The Buchka 242 Fake Racecar

[MadDog_945]

Yeah.. And when they dont finish their project till next thursday they have to shutdown the business and so on.. ^^

[towz-T]

Guys, get a YouTube channel, get someone you know who can work with a camera. Bamse's turbo underpants gets 150k views per video for a half finished product( and it's in Finnish). If I wouldn't love my job so goddamn much, I'd come over and do it myself.

[Alex Buchka]

Thank you everyone for the kind words, both Karl and I really appreciate it!

Originally Posted by VQ

Is a haltech out of the price range too? I know they are expanding thier range both up and down in features and cost. Though considering the work done to this, I'm suprised you've limited your budget on the ecu...

First of all, this entire project is definitely on a budget. Doing it jointly between the two of us allows for more flexibility in expenditure than if either of us were doing it individually. That being said not a dollar is spent without due consideration to how much value it adds to the finished product. Just because something is more expensive doesn't mean it's better or adds more value.

Haltech suffers from the same affliction as AEM, Life Racing, Pectel, etc. None of them allow for user definable triggering arrangements. I don't want to be beholden to a manufacturer to add trigger support. On top of that the Elite 2500 only has support for one drive by wire channel and one CAN channel. The Link G4T has two of each and much more flexible CAN support - not just limited to pricey expansion modules.

Originally Posted by FreeEMSFred

I just figured out why you guys love those cross braces! :-)

Hah, well not sure that has anything to do with it. Experience with aerospace engineering at work certainly has influenced the project quite a bit though.

Originally Posted by towz-T

Guys, get a YouTube channel, get someone you know who can work with a camera. Bamse's turbo underpants gets 150k views per video for a half finished product( and it's in Finnish). If I wouldn't love my job so goddamn much, I'd come over and do it myself.

Not interested in a youtube channel or videos. To me that's just another project and I already have enough of those.

[Duder]

Originally Posted by Alex Buchka

Not interested in a youtube channel or videos. To me that's just another project and I already have enough of those.

Maybe you should work out a deal with our resident cinematographer. He might be able to put together a FRC video in exchange for machining lessons...

[Karl Buchka]

Episode 1: Working on the frame
Notch tube, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, it fits, notch other side, test fit, it doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, tube is too short, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, scratch heads for 30 minutes, make new tube, repeat all of the above, it's also too short, "**** it, fill the gap with weld, no one will notice". Repeat for next tube.
Episode length: 6 hours. Visible progress: None.

Episode 2: Working on the uprights
Open CAD software, open netflix on other monitor, spend 15 minutes deciding between Under Siege 2 or Time Cop, spin the model for a while, make some solid bodies, spin the model for a while, get distracted by movie for 20 minutes, spin the model some more, look up fastener sizes on McMaster, get distracted by their vast selection of jib cranes, sketch some geometry, pause movie, open youtube, oh a new episode of that thing you like is up, watch intently for 30 minutes, stop kidding yourself and close the CAD software, finish last 15 minutes of the youtube video, it's 2am, go to sleep.
Episode length: 8 hours. Visible progress: None. Actual progress: None.

And so on.

Oh yeah, we'll rake it in.

[Tom Wiley]

^lol. Have you seen Project Binky? It's basically what your described.

[Stiggy Pop]

That would make a great montage though

[yacko]

I am very happy to know that I am not the only person who gets distracted while I am supposed to be "working" by Netflix and Youtube, or other things to read/buy. Actually pretty much anything besides what I am supposed to be doing...

[Quin]

Originally Posted by Karl Buchka

Episode 1: Working on the frame
Notch tube, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, it fits, notch other side, test fit, it doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, tube is too short, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, scratch heads for 30 minutes, make new tube, repeat all of the above, it's also too short, "**** it, fill the gap with weld, no one will notice". Repeat for next tube.
Episode length: 6 hours. Visible progress: None.

Episode 2: Working on the uprights
Open CAD software, open netflix on other monitor, spend 15 minutes deciding between Under Siege 2 or Time Cop, spin the model for a while, make some solid bodies, spin the model for a while, get distracted by movie for 20 minutes, spin the model some more, look up fastener sizes on McMaster, get distracted by their vast selection of jib cranes, sketch some geometry, pause movie, open youtube, oh a new episode of that thing you like is up, watch intently for 30 minutes, stop kidding yourself and close the CAD software, finish last 15 minutes of the youtube video, it's 2am, go to sleep.
Episode length: 8 hours. Visible progress: None. Actual progress: None.

And so on.

Oh yeah, we'll rake it in.

i would watch this for at least a while.

[Texas240]

Originally Posted by Karl Buchka

Episode 1: Working on the frame
Notch tube, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, it fits, notch other side, test fit, it doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, test fit, doesn't fit, grind a little bit off, tube is too short, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, scratch heads for 30 minutes, make new tube, repeat all of the above, it's also too short, "**** it, fill the gap with weld, no one will notice". Repeat for next tube.
Episode length: 6 hours. Visible progress: None.

