Tag: subframe

A Citroen 2CV. Another example of a car I didn't buy today.

As many of you will probably know, I’m a bit of a Mini fanatic.  My darling Lulu, the little red Mini City I learnt to drive in, was an inspiration.  Neddy, the little blue Mini Sidewalk, was a joy.  Sad was the day when I said good bye to the days of carefree invigorating driving and welcomed in a life of staid normality in the form of a Ford Escort.  Yes, it was more practical, but it lacked all the ‘fun’ qualities I had grown used to.  Now, only a year or two later, the time has come for the next step in the process – I’m buying a people carrier.

Before I cower behind my desk chair against the onslaught of abuse, allow me to explain the logic behind this overly ‘grown-up’ proposition.  We have a baby.  I have lots of instruments.  We go places with both.  Our trusty Ford Escort, which has a truly monumental boot capacity compared to the Mini, is now on the verge of being too small to cope with our many belongings.  It’s also beginning to show its age, with rusty patches on some of the exterior panels.  The logic says that if we buy a slightly more expensive car (though still second hand) it should last us slightly longer, and buying a 7-seater will give us more space to carry people and stuff around.

Our vehicle of choice?  The most popular small 7-seater around.  The MPV that launched touting the most revolutionary seating system the world had ever seen.  The people carrier that has become ubiquitous for small families.  The Vauxhall Zafira.

(more…)

It’s day 4 of the build, and that can mean only one thing – starting off by taking it all apart again.  Yes, I decided that the front subframe just will not do.  So, in an effort to make the front end more realistic I decided to move the engine so that it was on top of the wheels rather than behind them.  That meant redesigning the suspension assembly again to make it wider so that the engine could sit inside.  It was a bit tedious, to be honest, but it was worth it once it was done as it looks so much better now, and hopefully it’ll be stronger too once I get the arms braced from the front side of the subframe.

The front subframe also now has a diagonal strut on each side, further strengthening it, which is no bad thing given that’s where a lot of the force is going to be taken, right over the wheels.  I’ve also widened the front subframe to give me more space between the steering shaft and the drive shaft, which has allowed for a far more compact yet satisfactory connection between engine and drive shaft.  It now runs smoothly and efficiently with only the most essential cogs in between (I want to retain a high cog ratio so that the engine spins fast even when the car is moving slowly).  Oh, and the front subframe has been significantly shortened, too.

(more…)

Perfectionist that I am, pretty much the entire car has been rebuilt this evening, apart from the engine.  Not satisfied with the imprecise and uncontrollable steering, I completely rebuilt the whole assembly from scratch using my own custom design.  The system I’d used yesterday was taken from an official Lego model, and used their official steering pieces, but the problem lay in their axle; because the ball joint was only one stud’s width away from the pivot point it meant that the mechanism accentuated any give in the gearing rather than compensating for it.  So I rebuilt it using ‘conventional’ Lego pieces to give me a ball joint 2 studs away from the pivot point.  It took some fiddling around to get it all lined up properly and get the suspension strut sitting nicely, and then some more fiddling to get it to attach to the front subframe, but we’re finally there – I have a front suspension/steering assembly that I’m happy with!

Next on my list of things to sort out was the rear axle, which just looked plain ugly.  It would do the job, and would probably be mostly hidden by the bodywork once that was figured out, but I just didn’t like the way it looked or the way it worked – it just wasn’t realistic in any way shape or form.  So that was stripped out too.

(more…)

Yes, I’ve got the Lego out again.  Unlike last time I have work to do during the day, so my building is restricted to free evenings, so progress is a little slower.  Still, nothing like a good challenge.  The project this time round is a vehicle of some sort, probably a sports car or similar.  The reason for the uncertainty is that the main goal is to experiment with a combination of suspension and an active drivetrain.  I experimented a while back with ways of getting a 4×4 drive system in place, but that proved too complicated given the bricks I have, so this time I’m going for the front wheels doing the steering and the rear wheels being connected to the engine, and with all four wheels having some form of suspension, albeit limited travel.

Today I started work on the front of the car, trying to get a setup capable of steering and suspension in a small space (I want to leave space for the engine in the front too).  In the end I stole an idea from another model, and used the front suspension and steering system almost straight out of the instruction booklet.  The next problem was working out how to connect that solidly to a subframe and not have it get in the way of the drivetrain.

(more…)