Nowadays it’s hard to surprise with some new car model, but a do-it-yourself vehicle has always attracted attention and excitement. A person who makes a car with his own hands expects two scenarios. The first is admiration for the creation, and the second is the smile of others at the sight of the invention. If you figure it out, then there is nothing complicated in assembling a car with your own hand. From a self-taught engineer, you only need to know the design of the car and the basic properties of its parts.
Historical facts
The beginning of the construction of cars was preceded by some historical conditions. During the existence of the union, mass production of cars was carried out. They could not meet the individual needs of the consumer. That is why self-taught inventors began to look for ways out of this situation and did this by designing homemade cars.
In order to make one car with your own hands, three non-working ones were required, from which all the necessary spare parts were removed. If we take into account people living in remote villages, they most often improved various bodies, thereby increasing their capacity. Cars began to appear that had high cross-country ability and could even overcome water. In a word, all forces were thrown to simplify life.
A separate category of people attached great importance to the appearance of the car, and not just its technical properties. In addition to beautiful cars, sports cars were made that were not much inferior to factory copies. All these inventions not only surprised others, but also became full-fledged road users.
During the Soviet Union, there were no specific restrictions on homemade vehicles. Prohibitions appeared in the 80s. They concerned only certain parameters and technical characteristics of the car. But most people could get around them by registering one vehicle with the appropriate authorities under the guise of a completely different one.
What you need to assemble a car
To proceed directly to the assembly process itself, you need to think through everything in detail. You need to clearly understand how to make a future car, and what technical characteristics it should have. First you need to determine for what purposes the car will be used, and then implement the idea. If you need a frank workhorse, then in order to make it yourself, you will need special materials and parts. It is also important to make the body and frame of the car as resistant to stress as possible. When a car is made only for driving, the question is only in its appearance.
How to make a car with your own hands for a child, you can learn from the following video:
How to make drawings
You should not trust your head and imagination, it would be better and more correct to think about what exactly the car should be. Then transfer all available considerations to paper. Then it is possible to correct something and as a result, a drawn copy of the future car will appear. Sometimes, for complete certainty, two drawings are made. The first shows the appearance of the car, and the second is a more detailed image of the main parts in detail. Before you draw, you need to prepare all the necessary tools, that is, a pencil, eraser, drawing paper and a ruler.
Nowadays, there is no need to draw a picture for a long time with a regular pencil. To facilitate this task, there are special programs that have wide capabilities and with their help you can make any drawing.
Advice! If there are no engineering programs, then the usual Word test editor will help in this situation.
With a strong desire, you can make any car with your own hands. If there are no own considerations, then ready-made ideas and drawings can be borrowed. This is possible because most people involved in the creation of homemade cars do not hide their ideas, but, on the contrary, present them to the public.
kit-cars
In the vast countries of Europe and America, the so-called "kit-cars" have become widespread. So what is it? This is a certain number of different parts with which you can make a car with your own hands. Kit cars have become so popular that there are many variants of kit cars that allow you to fold any car model you want. The main difficulty is not in the assembly, but in the registration of the car obtained as a result of the assembly.
To fully work with a kit car, you must have a spacious garage. In addition, you need tool kits and knowledge. If you do not have certain skills, then the work will not give the desired result. If the work is done with the help of assistants, the assembly process will be faster and more fruitful.
This kit includes everything from small screws and instructions to large parts. For full-fledged work, there should not be serious difficulties. It should be noted that the instruction does not have a printed form, but is presented by a video master class, where everything is considered to the smallest detail.
It is very important to assemble the car correctly. This is necessary in order for the creation to meet all the standards and norms prescribed in the regulations of the traffic police. Since non-compliance with the points leads to problems with registering the vehicle with the relevant authorities.
Advice! If there is such an opportunity, then you can consult with experts in this field.
