The shop tables in the back of the Local Motors headquarters are packed with OEM parts that are going on the Rally Fighter. We have laid out the parts for a visual representation as to their general location on the Rally Fighter.
What's OEM? OEM stands for original equipment manufacture. OEMs are the industry's brand name auto manufacturer suplyers, such as Bosch, BBS, NGK, Pagid, Ferodo, etc. And for Local Motors that's key. Quality, field proven components without the time or expense of building them ourselves.
Beyond being a useful way to visualize the components and their integration, this gives our community a great insight into how many of the components come from existing vehicles. And along with that, its easy to see how much work is necessary to get all these independent parts to become a complete Rally Fighter. Their are all sorts of parts on this table...from key sets and window actuators to the engine and transmission and literally everything between. Their are actually over 75 parts! If you read the last post you'll even notice the rear axle and Watts Link we built. Check out the pictures:
Last Thursday we hosted our first bi-weekly event called Burgers, Cars, and Welding or BCW. Their was a great turnout, and we hope for more at the next BCW on July 10, 2009. At the event we ate burgers, talked about cars, and most importantly welded. Colby Whipple (LM's Master Welder) built and demonstrated the Rally Fighter's Watts Link as Jay Rogers (LM's CEO) explained everything to the crowd.
But, What's a Watts Link?
Watt's Links are used in the rear axle of some car suspensions as an improvement over the Panhard rod (existing in most vehicles), which was designed in the early twentieth century. Both a Panhard rod, and a Watts Link intend to prevent sideways motion between the axle and body of the car. The Watts Link however approximates a vertical straight line motion much better. The Rally Fighter will employ the following Watts Link in its rear axle. A Watts Link consists of two horizontal rods mounted at each side of the chassis. In between these two rods, a short vertical bar is connected. The center of this short vertical rod, the point which is constrained in a straight line motion, is mounted to the center of the axle. All pivoting points are free to rotate in a vertical plane of travel. Click here for the Watts Link build story!
For a better understanding check out this video of a watts link on a vehicle:
Over the last several weeks, we've been in daily contact with the team at ATG to complete the body engineering phase. Late last week, the Hood Liner and Trunk Liners were approved. Now that they've been completed, the tooling we'll use to make them in production can be designed. The gray lines you see in the images are where sections/holes will be cut out of the liner before bonding them to the hood/trunk.
Check out the Rally Fighter Build Page for pics and add/view comments!
After the completion of the Local MotorsCustom Car Skins (CCS) competition we thought it was a good idea to explain these vinyl car skins. But first, take a look at the winning design:
Following the announcement of the CCS winner we decided to make a video explaining how designs like these actually make their way onto Local Motors vehicles. The following video stars Ariel Ferreira (Public Relations) and David Rhia (Lead Engineer), who explain the two different customizable vinyl coatings available for the Rally Fighter.
As we have explained in previous entries the basic specs of the BMW 335d engine. But, in case you missed it: 
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