Aerocivic - Restoration and further modding

[basjoos]

The conveyor rollers used on the Aerocivic have bearings, but the ones on the car are a minimum of 10 years old. Installing a complete set of new bearings should reduce the clatter. McMaster-Carr now sells a corrosion resistant conveyor roller (2278T31) designed for wash down applications that is the same exact size as the ones currently installed on the Aerocivic and McMaster sells replacement bearings for them. The aluminum sheet on the front wheel well covers tends to amplify any noise generated by the rollers. I don’t mind some noise generated by the covers since it only produces it while making as sharp turn, such as at an intersection, and it alerts any gawking pedestrians to the fact that the car is making a turn. If you decide to use rollerblade wheels, you will need to have a string of them mounted side by side on a single axle since the edge of the tire covers a distance of 4” horizontally from the point where it first makes contact with the roller to where you reach the end stop on the steering.

[Ecky]

That's helpful, thank you.

What are your thoughts on slightly lighter springs? Think it might compromise their longevity?

[basjoos]

If the springs are too light (weak), the covers tend to flutter (vibrate) at higher speeds. Spring longevity isn’t a major problem, with the current strength spring, the cover will function even if one spring is missing. The main maintenance I do on the front covers is, every couple of months, to check that both springs are present and that the rollers spin freely, making sure that the spin isn’t due to the roller’s axle spinning in its mount. When I was driving the car full time, I typically would have to replace a missing spring perhaps once a year and replace a seized roller about every 9 months. Those corrosion resistant rollers from McMaster look like the way to go, they didn’t sell those when I designed the cover, but should last longer than the model currently on the car.

[freebeard]

What do you think about replacing the hinges with four-bars?

[basjoos]

A four bar linkage would be more complicated and would require a lot more engineering than the current roller, hinge, and spring set up, but if you think you can do it, give it a try. But whatever the setup, it needs to be completely reliable and not subject to failure.

[freebeard]

...give it a try

Maybe I should. I first posted this in 2014, at the time the Superbeetles didn't seem like a good candidate. The Metro does, but rear skirts come first. I have two Dish satellite antennae for raw material.



The rollers and springs could remain the same, there would be some gravity assist. Maybe weights in the bottom edge could help. The top two bars are connected to rigidify the apparatus.

[Ecky]

Dropping this here so I don't forget about it. Would be pretty neat to convert the D15 to coil-on-plug. Reports are that it improves fuel economy - spark is much stronger.

https://www.hamotorsports.com/collec...g-cop-mini-kit

This would be a much-later modification.

[Xist]

Does anyone make any claims on improvements?

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Xist

Does anyone make any claims on improvements?

The quality of the spark is better when the coils are closer to the plug, and the coils have 4x longer to charge up before they need to fire, when compared with the single ignition source in a distributor. Those reporting gains are mostly running high boost, and it's marginal, but another benefit is in never needing to service a distributor again. No more caps and rotors.

[Xist]

I needed to replace two distributors on my Accord, but it had an oil leak.

So, this is for bragging rights?