Kurt Bilinski's build

[clasdauskas]

But where does it stop, how about eliminate fenders all together, saving weight, a fair bit of money, and speeds up construction. Not having fenders at the front avoids the big pain in the butt regarding fender mounts. BUT, lots of people are going to want full fenders... that's the thing. I'm trying to build the first car so it's both what I want for myself and something that appealling enough that people will cough up the dough for the book!

I suppose if people are planning to register their car, the limit on eliminating items like fenders is whatever the design rules say for where you are registering it. I'm pretty sure that in Australia, for instance, you must have them. I don't know whether having the back part of the rear ones solid and the front part being a sort of cage(ie enough to stop someone walking into the wheel), which is what was sort of suggested, is enough.

Chris

[Midlana1]

That's the main reason I feel compelled to have a complete car, one with stuff I don't really care for myself. For example, I'll have wipers, even knowing they won't be much fun to install. However, nearly everyone's going to need them, too, so showing how to install them makes the book more useful.

[John]

If debris leaves the wheel tangentially to the tread in the direction of rotation, the functional part of the fender is from about halfway up the tyre at the front to as close as you can reasonably get it to the road at the rear of the fender. Relative to the road the bottom of the front tyre where it contacts the road isn't moving so debris that is picked up by the tyre and departs the tread close to the road is basically just picked up by the tyre and dropped and the rear fenders would run into it at whatever velocity the car was travelling at. The incidents of objects colliding with the fenders would become higher the closer the fender is to the road at its front mostly on the part that is realy just there for asthetics. Also the apex of the front of the fender will present a face to some of the debris perpendicular to its path for maximum transfer of energy to the fender rather than a glancing impact with reduces energy transfer. I wonder if you will find that even with very shallow angled surfaces to the path of the debris it will still transfer enough energy to abrade the paint. Some minimalist cars fit cycle guards to the rear wheels i.e. Ariel Atom, Elfin Clubman. This may have been ruled out as an option for the prototype but someone may find some merit in the idea as a light weight solution to stone damage.

[Midlana1]

Well put. If by cycle fenders at the rear you mean they end at about the top of the tire, that would certainly work. It nicely sidesteps the issue of autocross cones braking the rear fender. In terms of looks... the rear fenders are huge (as least mine are) and such a setup would look really odd I think. Still, it's a very simple, light, inexpensive, and elegant solution.

[Midlana1]

Dash has been cut and drilled, and is nearly wired.

Ordered a few more switches, an LED third brakelight, and LED brake blinker module. While they aren't needed now, the wires need to get into the harness so may as well have them on-hand.

Come to think of it, since wiring is going on, coming up soon is where to mount the brake lights. If they're going on the body instead of fenders, that means the paneling should be in place. I've been going back and forth on whether to have a curved panel at the rear (like a 1930's coupe) or a panel like Sevens use.

[clasdauskas]

No, no, no Kurt Don't go back and forth ... cut some cardboard and show us pictures
We like debating pictures !

[Midlana1]

Very funny... I probably will mock-up the rear panels and even post pictures - I just won't read my mail, lol.

[Midlana1]

Looking for wiper arms and blades. Since the windscreen is flat, it doesn't require a multi-jointed blade assembly. Found some on the Caterham site but shipping may be high. My guess is that the Caterham parts originated at Lotus, and Lotus just used something off the shelf. Since the early Sprites had flat windscreens, it's very likely the same part... I just can't be sure. Trying to avoid spending $50-60 then find it's unusable.

Another place is englishparts.com, they have a good selection of bits and bobs, as the Brits say. The parts were bought from them, though the big missing piece of the puzzle is whether the arms will fit the motor drive assembly I have... Since the wiper bits are stainless, some modification can happen if necessary...

[justin.s.gray]

Instead of the multi-jointed blade, you could use some of the newer solid beam type wipers. They have a solid plastic beam that is slightly concave. When you press it to your windshield it flattens out. They are fairly cheap, all one piece, and work well for curved windshields. I can't see any reason they would not work on a flat one.

[justin.s.gray]

Looks like you used some hot rolled steel angle iron for the tank support brackets. I thought you did not like that stuff?