You can learn more about what kit cars are and how to make them in the following video:
Building a car with scrap materials
To make it as easy as possible for yourself to assemble a homemade car, you can take the base of any other car that is fully functioning as a basis. It is best to take the budget option, since it is never known which way the experiments will lead. If there are old worn parts, then they must be replaced with serviceable ones. If possible, you can make parts with your own hands on lathes, but this is if you have professional skills.
First of all, you need to start assembling the car with the body, instruments and necessary interior parts. Modern inventors use fiberglass for the body, but before there was no such material, and plywood and tin material were used.
Attention! Fiberglass is a fairly elastic material, which allows you to implement any idea, even the most unusual and original.
The availability of materials, spare parts and other components makes it possible to design a car that, in terms of external parameters and appearance, will not be inferior to car models of the world's leading automakers. This requires ingenuity, good imagination and certain knowledge.
DIY supercar:
Building a car from fiberglass
Start assembling a car from fiberglass should be from the moment of choosing a suitable chassis. After that, the selection of the necessary units is carried out. Then it’s worth moving on to the layout of the cabin and mounting the seats. Upon completion of this, the chassis is strengthened. The frame must be very reliable and strong, since all the main parts of the car will be mounted on it. The more accurate the dimensions of the space frame, the better the parts fit together.
For the manufacture of the body is best to use fiberglass. But first you need to make a base, that is, a frame. Styrofoam sheets can be attached to the surface of the frame, as closely as possible corresponding to the available drawings. Then, if necessary, holes are cut out, and, if necessary, the parameters are adjusted. After that, fiberglass is attached to the surface of the foam, which is puttied and cleaned from above. It is not necessary to use foam plastic, any other material with a high level of plasticity will come in handy. Such material can be a continuous sheet of sculptural plasticine.
It should be noted that fiberglass tends to deform during operation. The reason is high temperatures. To maintain the shape of the structure, it is necessary to strengthen the frame with pipes from the inside. All excess parts of the fiberglass must be removed, but this should be done after it is completely dry. If everything is done correctly and there are no other works regarding the design, you can proceed to the interior equipment and electronics fasteners.
If it is planned to re-design in the future, then a special matrix can be made. Thanks to her, the body manufacturing process will be faster and easier. The matrix is applicable not only to make a vehicle with your own hands from scratch, but also to improve the condition of your own car. For the manufacture of paraffin is taken. To get a smooth surface, you need to cover it with paint on top. This will increase the convenience of fastening parts for a new car body.
Attention! With the help of the matrix, the entire body is made completely. But there is an exception - this is the hood and doors.
Conclusion
In order to implement the existing idea and make a car with your own hands, there are a number of suitable options. All sorts of working details will be useful here.
With your own hands you can make not only a passenger car, but also a larger and more powerful truck. In some countries, craftsmen manage to earn decent money on this. They make cars to order. Cars with various original body parts are in great demand.
How to make a Porsche with your own hands:
Looking for material for the community kak_eto_sdelano I accidentally stumbled upon a blog in which the author described how he created the car. It was not just some car, but a legendary car with an interesting history - the Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing". I became interested in the history of recreating a car rarity and immersed myself in a fascinating reading about how they made a copy of the legendary car from scratch, and not just a copy, but a car assembled from original parts.
Later, I was able to meet with Sergei, who made his dream come true, and learn some details about the creation of the car. He gave me permission to take text and photos from his blog and make a post for the community readers.
(Total 90 photos + 5 videos)
1. In the process of creating the Mercedes 300SL “Gullwing”, the suspension from the Mercedes W202 and W107 was used. Remembering that the best is the enemy of the good, we put adjustable shock absorbers. Particular attention should be paid to the rear axle gearbox, usually it is with it that the biggest problems arise, which is why customizers love solid axles so much. On a Mercedes, this unit, along with the drives, is assembled on a subframe, which greatly simplifies working with it.
5. The stainless steel exhaust system complies with the Euro-3 standard, and the fuel tank is a real work of art: baffles and overflow pipes are installed in it to prevent the fuel from splashing. One of the photos shows a steering wheel lock.
