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Restriction-less Full Throttle Study Ryan Edwards

VRI Major at Western Washington University

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this Study is to replace the air induction system on a 1986 -1992 Volkswagen 16 valve engine with one that produces the least amount of restriction possible at full throttle. This is done via a barrel valve throttle that extends from the cylinder head with no bends. Other benefits include increased throttle response due to a minimum after throttle volume and possible increased fuel efficiency from turbulent part throttle conditions requiring larger throttle opening in turn reducing pumping losses.

INTRODUCTION
This is the second quarter of work on this project. During the first quarter a design was finalizes and scale prototype was successfully built. The objective for this quarter was primarily to design and build the runner and plenum system. Unfortunately the manufacture of the working unit took the entire time. The focus of this paper will be on the steps taken and lessons learned during this tremendous machine undertaking. Though the progress fell far short of the goals described in the proposal all parts created are successful and are produced at very high standard. One of the primary reasons the manufacture took longer than predicted is the extremely high tolerances that must be upheld to produce the unit. This lead to the first lesson learned, that a good design is one capable of low tolerances.

amount required to idle the engine. This allows for adequate control of the idle circuit and room for an increase in the clearance due to inevitable ware during operation. Hard anodizing was a consideration to fix this ware issue but was not utilizes due to cost and difficulties in maintaining a consistent thickness increase over the long length of the barrel. Hard anodizing can add 001-.005 to the surface. The largest disadvantage of this design is the inability to control port to port idle flow, which can cause a ruff idle. To minimize this effect the clearance between the housing and barrel were kept as close as possible from end to end, to reduce the differences in leak from port to port. This was done by creating the least amount of taper on the barrel and the housing bore. The calibration of the tail stock during the barrel manufacture solved this problem. The axis of the tail stock and the spindle must be the same to produce a un-tapered part. Gibs on either side of the tailstock control this adjustment. For the housing bore operation there was no secondary support, like a tailstock or a steady rest, eliminating a taper condition. Plenum design can also affect port to port idle flow. If ruff idle problems persist installation of bypass ports with needle valves will be added to each port. HOUSING BORE The housing bore is 14.2 long, which is longer than any standard boring bar under a 2 diameter. This problem was solved last quarter with the build of this 16 boring bar for the American lathe.

MANUFACTURING CHALLENGES
In this section the most difficult challenges will be described. To produce this assembly a great amount of time was spent in the calibration of tools and machines. IDLE CONTROL The prototype main flaw was in its lack of the throttle to close completely to produce an acceptable idle flow. The amount of air flow in a close throttle situation is a function of the barrel diameter, the height of the port, and the clearance between the barrel and housing. It is desired to have the amount of air that leaks around the barrel to housing clearance to be much less than the

It was first assumed that a steady rest must be used with such a long boring operation; however, a steady rest was not available for the American lathe. So one was made out of aluminum. This was a huge challenge in itself because the steady rest is essentially acting like the tail stock if its axis is not alignment with the spindle it will produce a tapered part. Most steady rest have adjustable legs to solve this problem and to allow for different diameters; however to build a tool like this would be a study in itself. So a set diameter steady ready rest was constructed. To insure the alignment of the axis a boring bar was mounted in the four jaw and the steady rest to the carriage saddle and feed into the boring bar. The adjustment of the diameter of the hole bored is done by the movement of the boring bar in the four jaw dialed in with a dial indicator. This is an extremely difficult dimension to keep precise and accurate. A race had to be pressed in to the steady rest afterwards to correct an oversized bore. An oilite bushing also had to be installed to prevent galling that would of occurred between the aluminum housing and aluminum steady rest. To reduce friction and heat a hole was drilled to allow oil to be added during boring. Once constructed the steady rest firmly held the housing end in place and adding limited rolling resistance.

Once the bore is complete the housing must be squared to its dimensions around the bore. It would be difficult to bore the hole first in an exact location to the walls. This is done by measuring the minimum distance between the bore and each wall on each end. The block should be accurately squared first so the difference between the this measurement from end to end for each wall is the amount of taper the housing needs to be in the vise. To measure this taper a dial indicator is mounted near the spindle and the housing is tapped either up or down on either end to give the desired taper.

Unfortunately less than a minute after turning the housing at 500 rpm thermal expansion took up the clearance between the steady rest and housing and slowed the machine to a halt. The reasons for this was due to a minimal clearance, the required rpm to bore an acceptable surface finish, and the misalignment of the steady rest and the spindle axis. The bore was machined without the steady rest with a less than desirable but acceptable finish, with no measurable taper. This lead to the second major lesson learned. Verify that a simpler method is not acceptable before assuming a more difficult one is required. This mistake cost twenty hours of labor. To evacuate chips, which if not removed will cause an un acceptable finish, a vacuum was attached to the rear of the sandal via a vacuum adaptor.

This was check a few times because this machine cut a few thousands taper over the 14 needed to face. This is so critical because once square either end will be end milled producing ends as close to perpendicular to the bore as possible. This helps the end caps sit square to the bore and the bearing in the end caps to be more concentric with the barrel axis. This alignment is the

most critical dimension to the proper function of the barrel valve TPS KEY The key on the end the barrel that turn the throttle position sensor needed to be a 30 grove. Though simple once provided with the solution this was a challenge that required special tooling.

spring

is

necessary.

