Renovate the cockpit opening on the waw!

[Terry]

I have decided to finally extend the opening for my waw. The decision is based on the reality that my knees aren’t flexible enough to exit the shell without excessive effort!
The new opening will be similar to the bulk. In my case the front will be about 7” further forward and that space will allow my feet to press on the tunnel and the knees will not be constrained by the shell.
I’ll post some photos in the next few days to show the progress.
The saws will come out! Wish me luck!

 

[benparke]

I’m curious how this will impact the stiffness. In your case it may be fine since the composite sandwich shell is much stiffer than the factory made composite shells. I’ve contemplated asking Katanga about doing this for the commercial WAW, but I think it would end up leading to a heavier WAW, and I don’t think the market would go for that. It would mean not only stiffening the body to compensate for the larger opening, especially in the area over the wheel wells, but also the race hood, which presently is already at the maximum for lack of stiffness. If you’ve never seen a commercial waw, there are a lot of areas that are really soft to minimize weight as much as possible. Very different from the wooden waw we both built.

 

[davoika]

Darüber hab ich hier im Forum schon mal nachgedacht, hier, da sind auch Bilder wie ich mir die Vergrößerung vollgestellt hab.

 

[tieflieger]

Terry, check on the inside for the pedaling movement of your knees. They reach their highest point very close to its "dashboard". If you move that forward, you might hit it. Then you need to move it significantly further forward, like on the Bülk to get it in front of your knees. But you do not want the dashboardplate to scrape your shins. Check for clearances, perhaps make it a bit wider and less deep.

The Bulk and Milans have a connection from that front crossmember to the wheelwells, its placed about 5 cm, 2 inches in front of the strutattachment.

 

[benparke]

Terry, check on the inside for the pedaling movement of your knees. They reach their highest point very close to its "dashboard". If you move that forward, you might hit it. Then you need to move it significantly further forward, like on the Bülk to get it in front of your knees. But you do not want the dashboardplate to scrape your shins. Check for clearances, perhaps make it a bit wider and less deep.

The Bulk and Milans have a connection from that front crossmember to the wheelwells, its placed about 5 cm, 2 inches in front of the strutattachment.

What do you mean by a connection? As I recall, the Bülk MK1 didn’t have anything from the top of the wheel wells to the front opening of the cockpit, but the urban and 4More do because they had stiffness issues related to the giant front access hatch.

 

[Terry]

Well, I marked out the new line.glued the top on to the shell and used a jig saw to make the cut!
It came off ok but my cut line was not perfect. There will be a seam where the old edge was but if it looks wrong ,I can paint out the lid!
I think there will not be any reduced strength.A little reinforcement won’t add too much weight.

 

[Terry]

Working on the new edge at the front. I sat in the velo with the larger opening and there isn’t any interference with the knees.
I will move the hinges to the proper location . The hinges that are used on the waw by the way are Brilliant!
I have some ideas for the hood which I find very claustrophobic. Maybe something like the Quattro ?
The new dashboard will be minimal,just enough to add as much rigidity as I can.
More in a few days.

 

[tieflieger]

@benparke then i might have mixed things up, i assumed all models have that connection.

 

[benparke]

@benparke then i might have mixed things up, i assumed all models have that connection.

Not that I recall. I know it was added in the urban and 4more, and presumably the Distance has that connection as well. I spent very little time with the Distance that was in my garage. With the wood composite construction, I don’t think those types of stiffeners are actually necessary. The composite core is so strong. As heavy as the wooden saw I had was, it really was very stiff and actually had pretty good acceleration. Where it suffered was climbing because of the weight.

 

[davoika]

Ah, du verlängerst den Deckel vorne, die Öffnung bleibt gleich.

