PLAY
Personal Transport Vehicle (PTV)
The idea in mind was to develop a reliable, portable, easy-to-carry electric vehicle that could be used for short personal commutes. With this idea in mind, I along with a 'like-minded friend' designed a three wheeled electric vehicle, capable of carrying up to 120 kgs at 15 km/hr. This was an instant success among college students. One of the key features was its highly customizable drivetrain.
Award- “First prize” – National Level competition VESIT
Honda Accord F23A
A gift from my Dad, this car has been my daily drive for more than 8 years. This was also one of the first cars I worked on. From blown head gaskets to stuck VTEC solenoid, this car has seen it all. I have modified this car with a short ram air intake, a VTEC controller, an MSD ignition coil, and a free flow exhaust system. The car is yet to see a full engine rebuild with forged pistons, new cams, new block, and a turbocharger.
BMW 535i N54
With a twin turbo inline six set up, it was also called the modern 2JZ (just a lot more complex). Valve cover gaskets, oil pan gaskets, wastegate rattles, battery drain issues, water pump failures, oil cooler leakages, high pressure fuel pump failures, mysterious misfires are just some of the tags that come along with this engine, having worked hands on on all of them and many more, made me a big fan of this engine in a rather uncanny way. Even though the car had a head on collision that came with a repair estimate of more than $13K, with few DIY hacks, the car is still driving great at 180,000 Miles.
Nissan Altima CVT rebuild
A big learning experience for me was working on my friend's car that had a broken transmission and refused to move. With a repair budget of less than $600 (student life), this was not one of those 'regular' repairs. The CVT had a serious design flaw which caused a big part of the drive pulley to break off and fall in the transmission housing. With an estimate of $4000 dollars for a rebuild from a local transmission specialist, we decided to do it ourselves with our own little tool inventory. Even though we had very little time and money, we went ahead and lowered the transmission, disassembled it, changed the pulley assembly, assembled it back, jacked it up and installed it back again, all this under the shade of a tree in the college campus. After a complete rebuild and a thorough cleaning of the solenoid body we were able to get the car up and running again.
Robo wars
Building something new has always been my favorite kill time. At robo wars, I along with my like-minded friend, built many robots. Our favorite one was a full stainless steel body, 6-wheeled, maximum-damage-bot, made for the robo wars. It had a compact size of 450 mmx450 mm but was well able to move with a 160 Lbs man on top.
E-bike
Driven by our love for speed and all things fast, me and my like-minded friend retrofitted my bike with an electric motor, to make them go faster. We put in a 250 W DC motor and a PWM speed controller connected to 2 x 12-volt Lead acid cells. Combined with a 5-speed gear assembly the result was a torquey-fast going bike that could do 40 Km/h. Little did I know what started as play would one day end up being an inspiration to start Velorq, my first business venture
