November

This month we talked about how we are going to design our frames. First we drew a rough sketch on graph paper and figured out what our measurements are and used those measurements to cut the metal for our cars. We cut our main frame rails at 6' and our front end at 46" to make it as wide as possible to allow us more stability without going over our limit witch is 48".

October

This month we moved onto our front end. We went online and looked at some different designs and once we found the ones we liked we drew the design up. We then talked about how to build the front and what kind of design we wanted to use. We built the kingpin inclination at 13 degrees and we were able to do that by cutting the angle on the band saw. Our spindles were built by first drawing it in class. Then we figured the angles, built a jig out of wood that would properly set all the pieces for our spindles in place while we welded them together. We were using a 3/8" bolt as the king pin to hold the spindle on. (PICTURED ABOVE IS THE JIG WE USED TO BUILD THE SPINDLES note: king pin inclination was designed and built into spindle)

September

We took notes about toe-in, toe-out and how we did not want either of them. We than learned about caster and how we wanted to have positive caster, much like a chopper. Positive camber will help the tire remain steady out in front of us and not wobbling behind us like a shopping cart. We also learned about positive and negative camber, and how we do not want either of them. We want to have zero degree camber so the wheels will be straight up and down. We then learned about Ackerman angle. This causes the inside front wheel to turn at a sharper angle than the outside front wheel when cornering. This helps prevent tire scrub. The last piece of the suspension unit that we covered was king pin inclination. We designed our car to have 13 degrees of king pin inclination. This will actually cause our tires to tilt the same direction we turn when cornering to give it more stability.

August-start of the year

This month we started out discussing and going over the safety rules and regulations of the shop and car. Then we took a test over our safety and in order to work in the shop you had to get a 100% on your safety test. After thoroughly learning and reviewing the safety rules and regulations we started designing the car. We started with the frame of the car.