CarBEN EV5 Full Sized Prototype Construction - 5 Seat Electric Car From Scratch

[Galane]

He can't use polyester resin without first laying down a sealing coat of epoxy or urethane. If he'd used urethane instead of styrene foam he could use polyester resin.

[freebeard]

I knew there was an issue, but I flipped a coin instead of going back over the thread. There was something about wood glue, right?

The stuff creeps me out. I knew an artist that poured mass amount of some resin for his artworks ... indoors. Last time I saw him he was laid out in bed with hours left on his clock.

[NeilBlanchard]

I am going to use the same Titebond III waterproof glue that I have been using. It is not quite as strong as epoxy, but I think it is going to work well.

I had an hour or so to do a trial fit of the windshield and the bezel vent and the wiper assembly. I outlined the windshield (very roughly):



And I looked at the bezel, and at the top of the windshield, and decided to move it up about 1/2". I am gluing support blocks on so the windshield won't slide off:

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I need to take a close look at a Smart ForTwo at the base of the windshield and the wipers, etc. to see what fits where.

[freebeard]

Getting the lines just right is important.

[NeilBlanchard]

This area of my CarBEN model was a bit nebulous - I was working with a Smart ForTwo model that I got from the Internet, and the structure around the firewall and the windshield wipers. Which I have on hand now - I'll try to photograph it as I carve into the firewall.

This is the kind of issue that increases my respect for car designers - air flow needs to get into the inside of the car, but rain water needs to be drained away.

[Galane]

The way many cars used to do that was simply to have the air intake duct edge about 1/2" above the bottom of the cowling floor, then mounted a plate over the opening with the edges turned down and overlapping the raised edge a bit. With that inside the cowl area, under a slotted grille or a pop up air scoop (ram air heater!), it's very hard to get water into the intake but air flows in.

Heaters were simple, the center inlet dumped directly down to the heater core then the air flowed out the sides of the fan box. If it had the optional windshield defrosters there would be a pair of wire wound cloth tubes coming out the sides of the box, going up to pieces at the base of the windshield under the dash. On the 1948 to 1950 Hudson the defroster air flowed into a small plenum with several outlet slots on top for more even distribution.

Newer cars (1960's up) usually have the air inlets off to the sides, still with the raised edges but with solid areas of the cowling top over them so they're far enough from the grille to keep water from getting in.

[NeilBlanchard]

I had a productive day (so far) - I have cut the windshield opening! Here's the progression:



The big moment has arrived!

[freebeard]

Cool. Now you can sit on the bucket and make vroom-vroom sounds for reals.

[Galane]

Electric cars go mmmm-mmmm not vroom-vroom. ;-)

[NeilBlanchard]

A few more hours of work, and I now have the windshield pretty much even; and I have to spray some foam around the back to thicken parts of it up again. I've started carving away the firewall up at the base of the windshield to fit in the wiper system.




Yes, I cut through at the sides and slightly at the middle, too. Cars made out of steel are a lot thinner, it turns out. ;-)

I am hoping to work on CarBEN on as many evenings as possible. I cannot believe it is July already!