10. In the Gullwing project, it was decided to use the next generation of M104 engines with a volume of 3.2 liters and a power of 220 hp. paired with an automatic 5-speed transmission. The choice of engine was not accidental - it is more powerful, lighter and quieter. The gearbox is primitive, with a torque converter, many of these units are familiar from the Mercedes W124, W140, W129, W210. A hydraulic booster was also installed, all units are new, so there should be no problems.
12. Making the body.
13. Back in 1955, Daimler-Benz produced 20 cars with an aluminum body and one with a composite body. We decided to try composite.
15. After the manufacture of the body and assembly of the chassis, the crossing of the body with the frame begins. The process is so painstaking and dreary that no photos and words will convey. Assembly and disassembly, adjustment - all this takes more than one day. Many parts are finalized on site, and the body is bolted to the frame through special dampers in 30 places.
16. All body parts are installed and adjusted - doors, hood, trunk lid. There is a lot of trouble with glasses - they are mounted on rubber seals, and since all seals are original and designed for steel, you have to strictly observe the thickness of the frames of the openings. Each part is removed, adjusted by hand and only then installed in place.
24. Many parts for the most popular rare models are still produced in small batches in some workshops, which is actively used by all restorers. But what is there to hide: the factories themselves fake their rarities, especially Audi and Mercedes have succeeded in this.
25. Many museums have frank copies. So, recently, a lot of "Horkhov" has bred. This is especially interesting, given that all factory documentation was lost during the war. Dozens of workshops on the equipment of those years churn out fakes, passing them off as carefully restored products. The devil is in the details.
26. So we just bought and collected all the details that could decorate any rarity for 500 thousand euros. I assure you, every nut and bolt (I'm not talking about rubber bands) is correctly marked in 1955. Everything is original, even the seats.
27. The body is already primed, and this is the most important moment, because the composite is a special material in painting, because plasticizers and all sorts of other complex things are needed here. The secrets of the primer are kept, and no one will ever tell you. But it looks nice.
A short video from the painting process
31. In the meantime, the body is being painted, let's prepare the components for assembly. As I said - the devil is in the details, and there are more than 2 thousand of them in the car! Dashboard, she was looking for a very long time.
32. We also find devices and relays, not everything, of course, is obtained immediately.
33. But with enviable patience and perseverance, you will have the opportunity to get a completely authentic instrument panel, consisting of 80 (!) Parts.
34. The main thing is that it also works later: the appliances are all expensive. Cheap is not good.
36. The body is covered in 6 layers of varnish, it is very beautiful and will not need to be pasted over with a chrome film. Yes, shagreen is a must, and the grain should be fine. Now they don’t paint like that anymore, they dilute everything with water, they have ecology, they protect nature. By the way, paint 744 (silver) is the most difficult to paint, any painter will tell you.
41. They finally married the chassis with the body.
45. Installed the doors. It would seem that the matter is simple, but I want to tell you one story. The Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing" had many design flaws. One of them was the doors themselves: they were steel, heavy and hinged to the roof of the body, and were fixed by a spring enclosed between hollow steel tubes with hinges at the end.
In the extreme upper position, the spring was compressed, and when the door was lowered, stretching, it slammed the door with a roar. When opening, it was necessary to overcome the resistance of the spring, which simply pulled out the door along with the brackets (900 euros each).
Experienced Gullwing owners know that with inept use, this will inevitably lead to deformation of the roof, and besides, the brackets themselves simply break. The stem and spring assembly has become insanely scarce over time, and its cost has risen to astronomical heights. Each owner of such a rarity repairs these units once a season. We decided to go the other way and install gas shock absorbers.
46. It would seem that something is simpler, but it was not there. I had to develop the whole assembly, it took 4 months of hard work. Fortunately, a workshop was found that brought ideas and drawings to life. With full external authenticity, the doors today open like the rear fifth door of a German SUV. The knot turned out to be so successful that it immediately became the object of desire for all owners of rarities, I think that soon all “gullwings” will have doors that open very effectively and smoothly, without knocking. Now this process has really become similar to the flapping of a gull's wing - gracefully and smoothly.
