October 12, 2006. Torrential, driving rain: great for a test drive, possibly discouraging.
Pushed Moonbeam backwards out of the garage. Remember that this car has no reverse, but is a chinch to push.
The interior began getting drenched immediately. This is a disadvantage
of an overhead opening. Happily, the important electrics are under the windshield overhang. Jumped in and snapped
the canopy closed. Whew.
Sat for 10 minutes looking for leaks in the static situation. Dry
as a bone. Which was expected: everything was built with self-draining angles. Rain drumming loudly on the panels. Drove for an hour at various speeds and puddle depths. After 3 minutes leaks began to appear
in the center one foot width of the forward roll bar, and dropped on my knees. I knew that exposed joint, even though
tight-fitting had to leak at speed. But the good news was that 6" either side of center, there is enough side slope
to carry the rain sideways. So I need to engineer some seal or gutter only in the middle.
I was also happy to see that the two angled gaps on each side of the canopy
posed no problem. Apparently the air flow shoots over them, and any rain which does enter, drains right down again.
The wiper, though one-speed, and not self-parking, works well, conforming to
the curves. The long term problem remains: Lexan will eventually scratch with lots of dry wiping.
In "Some more photos", you'll see the heater/defroster below the
windshield, left of center. This is the Honda's radiator, and begins to heat the cab after about a mile. The little
fan below it normally sucks air through the radiator down to the driver's feet. Since the fan is reversible, there's
a reversing switch on the dash, which shoots that warm air up to the windshield. This worked well in the steam-up of
the rainstorm. An improvement would be to have that radiator on center, and not offset.
Back home, I sat smugly in the garage, Moonbeam dripping rivers on the
floor. So much beginner's luck here! Yet I had slaved over that darn canopy and now the obsession was
paying off.
October 15. More rainy driving. One development glitch is becoming clear:
Wipers will scratch lexan windshields quite quickly. Any Moonbeam builders would do well to find a small curved piece
of safety glass and build the car around it. Meanwhile, I'm using a plastic polish, not Rain-X, to
get the rain to roll off in beads and minimize the use of wipers.
Jan 5--Moonbeam is covered with frost. Do I go at the windshield with my plastic scraper?
Obviously not! I'm investigating ways to get a hard surface on Lexan. see: ecologycoatings.com.
But it's hard to imagine any coating which would stand up to such scraping. I'm pretty sure any microcar will need a
windshield, and perhaps all windows, of good old safety glass. There is a harder type of Lexan, called Marguard, which
is perhaps 50% more expensive and noticeably harder. see: http://k-mac-plastics.com/polycarbonate-lexan-mr10.htm
So this is a challenge which must be met. You might say
Moonbeam is only a prototype, not a production vehicle. Yet a good prototype 'anticipates production'. You
keep at it until the prototype could be produced. So windows need to be able to be cut from sheet safety-glass,
or based on existing, off-the-shelf safety-glass panels.
My local glass suppliers will actually form safety glass, if given a template
which they can send out. Typically the bill will be close to $1000, although you could have a number of identical pieces for
that price, since the cost is setting up the 'drape mold'.
The other big frustration at this point is making a latch for the overhead
canopy. I am just as baffled as I can be, having set up a snap on a hinge, which snaps to the curved longitudinal
overhead bar. But this keeps popping off over bumps, so I added a steel hold-down. This worked for
a week! I know I should enjoy these challenges, but....right now i'm stumped..
The other challenge is soundproofing. I've added a second plywood
panel behind the seat, right under the rear window, which has soundproofing under it and carpet backing on top. This
has further quieted the car. You can talk to your fellow passenger almost normally. I think I will consider
this a stopping point for soundproofing.
Jan 15---Driving in the snow! Whoa! I can hardly move
with my summer tires. You notice that you've only got one drive wheel. It better grip like heck. And it's
positioned in the middle of the road where there's more snow. The slightest hill and, from standing, you don't go anywhere.
So I'm off to look for a winter tire for that back wheel, or possibly install studs on a similar tire. I tried
a Pirelli SL 60 off road scooter tire on the rear, but that didn't improve traction. So I put Pirelli SC 30 tires on
all three wheels and called an end to the perfect tire quest. These are great tires!
Feb 1-- I love putting on my cold weather suit and driving Moonbeam right out on the lake to
my favorite skating spots. It's like being on the Bonneville Salt flats. If there's snow on the ice, you can get up
to about 40 MPH before the single drive wheel begins to lose traction. In such bitter cold, the heater just takes the
edge off the inside temperature, but doesn't really give you toasty warmth. I love the practicality of this car.
It's just a working car, not some garage cream puff. I put in a 12 Ampere-hour battery, larger than the stock 9
AH, to give good cold cranking speed. I've now put almost 4000 miles on the car. When I go to the eco-rallys this
summer, I hope to drive Moonbeam longer distances.
April 15-- Its starting to get warmer and I don't want to do another summer with the heater
on, since it is the only way to cool the engine. Besides, soon I'm heading up Mt. Washington (see summer eco-activities)
and I'll bet Moonbeam will overheat with 7.6 miles of an 11.6% average grade.
Since I have saved the second motorscooter's radiator, I mounted it back in the engine compartment,
piping the water flow through both radiators. Each radiator has a little electric fan, so I can switch on either the
front fan for cab heat, or the rear fan for summer. And for the mountain climb, I'll surely have them both running at
their highest speed. So far, all works well. The next hot day, I hope to blast up Mt. Battie Auto Road right here
in Camden, which is only 1.5 miles long and averages 7% grade. If you're near NH, come to the rally!
July 10, 2007--Moonbeam made it up Mt. Washington and down, carefully cooling the drum brakes every
mile or so. I would definitely recommend putting disk brakes on such a vehicle.
I notice that the rear wheel is now quite bald, after only 7 months and
5000 miles of driving. I think that 3.60-10 scooter tire, is being asked to do too big a job. That rear tire
needs to be wider and have a flat profile instead of a round one. This winter will be a great chance to find a better
choice. Unfortunately, a tire which comes out larger in circumfrence will change the gear ratio, which is presently
perfect.
February 15, 2008--I finally installed a sound system, with the two speakers out at the sides of the lower windshield. But
the problem of loud engine noise is still there. You have to blast the radio or cassette player to hear it.
I'm thinking of replacing the rear wheel with identical side by side wheels, to share the load, give better winter traction,
and cut down on tire wear. The lexan windshield is now quite scarred by the wiperblade. I'm planning to replace that windshield
with a hardened lexan, called "Marguard".
