Still working on the L33 engine model...

valves and valve covers

Removed one side's valve cover to try cleaning it a little better, and for a quick inspection.  The flash added a weird color tinge to the oil, but everything looks to be in great shape.

I cleaned up the valve covers as best as possible, but they look to be die cast and have a somewhat rough finish.  At some point it would be nice to polish them, and powder coat or chrome them.  At least that way they'd clean up with just a quick wipe next time.
I also got rid of the extension on the oil filler so that it now screws right into the cover, much cleaner looking that way.

Fresh Parts

It was like Christmas morning, lots of parts for the engine came in today.  An LS1 intake, LS1 throttle body, LS7 exhaust manifolds, LS1 clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel.  Most of which were then test fitted, looking good so far..

 

It might be hard to tell from the pictures, but the car intake manifold drops the height of the engine considerably!  Between the LS1 intake and Corvette oil pan, we should see an 8 inch difference in height.

GM 5.3L V8 rendering

Finally got around to taking measurements of the new 5.3L engine, which allowed me to update my previously drawn engine model with the new dimensions.  Keeping in mind that this model is not meant to look exactly like the motor, it is only meant to have the same external dimensions so that I can verify clearances in the engine bay.  The LS1 intake and oil pan are approximated, as I don't have them yet.  Once they come in, I'll dimension them as well, model them, and add them to the motor.

In other news, I've got an LS1 intake, cable driven throttle body, LS7 stainless exhaust manifolds, alternator bracket, power steering bracket, and 6 speed flywheel all on the way here, should be a productive week.

I'm still looking for a T56 six speed transmission at the right price.  Once I have one, I'll dimension and model it in SolidWorks as well, and mate it to the V8.  With both engine and transmission modeled accurately, I'll be able to finish designing the motor mounts, engine bay bracing, transmission mount, and finalize the transmission tunnel.

Frame Design

There is a lot that goes into the design of a chassis frame.  One advantage of using SolidWorks to design my frame in is that it has a built in finite element analysis (FEA) program.  FEA allows one to apply a load on a part, assembly, or frame, and see how it reacts to that force.  In this case, I'm applying two forces, equal and opposite, to the front end of the frame.  These forces are actually applied to the points on the frame where the weight of the vehicle pushes on it, mimicking cornering loads, acceleration loads, or other scenarios.

Since the frame design has been modified many times since I did the original FEA work on the preliminary frame models, now it is time to go back through and make sure I haven't introduced any weak points.  It is likely that the frame design will still change a bit more, as the engine and transmission dimensions and mounting points are finalized.

This screenshot shows a stress plot of the frame while under load.  Red areas are highly stressed, blue areas are not.  From this shot, it is apparent that there are still some stress concentrations to be designed out, although to be fair, the front engine bay area is missing a few key tubes.

Engine on its way!

Finalized the purchase of the engine for the Spartan today!  This first engine will be for the prototype, chassis #0.  Its the GM 5.3L all aluminum V8, the L33.  Thank you to locostusa.com, ls1tech.com, and exocars.net members for your help with my engine choice!

A nice little motor, it is basically a smaller displacement LS1.  In stock form its said to put out around 310 horsepower, but better manifolds, a cam, and springs will wake it right up and have it nipping at the heels of a corvette LS1 motor.  Not to mention that 310 hp is severe overkill in a car this lightweight anyhow - that's okay, we like overkill.

Upon receipt, the new motor will get an LS1 intake/injectors/throttle body, an LS1 oil pan from a Corvette or F-body car, F-body accessories/brackets, and a good cleaning.

(this is someone else's picture, sorry I stole it!)

 

 

(more stolen pictures, sorry gjohnson!)

Next, the transmission, the T56 6 speed...

Sheet metal paneling added... mostly

I just added the cowl panels, front bulkhead panels, and rear bulkhead panels.  Gives a better idea of what the Spartan will look like when it's finished.  This is about all the sheet metal and paneling that the car will wear - there are no side panels, no roof, no doors...  

The Joys and not so Joys of buying online, no thanks to Paypal..

Well, I bought a transmission for the car, sort of.  Long story, but the short version is that I put down a 50% deposit on a T56 from a Camaro, out in Clarksville, IN, then drove out there the following day to pick it up and pay the balance.  I paid the deposit thru Paypal.  When I got there, the seller was nowhere to be found, and would not answer any of my calls or texts.  350 miles away from home, I was stuck with no other option than to wait for him to get back to me.  I waited for 4 hours, decided I had enough, and headed back for a 6 hour drive to Cleveland empty handed.  Understandably a bit ticked off, I waited a few more days, then filed a claim with Paypal.  Now, we all assume that Paypal is the "safe" way to carry out online purchases, since its "guaranteed", right?  Well, after a few calls to Paypal, they tell me that since it was only a deposit, never mind a 50% deposit and a fair amount of money, they were not required to cover it!  All I could do was dispute it with the seller, whom I was becoming fairly convinced was a fraud.  After 20 days as a dispute, with no positive outcome, the dispute either closes, or is upgraded to a Paypal claim.  I was literally told by Paypal that there was no hope for me getting the money back, that if it was escalated to a claim, that they would side with the seller!
At this point, almost a week after driving out to Indiana to pick up the transmission, the seller finally sends me a message, saying he's sorry and that his cell phone got turned off the night before I left, and that I must have went to the wrong address.  Well, wanting to believe him, and still wanting the transmission, I really wanted to believe him.  He said that if I could undispute the money that was the deposit, that he would use that to pay his bills and to ship out the transmission, and cut off 15% of the price for my costs of driving out and my aggravation.  The seller seemed like a nice guy, and I hate to assume the worst in people, and not having any other option of actually getting my money back (remember, Paypal already told me that if the dispute was escalated, they would almost surely side with the seller, the guy who didn't deliver the goods and took my money!), I had little choice but to go along with it and hope for the best.  Now a week later, since his promise of shipping it out, and I have not received anything.  Not only that, but once again the seller is totally unreachable by phone, text, and email.  Great, just great.
Now I'm left waiting for someone to restore my faith in humanity.

Note:  Never again Paypal, never again will I trust you to protect my money in any transaction.  I would recommend to anyone reading this to avoid Paypal as well, if they don't care about my significant "deposit", why trust them with your hard earned money?

Update:  Paypal eventually refunded my money, all of it.  Except that evidently there were three people in this scam - me, the scammer, and the guy that I paid directly, who turned out to be innocent.  So Paypal took the money from the guy I paid and gave it back to me.  Only by sheer luck was the guy able to in turn get his money back from the scammer.  ( The scammer had told the guy that I was a friend making a payment on his behalf, he then used that money as credit to buy things. )  What a horror story..  At any rate, if you're going to use Paypal for a transaction like this, use your credit card to fund it...

Revised Engine Cover

Reworked the engine cover a bit more.  It's a sort of cross between a shaker hood and a cover.  It bolts directly to the engine, and thus moves with it, but also has significant impact on the frontal aerodynamics and aesthetics.  Tough to see in the screenshot, but the upper portion of it is clear polycarbonate, for a peek at the top of the LSx V8.