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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: June 13, 2020, 10:49 am 
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Joined: June 12, 2020, 3:44 pm
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I got pretty bogged down with clutch details on my Renault 10 I'm building , and I decided to get started on a new project. I've been designing this thing in solidworks whenever I've had downtime or can't get out to the garage to work on the Renault. I was thinking id do a modern transverse V6 at first, but I've gone a bit off the deep end since then. I bought a never-rebored 4bolt 350 SBC locally(the guy thought it was a large journal 2 bolt main 327) as well as a richmond 2.43 1st super T-10, Winters Sprint Quick change, an IDF manifold, 15x10 & 15x8 TorqThrust Ds, 295/50/15 tires for the rear, 255 fronts, and a set of trickflow heads and a cam(its their advertised 420hp top end kit)

I'll be doing a DOM tube frame and a hammerformed 3003 alu body(luckily, there isnt much bodywork to it)

I'm basing the transaxle off the Bob McKee recipe, but a richmond super t-10 instead of the borg-warner, and a winters sprint instead of a halibrand 201. This does mean i loose reverse out of the maincase(output shaft coming from the quick change to the pinion has to occupy the space of the reverse layshaft ), but I can probably get a reverse gear between the trans output and the qc(4 forward speeds AND 4 reverse :twisted: )

maybe i can linkage it so it will only go in reverse if its in 1st.



But anyway, I got an old xbox kinect camera to scan my transaxle parts. Not dimensionally accurate, but damn good enough for a placeholder in the model!

Also I printed some 50mm IDF style throttle bodies as well as a mold to sand cast them in aluminum.

I also am planning on white180 deg headers. I have them within .5" of each other in the CAD at 41" primary length

Ill get into some more detailed stuff but I wanted to throw this out into the aether because Im pretty excited about it


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PostPosted: June 14, 2020, 2:20 pm 
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Joined: August 27, 2016, 1:49 pm
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Dang! I'm very excited to follow along with this build. I'm impressed with the bodywork you drafted up in SW. Like a Noble M12 and a Cobra had a baby

What's your plan for suspension / running gear?

What's the max height off the rollbar?


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PostPosted: June 16, 2020, 3:22 pm 
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Joined: September 19, 2009, 12:33 pm
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Very cool! I'm seeing a lot of Noble, Lotus, and even some Datsun in the nose. Love it!

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PostPosted: June 16, 2020, 5:20 pm 
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Joined: April 23, 2019, 4:30 am
Posts: 388
Location: New Zealand
Good looking design, that will be a blast to drive.

Very smart using the locost but tried and true transaxle solution for the torque you will be producing, how much clearance do you have behind the passenger bulkhead crossbracing?

What wheelbase and weight distribution are you targeting?
Well done on the scan technique, did you use scanect? The limit of 5k polys is a pain, but perfect for laying out models.

Looking forward to updates on progress of this one!


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PostPosted: June 17, 2020, 12:05 am 
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Joined: August 27, 2016, 1:49 pm
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My comment didn't post but I agree on the Noble vibes from the nose! Looks like an M12 and a Cobra smashed together.

Super excited to follow this build and impressed with the bodywork you've put together. What are you using for the running gear?


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PostPosted: June 18, 2020, 2:54 pm 
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Joined: June 12, 2020, 3:44 pm
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Thanks guys.
Im still sorting out the layout a bit. My main concern right now is the transaxle, as that is the crux of this whole project.
But i can tell your where Im at currently with the chassis.
I tried to keep the wheelbase at 90" to keep everything nice and short.(sort of arbitrarily. Some of the cars I was designing this after were around 90")
However, I could not package the front susp to play nicely with the drivers feet. Since i want to drive this on the street, I wanted to keep the toe box well clear of the center line of the front wheels. The model above is 90" WB, but since then I grew the section fwd of the punt 6" to bring the wheelbase to 96".
@Kinetic Research, I am going to do a bit of a blister on those bulkhead tubes to clear the crank pulley and the water pump. The tightest part is around the WP, but if it comes down to it, I'll order a Davies Craig pump and mount it somewhere convenient.
Yeah its Skanect with a kinnect. I agree about the vertices. worked out great, though. Hard to beat a 3d scanner for 30$

From the ground plane to the top of the rollbar is 42"


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PostPosted: June 19, 2020, 9:27 am 
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Joined: July 17, 2006, 3:09 pm
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Location: Holly, MI
I think it looks great.

Can you please explain the transaxle some more please? I see how the power comes from the bellhousing through the QC case. What I'm not seeing is how the power goes into the T10 and then comes back to the QC.

FYI: I've been running without reverse for 5-6 years for track only use. It has been working great.

Thanks
Ken


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PostPosted: June 19, 2020, 1:48 pm 
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Thanks Ken,
1.The power comes through from the clutch, clear through the input bore of the Quick Change and out the other side. Think of this shaft as an extended input shaft for the 4 speed.

2.The gear box operates as normal, more or less, up to the midplate. The output shaft is cut down, since I dont need a tailshaft with a slip joint. The output shaft also now has the standard 10 spline to slide on a Quick Change gearset.

3. Power now comes from the mating QC gear back through the gear box, and drives the pinion gear in the diff section. This is why I have to get rid of reverse: There is very little dead space in the trans maincase. The shaft spacing of the t-10 is 3.250" and the Winters QC shaft centerline spacing is 3.500", leaving me with only a few configurations to have the extended pinion drive shaft miss the gearset. I dont want to take on casting a new t-10, so the compromise is to pull out the reverse layshaft and offset bore a clearance hole for the extended pinion drive shaft.

Attached is Bob Mckee and his version of this setup. This was in the early 60's, when Colotti, Kar Kraft(similar design, but top loader internals), and Hewland were all competing for the market of high power transaxles.


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PostPosted: June 26, 2020, 4:35 pm 
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Everything about this looks awesome!


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PostPosted: July 21, 2020, 11:40 am 
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Joined: February 18, 2013, 9:37 am
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The transaxle is indeed the unicorn here. I have seen that pic from the 60s many times but I have never seen anyone actually build one today on any forums that I follow. I would love to see this come to fruition for sure.


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PostPosted: August 25, 2020, 10:20 pm 
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Getting really close to cutting some tube!


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PostPosted: August 26, 2020, 2:05 am 
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Joined: April 23, 2019, 4:30 am
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Location: New Zealand
Looks fantastic, can't wait to see this beauty come together. Are the buck templates done with slicer for fusion?


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PostPosted: August 26, 2020, 11:07 am 
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No the slices are done in solidworks. I took the surface model and created curves that intersected it 6" apart. Im going to scale it back though. I really like the idea of a buck that can fit over the chassis, and I dont really need a buck for the punt area, as thats mostly single curved.


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PostPosted: August 27, 2020, 1:00 pm 
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The "intersection curve" tool is really useful, I had not thought of using it to create the sections of a buck.

Also if anyone is trying to create sections through imported STL scan data the "slice" tool was added in SW2019, making reverse engineering easier - just make sure you deselect the exact fit or it will not use the best fit spline between points.

Don't intend to hijack your thread into "sw tip of the day" - CAD is just another tool to use, and your project is a superb example of how to plan ahead from the goundup. Your work led me to discover the "slice" tool yesterday, which for my project will save weeks of manually placing sketches on stl geometry - thanks! :cheers:

Marcus


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PostPosted: August 27, 2020, 5:13 pm 
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Thats awesome. Im using 2018, but Id love to see how that works out for you. I have a few stl's id love to reverse engineer.


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