Kristian's Ford V6 locost

[turbo_bird]

Finally I can post my car in this section. I'm going to say it's currently as done as it will ever be, even though there might still be some changes in the future. I started work on it in 2003, but real life interrupted a few times. I had a bit of a false start with it earlier this week when my MSD ignition died, so today was the first time out with it this year, and I put about 50 kms on the new engine. It runs good and pulls hard, but it's hard to tell with the old butt dyno if it makes any more power than the old, tired one did. After getting it all dirty and dusty today I washed and waxed it and took some half decent pictures in the yard. It will probably never look this good again.

And the kids wanted to have their pictures taken too.

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Kristian

[boris]

thats a nice looking bit of gear there bloke well done .
boris

[1055]

upload the pictures to the site so they don't disappear for future users!

[mgkluft]

Looks great, Kristian.
However, I'm afraid it appears that you won't have a lot of time to enjoy it. Your son's look says, if you think that I don't know how to drive that thing, then you're still watching Teletubbies. A chip of the old block.

[turbo_bird]

I finally found a photo editor that plays nice with my tablet and the forum, so I edited the original post by uploading the pictures instead of linking them. I'll try to remember that in future.
Kristian

[GonzoRacer]

Great lookin' car, great lookin' kids. You done good, Li'l Brother! Proud of ya!

[turbo_bird]

Dropped the kids off with my parents today and went on a lunch and coffee date with my wife. Our 6 year aniversarry is Tuesday, and I have to head back to work on Monday morning, so I guess that's our celebration this year. Had an excellent lunch and coffee at a local ski resort/tourist trap village and about 90 km's of beautiful 2 lane mountain road to get there. This is the first time my wife has ever been in my car, so I mostly took it pretty easy so I wouldn't scare her off from ever getting in it again.

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When we picked up the kids afterwards, my daughter wanted to go to a lookout over the highway and watch us drive by, so my wife took her up there while my son and I drove home. She took a video of my drive by which I'll upload to YouTube. It's a long way from the road and pretty shaky, but the sound at the end is awesome. I dropped down a couple gears made sure to hit the rev limiter (6200 rpm) before shifting into 5th. I might have been a touch over the speed limit when I backed off. I've got about 180 kms on the new engine now and it seems to run strong so far. Theres a definite bump in power higher up in the rev range that wasnt there before. It still pulls good down low, but there's a bit of a kick and it comes alive somewhere around 4000-4500 or so.
https://youtu.be/E1o5o-mTyew

Kristian

[Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F]

Kewl!
I miss living some place interesting.

[turbo_bird]

Finally got the cursed supercoupe, aka the most expensive free car ever, home late Thursday. We spent the long weekend camping with my in-laws, and I had to work an extra day, so I drove out sepperately after the fact and figured I might as well take the locost instead of my pickup, and put about 200 miles on it. It's not the ideal car for a long freeway drive due to how low it's geared, but there's no issue cruising along at about 70 mph. The temperature hovers right around 190-195 when driving and idling for a while brings it up to 205-210 with the fan running. It could be a bit more comfy for longer drives, I really don't have room to shift position at all. My right knee pretty much locks up from holding my foot in the same spot, but I think a heel rest near the pedals would probably help a bit, as well as a bit more padding in the seat. Turns out my built in padding isn't quite sufficient. It was fun though, even though I did get caught in a couple of rain showers coming home. I had a rain jacket and my full face helmet and didn't get wet. It was a bit chilly with no heat, but I can alternate warming my hands on the muffler and the trans tunnel. I also have a new custom shifter on the car too. Turns out it's not real easy to shift with only a 2.5" stub when your shifter breaks off, so I bought a pair of vise grips for the return trip. It's interesting to see peoples reactions to the car, most have never seen anything like it. Lots of thumbs up and waves from bikers too. I got passed on the freeway by a couple guys in an Elise, they seemed excited to see something vaguely Lotusish on the road. I was too and gave them a thumbs up. My in-laws were worried my car would get rained on at the campsite, so we put up a tent over it too. Everyone was asking if as going to drive it home in the rain, I definitely wasn't planning on pushing it. I don't have a ton of miles on it yet, and don't get to drive it as often as I'd like because it's not exactly practical with a family, but I'm loving every minute I do get with it. On a windy road it's pure joy driving it, and I completely forget about it being cramped and uncomfortable. They say if you can park your car and walk away from it without looking, you don't have the right car. I guess that means I have the right one then, I never get tired of looking at it. Hope everyone else had a good long weekend too, and happy locosting.

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Kristian

[turbo_bird]

I haven't been driving the locost a ton this summer, but I've had it out a few times. Picked my daughter up from school with it today.

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Kristian

[Lonnie-S]

It's looking good. Kristian. You could even say it looks quite polished (no pun intended), especially compared to the first videos I saw of it, which was you blasting around on an old airport runway (I think, it was a runway). In any case, you're having fun, and that's the big take-away.

Cheers,

[turbo_bird]

Thanks Lonnie. Yup, the first videos were on an old runway we used to race on. It was a remnant of WW2, built for ferrying planes up to Alaska and across to Russia. It hasn't even been washed since spring, so it's getting pretty filthy now. I haven't put a ton of miles on it, but it still makes me giggle like a school girl every time I drive it. Won't be long until it's away for the winter now though.
Kristian

[turbo_bird]

The insurance ran out on the locost today, so I figured seeing how it was decent weather I'd pick my daughter up after school one more time before winter. I found a loose nut on the car on the way though, and this time it wasn't the one behind the steering wheel. I guess loose isn't quite the right word, the threads pulled right out.

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Unfortunately that's the nut that used to hold the lower ball joint into the spindle, and I was on my way to the school when it let go. I'm glad it at least happened close to home and not on the highway. I walked home and got some tools and a jack so I could fix it. Turned out I didn't have a nut the right size (M14x1.5), so I drilled the threads out of a 1/2" nut that was a 7/8" hex and ran a tap through it for now. By the time I had it together again, my wife was just coming up the road with the kids, so they got to go for short rides at least. About the worst part of the whole deal was that my car sat in the middle of the road long enough for probably everyone in the neighbourhood to drive by and see it. I'll probably never hear the end of it now. One of the neighbours beat me back to the house to see if I needed help when he saw it, so I do have some pretty cool neighbours.
Kristian

[Lonnie-S]

That one is a little scary, Kristian. I'm so glad it happened before you got on the road. What's the matching one on the other side like?

Best,

Lonnie

[turbo_bird]

I haven't taken it apart to see yet, but both sides are getting new ones before spring. Either that or stronger cotter pins. I'm off to work again, so won't be able to take it apart for a proper fix until the end of the month, by then it'll be too cold to drive it anyway, so it's parked for the winter now.
Kristian