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Ha.. Ha you were talking about the October 10th event...

I was talking about the 23rd of June... Followed by 2 days of racing at Calebogie the 25th and 26th of june... Yhea crazy

Still the Thanksgiving Monday event ios my favourite !!!!

Time for an update...
Life is starting to settle down, so I got the chance to get back working on my car.
First order of business was the installation of the 3 gallon fuel cell... Since the car is only going to see Time Attack and some Solo 2 Duty, no need to have a 10 gallon tank... 3 gallon is more than enough for 15-20 minutes sprints.




The idea was to place it in order to offset my weight in the drivers seat.

Nesxt order of business was finishing the rear end. The original plan was to make that piece as a single piece, but this is a race car and since I will need to go fiddle in there on a regular basis I decided to mae the center section removable.




I have plenty of access to the fuel cell battery, fuel pump, mumford link and shocks.




Next order of business was taking care of the tubs side. That was fun with all the cage anchor points and Dzus tabs there were lots of cut-outs




I had mention a while back about getting the Pinto spindle to work with the 13inch wheels. The Diamonds didn't work out and the best back space we could get up front with our big, overkill for a Se7en 10.25 vented brakes was 2.5 inch of backspace. I while back I reconsider the braking set-up as this car will never weight 2000lbs. I decided to change my DynoPro Caliper for some Powerlite calipers. The Powerlite is a smaller than the Dynapro, plus I'm downsizing to a 9.5 inch solid drilled disc, some clearance will no longer be an issue.

With the +4 offset the 13X8 are close to 4 inch backspace i.e. tad more. They do not clear the Dynapro/10.25 vented disc combination. Also as the slick moves around I'm not too sure about the top of the rod end/ bolt... my little Go Pro cam will need to have a close look at this.


Now with a 0.5 inch spacer this are interesting. I am now clearing the Dynapro caliper with the 10.25 inch disc... OK it's really tight and I'm not too comfortable with the clearance I need to measure it but it's probably between 1/16 and 1/8. Theres plenty of space for the slick to move around and we have more than 3.5 inch of backspace


Cheers,

Fred

Yo Fred-
Good lookin' sheet metal work, Sir! Car is coming along nicely. I like the removable center bit, because I totally agree that you're going to want to access some of the things in the back, most likely coilovers. Good idea.

The combination with the 0.5 spacer seems like the best setup. I don't have a lot of experience with slicks, but the DOT autocross tires (V710, A6, etc) do flex a good bit with cornering forces, even with the stiff sidewalls. You'll wanna watch that, for sure.

Good build! Looking forward to your first "trophy picture"!

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

interesting placement of the front Tow hook...did you do any extra chassis reenforcement for that, or do you think the normal design is strong enough? Do you have a similar one on the opposite side too? (I'm still trying to figure out where to locate a tow hook for mine...)

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Building a MNR Vortx w/ '99 Miata donor: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=9631

Looking good, Fred. I'm having the same issue with triying to fit 13" wheels over Mustang II uprights. I'm just going to work with what I've got for now quote screwing around and get on track this year. I can get hung up on a million details. I think I will try Fiero uprights on version 2 down the road.

I did a spring clean and reorganization on my work space this weekend. No excuses now.

Mark

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Building a whole car from scratch is a 1,000 little tasks, done 1 task at a time, while thinking 10 tasks ahead, then redoing it anyway.
South Bend Region SCCA D-Modifed Class Autocross & Track-Day/TT. Chevrolet 1.4 L Turbo Ecotec Power


Link to my build log:
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3356

Lookin' good Fred. I really like the boot cover and the removal-able panel.

Is it just an optical illusion from the picture or is the front UBJ rod-end next to the wheel rather than the tire sidewall? Unless the picture doesn't accurately show its location, I think you'll be fine.

When is the first outing for the year?

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

Thanks J.D. Yhea the Go Pro Cam will be monted on the side panel and pointed at the tires, it will actually be a good thing as will learn how much movement there will be with the sidewalls.