In dem andern Beitrag war die Idee, den Deckel auch zu teilen und zu verlängern, die Öffnung des Deckel wäre um den gestrichelten Teil länger geworden.
Das Scharnier wär dann mit vor gewandert, also die Befestigung des Scharniers am Deckel wäre original geblieben.
Da fällt mir grad ein, dass dann das Dach nicht mehr passen würde, müsste mit verlängert werden. Vielleicht doch so besser.
Bin auf dein Ergebnis gespannt.
Am Ende vernünftiger Einstieg gepaart mit der Flexibilität, die Karosse durch abmontieren kürzen zu können, dazu Verwendung normaler Serien Hinterräder, das hat keiner.
Ich bin für den Umbau nicht eingerichtet, wenn ich das Anfang, muss es perfekt werden, sonst ärgert es mich.
Zumindest hab ich mich an das Einsteigen gewöhnt.
Gruß Volker.

 

[Terry]

Adding a new edge is somewhat boring but for those who may be interested .
Here is the starting. Hopefully I can get the new part to blend in well with the remaining.
I’m thinking the lid will have to be painted!

 

[tieflieger]

Perhaps in a faux woodgrain design? No just joking. Thats one of the reasons i painted mine after an accident. To much damage, to much uncontinuing grain, woodpatern errors. It just did not look right anymore.

 

[Terry]

The lip is reinforced on the inside with fiberglass cloth.
Just finishing the top side remains as well as reinstall the hinges.
Then paint.
This little project has been more work than I expected…..

 

[Terry]

When I originally attached the waw hinge during the build I must have been lucky to get it right . I just carved a piece of wood and glued it to the surface and all worked well! But not this time!
To work properly the post must be perfectly level and my first attempt failed. The inside should also be parallel to the outside so I took a different course. Inserting little blocks into the shell to mount the hinge pieces seemed drastic but necessary. After much fussing I think it will work this time.
Ready to glue into place then I will shape it into the shell.

 

[tieflieger]

Thanks Terry for the follow up messages. Your pictures in post 13 perfectly show what to do when you want to work with gravity, not against it.

 

[Terry]

I’m now seeing and end to this renovation. A bit more painting and reassembling I’m glad I don’t have to charge for my time! I need to find the right red for the lid….

 

[Terry]

Well,I think I can call this completed. It is now much easier to get in and out with the extra room for the knees!
The paint job came out ok with a bit of fairing. I also added some felt on the inside to hopefully reduce the noise somewhat.
I may continue to revise the hood to make it less claustrophobic but for now it’s good enough.
Thanks for watching!
T

 

[Terry]

I am considering modifying the hood . As I mentioned earlier I find the closed in hood too claustrophobic but I like to have the sun protection of the hood.,so I’ve mocked up an alternative. I need to find a pivot kit so the visor will lift up properly and I’ll have to stiffen the carbon hood . I plan on making it so I could go back to the original design. My question is… is it worthwhile? I’d like to hear from a QV driver about how the wind reacts with this type of visor?
This is the mock up held in place with string and tape! Any comments are welcome!

 

[benparke]

I am considering modifying the hood . As I mentioned earlier I find the closed in hood too claustrophobic but I like to have the sun protection of the hood.,so I’ve mocked up an alternative. I need to find a pivot kit so the visor will lift up properly and I’ll have to stiffen the carbon hood . I plan on making it so I could go back to the original design. My question is… is it worthwhile? I’d like to hear from a QV driver about how the wind reacts with this type of visor?
This is the mock up held in place with string and tape! Any comments are welcome!

I actually have considered something along these lines with my WAW (I’m riding a factory built one these days.). My idea was the front of the visor, but not the sides, retaining instead some sort of clear visor material type supports. I’m having a hard time describing it in writing. It makes sense in my head and I think it would work. Today I was also thinking it would’ve interesting to have open sides that you could Velcro on a window to fully enclose it. What I did not with the QV setup is that when there is a cold wind from the side, your face gets pretty cold. I dislike a cold face, so for me it was less than desirable. It does prevent fogging though.

 

[Terry]

Yeah, some type of side window would be helpful.
What I found was that while riding it is often nice to have a breeze on your face ,,then it isn’t ! so changing on the go is preferable but that makes it more complicated!
I’m not against trying out some Velcro windows on this project.
Did the visor on the QV wiggle much while riding?