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Project Overview
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The goal of the clean snowmobile project year after year has been to modify what was once a stock 2007
Yamaha Phazer snowmobile into a machine worthy of the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge. Past
alterations to the Yamaha Phazer have included the addition of a MicroSquirt engine control unit, catalytic
converters and custom-built cowlings. Along with the modifications, the goal has also been to document
and provide theoretical support of these changes taken towards creating a well-functioning and
environmentally-friendly snowmobile. This year's initial goal of competing in SAE's annual Clean
Snowmobile Challenge was overrun by the problems encountered by the previous year’s team.
This is the fifth year the 2007 Phazer has been used for a capstone project. During the endurance run
portion of the 2011 SAE Clean Snowmobile Competition, the snowmobile ran into problems. Due to an
extremely high air-fuel ratio, the engine experienced overheating, ultimately leading to one of the pistons
being damaged. The severity of the damage ended the team’s ability to compete. After returning from the
2011 CSC, the 2011 team removed the engine, disassembled it, and due to a delay in parts from Yamaha,
left it for the following year’s students to repair.
The 2012 University of Maine's SAE Clean Snowmobile team undertook the arduous task of taking a
heavily modified snowmobile, with inadequate documentation of the 2011 changes that had been made,
and delivering a competition quality machine, ready for the 2013 team to modify as needed.
The 2007 Yamaha Phazer was left by the 2011 Team in a broken down state. The engine was completely
torn apart and stored in boxes. There was little documentation as to what actually went wrong and how to
fix it. The engine needed to be assembled as well as making all the wiring connections. Without previous
knowledge of part placement before the machine was disassembled, it was quite a challenge. The engine
control settings were also not documented consistently. The files that did exist were not clearly labeled
with dates, so there was no clear starting point. The cowlings had also been damaged and slightly restored.
Of the three cowlings, none were at the same stage of repair. The 2011 team also left a damaged exhaust
system, including a pre-catalytic converter and a catalytic converter. The insides of the pre-cat were
damaged and had blown into the cat. It is assumed this happened because the machine was running too
lean.
The focus of this project shifted towards rebuilding the snowmobile to run properly under stock
conditions, document how this was accomplished, fabricate a fuel injector flow bench to determine if the
stock injectors are sufficient for use with ethanol based fuels, and overall: to place the following team in a
position to be successful and further progress the clean snowmobile project at the University of Maine.
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______________ 2011-2012 ___________________