This is just one, and the simplest, example of the tasks that had to be solved when building this car.
47. By the way, the door lock mechanism has also undergone changes. Despite the cost of 1500 euros, it stuck very often and did not fix the door, but that's another story.
49. At the very beginning of the project, it seemed that interior trim was the smallest problem, since at every step there were workshops for altering interiors, so something, but now any master can handle leather. It's business to sheathe a bunch of details with leather, but, as it turned out, this is a HUGE PROBLEM! After four attempts to create interior details in tuning studios, I realized that everything is much more complicated.
Created products by no means wanted to look like the original. Everything looked like a cheap fake: the leather was bristling, traces of heat treatment were visible, the texture did not match, and no one could pick up the material. In short, I began to delve into the subtleties and found out that modern masters are completely unable to work with felt, wool and other materials used at that time. They stupidly warmed and stretched the skin, used foam rubber wherever they could, actively worked with an iron, in short, mercilessly destroyed materials, depriving them of their naturalness and nobility. I'm not talking about durability.
After suffering for half a year, we came to the conclusion that only restorers are capable of such work. They have special foam rubber and felt. In general, they found a company, guys - wolves, guys under 60 years old, who have been restoring only Mercedes for 40 years. What they showed us and told us is just a novel about leather, and they guard their secrets in much the same way as the secret of making paper for the dollar.
The video shows an example of the process.
50. Interior details on my baby did 4 months. The skin is just alive.
51. I will add that the skin that manufacturers offer today is chemical bullshit with impregnations. It is not without reason that all owners of Mercedes and BMWs go nuts after a year of operation - the interiors look like those of old redvans: not fresh, the skin stretches, peels off. As I said earlier, the devil is in the details.
52. I'm not talking about vinyl, widely used by the Japanese, and by all manufacturers in principle. Now in a Mercedes there is not enough leather even for a jacket, one bullshit, that's why options appear - “designo”, “individual”, “exclusive”. Leading manufacturers will offer you real leather for at least 10-15 thousand dollars, but what they sew for you for 50 thousand rubles cannot even be called leather.
54. Wheels are one of the important parts of a car. So for our handsome man there were two types of wheels. The first were placed on the civilian version.
55. The latter were offered as an option. They came from sports - real ones, with a central nut. Of course, it's nice to have chrome wheels, but the price of 5 thousand euros per wheel is somewhat annoying.
56. How then to hit a nut with a hammer, knowing that it is gold? The original disc for the classics is also not cheap - 3 thousand euros. So I think, I really want to save 8 thousand euros.
57. One of the main factors in the operation of the engine is the removal of exhaust gases (combustion products). I do not want to recall the laws of thermodynamics here, I will only say that for the last 150 years the exhaust pipe has been a symbol of progress. Remember locomotive pipes, steamboats, blast furnaces. Remembering my love for details, I want to assure you that it was the pipe that was given the closest attention. This is a masterpiece of engineering.
The exhaust system is made of stainless steel, which no manufacturer can afford, and is a complex system of thick-walled and thin-walled pipes mounted one into the other, which, with the complete authenticity of the pipe's appearance, solved the problem of "gulving" - noise and heating of the passenger compartment. Well, the main thing is the sound of the exhaust, it's just a song. The problem was solved with the help of resonators installed inside the system.
If you want to understand what kind of car you have - look at the exhaust pipe!
Don't pay attention to the date on the photo, just bought a decent fotik. They snapped it off, but they didn’t understand the instructions, it turned out to be the wrong date. Well, to hell with it, everyone interested - enjoy.
58. We have made many changes to the design, we are trying to do everything as authentically as possible. A very clever hand.
59. With a tank, a separate song, they made their own from stainless steel, slightly changing the location of the neck, but this is a separate story.
