Kim glad to hear some progress is being made finally. Sorry you went through so much heartache/hassle getting things engineered - I certainly can't blame you for wanting to offset some cost of engineering since you had to outlay so bloody much!
Mine were certified with a much cheaper x-ray.
VDubya wrote:Mine were certified with a much cheaper x-ray.
yours were CB wide 5 dropped spindles? to my knowlege these have never been tested before. where were you 4 months ago!
xray only verifies that there are no cracks, it cant confirm whether a new part (with different shape/thicknesses/size/materials) is stronger than the original.
the only way i could do it was to break the old and the new.
is your car fully engineered now? i still have the on road brake and dynamics test to do and the report to write.
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here is the pics:
this is what i saw when i arrived, and i had a bit of a nervous laugh, cos the damn thing was so big. its about six metres long.
if you have a look in the background you might notice that there is a couple of SHS's holding up the mezzanine floor of the factory! its longer than my car!
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it had the gussets and plates welded to each end of the upper piece, with a 4 and 5 bolt pattern at different ends.
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those pics above show the CB hooked up and the factory on the floor in front, for anyone who is interested in the difference, the CB does look beefier
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heres the three stooges trying to figure out what that big bang was
turns out it was the factory part failing. spindle itself was the weak point in both.
heres what it looked like when we were done
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CB part took alot more pressure and eventually couldnt be made to reach the point were it could be bent without the jack like the factory one could.
it got this far until it got fouled by the apparatus that we had tooled up
and heres what it looked like when we were done
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So for all those that think this has been an easy process, heres the proof.
Big thanks to Andrew at Dub Customs and Bill for the welding and Rob for the help on the day. I dont have space or skills enough to do all this stuff myself.
I reckon that the process will cost well over $2k when all the bills come in, but i reckon it has been worth it for me cos i am a stickler for the rules and regs, and i wanna drive this thing as often as possible.
i am actually looking forward to when officer plod pulls me over and asks a few annoying questions expecting to give me a canary.
bring it on.
thats when the engineering report will give me the real satisfaction!
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Lams wrote:Would you be able to keep this test report so others with drop spindles can later use the same report to get their car certified? or does it have to be one test per certification?
as i mentioned, i will be keeping it and making it available for a cost.
car will still need to be engineered, but this will cover the spindle that fits with the wide 5 kit
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Great work Kim, good to see an end to your dramas. I wonder if anyone has done the same for the four-stud disk spindle?
i think that the ball joint ones have been TUV approved in Germany
if you buy them from CSP they will give you the TUV, which will mean that the engineer will have no problem drawing some comparisons and approving them in aus.
CB supply the spindles to CSP, but will not supply any approval paperwork. i have done lots of homework on this and spoken to people in both companies.
my recommendation if you want to ge the approvals is to deal with CSP rather than CB.
let me know if i can be any help
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Good work - but what a headf*ck, huh
Pay your debts, CxxT
jesus christ! That is definitely interesting. Great work, must have been such a relief to have done.
Jon
Che Castro wrote:must have been such a relief to have done.
thats an understatement
it is booked in for the 'on road' engineering test on saturday 22nd. brakes, handling, emissions, noise etc.
thanks also due to Bill Malkoutzis who is doing a the engineering testing for me
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time to take it for a dirive this afternoon to put some k's on the engine
dyno later this week and engineering tests again on saturday.
with any luck it will be registered by the end of the month
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Second batch of engineering tests yesterday.
So far so good, but it was a close call after failing the first test.
setting up for the testing. Here it is with Bill (Engineer) in the background and the microphone for the decibel readings.
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couldn't complete the noise tests here, cos we were'nt sure what the critical RPM for a type 4 engine is.
didnt have a tacho.
turned out that the engine was making more noise than the exhaust!
this was confirmed later, back at Bills house when we had some enthusiastic helpers hold up some barriers.
passed the 96db limit for the exhaust (92) and combined engine and exhaust (94) passed anyway so all is well.
