I tuned the University of Buffalo’s formula SAE car today with a Motec M4 system. It wasn’t a complete tune as they’re just trying to get it going since it’s been down for about a year. Their previous best dyno was 53 whp revving it to 13,000 RPM according to team members. It made 70 whp and 38 lb/ft of torque today revving to 10,500 rpm which would be over a 30% increase in power. We stopped there as they already have a new car in progress and this car will only be used for “testing”. They’re running a stock CBR 600 engine through a tiny restrictor which you can see in this picture. Maybe one of the team members can chime in on the size of that restrictor.
For those of you who have seen these car in action they’re rather violent when driven around an autoX course. It’s a lot of fun to watch. 53 whp in a 500 lb vehicle is a handful, especially with the gearing they run. 70 whp should be interesting to say the least.
20mm restrictor. And i have driven the car with 53hp and it was, well quick and fun. I need to come back up to buffalo and take a ride now. I miss that car. I am very impressed with the numbers you got out of that, especially since i sort of designed and built the fuel system on that car with a fuel pump i found in a cabinet and made that fuel tank, which was way more complicated then it had to be. I’m glad to know the car is still running and running strong. :tup:
pretty sure thats the old motor, been to a few meeting tho i doubt anyone remembers seeing my face. The new motor wil be a briggs n stratton v4. Im thinkin about ACTUALLY joining these guys this year, anyone wanna go to a meeting with me?
Yes, the motor he tuned was the old motor. It was a straight F4, not an F4i. The engine team (myself, Ryan, Krit, I’m forgetting someone) converted it to fuel injection.
Boardjnky, you should really join, it’s a good learning experience. It definitely helped me in my understanding of cars.
Alumni. boardjnky4 you should join. Great hands on learning experience. Working on that car helped a lot with my understanding of cars and my mechanical abilities, which sucked when I started since I was EE. You will pick up a lot if you participate and work hard.
i may join, but have to wait till next semester. this semester i have class tues and thurs 12:30-1:50 then 5-6:20. don’t they meet 5:30 thursdays or something?
Yea, that thing needed some serious tuning… :tup: mike.
Of course… you prolly werent standing behind a wooden table fearing for your life while tuning like we did trying to tune the engine with a Water Dyno, while the engine sat on a table, and the chain got so hot in boiled the grease out of the bearings… yea… that was fun.
I would love to see how it feels with 70whp… too bad the suspension still sucks… dont get me started on the steering… we bent a .049 steel tube which acted as the steering shaft to the rack trying to steer the car around, it might have even been .065… that steering sucked.
EDIT: Just to give you guys an idea of Mike’s skills… 70whp is what the top teams make with their NA CBRs… and what some teams make with Turbo CBRs… also that intake manifold design and throttle body could use alot of improvement.
Still needs a muffler tho… … 110db is the competition limit… i bet that straight pipe is in the 130-150 range.
As much as I hated FSAE at times, i still miss it… its 99% disapointment, and 1% OMGWTF THIS FUCKING RULES… its that 1% that gets ya.
You don’t have to be able to make the “meetings” to be part of formula. As long as you can make it to the shop during the week and put in productive time building shit, your good to go. The shop is open 8-5 M-F i believe. (Its been a while for me, i forget)
well when are the meetings for this so i can sign up, could have sworn i posted earlier to see if anyone wanted to head down with me. so when are the meetings and anyone else down to check this out with me?
interviewed aye? well lets meet up up before the meeting and go there together and tell them some ppl from here that were in the club refered us, sure we can get on it.
They’re running a stock CBR 600 engine through a tiny restrictor which you can see in this picture. Maybe one of the team members can chime in on the size of that restrictor.
… 110db is the competition limit… i bet that straight pipe is in the 130-150 range.