Episode 2: Working on the uprights
Open CAD software, open netflix on other monitor, spend 15 minutes deciding between Under Siege 2 or Time Cop, spin the model for a while, make some solid bodies, spin the model for a while, get distracted by movie for 20 minutes, spin the model some more, look up fastener sizes on McMaster, get distracted by their vast selection of jib cranes, sketch some geometry, pause movie, open youtube, oh a new episode of that thing you like is up, watch intently for 30 minutes, stop kidding yourself and close the CAD software, finish last 15 minutes of the youtube video, it's 2am, go to sleep.
Episode length: 8 hours. Visible progress: None. Actual progress: None.

And so on.

Oh yeah, we'll rake it in.

You guys can work off of my production company and send my cut to "insert offshore account address here"

[Alex Buchka]

Things are still happening. Added some joggles in the rear lower rails to clear the differential:



Notched and welded in the X brace in the main backstays. Fitting these tubes was a pretty tough job and required some creativity. Ended up wrapping a mockup tube in spaghetti to make a template for how to trim the end of the tube. There are purpose made tools that do this exact thing but getting the right one at 6pm on a sunday isn't easy so we had to improvise:







Got the foot plates for the front stays welded in. This one came out ok, still need more practice. Also did a whole bunch of welding on the chassis, there is much more to do though.



Engine and trans mounts were next but in order to make those we had to get the accessories mounted up to know which threaded bosses would be available. Started with the alternator brackets:











Karl and I machined the first of two power steering brackets last night. Fiddly little thing, took some creative work holding:



New serpentine pulleys for the alternator and power steering are in the rough design stage right now. Need to finish mounting the power steering pump so we can measure for the correct offset and implement that into the pulley designs.

[mopar318]

Looks great. What machine are you using? Looks like a BP with cnc?

[JohnMc]

You can't use spaghetti as a structural member in your roll cage!!!

[PeaceEngineered]

Originally Posted by JohnMc

You can't use spaghetti as a structural member in your roll cage!!!

True, but the zip ties legitimize it! Haha
Nice work. Always look forward to the updates on this project.

[Duder]

Were those motorsport zip ties on the spaghetti? I'd expect nothing less.

[BillyMaysHere]

Originally Posted by Duder

Were those motorsport zip ties on the spaghetti? I'd expect nothing less.

I was gonna say something about that. Maybe upgrade to angle hair pasta to match the quality of the zipties

[Alex Buchka]

Originally Posted by mopar318

Looks great. What machine are you using? Looks like a BP with cnc?

Thanks. You nailed it, just a bridgeport with a Centroid M400 control. I'm not too thrilled with bridgeport mills in general, or the control on there but they do the job adequately.

Originally Posted by Duder

Were those motorsport zip ties on the spaghetti? I'd expect nothing less.

I can neither confirm nor deny the particulars of those zipties.

Swung by the shop today and bolted on the power steering pump. Bracket doodad seems to work fine. Designing the lower bracket will be interesting, the geometry will end up being fairly complex.

[Mueller]

Brackets look very nice, I am however disappointed by the use a different colored bolt on the alternator unless that is the flash doing that

[Alex Buchka]

Originally Posted by Mueller

Brackets look very nice, I am however disappointed by the use a different colored bolt on the alternator unless that is the flash doing that

That's a blue tinted metric screw, it was the only finish mcmaster had for that length and diameter.

Designed the lower power steering bracket. It's a fairly complicated part to machine and since I didn't want to burn an entire day making something that wouldn't work I had a friend of mine 3d print it for mock up. Looks like it needs a bit of clearancing around the the upper alternator mount but otherwise should work great.



Made a bunch of progress on the engine mounts. Started on the drivers side with this tube and sheet contraption.









For the drivers side I made up some more tube stubs and attached them to suitable bosses on the engine, then connected the points with tubing.





Overall not the prettiest parts in the world but they are fairly light and will do the job. They both attach to some bolt-down machinery isolator mounts from McMaster.

Also started on the transmission mount. This will get some additional bracing and uses the same isolators as the engine mounts.

[volvobrage]

I think the engine mounts look beatiful!!
Really love this project!
Stå på

[Sander]

Great work as always! I like your solution for the engine mounts. So basically the only difficulty with mounting that V8 in a 740 or 240 would be the starter motor sticking out the wrong way?

[Alex Buchka]

Originally Posted by Sander

Great work as always! I like your solution for the engine mounts. So basically the only difficulty with mounting that V8 in a 740 or 240 would be the starter motor sticking out the wrong way?

Thanks!

The starter is one of many difficulties. The drivers side engine mount interferes with the OEM water pump which we aren't using. All the water plumbing for the engine comes out of the back of the heads and block, the throttle body also points in the wrong direction. The mechanical integration is definitely non-trivial, same goes for electronics. Unless you delete VVT there aren't many ECU's out there for mortal money that can run the engine.

[MadDog_945]

VEMS can
http://vems.hu/vt/help/v3/v3_camshaf...e_control.html

[Karl Buchka]

Originally Posted by MadDog_945

VEMS can
http://vems.hu/vt/help/v3/v3_camshaf...e_control.html

Nope, sorry. Read more closely. VEMS can only handle closed loop position control of two cams.

[MadDog_945]

ah.. i see.. thx for the heads up..