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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: September 21, 2014, 9:52 pm 
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Posts: 123
Continued working on the trans tunnel more yesterday. Roughed in the height of the tunnel while trying to keep the tunnel as low as possible but still leaving enough room to remove the trans.

Attachment:
Locost_20Sept14_Tunnel_Side_sm.jpg


Sat in the driver's seat with this mocked up and it seems to fit me fairly well. Roughed out a couple more pieces so I can tack this together when I get more 1" square tube..

This tunnel width seems pretty good also with decent clearance to the driveshaft and space for wiring and brakelines to run through here also..

Attachment:
Locost_20Sept14_Tunnel_Top_sm.jpg


Wont have to narrow the drivers seat up too much with this arrangement.


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PostPosted: October 4, 2014, 10:46 pm 
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Fitted and tacked the bottom trans tunnel tubes the other day and the tubes in the rear bulkhead that run up the back of the tunnel.

Today I started working on the driver's seat mounts. I removed the seat rake adjuster from the driver's side seat a week or so back after setting the rake to a comfortable position. I placed it on a piece of cardboard and traced out the mounting bolt locations and overall shape and then worked on the shape of the bracket in SolidWorks. Once I get a shape that I like, I will have this cut out on a laser. As a temporary fix, I put a temporary bracket together to see how narrow the seat could be without the adjuster.

Attachment:
Locost_04Oct14_Seat_Adj_sm.jpg


Then scabbed this together...

Attachment:
Locost_04Oct14_Seat_Adj_2_sm.jpg


Then it became this...

Attachment:
Locost_04Oct14_Seat_Adj_3_sm.jpg


Then went to work on cutting out the mounts for the seat. There will be 1" square tubes running side to side from the tunnel to the outside frame rail and these brackets will weld in to pick up the OEM seat rail mounts after bending the mounts to be horizontal.

Attachment:
Locost_04Oct14_Seat_Mt_sm.jpg


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PostPosted: October 5, 2014, 8:10 am 
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Joined: September 22, 2005, 8:12 am
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Location: 4AGE in S.E. Michigan
Before you install those seats, replace the hex head screws with button head screws, to prevent cutting up your finished side panels. Don't ask how I know. Dave W


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PostPosted: October 12, 2014, 9:40 pm 
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Excellent idea Dave!!

Spent some time working on the trans mount on Friday night- have it tacked together with some side gussets and tacked it into the frame.

Attachment:
Locost_10Oct14_Trans_Mt_sm.jpg


Then spent some time working on the driver's side seat mounts. Started out locating the seat where I wanted it both side to side and front to back. Then drilled holes in the front mount tube for the stock seat rail pins to fit into and then tacked the mounts to the tube- front first and then followed up with the rears.

Attachment:
Locost_10Oct14_Dr_Seat_Mt_2_sm.jpg


Attachment:
Locost_10Oct14_Dr_Seat_Mt_sm.jpg


Then dropped the seat in to check fitment!!

Attachment:
Locost_10Oct14_Seat_Dr_Outside_sm.jpg


Attachment:
Locost_10Oct14_Seat_Dr_sm.jpg


The seat seems to fit fairly well and should only need minor trimming to clear the tunnel. Definitely needs a new seatcover...

Spent some time swapping my temp seat rack adjuster bracket to the pass side seat to get that seat mounted. Will be interesting to see how much of the pass seat will need to be trimmed to fit with the tunnel biased to the pass side...


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PostPosted: October 17, 2014, 8:59 pm 
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Wanted to get the pass seat mounted so dug this out of the attic while putting some things away for the winter. Swapped the seat rake bracket from the driver's seat to the pass seat and started fixing its location. The pass seat will definitely need more massaging than the driver's seat due to the driveshaft tunnel being biased to the pass side. Anyway- started with the front mounts and got these tacked in.

Then bolted the seat in with the front mounts and located where the outer rear mount should be and marked it on the tube. Then pulled the seat out to tack the rear mounts to the chassis tube and all was going well until I put the tube and seat back in the chassis and the rear mounts were off...I must have swapped the ends of the tube after marking it in the chassis...Oh well.

Cut the rear mounts off and remarked and tacked them and the second time- everything fit...

Attachment:
Locost_15Oct14_Pass_Seat_Mt_sm.jpg


And now, with a seat....

Attachment:
Locost_16Oct14_Pass_Seat_sm.jpg


Next up is to continue with the tunnel- hopefully this weekend I can get that tacked in.


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PostPosted: November 1, 2014, 10:02 pm 
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I continued working on the tunnel and have started roughing it out- trying to keep it as narrow as possible.

Attachment:
Locost_21Oct14_Tunnel_Pass_sm.jpg


Also started working on some of the side triangulation tubes as I am rolling along...

Attachment:
Locost_21Oct14_Tunnel_Drside_sm.jpg


Was super busy at work so have not made much progress this week although started cutting the lower tubes that run along the trans tunnel but have no pics yet of this....


