Budget Auto-X

So I have put my current A-mod car on hold. Why? Money and time mainly, of which I have some of one and none of the other. Most of the grunt work building a car is the chassis and all the "little stuff" like brackets and mounts. Well I have successfully knocked out a big chunk of that work by acquiring one of my old Formula SAE frames. This was the 2001 Temple University chassis, the car that I helped build as a freshman at Temple. The current plan is to get it up and running by next fall, just to have a neat toy. It doesn't qualify for A-mod racing because of its main hoop, but I'm going to try to see if I can run it unclassed just to get a time on a piece of paper. Competing with myself is good enough for me at this point.

So the plan is to add a few tubes, cut out a few tubes, make a better seating position and to cram some kind of engine in it. Ideally it would be powered by a snowmobile engine and CVT, but that proving difficult to source without breaking the bank. Other than that, its a new suspension, which im coming up with some neat-o brackets for, and a new drivetrain. A lot of the components are going to be lightweight fabbed steel due to my lack of a CNC.

Aah, the ride home. 200 miles from West Chester, PA to West Haven, CT. The frame was held down with nylon zip ties and love. Those ratchet straps are there mainly to comfort other drivers.

And this is how far I am with the CAD work . . . not very at all. But its moving slowly but surely. This image shows some tubes added to support the steering system and some tubes removed to recline the driver.