63. There is a good saying - it is better to see once than to read about it a hundred times. Everyone who reads and watches my blog knows my favorite expression - THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS. These are the details that I will show you today. There is no point in writing for a long time, you will understand everything yourself.
64. Braided harnesses and wires, well, I think you just haven’t seen this yet, a two-tone horn, in short, just look, all this is called TECHNOLOGIES.
67. The main task facing the implementation of this project was to create complete authenticity of all interior details. It would seem that it could be easier than copying an existing sample, but, as they say, everything is not so simple, and much more difficult than even restoring.
So, we had to make all analog devices work and work correctly with the electronic units of modern units; stick a bunch of additional equipment into a cramped little car, such as air conditioning, hydraulic booster, brake booster. All this should work from standard toggle switches and switches. The dampers of the stove used to have mechanical drives, as on the Volga GAZ-21, so the stove had to be thoroughly redone. But the biggest problem was the manufacture of the gear selector.
68. The whole difficulty lay in the fact that the car was originally built for sports, it was small and very low, even the engine had to be placed at an inclination of 30 degrees so as not to disturb the silhouette of the car. The box was located in the tunnel and had a direct articulated drive.
69. There was no more than 2 cm of free space between the box and the box itself. I have already said that the car itself was cramped and very noisy, and this problem had to be solved. Since a standard engine-box pair was taken, the task became even more difficult, because the automatic box is much larger in size and has a completely different control principle.
71. After much torment, a hinge and a system of rods were designed, which made it possible to completely imitate this assembly, which is easy to verify by looking at the original.
72. Well, the most interesting: if you carefully study the photos, you will see that the seats are much lower than the original, this is also a trick. The fact is that the car was so cramped that a person with a height of 180 cm rested his head on the roof and was forced to sit hunched over at the steering wheel, but I like to drive with straight arms, so I had to change the angle of the steering column to ensure comfort and not disturb the general view. How this was achieved is a novel, from the manufacture of the unique sled to the alteration of the floor and seats.
73. I'm not the first to decide to recreate the legendary car. Back in the late 70s, similar attempts were made in America, with Tony Ostermeier, a former mechanical engineer from Gardena, the furthest advanced. He managed to build about 15 cars in 10 years using units from Mercedes of those years. Today, these machines are themselves rarities.
I saw them, of course, they are not as high quality products as we would like, but this is the best thing that has been done. In the 90s, there were attempts by the American company Speedster, using the Tony matrix, to implant it on the Chevrolet Corvette C03 nodes. Only two cars were made. One of them is now in Ukraine, and the other in Moscow. The cars were sold for 150 thousand dollars.
74. Actually, that's all. True, there were attempts to put a shell on the SL and many more high-profile statements, but all this is zilch, people ran ahead of the locomotive, as with our yo-mobile: there is nothing yet, but 40 thousand applications have already been submitted.
By the way, working with a composite is very difficult. Only its high-quality painting costs about 10 thousand euros. Well, and most importantly: FORGING AND COPYING ARE TWO BIG DIFFERENCES.
75. They say that everything in a car should be perfect - both the engine and the trunk. On the first car, they decided to use gas shock absorbers to open and fix the trunk lid.
76. We have slightly redesigned the filler neck, reasonably considering that if it is hermetically sealed to the trunk lid, this will reduce the risk of spreading the smell of gasoline inside the cabin in case of spillage.
I didn't like the idea. On this car, they made it closer to the original, changing only the shape of the filler neck (the steel funnel around the cap should prevent fuel from spilling onto the Carpet).
77. Of course, it could not have done without a collective farm: they built a leather condom around the filler neck. It seems to look nice, and they abandoned the shock absorbers, putting the native mechanism (stick) for fixing the trunk lid. It was possible, of course, to get confused with the springs, as on modern cars, but it seems to me that this will kill the very spirit of the car. The open trunk looks great.
90. Walk around the car.
I can only add one thing: before you start doing something, think carefully about whether you have enough strength to finish what you started.
After arriving in Russia.
