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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: April 21, 2018, 6:46 pm 
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Joined: April 4, 2018, 1:32 pm
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hi all , Stephan aka RoosterBooster here (forgot password lol)
after many years of planning and starting off in various directions (including Austin 7 special, BEC, Rat/offroad rod, ....) I finally settled on a plan ;
pushed by my best friend we desided to dust off my previous 1930'ish Austin 7 Special inspired look , but make it a two seater and skip the just a little too gutless bike engine drivetrain ...

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(pic is a photoshop rendering i made years ago and posted here previously)

the most important change is the motivation;
this Ford 2.0 ecoboost just arrived at our shop (out of a wrecked 2015/27000miles Lincoln MKZ , $940 fully dressed and with free delivery) :mrgreen:

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...and i just won a Ford Racing 2.0 turbo Power Pack on Ebay for a mere $1000 :cheers: (original FR list price is a shocking $1700)
sadly there is no way around buying the FRPP on a complex boost/variable cam/direct injection engine like this :ack:

the power density is impressive: a mere 18" long block (~24" long, 26" wide, 26" tall),
but delivering 250 hp and an impressive 360 lbs/ft of torque (with the FRPP ecm)

right now I'm working on CAD drawings and gathering more parts ... I will keep you guys her updated on the progress :wink:


Last edited by Stephan on May 1, 2018, 11:20 am, edited 3 times in total.

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PostPosted: April 22, 2018, 11:00 am 
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The voice of reason
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Joined: January 10, 2008, 4:47 pm
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Location: Massachusetts
Welcome back, you were missed... :)

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PostPosted: April 22, 2018, 6:48 pm 
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Thanks Marcus ... its nice to be back at thinkering with cars over here :cheers:

couple screenshots :

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... still tweaking things as parts arrive for final dimensions,
but just to give you guys an idea what it will look like :wink:

Due to the Ecoboost i named the project the `29 Ford (Ecoboost) Special or 29FES for short
it will be a tribute to that time of "whale tailed" 1930 aera cars

peeps that remember some of my posts know that im a V8 & (long travel)IRS/IFS guy at heart,
but after some long discussions with my friend (who will get the first car after we finish my prototype)
we settled on some compromises that i will explain deeper in another post


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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 7:41 am 
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We are Slotus!
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Location: Tallahassee, FL (The Center of the Known Universe)
Yo, "Rooster"! Welcome back! I'm looking forward to seeing the Ecoboost go into a Locost type frame... :mrgreen:

:cheers:
JDK

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"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom


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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 1:44 pm 
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hi GonzoRacer , thanks for the welcome (back) :cheers:

yeah, I had a rough time lately :cry:
lost my entire family plus my dog :| ... now its just me and my late Brothers dog that I adopted

...thankfully i still have my old pride & joy
(the 1952 Diamond T .... and my newest fun toy; a lightened Polaris 800 quad :mrgreen: )

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yeah, and I just turned 50 as well :ack: .... so that was part in some of the compromises on the car design;
i was always kinda going for Bigger,Better,Faster when building V8 sand/desert cars
latest one was well south of 1000 hp at the rear wheels (all aluminum twin turbo dry sump 572cid Brodix)
on 4 corner/24" travel independend suspension (still the king in the dunes: nothing can touch its power and handling :mrgreen: )

so this project is kinda the polar opposite :
Simple, Cheap, Light ....
pure driving fun !!! (no radio, no gadgets, nothing .... well, besides the high tech engine and electric power steering)

when I restarted the CAD drawings i promptly drifted into aluminum front and rear spindles on coilover A-arms again ,
buy my friend stopped the madness lol
it would just not look right for the pure traditional hotrod look we have in mind.

so i bought a Socal speedshop forged steel 4" drop front beam axle and "gasp" quarter elliptic leaf springs !!! :shock:
the front will be a 4-link / panhard bar setup very similar to this pic i found while surfing the net:

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...but not sticking out past the grille shell ... i like it better with the grill shell as the most forward point :

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point is that this will be an entirely recreational ride on public roads ...
i kinda look at it like a Harley (or a 4 wheeled replacement for a Harley I guess) ;
a GSXR will kick its butt all day long , but its intend is more of a "cruiser"
(however, the ecoboost should still be a lot of fun powering up some local canyon roads)


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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 2:06 pm 
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Joined: July 23, 2007, 1:46 am
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Location: Kingston, WA
Neat project!

I know I love my Ecoboost!


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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 4:01 pm 
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Joined: September 19, 2009, 12:33 pm
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Stephan wrote:
...and i just won a Ford Racing 2.0 turbo Power Pack on Ebay for a mere $1000 :cheers: (original FR list price is a shocking $1700)
sadly there is no way around buying the FRPP on a complex boost/variable cam/direct injection engine like this :ack:


I'm excited for the day when inexpensive standalones are available for this sort of application. The market is currently flooded with these lightweight turbo engines with great power potential, we just need a way to run them on the cheap!