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then started setting up for the brake tests.
this was the part that i wasnt looking forward to. engine has only 250kms on it and i hadnt really gotten used to driving it yet, so handing over the keys was a bit uncomfortable.
anyway, the test goes like this:
0-60kmph as fast as you can, brake as hard as you can (acheiving greater than 0.5Gs)
repeat 15 times.
0-100kmph as fast as you can, brake as hard as you can (acheiving greater than 0.7Gs)
reapeat 2 times.
this tests the brakes under heat and relatively to the engine, obviously the faster you accelerate and decelerate, the less time you have to dissipate the heat and the brakes will not stop you ('brake fade') if they get too hot.
anyhow, thats it in a nutshell, and heres what we needed to do it:
GPS antenna
G Force sensor (sorry, dont know the technical term)
Pedal pressue sensor
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Pedal pressure sensor was hooked into a guage, and if you needed more than 45kgs to stop then we fail.
(I think that was the load, anyway - some of the techinicalities escape the memory now)
so, i climbed in the passenger seat and hoped like hell that it would pass
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15 times from 60: OK
1st time from 100 didnt even pull up. Guage went of the chart and failed pretty badly.
crap. i thought that it was all over, but Bill calmly said maybe the brakes arent bedded in and we should let it sit for a while.
smelt badly of brake fluid and burnt rubber by this time and i was feeling pretty bad. wheels we too hot to touch and rotors had changed colour.
so off we go again after about half and hour. wheels are still warm and i m not feeling to confident
15 times from 60: OK
1 st time from 100: OK
2 nd time from 100: OK
tried again from 100 to test again and it was touch and go.
anyway, the verdict was that we had passed.
YAY!
what a f**kn releif.
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then back to Bills place for a VW Club tech day.
Thanks to Bill for his very informative talk and all the other folks there for helping with the final noise test.
Was a very satisfying day for me, cos now i feel like i am most of the way finished.
RWC, rego and then I m away.
I gotta say, through the whole process, which has been very involved, that Bill has been very understanding and patient with me and even though there were some na$ty tests that needed to be done to satisfy him (not his own fault) he has been thoroughly professional and I would recommend him to anyone.
phew
what a long update
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Well done Kim, at least you have Bill who is a top class engineer and also is a VW nut and knows his stuff. A great outcome for you and can't wait to see it at the day of this year.
STEALTH
yeah, much respect to Bill.
also, cant forget the hard work of Andrew at Dub Customs and Sasha at Deluxe, without who the quality and completion would be zero, it would still be just an idea in my head
I go the all clear from Annelise to go to the DOTVW this year too. Was looking like I would nt make it for a while there....
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and heres a pic of me taking a neighbour for a joyride...
.... "just bedding in the brakes officer"
(still driving on a permit - havent been caught yet)
[ Edited on 23-10-2005 by Golde60 ]
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Great work Kim
It IS a great relief to get through the engineering tests, aint it.
Initially my brakes were pretty ordinary, and my local brake man said don't worry if your shoes are new, just bed them in on the way to the engineer. When he did the test he said they were fair, but should get better.
They are getting heaps better by the day.
KEEP ON DUBBIN'
VW car, VW engine ...... keepin it "real"
35MPG on 101.3kPa
good to see you got there eventually mate mine will get there eventually im sure
“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” Bill Hicks
the chaos project - click me
Holy $hit Kim, that is certainly some comprehensive testing. I am glad you are getting through it all eventually - at least you can be satisfied that you car will be able to safely navigate any, if not all challenges on the road. Well done and thanks for going through the process with everyone on AVD!
56astro wrote:............... just bed them in on the way to the engineer. When he did the test he said they were fair, but should get better.
They are getting heaps better by the day.
i tried the 'bed them in on the way' technique, which clearly didnt work too well.
the first round of testing bedded them in pretty well.
mine have continued to get better since. it is a relief, cos i dont want to be driving something that is borderline safe.
has been fun driving it the last few days, but still a few rats and mice to sort out before its really finished
[ Edited on 23-10-2005 by Golde60 ]
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Kim,
Its looks worth all the work, great looking car.
SORRY BOUT THAT!
