Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2011. Day 1

 Our team mates with our vehicle before the during the official group photo taking session.

Yes, we finally here...

Interesting right, all car here and we are one of them~

Side view of the car

Rear view of the car

Nice seat for the driver ;)

I apoligise for the lack of updates as it has been quite a busy period. However, rest assured that we are near completion and only left with some little issues.

Everyone has been working together to help out the bodywork and it's turning out good.

Meanwhile, the engine has been giving some problem but everything seems to be solved after opening up everything and some repairing work were made.

A visit by SKF representatives.

Today we got some valuable advices from the SKF representatives, especially on the bearing aspect. Thank you very much!

On the other hand...here's our advisor posing (somewhat) with the fuel tank.

Trip to SKF

Vroom vroom...

The engine modifications was finally done and mounted to the car for a test run. Hopes were high as this will be another huge leap forward for the team. After a few tries, the engine could not start.

However, we suffered some minor issue with the electrical circuit whereby the contact point component needs to be insulated from the engine casing. After some series of troubleshooting, we found the problem and solutions were abundant. We decided that fibreglass would be the best solution and hopefully it will perform like what we anticipated.

Our lecturer inspecting the engine.

Engine mounted on the car

Round 2 of Bodywork.

So all the styrofoams were cut to shape and today we applied cement, fiberglass, and wrapped it up with clingwrap and left it to cure for a few days.

Seems like we were having fun (we do most of the time), but this job is a little too sticky to our liking. We really need some proper gloves and attire next time.

Patching up the spots

Team manager and Sam mixing the cement.

Yup...time to get down there and get dirty.

Smoothing the surface after the cement has dryed.

Up goes  the fiberglassonto the body!

Making some marks on the fiberglass.

As of today (9/6/2011), the bodywork is finally done and it is now left to cure. Till then...

Sculpturing The Body

With most of the work done for the tyres, brakes, steering, and chassis, we relocated some manpower to help speed up the car body progress. This job needs quite a large area and there aren't many places in UTAR with such luxury except for the recently built multi-purpose hall.

Kwan Jou booked the place so he can do his work and lately, the place does give one that Christmas feeling. If only the weather was colder...

Since our workmanship is not up to par, we had to ensure the styrofoams do not fall off and remain rigid when cement is applied on it. So, we applied glue on the styrofoams and planks to ensure it is rigid.

Showcase of Malaysian Teams

Date: 24 May 2011.
Venue: Putrajaya

All participating Malaysian teams were invited to this event to showcase their vehicles and to share informataion regarding their respective teams and vehicles. Since our vehicle is not completed yet, we only brought the scale model to give everyone a rough idea of the vehicle, supported by some explaination by our team.

Workshop Overdrive #11

"Superman" to the rescue!

Juniors came by to help as well. Thanks guys!

As long as can draw a line, any pen, even liquid paper, will do

Installing the driver's back support.

Workshop Overdrive #10

Today was a slow day as everyone went to the workshop late. I guess everyone had a really good day yesterday. 3 juniors came over in the morning and gave us a hand and they helped out a lot, according to the team manager. Thanks guys!

Jerard and I was waiting for the turning machine for the entire day but it wasn't available until the workshop closed. Definitely need to be there early tomorrow to get that turning machine or else there will be a slight delay.

Kee Chean has been complaining for weeks that he needs a valve spring compressor to make his job easier because he needs to remove and install the valve springs a lot of times as there are some modifications needs to be done on the engine cylinder head. Finally, he bought it few days ago at his hometown but it doesn't come cheap. But now he can do his work on his own, finally :P

"Where's my turning machine?!"

Everyone was tempted to touch his shirt...

So many G-clamps to hold the angle bars in place



Giving some suggestions to Kwan Jou regarding the scale model



The valve spring compressor.

Kwan Jou attempting to remove the plastic layer.

Workshop Overdrive #9

Exams are over and we are back to the workshop, again. However, since it's only like the 3rd day of our semester break, not everyone is back yet. Nonetheless, work must go on. Today was pretty much all about KERS as we can finally see it on the vehicle. The video of KERS running is on our Facebook page.

Sam doing some fine-tuning

Bearing holders and shaft.

KERS installed but without the support yet

Some minor adjustments to the supports

It's ready to roll!

Meanwhile, the team manager is busy with the pedal system which is giving him quite some headache. Driver's right foot is a little too big. Haha...

"Should be ok, I think?"

Drill only la...

So many holes but no rivets. Couldn't find them.

Tomorrow is a public holiday (Wesak Day), so there will not be any update. Have a great day tomorrow!