LocostUSA.com

This is our second stalker build. This is a frame off restoration of an unfinished car and is being built more for touring but will also be tracked occasionally. Changes we are making include: LS7 v8, TKO 600, tilt/cruise, AC/heat, removable fiberglass top, Trunk & glove box, full padded interior, body changes, full aero, etc. Photos can be found at this site if interested.
http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery ... emId=17282

Gale

Hi there, so glad you appeared.

I'm doing the very last MCC7 and putting in an L67 with a 700 auto. There are so many questions I know I'll have to answer, so I just wanted to acknowledge what I'm doing and let anyone else doing it or considering it that there is a source for the little (and big) questions that need answering.

Having done it before, you will have already solved all of the problems that I've already "plowed" through, but there are things that are really scary that I have yet to tackle. I hope you don't mind if I take a few days to look at your contribution and what I know is coming up and put a "set" of questions to you.

I'll look closely at your post over the weekend. If you have any advice I'll be grateful to hear it. I'm a retired, fully Certified Auto Tech with Instructors Certifications. I've been involved in many builds when MCC was selling kits and turnkeys, so the basic stuff may not be appropriate for me. Having said that, there may be builders with less experience that are considering (or involved in) such a build. I'd really like to be able to support them.

It could be interesting for a bunch of builders to peek into the details of this type of build. I'd like to encourage anyone that's interested to chime in.

Geoff Finlay

Geoff
Would be glad to help if you need but it sounds like you are very knowledgable. This site has probably 50 people who have installed an L67/L32 in their cars and some of the logs are very thorough.
http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php

Gale

Gale,
I was going to get back to you before now. A new unrelated project popped up and is stealing my spare time. I'll be getting back to it in a week or so. Thanks for the lead, I'll take the time tonight to go through it.

My biggest concerns involve engine height, oil pan depth, hood clearance, building headers and that sort of thing which I've absolutely no experience with for this engine. I'm also planning on running the exhaust under the car. I've been involved in the past with quite a number of 7 builds, but Toyota was pretty much the drive-line of choice.

My reasons for using the L67 are maybe a little bizarre. I bought a new Bonneville SSEI in '92, because I was impressed with the engine's performance and since then I always wanted to put one in a 7. The other is when Ken Howatson was producing the MCC7 kits and turnkeys, I was doing all of the electrical work for him. Ken was a true race car mechanic and wouldn't allow anything in his cars that wasn't rock solid and well proven. We fought about it every day.

The car I'm building was actually just started by Ken, days before he passed on. When I helped his Widow close the business down, I took the car and promised Liisa that I would finish it so it truly is the very last MCC7.

The car has lots of new electronics and a drive-line that Ken would not approve of. I have a picture of Ken on my garage wall so I can smile at him while I'm doing stuff he would never allow and I hope he's looking down from racing heaven. By the way, the picture is of a very young Ken sitting on a car trailer next to his Volvo P1800 that he had put a Chev drive train in. He rolled the car through turn 5 at Mosport, it flipped over many times. Both Ken and the Volvo look pretty sad.

Thanks again for the offer to help; I'll certainly take advantage, you folks look pretty experienced from my perspective.

Geoff

Gale, this is a follow up. I'll be visiting my local recycler next week. What did you get your tilt wheel from?

Geoff

It came from Flaming River. I am not quite happy with it. It has the turn signals built in(thats good) but its still difficult to get out of the cockpit in a hurry so i am going to pull the top off and machine a new part with a quick release in it so i can remove the steering wheel quickly. Maybe it is just what i am used to.
If you need any measurments let me know.
The 3800 sc is a hoot to drive.....a bit violent and scary at first but you get used to it........... then it is pure pleasure.

I would love to see the removable hardtop. Any pictures or mock-up pics yet?
Scott (#64 Supertalker)

Gale,
I've made a steering wheel pod that has a bunch of warning LEDs in it and I want to adapt that to something I can recycle. Also, I want all of the usual controls on the steering shaft...wiper/washers, h'lights, turn signals etc. It doesn't matter how the systems are controlled, I can adapt them to what I have in place. Interesting that you're not happy with the Flaming River version.

The biggest concern as you point out, has to be getting in/out of the car, so the maximum tilt is an issue that I want to look at. I'm not concerned with an ignition switch as I've got one hidden/disguised and I'm using a remote module to turn the ignition on and start the car. The hidden version is to be used only in the event of the remote failing. It's not easy to get to or even find.

I know what that engine did in the Bonneville. Coming home very early in the morning from a baseball tournament with 4 big kids in the Bonneville I asked them how fast they'd been in a car? I didn't get an answer so I said let's go over 200kph and let it rip (Major Highway - no traffic). The engine seemed to say thank you. I know it wasn't the most responsible thing to do, but the look on those kids faces made a lifetime memory. My camera was in the trunk, what a missed shot! I have no idea what will happen in a 1500lb roller skate.

Geoff

Do you mean the L67 as in the Buick engine or LS7 as in the Z06 Corvette? You mention both. The latter would border on insane

Yep. Crate engine Ls7, C6 ZO6.
http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery ... emId=17615
,and i probably am insane.

Scott
I haven't got it done yet. Been working on Joe's Stalker (L32). Bought the foam yesterday and have a (great) plan but execution is always the hang up.

Then you will be interested in some pictures I took the other night. I am putting an LS7 in my Miata. I weighed the engine/T56 tranny on my giant "fish scale" to get a definitive weight. The only accessories I am running are an alternator and water pump. The headers aren't included, but figure 10 more pounds at the most:




In contrast, the motor and tranny I had picked for my locost build is the 13B-REW from my 1993 RX7 (which also received an LS7 transplant, and that car is a monster). This is how much the twin turbo rotary weighed:



Admittedly, this is with a power steering pump and A/C condenser, but even if I took them off, the rotary would still weigh more. So much for compact and light....it is so tall I am having second thoughts about using it in the Locost. It's a bigger package than the LS7 and makes only half the power.

For further perspective, here is how much the turbo 1.6/tranny from the Miata (of course a common locost powerplant) weighed (no PS, no A/C):



407 pounds is not bad. I may go with that and blow the snot out of it to get the 250 hp of the rotary. Still, if I could find another crashed Z06 around here and be willing to accept a 70 pound weight penalty, I could have double the HP and be just as crazy as you. I don't think I could get that into a book frame though!

I just looked at some of your pictures. The LS7 sits in your frame a lot better than my 13B-REW sits in mine (a book frame). So yours is a Stalker frame. Is that closer to a 442?

It does look similar to Mcsorley's frame but you would have to ask Dennis Brunton how he came up with this great little frame. He has a background in racing, flying and sailing, but to me his most amazing engineering ability is to simplify and build very fast reliable little cars with inexpensive components.

Gale

It actually looks like it fits.

There's nothing like EXCESS!