First350... I've seen the tow hook on that location on several locost in the UK and OZ... But..But...But... on my Chassis's I have no fear if its' going to rip, it will take 1/2 the front frame. I'm not using the standard locost U bracket. Instead its a 2 plates sandwich with upper horizontal tube. Its then boxed in just to be sure.
We've used it several time on Marc's car and no issue to date.

Locofinn, I hear you... Yhea the damned Pinto spindles... When I started building I said that they might bite me... They have been a pain with the 13's from day one... At this stage I'm with you... We've been using my car to explore other alternatives while running the finish car to get some driving under our belts... But yhea there no point fithing it... Another option needs to be used for version 2 for the 13's... Fiero is one... Legends might be another. Or right now I'm leaning toward a rectangle of Aluminum, with a bolted Pinto pin, My Aluminum Speedway hubs. Bolt on Aluminum steering arm and bolt on aluminum brake caliper braket...

Andrew... Thanks, Your right it's mainly the bolt... the spherical is almost at the wheel level and I doubt I'll have much issue. Not sure when I'll put my car on the track, but We're having our first Time Attack on May 29... Then Solo on the 19th of June, then Toledo,

The car is going to take a back seat in May as I need to build my small trailer to tow Marcs car on the long distance... The old trailer won't cut it on those 12 or 24 hr trips....

Cheers,

Fred

Been meaning to ask Fred - why no jam nuts on the mumford link?

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

No problem Andrew...

For the simple reason that I didn't put any as of yet

Seriously since I'm still building the car I didn't see the point of doing it, . Once the car is finished and ready to be aligned, I'm going to put my jam nuts on. I believe the nuts should be on all rod ends. Especially on the mumford you don't want any play in there...

Cheers,

Fred

That's what I was figuring Fred but just wanted to make sure.

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

Hi Everyone,

Been busy with a crazy project at work and the car was put aside, just started working on it.

A lot a changes were done on the Marc's car this summer, I'll go into more details into the modifications we did, but the mumford is gone...

In the meantime as a Teaser I'm posting some videos of Marc from Mosport last June

I don't think you'll have any problem with the tire movement,for a visual here's a vid(go full screen and HD)of mine with 20x8x13 hoosiers on 8" wheels running about 14psi.You can clearly see the tire deform but it doesn't travel laterally too much.
http://youtu.be/HNpzN9iLb2E

Fred and Locofinn are the Mustang II spindles you're having trouble with the 2" drop or standard?

I thought the Mustang II and also Pinto were 13" wheels from the factory? Could one of you put up a picture showing where you're having trouble? That would be a big help for me.

It appears to me that the Mustang II spindle ( Wilwood version ) has about the same upper height as Miata, but the Miata has the lower joint a couple of inches higher from the ground...

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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.

Hi Marcus,

Standard spindle... the lowered spindle probaly would have some lower balljoint interferencee with 13's... well the pinto/mustang II probably had 5 inch wide wheels at the most so it wasn't an issue. Its another story when using 8 or 10 inch wide wheels up front.

I max out at 2.5 inch backspace with 8 inch wheels when using 10.25 inch disc brakes with Wilwood Dynalite calipers... Stoping power is simply incredible and overkill on a Se7en. I'm working on fitting 9.75 inch disc with Willwood Powerlite, they are slimmer than the Dynalites, I'm able to fit 8 inch wheels with a 4 inch backspace.

I'll post pictures of the spindle and the wheels later this weekend.

Fred

I'll be interested how the change in wheel offset affects the steering feel and heaviness. Does the steering feel heavy with the 2.5" backspace?

The rims I'm using in my model are about 8" wide with 4" backspace so that's good someone else is using something similar. If you get photos can you try to get one with a ruler in the rim and I will try to improve my rim model.

If there is a clearance issue with the Mustang II 2" drop parts, it looks like one could just put the control arm on the top side of the spindle instead of the bottom.

I am using the Wilwood part on one side of my model and the Miata on the other side so it's easy to compare them. Putting off some decisions as long as I can and making it easier for people to try different things. Since the drop spindle puts the wishbone lower, I think it might help with fitting the coilovers.

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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.