I'm on the Formula SAE team at UCF. We design and build an open-wheeled racecar for competition against other Universities. A year ago, myself along with three other guys started a Sr. Design project on the intake and exhaust. We run a 600cc Honda f4i motorcycle engine and rules mandate that we use a 20mm restrictor on the intake. By comparison, the stock bike breathes through 4 individual 38mm throttle bodies. We run a stand-alone Performance Electronics ECU. Our project encompassed the intake restrictor, plenum, runners, exhaust headers, collector, and muffler. This also included finding a suitable throttlebody and adapting it. Our first semester was used for research and design while the second was for building and testing. In order to test the engine, we also had to design and build a stand to hold the engine on our Superflow SF-901 engine dyno.


The dyno was set up previously by a professor who ran 350 Chevy's but it hadn't been run for several years. We had a driveshaft made and made an adapter on the lathe and manual mill to adapt the output spline on the engine to the Chevy clutch spline on the dyno.


We made 2 different intake setups; one was fiberglass that was layed over an MDF plug that I cut on our 3-axis cnc mill. The other was made of SLA rapid prototype.



The runners were mandrel bent aluminum with velocity stacks inside the plenum.


Our fuel injector bosses were made on a 5-axis cnc to mimic the location and angle of the stock injectors. I also had to cut a fuel rail support bracket as we found out when it separated from the injectors with the 50 psi of fuel pressure, spraying fuel all over the place (luckily without the motor running).



The equal length 4-1 exhaust was made of mild steel from pieces cut from straight sections and u-bends. Then TIG welded together. We made bungs for EGT thermocouples and used an Innovative LM-1 to monitor A/F ratio.


After all the work was done, we began testing and modifying the lengths of the intake and exhaust. The exhaust was made with a 4" slip fit and the intake was made long and we cut it down as we continued making pulls in order to get the lengths correct for the engine speeds that we plan to run at. When we were done, we netted 78 hp and 45 lb ft of torque. This is only about 15 hp shy of the stock engine (torque was actually higher than stock). We also worked with a grad student who performed RSM statistical analysis on injector duration and spark timing. After that was done, we hit 80 hp and 46.6 lb ft of torque. From what I've seen, this is one of the highest hp numbers seen on a naturally aspirated f4i used in FSAE. Here's a link to my site with some more photos and videos... http://web.mac.com/kapps/SAE/Formula...e_Exhaust.html

And a whole lot more photos... http://gallery.me.com/kapps#100024&b...lack&view=grid

 

Not to worry....my posting slows way down, too, when I get immersed in a good project.

 

Nice work, you are learning a lot.

Maybe when you get done you can swap that for the Renualt engine in the Europa & have a faster car. Just kidding ya!

Let us know how it turns out for you guys.

 

It's making about the same power... It definitely gives me some ideas on making a new intake and exhaust for the Europa though.

 

I'm impressed!
And my excuse is so lame...