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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: June 14, 2012, 2:15 pm 
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Joined: February 8, 2007, 4:35 pm
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Location: Atlanta Ga
Hi Jack,

I got your set of top front control arms few years back as a beta tester.
To continue on tradition of first adopters, I would be interested in this body.
My car has full cage and 13x10 wheels with 10x 22.5" slicks and it get up there with speed.

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Image

How difficult you would see the pieces of bodywork to be trimmed or extended to fit the tires and the cage?
How would I secure the bodywork to hold on to the chassis on 150+ mph?
I have oil cooler and intercooler on the sides, could I use the original light openings to feed them? Can the sidepods be easily modified for exhaust air from these coolers?

hrk

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PostPosted: June 14, 2012, 7:23 pm 
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Hi Heikki, it's been a while since we chatted, good to hear from you. Good questions, too.

> How difficult you would see the pieces of bodywork to be trimmed or extended to fit the tires and the cage?

The fenders are fiberglass, the usual fiberglassing techniques apply. In your car, I think I'd trim the rear wheel openings the way most modern cars (including race cars) are trimmed: so the wheel is fully visible from the side.

Your is a CMC chassis, with the shocks running up the outside of the chassis and inside the rear tires--so your tires are already spaced out about 3" each side in droop so they don't rub the shocks in jounce. between that and your foot wide Hoosiers, your wheels are about 15" from your chassis on the outside, and if you space these rear fenders that far out to fit the these tire <without> cutting openings for the wheels/tires, it's going to get awfully wide back there.

On the roll cage, the only thing I see is you're going to have to make your scuttle accept those cage tubes that run along the outside of your current scuttle. The pontoons won't need any mods, they're 9" wide on mine and likely wider on yours, the cage will fit inside just fine. The pontoons are open on the top, with 1/4" plywood panels to keep your elbow from falling inside them (and keep exhaust system heat from venting into the cabin--the muffler and exhaust pipe are enclosed in the pontoon) and to give a surface to slide across when getting into the car.

> How would I secure the bodywork to hold on to the chassis on 150+ mph?

Mine's never come off and I do 90. Right now, mine is held at the front by the pivot tube and at the rear by one Dzus fastener each side. The production version will have pins at the rear of the hood, which will fit into bushings in the firewall at the front of the scuttle. I believe that otherwise, the hood will lift in the middle when Q gets up around 50 pounds (roughly 141 mph) which hasn't been much of an issue for me--sure, my Lalo body is slippery, but 32 horsepower can only go so far. You have around 250 horses under the hood; roughly 8 times what MAX has so you'll be in Veyron range (okay, not really; you won't see 250 mph but I'd expect it to reach 180 if it were geared for it)

>I have oil cooler and intercooler on the sides, could I use the original light openings to feed them?

I can't see why not--however, you won't have to because these bodies will have the cut-here-for-7"-headlamp marks instead of holes. I think I'd cut vent holes lower than the headlights, for intercooler and

Can the sidepods be easily modified for exhaust air from these coolers?

Sure; it's a sheetmetal task and it's easy. The pontoons are skinned either with aluminum (I forget the gauge) or roofing steel (26 ga.) prepainted (but not pre-wrinkled). You could port the hot air straight out the back (unless the heat would overheat the left rear tire).





Ask me anything. I am confidaent I can answer your questions to my full satisfaction.

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PostPosted: June 15, 2012, 2:50 am 
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:D :D

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PostPosted: June 15, 2012, 10:41 am 
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JackMcCornack wrote:
Ask me anything. I am confidaent I can answer your questions to my full satisfaction.


Laughing my donkey off. I've been told that I also answer questions in the same way -- it only cost me $10,000 in therapy to learn that!

Riddle me this.... where do I send the deposit? Pennies, or something a bit more modern (paypal, cc, paper check, etc)?

Thanks!

G'03

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PostPosted: June 15, 2012, 2:27 pm 
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We are Slotus!
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Quote:
> How would I secure the bodywork to hold on to the chassis on 150+ mph?

Mine's never come off and I do 90. Right now, mine is held at the front by the pivot tube and at the rear by one Dzus fastener each side. The production version will have pins at the rear of the hood, which will fit into bushings in the firewall at the front of the scuttle. I believe that otherwise, the hood will lift in the middle when Q gets up around 50 pounds (roughly 141 mph) which hasn't been much of an issue for me-


Jack, I'm proud of you! Your answer to the question did not once mention duct tape, bailing wire, chewing gum or super-glue! :shock: You really are Hi-Tech! :rofl:

:cheers:
JD "3M Electric Tape" Kemp

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PostPosted: June 15, 2012, 3:24 pm 
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GonzoRacer wrote:

Jack, I'm proud of you! Your answer to the question did not once mention duct tape, bailing wire, chewing gum or super-glue! :shock: You really are Hi-Tech! :rofl:

:cheers:
JD "3M Electric Tape" Kemp



Shhhhh! That's the proprietary stuff!

