Hey Ron, I haven't decided anything with regards to body work. I'm focusing on getting to the rolling-chassis stage right now, after which I'll focus on going from that to the driving-under-it's-own-power stage. Only once that is done will I start on any body work and making it road legal. I haven't even settled on making it look like a Lotus 7 but may instead decide to go with a more enclosed body.
With regards to car progress...
I hadn't had much time in the last few weeks to work in the garage. Part of that was because I was away for a work related trip to Vancouver, which was actually fairly refreshing. Sometimes it's nice to get away from the snowy prairie. Anyway, just before I left I had received my two Hayabusa shock assemblies in the mail so I've spent most of my effort since I returned trying to figure out the best mounting solution for those. They have a 730lb/in spring so an approximate 0.5 motion ratio was in order to give me reasonable wheel rate, with further tweaks as necessary after the car is on the road.
I had planned to mount them in the traditional style (lower mount near the outer end of the lower control arm), with the outer mount 12" our along the 16" control arm and the shock at a 45* angle. This would give me a motion ratio of 12/16*sin(45)=0.53. However, I ran into interference issues between the steering rack/tie rod and the spring when the steering is at full lock, so now I'm considering other solutions. I was almost settled on a pushrod operated inboard suspension, but was not totally happy with any of the packaging options. I'm now almost settled with mounting the shock above the UPPER A-arm, with the lower end attached directly to the outer pivot point and the shock at a 30* angle to the A-arm for a 0.5 MR.
Hayabusa shocks:
Floor, seat, and steering column in place: