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[size=150]Tom loves to weld...he says it "relaxes him!" He sure takes pride in his welding - check out his beautiful tig job on the lower control arm:


Well, I'm pretty bummed that I made a miscalculation with my seats. Looks like I'm going to have to send both 17" seats back. Jack at Ultrashield seems to be a really nice guy and willing to swap them, but the round-trip shipping will be a bit costly. Live and learn, I guess.

My nephew happened to have a 15" Recaro in the shop and while snug, it does fit me.


By tomorrow I need to decide on what sizes to get. The Miata differential has a .75" offset to the right side and with the 17" seats I have .5" on the right and 1.25" on the left. The car will be RHD, so I could use the 15" seat and get a 16" for my friends with a little bigger butt than me! (Fortunately, Lonnie, my wife's hips are definitely smaller than mine, so a 15" would work for her and most of my friends!) So two 15" seats would give me PLENTY of space for the driveshaft tunnel, and a 15" & 16" should also be OK.

Or you could scoot the motor/trans over an inch or so?

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Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.

....put in 15" and call it the "Locost Diet"....give friends an incentive to lose weight.....

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gblawson (Gordon)
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http://gblandco.com/gb/cent/cent.html

Well, Garman, that tears it... I thought we wuz gonna be friends... Nope, no way you'll be givin' any fat boys a ride in your car... Shucks...

Just Kiddin!

JD "Not Fat, Just Easy to See" Kemp

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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

I'm in Orlando and have had my car OTR for over a year. If you need any help let me know, we gotta keep the community going.

Now that there are going to be more of us we should start a club and get some goofy jackets or something.

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"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead. "
Mac McCleary

Invite the Stalker guys too?

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Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.

Well, the 15" seat fits tight in the car, but will work. It's also a snug fit for me!

I still think you could've picked up a couple of inches with that tunnel, but it is interesting to see that nice seat you've got.

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Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.

Well I'll be frank: if Tom was welding my control arms, I think it would relax me.

PS--please give us detail pics of your rear subframe and shock mounts; they look very nice from here.

PPS--how come you type so big?

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

OK, Jack...regular size fonts just for you!

Here are some shots of the Miata subframe:


Tom had the shock towers laser-cut:


The KYB's that came on the donor car were shot. After a bit of research, I decided to go with a pair of Bilsteins as replacement:


I cut and tacked in the transmission tunnel today:


A guy in my neighborhood is building a Caterham 7 and for some reason was sent two spare wheel carriers and said I could have one! Because of this, I bought 5 tires & wheels after getting a pretty good deal on Black Friday from Discount Tires Online. ($150 for each tire & wheel...mounted, balanced, free black lugs plus free shipping and no tax!)

I've been looking at tires & wheels for over a couple months and chose the Konig "Lightspeed" 15 x 7.5 wheels:

...with Hankook Ventus V2 Concepts 205/50-15 tires:


I also spent quite a lot of time reading and researching Wilwood Clutch & Brake Pedal Assemblies (similar to what's in Tom's car) and bought a 6.5:1 ratio kit that came with 3 master cylinders (and I went with 3/4" bores on all three):

I want to live on that street

Yo, Garman-
The standard disclaimer applies-- "I ain't no engineer!"

But I'm looking at those upper rear coilover mounts and kind of wondering if they're strong enough. There appears to be a lot of "flex" in that design, in that the flat plates (that are nicely laser cut) are attached to the frame along one side and the point of attachment for the shock is outboard from that. I'm thinking you're going to tend to bend the plates and/or break the welds at the attachment points.

Is there going to be some more support for those plates? I could have missed it in your text, but I didn't see any mention of it. And perhaps there's more to those mounts than I'm seeing...

Please understand, I'm tryin' to be helpful, not critical! After all, we would hate for Kate to have a bad back, especially at such a young age!


JD Kemp

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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

I agree with JD. Those mounts won't last long. Maybe a couple hundred miles.

The plates will flex and fail from fatigue cracking, on the outside edge, where they are welded to the upright tubes.

Beware of cantilevers supporting suspension loads.

Maybe add triangular gussets on either side of your strut tower to help brace the plate? I think that would easily give you some strength