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PostPosted: December 12, 2014, 10:27 pm 
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Finally got back to the Locost- spent a week and a half out of town for work and then played catch up at home over Thanksgiving...

Tacked more of the trans tunnel together so that is taking shape.

Attachment:
Locost_11Dec14_Tunnel_sm.jpg


Then dug the rear brake calipers and rotors out of the parts bin and fit them up to the rear suspension to start looking at park brake cable routing. Looks like I will have to get a little creative with the cable mounting bracket like others have to get the cable to clear the passenger rear bulkhead.

Attachment:
Locost_11Dec14_ParkBrk_sm.jpg


Will need to find some thicker sheetmetal for the bracket when out and about this weekend.

Switched gears to a steering column mount that will hopefully work with the brake and clutch pedals that I need to order soon... need to dig the OEM accelerator pedal out of the parts bin also to get this ready....now, which bin of parts did I stash that one in....

Attachment:
Locost_12Dec14_SteeringColumnSide_sm.jpg


Attachment:
Locost_12Dec14_SteeringColumn_sm.jpg


The cross tube will go on the top of the angled tubes (it would not stay there for the pics). Need to also fine tune the angles on the support tubes to make them more symmetric.


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PostPosted: December 14, 2014, 10:57 pm 
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Spent some time today working on the steering column mount and have this preliminary design tacked in place.

Attachment:
Locost_14Dec14_SteeringMt.jpg


Definitely needs some reinforcing but want to get something in so I can start looking at pedal placement.

Speaking of which, clamped the OEM accel pedal assy in and moved this around a little to find a decent place for it to live. Feels pretty good here but will have to wait until I get the brake and clutch pedals ordered before finalizing anything.

Attachment:
Locost_14Dec14_AccelPedal_Rear.jpg


Attachment:
Locost_14Dec14_SteeringMt2.jpg


Hard to see the accelerator pedal in this view..


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PostPosted: December 21, 2014, 9:50 pm 
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Did not get much done on the car this weekend- trying to figure out forward or reverse mount pedals for the car.

Looked a bit tonight and I am leaning toward the reverse mount Wilwoods with the adjustable pedal pads. Also thinking about the standard Master Cylinders- the brake calculator spreadsheet shows 7/8" diameter for the stock Miata front calipers and 3/4" diameter for the stock Miata rear brakes and a 5/8" diameter for the clutch.

It appears there is a fair amount of space for the masters in either space but thinking it may be better to get the MCs under the scuttle to keep them away from the exhaust.

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PostPosted: December 22, 2014, 10:52 am 
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Location: 4AGE in S.E. Michigan
Devin
I would have second thoughts on putting the master cylinders under the scuttle. It would be a real PITA to make linkage adjustments if you had to remove the scuttle each time, even with designed remote fill caps. If you are concerned about the exhaust heat, fab a pedal box or add a heat shield. You can put a right angle bend in the lid of the pedal box top which would slip under the fire wall of the scuttle and act as a pivot point, then just attach the lid with a couple screws to hold it in place, for easy access. I can not count the number of times I've made adjustments to the brakes, clutch, or throttle linkage. I'm sure I would not have wanted to remove the scuttle each time. I could send photos if you would like. Dave W


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PostPosted: December 25, 2014, 4:35 pm 
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Good point Dave. I will have to see how long the scuttle is- the MCs may be in front of the scuttle and allow easy access but I will review this more before buying pedals..

Made a little more progress this week- started shortening the rollbar for mounting on top of the rear bulkhead. I had originally planned on the roll hoop to attach to the bottom floor of the car but changed this since most sanctioning bodies require the roll hoop to be bent in one plane if I ever wanted to track the car....the first cut is always the most difficult. Dragged my kids out to measure from the top of my head when seated in the car to figure out how tall the roll bar will need to be, then started to cut...

Attachment:
Locost_23Dec14_Rollhoop_Saw.jpg


Then cut the other side to match and set it on the car.

Attachment:
Locost_23Dec14_Rollhoop_Side.jpg


Attachment:
Locost_23Dec14_Rollhoop_Angled.jpg


I have about 3.5 inches from the top of my head to the top of the roll hoop which should give some height for the thickness of a helmet also.

The bar will bolt into the car so I can remove this to change it, if ever needed. I cut out the plates that will be welded to the chassis and then mating plates that will be welded to the hoop.

Attachment:
Locost_23Dec14_Rollhoop_Pad.jpg


Need to decide how and were to put the bolts. Reviewed the SCCA GCR and on a brief look, they do not spec how many bolts to use but that they need to be a min 3/8" diameter. Will place the bar on the outermost, front corner but put it in far enough for welding space around the circumference. May try for three bolts per pad at this point and try to put spacers into the tubes to eliminate crushing the square tubes when torquing the bolts...