To complete this operation a old HSS end mill was ground to a 30 point and then a flat cutting edge was added. Do to the low quality cutting geometry several shallow passes were taken to produce the grove. THROTTLE SPRING The throttle spring was chosen to be a torsion spring over a tension spring because it is more compact, aesthetic, and since the proper location to place a tension spring, due to the location of the cable, would interfere with the hood. However, the design of a torsion spring provided some large obstacles. First of all the toque required for optimum operation can not be truly determined until the assembly is installed in a vehicle on a running engine. Because of this the spring has been temporarily offset to allow room if a longer

A stiff spring is need to overcome the large throttle surface area that under engine vacuum resist throttle movement and to over come the inevitable increased friction due to carbon build up. A stuck throttle could cause an accident. It was assumed that the spring should be as stiff as possible providing it does not make uncomfortable pedal effort and does not break the cable. Cable stretch is acceptable as long as it stops stretching after a reasonable amount of time, i.e. less than 100 cycles. The spring was manufactured over bought because of the lack of springs available with the required specifications, 90 legs, >90 of rotation Also due to the location, and rotation of the TPS a left hand spring was needed. Lastly the unclear toque requirements made the ability to make different strength spring more cost effective than buying several springs for testing. To build the spring a large left hand threaded rod was produced with a low TPI. The TPI is 1/(wire diameter) * .75 Most throttles have two spring to decrease the length one spring would need to allow for 90 of rotation before yielding. This spring is three wound together due to the less elastic properties of the welding wire used over conventional spring steel. This required a threaded rod with 1/3 the TPI. A hole was also drilled to provide a holding point while winding the spring and allows one of the 90 legs to be bent first, much easier than bending the legs after the spring is wound.

5. Square the housing around the bore. It would be difficult to bore the hole first in a exact location to the walls. 6. Using 2 round stock that is at least 20 long drill 4 holes around a 1 diameter. These will be tapped and used to lock the barrel in the housing during the cnc port machining. Make sure they are deep enough because much of the depth is removed later. This is the first step of the barrel to prevent clamping marks on the finished surface.

Once the 3 springs are made they are then wound and welded together. A nylon guide supports the spring from collapsing and limits rotation.

MANUFACTURING ORDER
Due the large number of operation to produce this assembly and to achieve the high tolerances required the order in which parts were produced and the order of operations for each part is very important. It may be of interest to notes that other orders may also produce successful results however many will not and this has already proven successful. Since several parts can not be completed with out the partial completion of other parts the entire process will be outlined here. There will not be detailed instruction of how to do each operation. Only the reasons why a certain operation is done and in this order will be given. A general understanding of machining is assumed. All complicated operations have already been addressed above. 1. Square a block for the housing .5 big in all dimensions. This is done because the bore is off center to allow extra thread depth for centrally mounted studs that attach the housing to the intake manifold. 2. For the use of the steady rest, which was abandoned, turn a bearing surface in the end of the block. This is done before drilling the bore to allow use of a live center. 3. Use a feeding drill press to drill the hole under size. This was done from both sides with efforts taken to make the holes along the same axis. 4. Bore the hole near the center of the housing, Extra care is needed to produce a acceptable surface finish. Check for any taper. Taper can not be adjusted, if one is measured a taper can be put on the barrel to match. 7. Turn the end with the four holes to fit a large sized collet. A collet is needed to spin the spindle faster to get a better surface finish. 8. Mount the stock in the collet holder. A steady rest will be needed to center drill for the live center 9. Do test runs on either end, these are areas that will be turned down later, and check for taper adjust tailstock accordingly. 10. Turn the barrel profile . Make sure the four holes drilled protrude through the main part of the barrel no more than The steady rest will need to be use to finish the tailstock end.

housing.

16. Build a 3rd end cap without a bearing to lock the barrel to the housing. Tap the holes drilled in the barrel

11. Using over sized stock for the end caps. Bore the bearing hole for a press fit and turn the step that fits snugly in the hosing bore. Do both of these without moving the stock this ensures the barring axis is concentric with the housing axis.

17. With the barrel locked to the housing cnc the ports and the holes for runner mounting. Ensure the ports are cut on the proper side and orientation. There is only one correct way 18. Flip the assembly over drill and tap the holes for the manifold mounting, and surface the area for the upper radiator hose housing. Cut studs out of all thread and install in the holes. 12. Dill the four holes in caps and drill and tap the four holes in either end of the hosing to attach the two. 13. Make paper gaskets for the end caps 14. Mount the end caps on the housing and face the oversized caps and gaskets to the shape of the housing. 15. With one cap mounted to the housing at a time, and using a bearing install tool press the bearings in the same amount on either cap. Pressing the bearings in this ways helps to ensure they are aligned with the axis of the 19. The assembly will need to be disassembled and deburred to rotate smoothly. 20. Extra material will need to be removed for upper radiator hose housing clearance. Use a 1:1 scale drawing of the housing model as a template. More material may need to be remove but the will housing will need to be installed an a head to see exactly where.

21. To provide clearance for the upper radiator hose weld an extension to the housing.

22. Reassembly the barrel valve and cut the TPS key in the short end of the barrel. 23. Build a throttle plate to hold the cable. 24. Wind a spring and turn a support rod for the spring. 25. Mill a throttle stop. One of the original design goals was to make this unit marketable, requiring no modifications to any extra parts. Two parts that must be modified are the upper radiator hosing and the head with material removal needed here

26. Mount the spring assembly and locate where the throttle stop needs to be drilled for the idle screw. Drill and tap the idle screw hole. The full throttle stop will be placed on the pedal assembly. On top of these problems is the fact that is production would cost thousands to outsource and weeks to produce an entire working system in house. For these reasons this will probably be the only single unit built. It will be fit on a custom 1983 Rabbit where relocating the radiator will not be an issue. This vehicle is a five year project. This project will have to wait until the rabbit has a engine and radiator mocked up so detailed dimensions can be taken for the area a runner and plenum can fit.

CONCLUSION
The barrel valve unit has been successfully mounted on engine. However it seams the hood and the radiation are interfering with a optimal plenum/ runner shape.

CONTACT

Ryan Edwards Edwardr7@cc.wwu.edu