Video from inside the recreated car.
In this video, you can see how the Germans are restoring the hero of the reportage, the same “gullwing”.
Any person who has a weakness for cars will be delighted with the new "iron horse". But even more pleasant emotions will bring him a car,. Most motorists believe that creating a vehicle on their own is something out of the realm of fantasy. However, it is not! We will tell you how to make a car with your own hands in your garage.
kit-cars
Not so long ago, the so-called kit-cars appeared on our market, which have long been successful in Europe and America. These are sets of spare parts from which you can assemble a full-fledged car. Today, kit cars are sold that allow you to assemble. This is a common phenomenon abroad, so registering an assembled car there is not a problem. But with us, registering a homemade vehicle can be a difficult task.
If you decide to buy a kit car, you need to take care of having a spacious garage in advance. You will also need a set of tools and excellent knowledge in the field of auto mechanics. Assistants will not interfere either - working in a team, you can assemble such a car in just one to two weeks.
As a rule, Kit Car is sold as a complete set of spare parts. It comes with detailed instructions with which you can carry out. As a rule, the instruction is provided in the form of a video disc, which shows all the details of the process.
Video about what a kit car is:
A bit of history
The very first Kit Car appeared in 1896. It was invented by Thomas Hyler White - an Englishman by birth. Until the fifties, sets were not very popular, but then their production increased significantly. In the seventies, many car enthusiasts began to buy kit cars, since they were not taxed.
Modern kits that are produced for "home" assembly are copies of well-known ones from the middle of the twentieth century. Their bodies are made of polyester or fiberglass. The designs of such cars are much simpler than those of factory models.
On the video - the history and tests of kit cars:
What's in the Kit Car
Regardless of the model of car you choose, the Kit Car will include the following components:
- chassis;
- body parts;
- engine;
- automatic transmission / manual transmission;
- radiator;
- clutch;
- brakes;
- shock absorbers;
- nuts, bolts and more.
The most important thing is to correctly assemble the machine so that the machine meets safety standards. When you put in the traffic police - it will be tested according to various criteria. Therefore, carefully watch the video instruction and, if possible, enlist the support of specialists.
Kit Car Manufacturers
Today in the world market there are a huge number of companies that sell kit car kits. The most famous company is the British Westfield, which produces its own interpretations of such legendary models as Lotus 7, Lotus XI, XTR. Another major manufacturer is AK Sports, which produces replicas of the Shelby Cobra, GTM.
English firms are leaders in the production of kit cars. DIY kits are also available in the US, Australia, France, Brazil, New Zealand and many other countries. To reduce shipping costs for the delivery of the kit, we recommend that you contact a European manufacturer. They usually require a down payment of fifty percent of the total amount. Then they will start manufacturing the components you ordered. The process will take about three months. You can also purchase an already assembled kit car, but in this case, its cost will reach 50-60 thousand dollars, while the set will cost you 25-30 thousand.
Most companies provide the customer with the opportunity to choose spare parts for their kit. We advise you to order all parts except steering, brakes, automatic transmission and engine. It is better to remove them in advance from a donor car purchased for this purpose. You can include in your kit, a steering wheel with an airbag, traction control, etc.
On the video - a kit car assembled in Russia:
If we talk about the maintenance and repair of kit cars, then this should not be difficult, since all the parts are taken from ordinary cars. The exceptions are those that are made of plastic. In case of damage, it is quite difficult to repair them, so you will have to order a new part from Europe. If you do not take this nuance into account, kit cars do not require specific maintenance.
Are you planning to impress others with your car? Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be made into a production model that came off the assembly line of some factory, but a do-it-yourself vehicle will undoubtedly attract the attention of the crowd on the street.
A homemade vehicle can evoke two emotions in those around you - genuine surprise at your skill or an undisguised smile at the sight of the invention. If you delve into the issue of assembling your own car, then there will be nothing complicated in the process. The main thing is to learn more about the main parts and components of the car, to understand the features and properties of the vehicle.