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PostPosted: June 15, 2012, 3:39 pm 
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geek49203 wrote:
Riddle me this.... where do I send the deposit?
Check, please, by snailmail (Kinetic Vehicles, PO Box 1150, Creswell OR, is quickest to our bookkeeper), and (if you do this) please tell me via email to my jack@kineticvehicles.com address so I can put you down as the third pre-order...at which time I'll close that introductory offer.
carguy123 wrote:
GonzoRacer wrote:
Jack, I'm proud of you! Your answer to the question did not once mention duct tape, bailing wire, chewing gum or super-glue! :shock: You really are Hi-Tech! :rofl:
:cheers:
JD "3M Electric Tape" Kemp

Shhhhh! That's the proprietary stuff!
Yeah, but then I figured, aw heck, this is LocostUSA so I should share: The pivot tube, to which the nose is affixed, is attached to the chassis with bailing wire AND duct tape.

Jack "Belt and Suspenders" McCornack

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PostPosted: June 15, 2012, 4:41 pm 
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JackMcCornack wrote:
The pivot tube, to which the nose is affixed, is attached to the chassis with bailing wire and duct tape.

Jack "Belt and Suspenders" McCornack



Jack that's overkill and will lead to frame cracking.

Without the frame being able to flex in that area the metal will work harden and crack. One day you'll be driving down the road and you and the nose will part company.

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PostPosted: June 15, 2012, 11:08 pm 
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JackMcCornack wrote:
Check, please, by snailmail (Kinetic Vehicles, PO Box 1150, Creswell OR, is quickest to our bookkeeper)


KINETIC VEHICLES
PO BOX 1150
CRESWELL OR 97426-1150

There, added the ZIP to make my check go faster. Maybe will help #4.... Check sent via Quicken.

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PostPosted: June 16, 2012, 2:22 am 
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geek49203 wrote:
KINETIC VEHICLES
PO BOX 1150
CRESWELL OR 97426-1150

There, added the ZIP to make my check go faster. Maybe will help #4.... Check sent via Quicken.
Where's the facepalm emoticon when you need it. ..I guess this one ill have to do: :oops:

Obviously, I left off the zip code to make it harder for you to send me money--I'm looking for committed beta testers, not people who expect me to take care of every little detail for them, such as giving them a complete mailing address.

geek49203 makes three beta-testers, which is plenty, and I'll be the alpha with the first nose out of the new (not yet existent) mold, so the search for testers (including market testing) is now over. After this batch, I'll have the experience I need for pricing the Lalo body kit as a production item, and will announce the kit here as soon as it's ready for prime time.

The Lalo nose is coming off MAX this weekend, to begin its transition to a pattern, and from the pattern comes the mold...and since the pattern will never be right as a nose again (it's going to get all its holes plugged, including the holes where the light comes out and the air comes in) MAX will be the first test of the new parts. Until then, I'm probably going to put MAX back in Se7en livery.

I've had some questions off-list, and some requests for specific photos, which I'll answer and post here because I think they're of general interest (at least to the folks reading this thread).

Also, I'd like to commend our three beta-testers for their courage and support.

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PostPosted: June 16, 2012, 3:59 am 
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Especially after seeing Max in person, even in prototype form, I'm very pleased that there are three builders currently able to step up to the plate to make this happen sooner rather than later! It's going to be great seeing this whole thing come together. :cheers:

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PostPosted: June 16, 2012, 8:14 am 
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carguy123 wrote:
One day you'll be driving down the road and you and the nose will part company.


But how will he smell then?


...terrible!


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PostPosted: June 22, 2012, 2:49 pm 
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Today, I am saddened with the loss of Richard Adler, who (inadvertently) left his mark in the auto world, including this thread.

He was, is, the composer of "What Lola Wants, Lola Gets." Which, I'm told, was the way that the Lola car company got its name.

Mr. Adler died today at age 90.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kjQmgm0r4g

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PostPosted: June 23, 2012, 7:57 pm 
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I took some pix of the nose piece attachment process. I have to photoshop and shrink them before posting, but to give you a heads-up, it involves using 1/4" plywood for internal air barriers and as a structural material for mounting the body.

Since using wood in a car makes some folks just flat flip out, here's a recent photo from inside the Morgan factory, showing a worker TIGing up the body for a Morgan Aero. Morgan has been using wood for body supports for over a hundred years, and I didn't want you to think I'd made this up.

Image

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PostPosted: June 24, 2012, 2:55 pm 
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This is a proof-of-concept body, not a show car body, and it shows; I tried out lots of different techniques and not all of these techniques will make it to the production body. Also, I had a couple of mishaps a couple of years ago; one of them involved driving into a ditch (during my cross-country excursion through the woods following long-abandoned 4wd traces—it’s a long story) and bashing the nose in, so you’ll see some field repairs in this sequence. Still, it does show how to make a tilting nose, so I’m swallowing my pride and exposing my lack of craftsmanship, in keeping with the free exchange of ideas that typify LocostUSA.

Also in the Locost spirit, I shot for cheap and versatile right from the get-go, and determined that installing the internal bulkheads at the factory (har, har) would be prohibitive on both counts. Shipping is a big expense for body parts, and the parts won’t nest in each other if the bulkheads are in place, and there are at least a dozen Locost variations and once the bulkheads are in place, the nose will only fit one chassis and axle variant; hence the bulkheads are DIY. For the internal flat panels, I chose 1/4” and 1/8” plywood, and though the execution here is pretty sloppy, the concept is sound. Plywood is cheap and versatile (and light and sturdy too), and very easy to work with; the only tools required are a saber saw and a pencil.


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