work out the scale.


I rotated the image, and counted the number of pixels to see how many pixels/mm - A bit rough and ready, but it gets me started.


From that, I've started to tackle the clutch pedal, bare in mind that I know I have lots to learn! (which is one of the main reasons for doing this)

So from this drawing found in the F1 GTR user guide, I now have this in solidworks... (about 3 hours work....)


alan-87

393 posts

204 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
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Absolutely love the idea of this. I've been playing with sketchup recently so will be following with interest.

crosseyedlion

Original Poster:

2,170 posts

197 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Just threw together a pedal for good measure. Not as representative as i'd like. Ill need to work on my skills to do that...

cat with a hat

1,484 posts

117 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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What a task you have ahead!

good luck, I expect quite a learning curve too...

Hitch

6,101 posts

193 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Lot of time on your hands chap?

dom9

8,040 posts

208 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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In for this - Good luck OP!

Stupeo

1,343 posts

192 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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This is awesome. I wonder if Flemke could have any input for getting the scale right?

Nunga

332 posts

107 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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As someone who has the computer skills of an elephant, I follow with interest!

crosseyedlion

Original Poster:

2,170 posts

197 months

Monday 16th January 2017
quotequote all
Hitch said:
Lot of time on your hands chap?
Actually yes! Just moved so saving myself 3 hours a day commuting and living away from the other half during the week- I'm not a fan of most TV and need something to get stuck into that doesn't cost me much.

I don't have a driveway or garage most of the time, so this is to keep me sane.

crosseyedlion

Original Poster:

2,170 posts

197 months

Monday 16th January 2017
quotequote all
Stupeo said:
This is awesome. I wonder if Flemke could have any input for getting the scale right?
It'd be lovely if Flemke and Peloton25 could lend a hand once I've got a decent body of work done.

Dannbodge

2,160 posts

120 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Awesome Idea.
As a Design engineer I'll be following this.

Suprising how quickly time disappears when you get stuck into something

Veeayt

3,139 posts

204 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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You may be able to print one after you finished (half-joke). Good on you.

SturdyHSV

10,083 posts

166 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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crosseyedlion said:
Just moved so saving myself 3 hours a day commuting and living away from the other half during the week- I'm not a fan of most TV and need something to get stuck into that doesn't cost me much.
You are aware that pornography is largely available online for free, yes? hehe

Good luck to you though, I've dabbled with a bit of CAD modelling for 3D printing, I used FreeCAD due to the price. Was actually very enjoyable, but as I'm a software developer, it doesn't really factor in to my job...

Boydie88

3,283 posts

148 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Love this idea.

As a mechanical engineer with mid level skills in Catia, it has me tempted to try something similar.

Gav147

976 posts

160 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Good luck OP, you sure got a big task ahead of you, not sure if you are aware of it but I used to browse a forum that was exactly on this topic (site is http://www.smcars.net/), might be worth a look if you are after any help, believe they have a collection of blueprints of most cars on there too for reference.

james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

190 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Have you got a link for that parts diagram/service manual? Plenty of us nerds would like to read that I think smile

crosseyedlion

Original Poster:

2,170 posts

197 months

Monday 16th January 2017
quotequote all
Boydie88 said:
Love this idea.

As a mechanical engineer with mid level skills in Catia, it has me tempted to try something similar.
Brilliant!

Any ideas on the car?

crosseyedlion

Original Poster:

2,170 posts

197 months

Monday 16th January 2017
quotequote all
james_gt3rs said:
Have you got a link for that parts diagram/service manual? Plenty of us nerds would like to read that I think smile
I got that image from here:
[url}http://cars.mclaren.com/featured-articles/racing-lines.html[/url]

I'd love to read the actual thing!

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Haha, I actually quite like the idea of this.

Fair play.

crosseyedlion

Original Poster:

2,170 posts

197 months

Monday 16th January 2017
quotequote all
Gav147 said:
Good luck OP, you sure got a big task ahead of you, not sure if you are aware of it but I used to browse a forum that was exactly on this topic (site is http://www.smcars.net/), might be worth a look if you are after any help, believe they have a collection of blueprints of most cars on there too for reference.
Brilliant! Ill join up.