December 2022
29Dec
Hewland FTR oil dearator/filler
I've sketched a model in Fusion of the Oil dearator that is fitted on to the top of the Hewland gearbox, and returns the oil from the dry sump scavenger pump, to the sump tank. The one on the car is too tall for the heave spring to fit where I want it, so I've designed a stumpy version of the dearator, with a new filler cap, and the plan is to get one printed in Nylon/PA12 first, then set about getting one made from aluminium.Do you like the design?
I've also made some more changes to the pair of heave spring posts, which I'm now ready to have 3D printed, again so I can prove that they provide clearance for the spring which sits above the rockers/dearator.
The pair of Intel CPU's sure take a hammering when I render the design in Fusion, and I've not yet worked out why hidden bodies appear in the final rendered image.
25Dec
Happy Christmas
To all my followers, I wish you all a very Happy Christmas.17Dec
Heave spring project update
I've found some spare time this week to create some sketches which show the spring supports are coming along nicely. I'm using Fusion 360 to do all the design work. They anchor to the pushrod and two of the rocker fixings.I also had a play with the Voronoi plugin, which explains the holes in the side of the gearbox :D
11Dec
Heave spring project
I've started sketching a few changes to the rear suspension, so I can incorporate a 3rd/Heave spring. The idea behind this is to allow me to run more compliant, softer springs on the rear dampers, and use the heave spring to support the force produced by the rear wing. I'm hoping this will also prevent any further pushrod failures, which I had two in 2022.I've modelled the rear suspension in Fusion 360, and I'm able to try a few different locations for the heave spring. I intend to use a Penske rubber spring, sat across both rocker arms. However given the packaging, its a tight squeeze with the FTR Gearbox oil filler neck sat in the way, but I've got some ideas how to work around that issue.
