LocostUSA.com

What Heikki said. Also, using seattletom's figures (high point 17" behind the front axle) I get 9" from frame to hood at where the nose crosses the upper frame rail, which on a 13" high Locost frame puts it 22" above the bottom of the chassis...so you'd need a 3" bump. I think the lateral curve of the hood is sufficient for safety factor clearance, and a modest 3" bump (or scoop, if you prefer the muscle car look to the Lotus 15 look) wouldn't look too terribly Big Daddy Roth.

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

How tall is the bodywork at the mid-section door area?

This is my frame with the 22" height drawn cross wise thru the front of the motor and I found a 25" reference line at the back of the motor which must have come from the original diagrams.

Jack, do you think it would be possible ( and not ugly ) to buy an inch or two of height by raising the bodywork? I'm thinking the bottom front of the nose could get a little bulge instead of the top of the hood and the pontoons could have a bottom that slopes downwards to the car. This would all be out of view except from a considerable distance away. It would mostly look like it has just a bit more ground clearance that it actually has.

It would be easier or less scary for builders to make these kinds of changes then cut up the top of your pretty hood...

Edit: The 22" line above is from the bottom of the lower frame rail.

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

> How tall is the bodywork at the mid-section door area?

On my prototype's driver's side it's 8-3/4" above the frame rail on the passenger's side it's 9" 'cause the passenger door comes in a bit further (hey, prototypes are for testing, right?) and that's right in vertical line with the frame rail. The center of the scuttle (and thus the center of the back edge of the nose) is 10".

And lifting the body should be no sweat. You can make the pontoons any height you like, and then all you have to do is make the bottom of the nose taper down a bit further and it wouldn't look odd/ugly even in profile. And great minds think alike; I'm considering--since I'm thinking about how to do the shipping the cheapest--having the bottom of the nose be a separate part, to be bonded to the fenders upon receipt. It would make the box a lot smaller, plus it would allow me to make nose bottoms in varying heights (not today, but in the future some time).

Today is a fiberglassing day; I'm closing up holes in the body, preparatory to doing the finish work to make it a suitable pattern for a new mold...so I'll be off and on on this forum for the next eight hours or so..

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

For the record, my Miata engine is 9 inches above top of the frame rails ~11 inches behind front axle, oilcap raises about half an inch and CAS wire may be also similar height at the end of the motor.
So 2-3 inch bulge or scoop will be in order.
Or raising the body as mentioned above.
Jack, if everyone has to raise the hood to clear the modern overhead cam engines, would it be something to consider for all bodies from the get go?



Thank you www.aforwardmotion.com fornice profile picture for all photoshoppers out there.
Jack,did you have photo of MAX from side?

Thanks again for doing this.

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hrk

Yes indeed, I've been considering like crazy, and you beta-testers get top say on how we do it. But now, another layer of mat to slather in the air intake hole...

[slather slather slather slather]

EDIT: I'm back, a quick slather break. Heikki, it sounds to me like an inch would do you.

Is your oil pan drooped under the chassis...and if so how much?

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

The oilpan is about 1-3/4" below bottom of the frame bars in my car. Oilpan is worn less than a 1/4", almost through the ring in oilplug.

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hrk

Maybe it makes sense to reference our measurements from the bottom of the bottom frame rail? The bodywork connects at the bottom of the car and all of the frame variants have different heights. They do share the bottom edge though.

My upper frame rail is at 20" from the bottom of the lower frame rail at the dash hoop and the dash hoop is 26.5".

So normalizing Jack's numbers to the lower rail it looks like the pontoons reach up 22". And the scuttle and aft of the nose are 23" tall.

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

Pontoons plus doors. The pontoons themselves are 13" (standard Locost body) but I can provide the bulkheads and drawings taller than that in 1" increments (+442 chassis are 15" high, for example).

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

OK, that's fine. Are you still considering skipping the doors and making the pontoons one piece, I had thought you mentioned something like that earlier.

I suppose the doors would help you get out of the car if it was upside down.

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

Sure, if there's a spec series, that's how to do it. And I'll admit I don't open the door to get in that often myself; however, I'm spry for my age, and I have a tiny paraplegic squeeze back in Lexington who could never ride with me if I didn't have doors (or at least a passenger door) and I'm working on a cabin enclosure for those occasions in Oregon when it rains (har, har)...but I could make doors an option and probably get the price down a hundred bucks or so. So I'm considering it, but the beta testers are getting doors.

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

Did a measurement of the 95 Camaro 3.4 motor before I tore it down.

IT was 25" tall (probably could shave an inch off of that by modifying the throttle cable mounts), and about 22" long (rear of crank to where I think the pulleys were before I took them off before I remembered to measure). The bottom of the oil pan is pretty much the bottom of the T-5 transmission, so I don't see any point in trying to cut down the pan or install a sump system.

Having said that, it is probable now that if I persist in using this block, it will have to be bored, and if so, I'll install FWD pistons and the 3400 FWD top end (heads, intakes, etc). Hell, maybe the 3500 stuff. Not sure that it would have any chance in being shorter, and betting it will gain another inch or so.

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Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.

Would there be any photos of doors somewhere? Are they removable or is there a hinge?

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hrk

Are the doors removable or is there a hinge? Yes and yes. I'm up at the fiberglasser's today but I'll take some pics of the prototype when I get down south (tomorrow I expect) and get back to you with them.

Heikki, from your photos I'm confident we can make them work with your roll cage.

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

If you scroll down http://www.motherearthnews.com/blogs/bl ... 00&tag=MAX from MAX Update #73 and newer, you'll see lots; some with doors and some without. Nothing quite straight on...I'll look through my outtakes.

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

How's this for prompt service? I took this photo a couple days ago, when I decommissioned the car so I could work on making a pattern out of the nose. The nose is hanging in the hangar (hence the name) so you'll have to use your imagination from forward of the scuttle.

There'll be no new photos of the complete Lalo 'till the first noses come out of the molds.

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles