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Old 02-22-2010, 01:32 AM   #94 (permalink)
zoltanbod
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Join Date: Jan 2010
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caculations-HP to overcome drag.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee View Post
So are you going to try the calculator?

Can you explain how this vehicle will get 2x-3x the economy of the donor car- "57" x 2 = 114mpg, to x 3 = 171mpg?

This has been incubating for years. Howcome you passed up the perfect fund-raising opportunity, that of winning $10,000,000 from the X-Prize contest?

How was the frontal area measured?

To get that far in the chassis/shell development you must have done cg/weight estimations/calcs (especially for a trike!) - can you share?

Why would you put so much added complexity into a power master cylinder for such a light vehicle? Stick a non-power boosted m. cyl. in there and toss the linkage and complexity.

I have the impression the fuel tank goes in the far rear. Is that so? How big a tank? How heavy? Have the effects of having that weight on the single-wheel end been estimated?

What aerodynamic development has been done? CFD? Tunnel test? Road tuft test? Smoke test? Eyeball it test?

Why go to plug and mold when there has been no proof of concept? If a prototype is built first then changes can be made and performances quantified. If you have been around cars as long as you say you know it would be the height of naivety to think it was so perfect the first time that no changes would be made!

Why would it need to be modular? Regular production cars can be modded to be gas, diesel, electric, hybrid... whatever without being modular.

I want to know more about the radial steam engine. Sourced? Scratch built? Fueled by what?
When i plug the data into the HP to overcome drag formula usig Cd of.15 as a reference point i come up with 6.0 Hp. If one HP /hr @ 65mph uses .440 lbs of gasoline then 6 HP will use 2.64 lbs/hr @65mph or 147.7 mpg. Interesting result. What am i missing? A big factor in pushing me to begin this project actually was the x-prise .Then about a year into it i'm going ya right,never be done in time,still motivates me though.Can hardly wait to see who wins! Meanwhile i will continue plugging away.You can find all the body dimensions on another post i made.I estimate my cg to be 3 to 4" lower and slightly forward from the donor car.I am using the oem power master from the Forsa simply because its a matched set .I need the engine compartment space for other things.Fuel tank location could be at the rear or not depending on the way it all balances out.The aerodynamic development of this car is on going as you can tell.Right now it is a shape that should lend itself well to fine tunning and still fit into the required size ,look and feel that i want to present.I did alot of prelimnary research on the shape and then tried to make that shape fit my vehicle dimensions.When i get back to the body i will be doing numerous wind tuft tests as i finalize the body contours. Good time for the next video.I do not by any means believe that this car will be perfect the first time out but the more input i recieve and assimulate the better it will be.I like the modular idea because it allows me to match the engine/trans/suspension as a unit in its own support framework and not have to mod the original Suzuki framework which is probably alot smaller than a 4cyl would be,or what ever else i would want to try.The radial external combustion steam engine i came across was the Cyclone invented by Harry Schoell.
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