LocostUSA.com

I have always wanted a full AL car, so the only things left are a scuttle and the nose. The nose is way out of my skill level at the moment so I am starting on the scuttle. In my opinion the Locost form looks a little chunky compared to other 7's mostly I believe because of the size on the cockpit opening. At the 7 event at NJMP last year I measured the cockpit opening on just about every car I could find. The Lotus, Caterhams, Berkin, Westfields... all run on the same range, 19 to 24 inches for the side rail, my Locost is 27 inches. I will start making some wood templates to see how far I can pull the scuttle back. I am planning on using the current hood. It becomes tougher to fab as the scuttle can no longer be a flat piece. as the new scuttle will be going past the angle change on the side rails, so there is going to have to be some shrinking and stretching going on.

I am planning on making this a non distructive build, so if I get in over my head I can return the car to it's current setup. I really want to start the 2019 track day schedule early, in the DC area that is April.

So like all good projects the first thing you need it tools

Last night I picked up a WoodFab 30" 3 in 1 for $300, with stand, looks brand new

https://www.woodwardfab.com/product/3-i ... 30-length/

And over the weekend I got

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-elite ... stand.html

So scuttle fabrication can commence. If I can get enough bodies to get the WoodFab out of the Jeep, and back on the atand, it's about 300 pounds.

Graham

Goo luck with your scuttle project.

Yeah, those 3-in-1 machines are a beast! I have a shop crane, so I was able to handle it and get it up on the homemade stand I built for it. I have the Harbor Freight version. It's basically the same.

So far, I haven't had any issues with it. I know some people have had the various cast iron parts break under stress. I even rolled a piece if 16 gauge cold rolled plate (about 3" x 6") without breaking it. I started out really slow and kept the piece in the middle of the slip roll, but it went OK. I'll admit I sweated bullets over that one, but needed the piece made and had no other way to do it.

The shear is a little scary to use. I like the 2-handled setup that Woodward Fab shows. I only have 1 handle. It kind of goes with a big bang. I thought the machine broke the first time I cut a big piece of sheet steel.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

A few years ago a member moved his scuttle back from "Locost" to "Lotus" cockpit dimensions and said it reduced turbulence and buffering substentially.

Made my scuttle in 2 pieces. Made the Joggle (flange) for the hood in Pullmax machine. How far are you from Connecticut? I am right on the Rhode island border. IF you bring it over, we can make it fancy. A good template helps a lot. I put a slight crown/curve in the sides of mine - give it strength and looks a lot better

A Pullmax would be wonderful, but I had to settle for a 3 in 1 and a shrinker/stretcher. The 3 in 1 was a great deal, looks like it has little or no use, with stand for $300. I also installed some new lights in the garage so the real work will start next weekend. I will start be making a template of the current dash profile, then see how car I can move it back before clearances become an issue.

Graham

Great progress over the Holidays. I formed the structure for the new scuttle.

I got some off cuts AL from Metal Supermarket so I could attempt to form the shape of the lower corner of the new scuttle. I tried shrinking with the foot operated shrinker, the small English Wheel worked much better than expected to smooth everything back out, but the damage left from the shrinker is too great. So on the plan B a air driven planishing hammer. I am going to start with a hammer work to form the shape and planish/ English Wheel everything smooth. Plan C is shrinkng dies for the planishing hammer.

I think it's great that you're taking this project on.

I'm not sure which "corner" you are speaking of with respect to the shrinker marks. It's hard for me to visualize from the photo. I'm not an experienced metal shaper, so I can't offer specific help here. However, there are 2 online metal shaping forums (others in the UK, France, etc.) where you might get some help. They are:

1) http://www.metalmeet.com/

2) http://www.allmetalshaping.com/

I do have the same small English wheel you have. I can give you one good tip about that. The lower anvil holder is sloppy and needs to be aligned with the upper wheel. The upper wheel too should be solid and not move side to side. The lower anvil can be done simply with metal shims, or you can do something more elaborate as I chose to do, which was to put machine screws on all four sides to adjust it properly.

Reinforcing the upper and lower arms of the wheel frame is advisable too. Let me know if you want me to post some photos of what I did.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

The issue is I am extending the scuttle back 4 inches. The original placement was over the front chassis rails that pinch inwards, so you could make the panel out of a single flat piece. I have gone into the area where you have the 2 parallel chassis rails either side of the passenger compartment. If you use a flat piece it follows the line of the front frame rails and stick out, so I need to shrink the back corners