My ongoing Honda project by Mafdark

2 minute(s) of a 27 minute read

11-7-2011

Thanks all. It's definitely still a work in progress. A long way left to go. Next up is engine mounts and the rear suspension which should be a fairly complex part of the build.

The design of each component has changed significantly since I made this, but I figured I'd share anyway:

thanks, for the input. Proper selection of rod ends and some quick calculations offer me some assurance on the strength of the tubular lower control arm. The real trick is that I want that to be the break point in the event of a collision. What I mean by that is if I drift the back end into a curb I want that inexpensive lower control arm to bend and break as apposed to my custom trailing arms, wheels, or subframe.

Calculating something strong enough and weak enough is really stressing the limits on my "back yard engineering" but with a build like this I'm already assuming the need for some pretty lengthy testing to verify my designs.

Here are some examples of the calculations for this. You'll notice the 1.5" diameter .20 wall tubing is the only one strong enough. The safety factor of 1.8 is lower than the 3 typically used in the automotive field but as I mentioned I want it to be the weakest point in the system in case of an impact. What I still have to work on is the fatigue of it. I'll probably just end up tossing it all into solidworks once I have accurate numbers in terms of forces involved and data to test for fatigue. 

edit- I've been kind of back and forth from the Albany and Rochester areas for the last couple years. I don't really have a permanent place nailed down anymore so it's tough to say where I live.