Homemade cars in history
Mass production of homemade cars began in the Soviet Union. Then only certain models were produced on the market, which could not satisfy all the needs of consumers. As a result, self-taught masters appeared who designed their own cars, in accordance with their desires and financial capabilities.
The assembly of a new car was carried out on the basis of failed cars, on average, three non-working ones were required for one home-made car. The craftsmen removed all the necessary spare parts, and introduced them into a new body. By the way, body work was popular in the villages, the old body was specially removed from the car and replaced with a more spacious one.
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In addition to functional models, vehicles that were simply attractive from an aesthetic point of view were also created, which could not be distinguished from well-known sports factory copies. Such cars were full-fledged road users.
It is worth noting that until the 80s there was no ban on the design and use of home-made vehicles. After the ban appeared, the inventors had to get out, many of them registered a completely different vehicle with the traffic police, and then used their invention.
How to build your own car
Before starting the assembly, it is necessary to draw up a plan for future work, in which you need to indicate what the car will be like, what features and characteristics it will have. If the car is to be used in the future, it is necessary to purchase high-quality materials and parts, assemble a reliable frame and a body that is resistant to impacts.
Important! Depending on which vehicle you plan to assemble, you will need certain materials. Bolts, wheels and scrap metal in this case are unlikely to be dispensed with.
You can learn about the direct assembly process from the training videos, which are enough on the network.
Drawings of the future car
Imagination and fantasy will help to think over in detail the appearance and device of the future car in your head, however, in order to implement what was conceived in reality, it is necessary to draw up a drawing of the vehicle.
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It is better to make two drawings of the car: the first will show a general view, the second - individual components and parts of the vehicle.
Before starting to create a drawing, it is worth preparing a pencil, a ruler, whatman paper and an eraser. First, sketches are made on the sheet with thin lines, which, if necessary, can be easily erased. After all the details are drawn, and the resulting image completely suits you, the drawing is outlined with a thick line.
It is not necessary to draw a drawing on a sheet of paper; modern designers come to the aid of software that greatly facilitates the process of creating a drawing.
Car assembly
In the countries of America and Europe, in the past few years, kit-car kits have become popular, which are a set of various parts that allow you to assemble a car with your own hands. The parts are universal, so how the finished car will turn out depends entirely on the imagination of the owner of the set.
It will not be difficult to assemble a vehicle in this way, it is much more difficult to obtain registration for it with the relevant authorities.
Summing up
In order to make your own car, you will need a drawing of the future car, all kinds of working parts (preferably from several cars) and design skills. In general, the process is quite simple and can be implemented even by beginners.
By the way, craftsmen make not only passenger cars, but also trucks and manage to earn a lot of money from this by selling ready-made cars to fans of the unusual.
The Ford Sollers plant is located in Naberezhnye Chelny (Republic of Tatarstan). In addition to it, the KamAZ enterprise is located in the city. Until 2011, SsangYong and Fiat cars were produced here, and even earlier - Oka. Now the plant makes Ford EcoSport crossovers, and in 2015 Ford Fiesta will be added to them. In total, there are three Ford Sollers plants in Russia - two more are located in the Alabuga special economic zone and in Vsevolozhsk. The Village visited an enterprise in Naberezhnye Chelny and learned how cars are assembled there.
Ford Sollers
Location: city of Naberezhnye Chelny
Employees: 1 200 people
The plant abounds with bright colors: yellow welding guns, blue carts, red monorails, orange balancers and hangers, multi-colored wires. It is interesting that an industrial designer was engaged in the design of the space - to create a comfortable atmosphere.
Parts for EcoSport are imported from more than ten countries, but now the localization program is actively working, thanks to which the plant has 50 Russian suppliers. By the end of the year, they want to increase the share of Russian components to 40%. At the same time, not all suppliers can cooperate with Ford Sollers: their production system must comply with Ford requirements.