Then switched to working on the front suspension some more. The upper control arms are still a little rough so started shortening the upper control arm links to get the camber zeroed and also get the upper ball joint in the correct spot. I have the LCA adjusted so I can easily add lots more negative camber, if needed and there will be provisions on the UCA for caster adjustments.

As I started shortening the UCA links I noticed the steering arms were reversed so didn't think too much about that as I was switching them around but a short time later remembered that the lower ball joint is offset a little rearward so swapped the steering arms back on the correct LCA and then put the assemblies on the correct side...

Attachment:
Locost_23Dec14_CA_Front.jpg


Attachment:
Locost_23Dec14_CA_Side.jpg


Attachment:
Locost_23Dec14_LC_Rear.jpg


Got the camber on the driver's side about zeroed out and the caster correct but it looks like I will need new rear tubes for the control arms as I cannot shorten these enough and keep enough threaded section in them for the rod ends.


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PostPosted: January 6, 2015, 10:06 pm 
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Had a nice long Holiday break but did not make much progress on the car... Did swing by the local steel supplier for a little more 1x1 square stock since I was almost out of this and will need more.

Attachment:
Locost_02Jan15.jpg


Was also thinking about how to attach the shoulder harnesses to the car and think I will do something like this for each shoulder harness but will need something with a thicker wall than the 16ga, 3/4" round I have here..

Attachment:
Locost_02Jan15_Shoulderharnessmt_sm.jpg


Would like to use the clip in mounts but not sure these will stay attached to the car so will use the bolt-in mounts..

Attachment:
Locost_02Jan15_Shoulderharness_sm.jpg


Depending how well I can weld these tubes, I may add a flat gusset from the OD of the round tube to the rear edge of the square tube.

I will also use the same, thicker wall round stock inside the square tubes where the roll bar bolts will pass through so I can get a hard joint there.


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PostPosted: March 20, 2015, 9:13 pm 
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It has warmed up enough to get back into the garage so made some progress on the rollbar hoop.

Attachment:
Locost_20Mar15_Hoop_Full.jpg


Decided on using three bolts to hold each downtube to the chassis and offset the rear one inboard a little so I can get a bolt through the top tubes.

Attachment:
Locost_20Mar15_Hoop_Mt.jpg


Will add a reinforcement tube inside the square tube so the sq tube is not crushed when the bolts are tightened.

Then worked on the cross bar. Worked on making small cuts to make sure I didn't take off too much...

Attachment:
Locost_20Mar15_Bar_2.jpg


Then tacked the crossbar into place.

Attachment:
Locost_20Mar15_Bar_3.jpg


Feels good to be making some progress.

Looked at the shoulder harness mounts and did a little test weld to see well I could weld the round tube tangent to the square tube and while this does not seem so bad, may look at using a square tube instead of the round to bolt the shoulder harness to. Would definitely be easier to weld.


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PostPosted: September 20, 2015, 7:28 pm 
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What a crazy summer....didn't get much done on the locost this summer with all the other things going on a work was pretty busy...

I did get the two gussets for the rear lower control arms cut and chamfered but not yet tacked in..

Did also work on the outer seat belt mounts- did a little cardboard engineering and made this:

Attachment:
Locost_14Sept15_BeltMt_Cardboard_web.jpg


And then made these..

Attachment:
Locost_14Sept15_BeltMt_Brkt_web.jpg


They need a little more cleanup and then can be tacked into place.

Then spent some time working on the park brake cable brackets at the calipers. As so many others have found, the angle of the OEM Miata bracket puts the cables into the back of the seat bulkhead. A little cutting and grinding later, I have a matching pair of these

Attachment:
Locost_13Sept15_PkBrk_Brk_web.jpg


The park brake cables look a lot better now

Attachment:
Locost_13Sept15_Pk_Brk_Cbl_web.jpg


I need to figure out where I put the rest of the park brake handle and cable hardware...


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PostPosted: November 15, 2015, 9:37 pm 
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Spent some more time on the seatbelt mounts. This is the outer mount.

Attachment:
Locost_15Nov15_OuterLapbeltMt_sm.jpg


and the inner mount. I may shave a little more off the top corner of the bracket as that is not helping the strength a whole lot...

Attachment:
Locost_15Nov15_InnerLapBeltMt_sm.jpg


Here are the mounts for the sub belts, if I end up needing these...

Attachment:
Locost_15Nov15_SubBeltMt_sm.jpg


Then started on the front mount for the rear diff. Cut and partially shaped a piece of angle steel for the mount on the bottom of the diff.

Attachment:
Locost_15Nov15_DiffMt_sm.jpg


Am thinking I will add a piece of square tube to the angle and the weld the bushing to the end of the tube. The silver piece clamped to the seat back bulkhead will fasten to the bushing and there will be a mating piece on the frame on the opposite side of the bushing. I have this leftover from one of the miata control arms but I think I will try to find something slightly smaller..

Attachment:
Locost_15Nov15_DiffBushing_sm.jpg


What have others used for this mount???


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