On Friday the 29th I drove up to the Taco7 meeting in Federal Way, Washington to hang out with fellow rotary nuts for the evening. There was a good range of rotary power represented at the meeting despite the cold weather and rain. Unfortunately I was not able to bring any rotary power myself so I drove the CorkSport 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 instead, which worked out better for a customer who was getting his CorkSport header, racepipe, and cat back exhaust delivered. One of the cool things I saw at the event was a set of 1st gen RX-7 Re-Amemiya mirrors wit the built in air guide. It was the first time I had ever seen a set, and I’ve seen a lot of rare parts! There were several good looking RX-8s at the meet as well, including the one below which had the AutoExe brace sets installed. I love the way those braces look.
It was great getting to hang out with a bunch of rotary fans, if you own a rotary powered vehicle, you should come to the next Taco7 meet!
One of the most difficult development hurdles for any manufacturer of aftermarket parts is using the right design tools for the job. I’m prefer working in 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Machining (CAM) systems and for me, it’s much easier to design up a product in the computer and be ready to go to production shortly thereafter than it is to fabricate something and then effectively reverse engineer the design into drawings and fixtures for the machine shop, tubing house and other fabrication vendors. But that requires that we start with some knowledge of where things are at on the vehicle in three dimensional space so we have a layout to work from.
Getting a good starting point to work from requires either a manufacturers computer model or skilled reverse engineering to generate that layout. There are a few ways to accomplish this -have ins with the factory and engineers at Mazda (which we have had for some time and are always dedicated to further developing), have the right tools to accurately and repeatably pull the information from the car into the CAD environment or by fabricating a working design and trying to refine that once it is complete. The difficulty of the latter method is that once you have a fabricated working design at hand, I find it a bit more difficult to think outside of the box or consider scrapping your hard work for a better design. Quick development turnaround time and being able to save multiple configurations of a design without cannibalizing the original by using CAD software makes thinking outside of the box a reality.
So what do we start with and where do we go when developing a product line?
Factory CAD Model Data
Having good connections and access to factory vehicle model content is, depending on manufacturer either extremely difficult or well facilitated through on board tech transfer programs. We’ll be gathering existing model data and comparing it to the vehicles we have in house for verification. In addition to this we’re hoping to broaden our relationship with Mazda to start gathering other CAD data where required to develop new and innovative products.
3D Digitizing Equipment
We recently had the opportunity to utilize some cutting edge technology for laying out future development on our 2010 MazdaSpeed3. Calling on Chris Jundt & Leta Holt at Hexagon Metrology, we worked with a Romer Infinite 2.0 Portable 4-Axis Coordinate Measuring Machine to digitize a number of areas on the Speed3 so that we can get a substantial boost in the return on our time invested in developing chassis bracing, molded fiberglass and rubber/urethane functional styling components and induction systems accessories. Consisting of a carbon fiber armature linked together by four extremely high resolution and accuracy Heidenhain Rotary Encoders and ending with a spherical ruby stylus, the Infinite 2.0 can map any elements that exist in an up to 4-12′ sphere (depending on model) to an extremely high accuracy and repeatability. This was just what our development for the 2010 MS3 needed. Our time mapping out the unibody and chassis components went quickly. We gathered data points on all of the rear hatch mount points and chassis bracing configurations that we had already mocked up into functional prototypes. When items were out of reach, we used the arm to generate a repeatable coordinate system which allowed us to move the arm and later stitch the two files back together seamlessly.
Using these technologies gives us the opportunity to develop a variety of improved designs as well expand our product market. And not only that, but it’s a lot of fun to be able to design parts as fluidly as you can sketch and erase on a chalkboard without consuming any raw materials until you’re satisfied with the results.
We’ll discuss more about how these technologies are assisting us in our upcoming blogs on chassis bracing solutions and R&D.
Just got done doing the initial testing on our prototype cold air box for the 2010 MS3. We put a box together that is a bit different from our existing boxes on the previous generation vehicles.
Previously, we closed out the entire front corner of the engine compartment with the box. With the 2010, the fuse block is in that vicinity and there’s a large wiring harness that crosses over the boundary region where we profiled for the box edge. We were also curious to see if we could build an efficient box that would allow our customers to retain access to the headlight assembly and fuse block for quick bulb and fuse changes.
We’ve done three extended runs on the 2010 MS3 with Cold Air Box and come to some interesting conclusions. In previous tests on the MS3 and MS6, we found that the dynamic pressure zones under the hood of the vehicle can be counter-intuitive as to the areas that provide cold air and/or allow ingress of hot underhood air into the filter.
The first run with a box that had multiple areas of access to the hot zones in the engine compartment was surprisingly successful. On a 51F day, we hit a 40+ degree max differential between underhood (immediately outside the box) and filter surface temperatures. Not bad! On the hotter days (86F) this summer when we were running the tests on our MS6 we hit around 35 degrees max thermal delta.
The next test we performed was with a number of the holes and reliefs in the box (clearance around the silicone coupler, closeout to the headlight assembly and a clearance hole for the recirculation valve) shored up and sealed off, we took the car out for another run this morning (waiting specifically until the outside air temp hit 51 again). We were hoping to get to ambient air temperature, which would have been a 60 degree temperature differential. Just like the MS6 tests last year, we got close, but stopped short at 5 degrees above ambient for a maximum in the box to out of the box temperature differential of 51 degrees F.