First, on the lines in the welding shop, individual vehicle components are welded - the engine compartment, front floor, rear floor, underbody and sidewalls. Then the robotic complex forms the body. This process is fully automated. After the geometry is formed, a roof is installed on the body. This is done with a video system. Errors that occur are displayed on the control monitors, and this helps to correct the work.
Every fifth design is checked for compliance with quality standards in the geometry measurement laboratory. They find out if everything is welded correctly. In this room, the air temperature is always kept at +20 degrees to compensate for the seasonal error: in winter, the metal tends to narrow and expand in summer. The measurement takes place on more than 200 points using the mechanical touch method. Permissible deviation from the norm - 1.5 mm. Reports with measurement results go to the welding shop for line correction.
Before painting, the body undergoes preliminary preparation in 11 baths. Here, washing, activation, phosphating, cataphoretic priming of the surface, application of anti-noise and seam mastic take place. After that, the body is dried and enters the painting booth, where robots cover it with a secondary primer and color coating. Eight colors are currently used, but their number may vary - depending on dealer orders. After the final polishing, the sparkling body can go further.
Then he goes to the conveyor belt to the assembly shop, which consists of three lines - "Trim", "Chassis" and "Final". First, protective covers, soundproofing, engine compartment, cabin bundle harness, airbags, brake pipes, pedals, air conditioning,
IP panel. So that the worker knows which parts to use, a manifest is attached to each machine - a document indicating the type of equipment .
At the second post of the line, the doors are removed. Later, they will descend onto the same car they were taken from. Up to this point, they are supplemented by a power window, electric wire, noise and vibration isolation, panel, speakers, rear-view mirrors and other parts.
There are many women working in the shop. According to the head of the department, it is they who basically become foremen. In general, despite the fact that automobile production is considered to be heavy and time-consuming, back in 1914, half of the functions did not require physical exertion from people and could be performed equally successfully by both men and women.
At some posts, racks with parts are equipped with burning flashlights - one in each compartment. When a worker picks up a part, he turns off his flashlight so that he doesn't pick it up again by mistake when assembling the same car. Together with people in the workshop, one robot works: it applies glue to the glass. Automation of the process avoids the ingress of an excessive amount of adhesive mass and prevents leakage.
On the "Chassis" line, the body moves along hangers, each of which rises to a certain height - depending on the height of the person who works at each post. Interestingly, the principle of vertical position at work was introduced by Henry Ford exactly 100 years ago: “Raising the working plane to arm height and further fragmenting the working movements ... led to a reduction in working time to 1.33 hours for the chassis,” he wrote in his autobiographical book. On the Chassis-1 line, air conditioning tubes, thermal protection, a fuel tank, shock absorbers, filters are installed, logos are glued. The bolts on the bottom of the body are marked after each tightening - so that the worker knows that he not only baited it, but also tightened it. Clients sometimes unknowingly take such markings as a sign of marriage.
An important part of the assembly is the docking of the body with the transmission (at the factory it is called "wedding" or decking). The transmission is supplied by automatic shuttles that move on a floor ring monorail conveyor.
Next comes the installation of the exhaust system, cardan shaft, the final installation of mechanical groups takes place with the help of manipulators for an electronic programmable tool. Seats, bumpers, wheels, a spare tire are also installed on the Chassis line, and the steering rack is connected. At the end there is a control post - they inspect the body there before sending it to the "Final". Brake, washer and coolant fluids are poured into the car. After that, the rear tailgate and front engine compartment are assembled. Headlights are also installed there and doors are attached, and electronics are checked using a scanner. The controller checks the build quality.
Factory employees check the car's electronic systems, wheel alignment and headlight beams. Then the car passes dynamic tests on a roll test - it is checked how the engine and gearbox work when accelerating to 110 km / h. At the very end, the door closing speed and paintwork are tested, the car's resistance to leakage is checked. Then the car goes to the test track, where its final test in action takes place. Then the car leaves for the warehouse of finished products, after which it is sent to dealers.
Photos: Ivan Gushchin
