SolidWorks Roadster

The suspense is over with the I.R.S.!

Tonight was a very productive night at the garage as team leads Jeremy, Mark, Wilkie, Howie and Lorne, with an assist by Kaamil, all managed to get the I.R.S. (independent rear suspension) installed. It took a great effort by all to make those tricky bolts and spacers to play nicely, but in the end, they got the job done. Kiera Ciccone stopped by to take some great photos and video. Thank you to Kiera! 
Team leads will be taking a field trip to FFR on Friday. They will be taking a tour of the facility and also go over some of the parts that are still needed. It should be a good trip.
-Howie

Powder Coating 101

So this is what $100 gets you when powder coating parts. Of course, you have to drive into the bowels of Lawrence (twice) to get that price, but I think you would be hard pressed to beat the price and a turn around time of less than 24 hours. At first, I just wanted to powder coat the spindle adapters (bottom center of picture), but Frank's (from Royal Powder Coating) minimum price was $50 and he said he could do a lot more for not much more money. So, Lorne and I went through the boxes and build manual and found every piece of the FFR kit that was not already finished in some form or other and I brought them all down to Holly Street in Lawrence. You can see from the picture that the overhead for his facility is not that high, contributing to the super low price!

I dropped them off on Tuesday at 8:30 am (don't worry, Frank is there at 4:00 am, so you can't be there too early) and picked them up at 8 am the next morning. He did a great job. Wednesday night, I re-assembled the door hinges (left of picture) and loosely mounted the spindle adapters on the spindles. The rest of the components shown are the side pipe brackets (center of image) and pieces of the hood hinges.

Now I know where I will be going when it is time to do some powder coating for my restoration project of my 1974 Jeep CJ-5.

- Wilkie

Footbox and pedal mods...our first challenge

The halogen shop lights came in handy for the first time as the sun sets earlier now. The build team faces a big challenge to get the driver side footbox and pedal modifications just right.  As like most older sports cars, there is very little room for the driver's feet. We're still aiming to make the driving experience as comfortable as can be, but with only 14 inches of leg room - and the need for 3 pedals (gas, brake and clutch), this is not going to be easy.  Here is a shot of Lorne Silkes working on the footbox.

- Jeremy Luchini

Transmission gets delivered...Chassis team pushes ahead

We've purchased and delivered the entire drivetrain this week.  Team Leader Adam Venti is seen here shopping for goods at the famous Forte's part supply in nearby Burlington. 

Thanks to Shawn Liu, Jason Harris, Mark Leizza and Eric Lafond for giving up their Saturday and helping get the entire passenger-side footbox installed as well as the new gas tank!

- Jeremy Luchini

Huge day for Chassis team...

Wow, what an evening in the garage!!! 

Jeff Ray, COO of SolidWorks, dropped by to check out the build.  Richard Morse taught all of us the fine art of evaluating the fiberglass body before prepping and painting.

And thanks to Nancy Buchino, Don Swaverly, Cholly Nachman, Christine Morse, Tom Sherman and Kaamil El-Rayees for doing a great job on the first pieces of aluminum panels.  The front F-panels and firewall are all set.  Plus, while we wait for a gas pedal, Nancy, Don, Cholly and I installed the pedal box.

- Jeremy Luchini

Other shots from the evening...

Suspension team bolts on first component...

So how many SW employees do you think it takes to put in a rear differential?
Four.  And it wasn't that easy.  But with the right brainpower for the job, they got it done.

Thanks to John Sweeney, Earl Hasz, Tom Sherman, Kaamil El-Rayess, SolidWorks co-founder Scott Harris, and Team Leader Jim Wilkinson!

Jim had the team assemble everything they could (brakes, shocks, brackets...) while we wait for control arms and the steering rack:

I'll be posting the team members names and responsibilities at the garage, so we can highlight who has worked on the car and what stages we're at.

- Jeremy Luchini

Body is off the frame!

Thanks to Eric Lafond, Hailong Li, Tom Sherman and team leaders Howie Buccieri, Adam Venti and Mark Gibson!

Eric and Tom put the finishing touches on the body buck.

Howie and Adam built one heck of a work bench with vice, and then organized the tools (Lorne – nice purchase!).

Hailong and I unassembled the body mounts.

Eric and Tom marked up the aluminum panels for assembly.

And all of us carefully removed the body from the frame and placed it on the buck.

Wednesday, Jim’s suspension team will get their first chance to visit the garage, maybe assemble some shocks.

Thursday, Chassis team meets again (so far Cholly, Don, and Christine have committed to helping) – We’ll rivet and silicone the first pieces of the aluminum to the frame.

Howie will get ramped up on blogging this week so I don’t have to email everyone each night.

 - Jeremy Luchini

All set for the build

Okay Gear Heads, we’re all set for the build!

 

The offsite garage, pictured here, has been stocked with all of our stuff, including the kit, the body buck, our tools, and shop supplies.  All of our team leaders have visited the site and will direct you around what to work on. 

A couple of special notes: The property owner, Danny, is a wonderful guy, and very easy going, please respect his property, especially his Ferrari 512 Boxer parked right next to our Cobra. :) 

I have posted all the cell phones of all the team leaders at the site in case of questions or concerns.  There are plenty of safety glasses, gloves, and a first aid kit.  Make sure to put an extra pair of work clothes in your car or office so you don’t ruin your business attire.

- Jeremy Luchini

THANK YOU SPONSORS

Thank you very much to HP , ATI , CraneCams, Edelbrock, Flaming River, MSD Ignitions and Scat Crankshafts for sponsoring this project and helping to make it a reality.

- The SolidWorks Roadster Build Team