CS Project Background

After great success with previous machines, the project team purchased a new 2007 Yahama Phazer. This was the first time a snowmobile with a high seated configuration was used for the CS project. The reasoning was with this setup, there was much more room to custom build components as the team saw fit, where a low seated configuration (like the previous machine, a 2003 Arctic Cat) had significant size constraints making it hard to put too many custom components "under the hood". the new machine enabled the team to take the body components down to the machine frame and build it as they see fit. This enabled the team to build upward to allow for the addition of many of the important parts of the machine that are still being used such as the Megasquirt Engine Control Unit and the integrated PC interface, touch screen on the driver's console, and many other components in the machine.

 

With the 2007-08 team doing much of the layout and ECU installation, and the 2008-09 team rewiring the entire system and making noise and vibration modifications to the machine, the 2009-2010 team left much on the already solid work done alone and focused on two other main areas of concern, the exhaust and air intake systems. This year's team discovered that excessive backpressure, and a surplus of heat were the cause for performance and efficiency issues. A complete redesign and refabrication of the exhaust system was necessary, and became much of the focus of this year's project.

 

A secondary modification was to reconfigure the cold air intake and throttle body area in order to provide more fresh air to the engine. The team also took measures to reduce noise and vibration reduction levels which included lining much of the machine with sound and vibration dampening material, and made the engine and clutch compartment nearly sound-proof as these account for 3 of the 4 noisiest parts of the snowmobile.

 

The team made great strides to make perfect several areas that needed improvement so that the 2010-2011 team will be highly competitive as the represent UMaine in Michigan at the 2011 Clean Snowmobile Challenge.