The Clean Snowmobile Challenge is a SAE student competition to reengineer an existing snowmobile with the goal of reducing emissions and sound levels while keeping performance and implementation cost in mind. The snowmobiles are modified in an engineering team environment and compete against other colleges throughout the country. The competition scores the teams on emissions, acceleration, sound both subjectively and objectively. Competitive events include an endurance run of 100 miles for fuel economy and endurance, handling and drivability, cold starting, and a static display and oral presentation.
This year the snowmobile team is composed of 11 seniors and 7 undergraduate students. All of these students are majors in Automotive Engineering Technology, although outside majors are welcome to join the team. For this years competitions the students have chosen a 2005 Arctic Cat F5 snowmobile. They plan on converting the carbureted engine to semi-direct injection with custom fuel mapping along with utilizing an air pump and catalytic converter to further reduce emissions. They are also changing the cylinders from a power valve to a non power valve configuration to reduce emissions. They are conducting tests for flow and cylinder fuel patterns on a wet flow bench and are using a dynamometer for fuel mapping. Once those initial tests are done the team plans to use the University's California Analytical Emissions system to test for emissions.