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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 4:27 pm 
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Lotus19; yeah I bet... love the color :evil:

iirc the ST weights something like 3250 lbs
according to my spread sheet the accumulated parts weight is at roughly 1300 lbs right now.
(some personally scaled weights, some online published weights and some wag`s like the trans and clutch that I do not physically have for now)
I'm sure I'm also missing a couple little things like rod ends, upholstery, wiring, etc
but I'm fairly positive I can keep it under 1500 lbs ....
should be fun !!! :mrgreen: .... especially considering the higher torque tune of the FRPP ecm

btw
desided to run a solid 8.8 rear axle as well ....
already grabbed this mustang lsd one off of craigslist
gearing is maybe a little long, but 8.8 gears are cheap (bought it mainly for the lsd diff)

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I'm going to run the triangulated 4 link (basically copying the stock geometry but with slightly longer tubular aluminum links),
but going to replace the steel calipers with mazdaspeed 3 aluminum ones,
as well as swaping the 10mm solid discs for the slighly bigger but lighter 9mm Mazda discs (drilled & slotted)
plan on shaving down the link tabs to make them lighter and better looking ...
and definitely replacing the heavy ass steel caliper plates with aluminum ones


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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 5:26 pm 
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Laminar wrote:
Stephan wrote:
...and i just won a Ford Racing 2.0 turbo Power Pack on Ebay for a mere $1000 :cheers: (original FR list price is a shocking $1700)
sadly there is no way around buying the FRPP on a complex boost/variable cam/direct injection engine like this :ack:


I'm excited for the day when inexpensive standalones are available for this sort of application. The market is currently flooded with these lightweight turbo engines with great power potential, we just need a way to run them on the cheap!


oh I hear you on that !!! :wink:

yeah, had my share with "tuner" aftermarket engine controls on customers sand cars ... thanks, but no thanks !!! :ack:
I greatly prefer a Ford racing or Chevy performance part "factory" stand alone ecm control package now
or to quote my late Brother : "one guy with a laptop just cant duplicate the knowledge of a building full of engineers " lol

yes, Chevy is again ahead of Ford here; the list price for a control pack for an LS2/3 is significant cheaper then the FRPP for the 2.0 turbo :|
(but everybody and his mother wants to buy a LS so the wrecking yard prices are out of the roof :BH: )

actually now that I scored a FRPP for "only" $1000 I cant complain too much,
after all they do include a lot of parts that cut down significantly on overall installation time and expense
(as new/reduced wiring harness and fuse box, fly by wire throttle pedal etc)

couple pics that inspired us:

the original Bad Ass ...

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must be one of the first US "Specials" (what kinda stands for "lightened and slip-streamed" ... the original Hot Rod idea)


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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 5:43 pm 
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love this shot as well (cant remember what it is ... looks like a Amilcar ?!? );

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and a real 1929 Ford Special :

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cant afford wire wheels :shock: ... so I settled for traditional steelies with moon cabs
(lightweight aluminum would just look completely out of place)

wheels/tires need to be tall so im thinking 16" wheels wrapped with something like BFG advantage T/A sport 235/65r16 tires
(roughly 28" tall)


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PostPosted: April 23, 2018, 8:34 pm 
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Rooster, welcome back.


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PostPosted: April 27, 2018, 1:45 am 
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thanks factorypartsjoe :cheers:

still a lot of parts to source and details to work out ,
but at least I already made a surface/jig/welding table to use on this project;

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don't be fooled by the size of my big dog; the table is massive :shock:
its a cast iron 11 foot long by 51 inch wide T-slot table from an old granite saw that I found behind my friends shop
I made the sub structure and adjustable legs out of 4x4 tubing ...the 2.5 ton forklift can barely lift it :roll:
my friend was kinda shaking its head when i dragged it out of the weeds lol ... ,
but now we are actually using it almost daily for prepping/building stuff on it ....


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PostPosted: April 30, 2018, 2:19 pm 
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two more rough sketch screenshots (just started with final "frame" layout so excuse the mismatch/missing parts)

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it will be a hybrid construction :
welded steel tubing/formed sheet lower pan (kinda similar to a VW bug pan)
with a riveted aluminum upper structure (bulkheads/longerons/stressed skin like an airplane fuselage)
basically all red parts are steel and the aluminum colored parts are aluminum
there will be no seat; the formed structural pan IS the seat ...
driver/pass wont be able to shift much wedged in between the driveshaft tunnel and walls anyway

the Equinox EPS steering column is a tight fit :| ... a smaller (UTV sourced) unit would be more then sufficient,
but I have this EPS already so that's whats going in :P

the pedal assembly is the wrong one;
with the EPS column I don't have room for a reversed assembly,
need to switch to a forward pointing master cylinder unit
(thankfully the slender ecoboost gives me plenty of room in that area as well as no heat worries due to "hot side" being on the pass side

the 10 gallon fuel cell over the rear axle is clearly a compromise :
it will obviously raise the (otherwise ridiculous low) CofG a little,
but I'm just not very comfortable with the cell behind the rear axle (in case I get rearended)
...I rather have the trunk there to act as a little "crumble zone"


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PostPosted: April 30, 2018, 11:12 pm 
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with the temps raising rapidly my time here in Vegas is coming to an end soon
going to drag my home high up into the Utah mountains for the summer,
so I'm dumping a lot of pics and ideas here so I can thinker with them around the camp fire :P

here is a pic of the Equinox EPS im going to use ;

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still not sure if im going to use the "manual adjustable assist" control module or go with the "speed sensitive" one ?!?
...need to think about that some more
big, heavy el motor :ack: ...
but (even turned down to a minimum) steering assist is imho well worth the weight and trouble (on a street driven semi "daily driver")


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PostPosted: May 1, 2018, 11:41 am 
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Joined: April 4, 2018, 1:32 pm
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was bored, so I did a mockup to see if theory matches reality :wink:

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its almost like Henry Ford knew peeps are going to drop an ecoboost behind a Model A grill shell :P
it fits perfectly ! ... the only tight spot is the outward pointing compressor outlet ...
will need a tight elbow and/or maybe a little bulge in the body side to clear

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love the big turbo V-flange outlet and its position ... exhaust construction will be super easy


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