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PostPosted: September 8, 2010, 2:04 pm 
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JackMcCornack wrote:
If I had this to do over again I'd probably have the doors taper down in the back, so there could be a rise up to the rear fenders.

XK120, Austin Healy 3000 etc live on .............. :D

Rear fender skirts might help a little with turbulence around the back.
Really nice looking so far.

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PostPosted: September 17, 2010, 10:33 pm 
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Hey Jack, any more progress pictures?

This photo of a Sylva was on the UK form today and I noticed that they mount the rear panel a little higher than the front to get that natural curve from the door to rear fender.

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PostPosted: October 1, 2010, 10:33 pm 
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Here's the last shot of the completed Lalo body before I messed it up. Why is this picture taken at 4:30AM on a national forest fire road? Because my GPS said this was the shortest way from western Oregon to western Pennsylvania. I'm not making this up. People die in winter around here, following their GPS.

And here's the first shot after I messed it up, having spun 270 degrees into that mountain on the left. Note the almost flat rear tire. More about that later.


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PostPosted: October 2, 2010, 2:09 am 
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OUCH!!!! You ok? Doesn't look too bad - a little glass and bondo! Don't know about the pride thou.

JR

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PostPosted: October 2, 2010, 2:47 am 
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My sympathies... Must be way harder after you build the body yourself. Do you have a mold at least?

Looks like you didn't have a roll of duct tape with you. That may have been tempting fate :) .

Your hardcore, that's great. We're having major flooding here on the east coast, the remnants of another hurricane. Did you miss out on that fun or can we look forward to more stories about this trip?

Your claiming GPS, but I think you need the logging roads just to make progress because of all the attractive women wanting to warm you up on the regular routes.

I hope your OK, too many of those types of bumps can take a toll.

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PostPosted: October 2, 2010, 11:23 am 
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horizenjob wrote:
My sympathies... Must be way harder after you build the body yourself. Do you have a mold at least?
Nah, I was planning to make rear fender molds when I got back. The nose parts I have molds for (me and Curtis do, that is).
horizenjob wrote:
Looks like you didn't have a roll of duct tape with you. That may have been tempting fate :) .
Did so! Three rolls of it. I intended to reduce radiator intake area as I plugged along, but life happened and I never got around to it (see photo).
horizenjob wrote:
Your hardcore, that's great. We're having major flooding here on the east coast, the remnants of another hurricane. Did you miss out on that fun or can we look forward to more stories about this trip?
Oh, there was plenty of fun involved in getting as far as I did, but I finished the trip by air. I was in PA last weekend, the weather was pretty nice then.
horizenjob wrote:
Your claiming GPS, but I think you need the logging roads just to make progress because of all the attractive women wanting to warm you up on the regular routes.
I am pleased to report that the streamlined body does not inhibit conversation. I had wondered if the Locost body was just so cute it was irresistible and if the Lalo body might make folks more standoffish. Nope, it still takes an hour to stop for gas, and yup, women are more interested than men...or at least more willing to show interest. Men, young men in particular, seem a bit too cool to ask much but "How fast does it go?" whereas women occasionally ask things that make me blush.

Anyway, I'm fine, but indeed my pride took a hit. It was more of a preflight problem than a driving skill problem, but I'm responsible for both.

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PostPosted: October 3, 2010, 9:16 pm 
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Dang. Sorry to see that. Did you at least get to drive it long enough to notice an increase in mileage from the aero mods?

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PostPosted: October 4, 2010, 12:15 am 
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Oh heck yeah! The areo improvements make it a whole different car. For one thing, it doesn't slow down much when you lift off the throttle, which can get a fella in deep trouble. Plus you don't get beat up by the wind coming in the sides. Plus it's an honest 80+ mpg cruiser.

I believe it has less than half the aerodynamic drag it did with the traditional body. A few more tweaks and some gentler driving will get mpg into the 90s.

I can hardly wait to make a Miata-powered version.

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PostPosted: October 5, 2010, 4:12 pm 
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So sorry to hear about what happened, Jack! Your car was looking (and heck, it still does) looks like a million bucks. It must be difficult for you to look at your car in that way -- especially since you put all of that hard work into it. I think I would be on the verge of tears if that was the case . . .or not already bawling. Good to know that you're (or were) getting good use out of it!

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PostPosted: October 15, 2010, 7:47 pm 
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Hey Jack, hope you and the Lalo are healing up.

Found a few interesting cutaways while trolling around on the interwebs -- need to spend less time in front of the keyboard and more in the garage.

Maybe I just need a PC in the garage :)


Attachment:
lotusmkxilemansprototyp.jpg

Attachment:
lolamk1196063.jpg

Attachment:
11lemans.jpg


Cheers, Ted


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PostPosted: October 16, 2010, 12:26 am 
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The thing that's wrong with all these classic racers as street cars is, racing tires were very narrow back then (compared to street tires today) and race car steering lock and suspension travel was (and still is) very limited compared to street cars today. Thus those rounded swoopy front fenders don't clear the wheels unless they're mounted quite high.

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PostPosted: October 16, 2010, 9:25 am 
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JackMcCornack wrote:
The thing that's wrong with all these classic racers as street cars is, racing tires were very narrow back then (compared to street tires today) and race car steering lock and suspension travel was (and still is) very limited compared to street cars today. Thus those rounded swoopy front fenders don't clear the wheels unless they're mounted quite high.


Yeah, looking at the Sylvas and Ginettas you can see that they trim the wheelarches quite liberally, and presumably reform the inner fenders as well to allow. I was thinking the rear fenders might need to be split and widened at the crown as well as raised in relation to the fronts.

For a high mileage car like yours, running narrow tires is beneficial, are you running the fancy-pants low rolling resistance tires off the Prius Jack?

t


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PostPosted: October 16, 2010, 4:53 pm 
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ted andkilde wrote:
For a high mileage car like yours, running narrow tires is beneficial, are you running the fancy-pants low rolling resistance tires off the Prius Jack?
Low rolling resistance tires of today are wider than racing tires of 50 years ago. I got a set of FPLRR tires from Goodyear recently, but I have to fix the car before I can test them.

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PostPosted: October 16, 2010, 7:41 pm 
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It is hard to find narrow tires in larger rim diameters that are reasonably priced and commonly available. Even the smallest cars are relatively wide in section. There's always the vw bug size.

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PostPosted: October 16, 2010, 8:09 pm 
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You can still get Michelin X series tires for vintage cars. That might help. Not at your local dealer though. We had a link to a place that sold them, but I don't remember it.

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