LocostUSA.com

Hi again everyone. I'm starting a project that ends in L.S.O. (Locost Shaped Object). It will not be a traditional build in a sense that it will have a 5.0L engine, auto trans, power steering, power brakes, power seats, power mirrors, cruise control, and limited slip diff. The donor is a 1988 TBird and as I said in my previous build I want to use the donor in its entirety. This will include steering colume, instrument cluster, heater, various dash switches, and so on. Reason being is that I don't have the luxury of spending time at wrecking yards to find parts.
My bio is on page 1 of my previous build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=12234
Once demolition is complete, I will be setting the eng/trans/diff on the build table to take the required measurements to build the frame around the components. I am using 1 1/4" .100" sq tubing for the base frame, 1" sq tube for the tunnel.
To date I have aquired the DOM tubing for the upper and lower A arms and diff trailing links, all required bushings, +4 nose from C.O.L.D., chrome 7" head lights, chrome Harley front signal lights. Today I ordered the rad (1969 Mustang 5.0L w/trans cooler).

I can't upload any pics - says "internal server error" or something like that.

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Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

I would go for 1.5" lower main rails and engine support rails, big difference in strength in that area for your V8 along with the ancillaries you intend to run which are quite heavy on their own (but don't let that put you off, not everyone wants or needs a racing car).

There's no need to have the lower rails taper inwards so far at the front, the Aarms don't have to be outside of the chassis, again with your using ancillaries you may be better off staying wider there.

Have a look at the Car9 thread as it has some basing around a V8 or if you haven't started in the next few weeks there will be some more info about my LBV (Locost Based Vehicle) coming. I'm using a 2JZ and 5 speed but as soon as I finish jigging it and setting up a clutch pedal for the manual, I will swap over to an auto for my own use.

Building another one hey. Heck, you'll probably have both built and running by the time I get mine running. I used a 1992 T-Bird and couldn't be more peased with it as a donor. Motor fits great, although I don't have all the ancillaries that you'll be including, steering rack/steering column is a good fit, minor extension required, well suited donor. Any chance your donor has rear discs? If they do, I might shoot you a PM.

Good luck Perry.

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Trochu Motor League

Thanks cheapracer, I'll do that for the lower frame - makes sense.

Trochu - the 88 TBird has traditional diff with drum brakes.

Tried to upload jpeg pics with no success, still comes up with error page

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

Maybe I'm wrong on this, but I usually think of the car as hanging from the upper rail. The upper rail is in compression, provides support around the top of the cockpit and is where the loads from the springs go. So I would tend to make that larger then the bottom rail... You can compromise and make them both that big though...

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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.

Thats correct, IMHO, material is stronger in tension than it is in compression. I'll verify this from the wings I built for my Bushmaster II plane.

Still can't upload pics, this is the error message

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@locostusa.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

Does anyone have any suggestions that I can try. I have been trying all week to upload pics with no success. This morning I get a notice that the pic is invalid. I haven't changed the way I've been uploading pic from my last build log, still using the same camera phone. Still using the same laptop.

This is the message that comes up. Also using jpeg format, that hasn't changed.
"The image file you tried to attach is invalid."

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

I saw a comment from Kiwi Dave in his build log about the size of the picture files. Maybe the max filesize had changed??? I'm not sure, check the "report a problem" thread...
H-T-H
JDK

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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

Spent the day on demolition. Motor and trans should be ready to come out tomorrow. Removed shifter and seats from interior.....found $2.83 in change whoo hoo


Feels good to be back at building, well soon to be building.........

And the pic upload problem, it was at my end.

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

Hey Perry!
You just finished one, and now you start another??? Glutton for punishment...

Looking good, Bro... That 5.0 is a good powerplant, and a nice fit in a seven-ish chassis, as V8s go. Good luck with your build!

JDK

_________________
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

I like the way you think.

If you put the engine far enough forward like a traditional seven (few people do), the dipstick and brake booster should fit without mods.

The ignition module uses a special thin wall socket tool. The white grease between the module and the distributor housing is critical to cooling the module, and the module will leave you stranded without much if any warning. I suggest removign the module, cleaning the surfaces with acetone, then adding new heat sink grease. Do not use white lithium or dielectric greases. Use the correct grease from the autoparts store or grease for installing computer CPU chips from Radioshack or similar eletronics store.

The plastic bushing that holds the transmission cable to the throttle linkage gets hard and brittle. The cable controls the pump pressure. If the bushing lets go of the cable, it will quickly ruin the transmission. Replacement plastic bushings are about $1 and a brass bushing with a hairpin clip costs slightly more.

If you keep the track width and just narrow the body, it will save a lot of work. All you will really need are custom UCAs to work with the existing rack position to minimize bumpsteer and UBJ adapters that place the joint as far outboard as possible, even if the this offsets the spindle casting vertically.

You might consider replacing the existing rear suspension joints with sphericals eventually and use a low profile tire on the original rims, such as a 205-50-15. The plastic gear to recall the speedo is about $10. One tooth equals 5 mph.

A 88 AOD should have most of the best parts/bulletins. A new overdrive band ($10) and a shift kit would be a good idea. If it starts slipping in Overdrive, you can continue to drive it if you hold it in third. They tend to start slipping around 80k miles with the factory soggy shift points.

You may have plastic fuel lines. There are splice repair kits available to alter routing and lengths.

I'd stay with the in tank standard pump and reuse the intertia safety switch in the trunk, which should be reinstalled facing the same direction.

Since this is speed density, you will have the option of installing a cone air filter directly to the throttle body.

The engine driven fan will be a real challenge. You can fiberglass a shroud to reach the radiator, with the fan halfway into the opening. It would be much easier to use an oem fan from a large displacement fwd such as a taurus, contour v6, etc.

What is the diff ratio?

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Miatav8, this sounds like excellent info. I sure was not aware of the issues with the ign module, will have to look into that. Don't know yet what diff is in the car, will let you know when I find out. I have known the original (and only) owner since 1982 and know the AOD was rebuilt 2 years ago. I'll be using the inertia switch again, I see there's another type switch behind the front pass side kick panel (says this way up), I assume it's a roll over switch.
Pulled eng/trans today.

Wiring anyone? Still have more wiring to pull from the car.


BTW thanks Gonzo making the pics smaller did the trick!

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

Here we go again, eh? I'll be looking forward to your build.

Since you already have those airplane hangers, have built at least one airplane, and the new flying car is in the news a lot, I'm just wondering if "Locost Shaped Object" indicates there's a secret plan afoot to make a flying Locost? That would be unique. Any comments, Perry?

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

The engine and gearbox weight, large in this case, bounces up and down on the lower rails and all lateral wheel forces pass through the lower control arms direct into the same lower rails (the forces when you hit a pothole while turning are immense). Most of the other forces should be shared through the entire chassis as a whole.



I certainly hope not.

It sounds like you guys could stand to have your own topic about structural theory.

I think Perry knows what he is doing (again).

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12