Attempting to build the fastest road legal Elan in the world
Discussion
MX6 said:
This is a very interesting project, ambitious and maybe a little crazy but the work looks really good. Seems like more of a custom sports car that happens to look a bit like an Elan, such is the amount of new and fabbed parts. Looking forward to seeing the progress.
Ambitious - probably, but why do stuff that is easy?. A little crazy - depends on your definition of crazy :-)Yeah, there is not a lot of the original car left, but that can be said of most Elans, even standard ones. Over the last nearly 50-60 years most parts would have been replaced, with the possible exception of the body.
Trigger's broom comes to mind :-)
Edited by stevebroad on Friday 9th March 18:31
I love it when something you make for one task can be adapted for others.
I have been looking into making the Lexan windows. The door panes are easy as they are flat. The front and rear screens are, however, quite curved. Lexan, fortunately, can be heat formed at a temperature that I can achieve in my carbon fibre curing oven.
Plan:
Make a mould using original glass, cover in felt, lay on Lexan, enclose in a vacuum bag and place in oven, warm up oven and then gradually evacuate the bag, once Lexan has conformed to mould allow to cool. Seems easy enough :-)
I have been looking into making the Lexan windows. The door panes are easy as they are flat. The front and rear screens are, however, quite curved. Lexan, fortunately, can be heat formed at a temperature that I can achieve in my carbon fibre curing oven.
Plan:
Make a mould using original glass, cover in felt, lay on Lexan, enclose in a vacuum bag and place in oven, warm up oven and then gradually evacuate the bag, once Lexan has conformed to mould allow to cool. Seems easy enough :-)
Although the frame isn't finished (a couple of additional tubes to increase the triangulation still to be added) I decided to see if I had got my calculations correct. The answer is yes......just.
The tube fitted to the clip will be fully bonded on when I next remove the clip. The surface finish, both top and underside, looks c-rap at the moment due to ongoing repair work to fix the issues caused by deformation of the mould under heat and pressure.
Fitted first AeroCatch, seems to work well:
The tube fitted to the clip will be fully bonded on when I next remove the clip. The surface finish, both top and underside, looks c-rap at the moment due to ongoing repair work to fix the issues caused by deformation of the mould under heat and pressure.
Fitted first AeroCatch, seems to work well:
stevebroad said:
Curing oven progress. All done apart from insulating the door, a little more silver tape (run out), fitting locks and wiring for lamps.
Hi,Just wondering about your oven. Is it just a large insulated box with lots of lamps to give off heat?
Seen a few videos of people making things and they have actual ovens with set temps and air lines within. Such as this one https://youtu.be/k4GdAuNji5g?t=500
Wanting to give it a try at making something myself.
Basically, yes :-)
150w bulbs on four separate circuits, one of which is thermostatically controlled. Large fan to distribute heat evenly. 8 temp sensors to monitor temp. Glass from mircowave door so I can see what is going on :-) I normally use it at 120 deg C. However it takes quite a while to get there so I have bought a spider bulb holder that takes 6 bulbs which should allow me to ramp up the temp at around 3 deg C a minute which is what is recommended for my prepreg.
I have both vacuum and pressure lines installed.
A bit Heath Robinson, but it works :-)
150w bulbs on four separate circuits, one of which is thermostatically controlled. Large fan to distribute heat evenly. 8 temp sensors to monitor temp. Glass from mircowave door so I can see what is going on :-) I normally use it at 120 deg C. However it takes quite a while to get there so I have bought a spider bulb holder that takes 6 bulbs which should allow me to ramp up the temp at around 3 deg C a minute which is what is recommended for my prepreg.
I have both vacuum and pressure lines installed.
A bit Heath Robinson, but it works :-)
Edited by stevebroad on Tuesday 12th June 11:34
Edited by stevebroad on Tuesday 12th June 11:35
Edited by stevebroad on Tuesday 12th June 11:37
stevebroad said:
Next task was to mount the rad and IC as these were originally bolted to the inner wings. By using the V-mount configuration, the bonnet support proved to be perfect for this job.
are you planning to run side walls for your v-mount? IIRC the RX7 guys get better performance out of them this way
Slow said:
Looks good, do the bulbs max the temp inside at 120 or does the circuit cut power if it raises above say 125 and turns back on at like 115?
Never worked on anything related to a oven before so fairly newbie.
If left to its own devices it maxes out at around 130. I can control the temp to within 2 deg using the thermostatically controlled bulbs.Never worked on anything related to a oven before so fairly newbie.
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