Wanting to see that 5F disappear, we went berserk and busted out our mad Scotch packing tape fabrication skills and sealed the entire box off to body and inner fenderwell. Absolutely no change. Which was honestly a relief. The simpler we are able to make the design, the more margin we have to spend on the aesthetic design and provide our customers with design that looks as seamless as possible with the factory underhood environment. Justin did a great job with the initial mockup, matching the contour of the factory intercooler cover, but we’ve got a ways to go. Next step is to pull the box out, bust out the bondo and shaping tools to fine tune the look and feel of the box. Meanwhile I’ll be chucking some delrin up in the lathe to knock out some fittings and fasteners as well as fabricating some finished brackets to ensure a solid fit with the OEM airbox grommets, battery box and radiator crossmember.
Finally, I need to make some phone calls and get some quotes on a pre-preg Carbon Fiber lid as well as a Dry Carbon lid. We’d love to make this a reality, but the numbers confirm or deny the reality of that option.
I know you’ve all waited a long time for this and it’s been for good reason -we want to raise the bar with this design and we’re excited to make it a reality.
About a month or so back, John and I decided to take on a new project. We managed to stuff 4 different chassis braces in the hatch of our 2010 Speed3…simultaneously. We have since had some time to test the various mount points back there to see where the best solutions would be provided. Our goal is to deliver a few different bars that can be mixed and matched and then deliver a secondary stage that will tie the primary bars together.
With that in mind, we know you love your trunk space and functionality on your hatchbacks and pass-through options on your sedans… So we have some tricks up our sleeve to make sure that your significant others will still be able to take a boosted trip to IKEA without complaining about the birdcage in the trunk getting in the way of that NORDANÖ Armchair and VÄRDE Kitchen Cabinet.
Since our initial investment into the design of these systems and testing of them, we have come up with a few conclusions that have lead to some development of a final product that we’re hoping to have out in the next month or two. We looked at a number of elements of the design: bar material for optimal structural integrity, options for quick disconnects that provide solid mounting points and finally -the look that matches our existing products for the 2010 vehicles.
In order to do this, we wiped the drawing board clean and started with a 1″ solid aluminum section of bar stock, black anodized with a laser etched CorkSport logo. We then evaluated the bracketing systems and methods of making solid, quick disconnect systems that will prevent chassis flex, yet provide our customers the ease of removal on the fly. I used to work in Aircraft, and whenever we wanted to make systems quickly removable we would use aircraft seat track systems with quick latching lugs and push-button quick release pins that are reliable and can handle a substantial load.
In order to accommodate these features, our designs require a higher level of accuracy and tolerance control than we are afforded with our welded style one-piece bars. Which means the brackets and the endlinks have to adhere to a high accuracy in their diameter and their overall thickness so that the grip length of the quick release pins will hold the system together accurately.
Mind you, using hardware like this to provide the best options to our customers are not by any means inexpensive. But that forces us to use all of the tools we have to minimize the cost of our designs simply through their manufacturability and through the process of minimizing part counts and simplifying design and build processes.
What we end up with are chassis braces that you can disconnect on the fly without any specialized tools. We’re still working on ways to make the integration of these systems appear as though they were factory solutions, because we know when you pop the hatch on your brand new Mazda3 or Mazdaspeed3, your friends and coworkers don’t expect to see your carpet and interior panels hacked up with a load of scaffolding occupying what should be usable trunk space….
The best part is that from the exterior of the vehicle, to the under-hood to the hatch and interior, you’ll find a consistent product line that expresses a level of quality commensurate with your 2010 Mazda. We look forward to sharing some of our other new designs in the near future. And we can’t wait to discuss some new ideas and directions with you. Keep in touch with us if you have any comments or ideas about product development or the direction we are taking with our designs.
90 years is quite a time span in human lives. The average life span is 67 years in the world today. Mazda (Toyo Kogyo) will be celebrating 90 years in 2010. We can thank Jujiro Matsuda for getting the company going in 1920 which led to the manufacturer of the cars we all love to drive. So for the 90 anniversary what is Mazda up to? I myself was hoping for something crazy to show up but it looks like there is just going to be a few special edition models available in Japan.
There will be a special “Gunmetal Blue Mica” version of the Mazda 3 (Axela in Japan) equipped with the 2.0 DI engine and I-Stop is available.
So far there are no plans for the 90th Anniversary Mazda 3 to make it to North America but that could change if we protest enough.
Mazda also has plans for a 90th Anniversary version of the Biante. A Biante is a compact minivan in the Japanese market. It will be available with the same 2.0 DI engine and I-Stop as well. I have not been a fan of the Biante styling myself but for its size you can haul 6 people comfortably and some cargo. Think of it as a different looking Mazda 3.
Who knows maybe Mazda will surprise us this year with a new rotary powered machine for the 90th anniversary. So far it has been quiet from my contacts in Japan but you never know. Mazda could be keeping a surprise on the down low.
