December Results
- Improved Ride height (result of the added kit)
- Collected Baseline CNG Weight measurements
- Suspension Drawing Package approved
- Found the current center of gravity and compared to stock
- Determined the leading issues causing poor handling (no ski pressure/bottomed-out rear suspension/center of gravity location)
- Determined a course of action to greatly improve handling
- Created a new tunnel design to strengthen the chassis and improve performance, and modeled it in Solidworks.
- Changed the overall appearance/feel to that of a stock snowmobile (overall length of the sled and rider position will be similar to stock)
Summary Picture:
The picture below shows a comparison of the location of the center of gravity (red dot) for the CNG snowmobile at the start of the year nd the center of gravity of the sled in stock form. The center of gravity for the CNG snowmobile is 6 inches closer to the rear of the sled than it is for the stock center of gravity, but the goal of the team is to get the difference as close to zero as possible. Also note the suspension for each (circled in red). The ride height of the stock sled is very high but the suspension, again stock, for the CNG sled is very compressed with the added weight. The addition of the added suspension kit will help to bring the ride height back to that of the stock sled.