LocostUSA.com

Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
It is currently March 29, 2024, 2:24 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 112 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 8  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: MIKE GOING FOR EPIC..
PostPosted: October 14, 2013, 9:37 pm 
Offline

Joined: September 21, 2013, 5:44 pm
Posts: 83
My name is Mike and this is my story... so far..
back in 1998 I was on a trip to the Philippine islands. with a stop over in Hong Kong and a 11+hr flight ahead of me I desperately searched for some thing to read. the magazine i grabbed was and English (from England) kit car magazine. the car on the cover was beautiful 7 style car and the wright up on the car sealed the deal for me at 18 yrs old.
Two years later i finally figured out how to call England to order a set of plans the gentleman on the other end kindly informed me they no longer sold plans to build the car... so my dreams were crushed then I began to tell the story of how I happened across the car and there company. he paused then told me he would put together and sent out one last set of plans for the car to me ...wow!!
he went on to tell me I was one of only 5 sets of plans to be sent to the U.S.
that day I felt supper special..
Now 13yrs latter I finally have the time(kind of), the space,the skill sets(work in progress),and the finances to do it so here it goes..

I started by laying out a few key objectives

-The car would comprise of only ONE manufacture for a parts resource

it ended up being Ford I work at a restoration shop and my boss grew up in a ford dealership literally..sooo.. there are a lot of for parts laying around new and old so I got a good feel for what they had to offer working on different years and makes. Plus if I have to go to the parts store 10+ years form now at least Ill have a vague idea of what the parts were from..lol

-There will be no regrets

If I do not like what I have done or don't feel it is done to the best of my knowledge and ability I reserve the right to rip it out and do it again until it is. I do however understanding that a car of this nature usually requires compromise so it is my desire to build a very well rounded, refined and balanced car. A bit of have my cake and eat it to syndrome..

-troubles with being normal

'Normal' .. no thax.. most things I do some thing in me tends to want to do them larger than life to go beyond the normal simple because I can. so far in my group of friends, family and coworkers no ones hardly heard of a lotus 7 much less the countless reproductions.But never the less even then I cannot leave well enough alone. so this one will fallow suite mostly cosmetic and styling issues and general build.

_________________
DESIGN ICONICALLY - DO EPICALLY


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 8:42 am 
Offline

Joined: September 21, 2013, 5:44 pm
Posts: 83
It got late last night pics are coming soon I will say that I am honored to be among some very sharp people and fabricators. I look forward to getting to know many of you and getting your input


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

_________________
DESIGN ICONICALLY - DO EPICALLY


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 11:51 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: December 17, 2010, 1:24 pm
Posts: 1580
Location: Gainesville, Mo.
Hello there, Mike! As one Mike to another, let me say welcome! Apparently, you're a bit of a globe trotter, so where abouts in the world are you located now? Judging only by the one pic that you've posted, it looks like you're off to a good start. As for starts, mine is totally stalled. It amounts to having gathered an S-2 nose cone, a wrecked Miata, and some steel tube. I've had to take a 'Time Out' to engage in a home remodeling job.

Well, as they always say, 'Welcome to the loony bin'!!!

_________________
Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 12:36 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: July 4, 2006, 5:40 pm
Posts: 1994
Location: Novato, CA
Welcome and nice start. I'm a big proponent of the single-marque donor, it avoids a lot of compatibility issues. You can always buy adapters, but sometimes even the adapters need adapting. Any more info on this particular 7 design? Source? Frame size?


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 1:54 pm 
Offline
We are Slotus!
User avatar

Joined: October 6, 2009, 9:29 am
Posts: 7651
Location: Tallahassee, FL (The Center of the Known Universe)
Yo Mike!
Team Slotus bids you welcome to the forum! I'm pretty sure that we're the Loonies they refer to in that loony-bin line, but hey, SOMEbody's gotta be the bottom of the barrel...

I also used Ford components in my build, with the occasional hot-rod part thrown in as needed. I like having one brand associated with the car, for simplicity's sake mostly. I've always been a Ford guy, ever since that six-banger 62 Fairlane I drove in high school. Plus, the Main Munchkin around here is my buddy James, who is a master mechanic at the local Ford dealership.

Lookin' forward to your build, keep the pictures coming and good luck!
:cheers:
JD Kemp

_________________
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


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 1:58 pm 
Offline

Joined: September 21, 2013, 5:44 pm
Posts: 83
first of all thx mike for the welcome yes i have travaled a bit not as much as i would like but thats another story... looney bin??? most of the time the crasiest most outlandish people i meet also tend to be the only ones to think out side the box and for them selves
as far as specs on thre car its an formula f27 from England. the plans were purchased at the time of mr steve porter owning it. as far as dimensions ??? im a littlre fuzzy on what book is and hanes my track width is 60" front / rear. seat width is curently a narrow 15.5 but I plane on bumping that up slightly by narrowing the tunnel. the numbers on the plans are for what they coinsider a "standard" witdh body. the rear frame comes in at 40" side to side total .. btw Im 6'1" 210 with size 13ee shoes..
when i get home tonight ill post more pics ive started on the custom body work and would like some in put the only way i can describe the styling is lotus 7 meets tron with a hint of 1930 boat tail..if you squint..

btw.. posting with you guys is so much better than face book. originaly I started to post progerss there for family and friends and instead of feed back and discusion i was simply "liked"

_________________
DESIGN ICONICALLY - DO EPICALLY


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 2:55 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: December 17, 2010, 1:24 pm
Posts: 1580
Location: Gainesville, Mo.
Quote:
the only way i can describe the styling is lotus 7 meets tron with a hint of 1930 boat tail.


Is this something like you have in mind?

[img]boattail7.jpg[/img]

Hope I did that right.

Nope! I'll try again when I have more time.

_________________
Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 3:55 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: December 17, 2010, 1:24 pm
Posts: 1580
Location: Gainesville, Mo.
Oh well, you can go to the site to see what I'm babbling about.

http://www.pistonheads.com/Gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=101&t=1283223&nmt=

_________________
Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 5:16 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: April 26, 2008, 6:06 pm
Posts: 3268
Location: Under the weather. (Seattle)
Like. :mrgreen:

_________________
-Justin

"Orville Wright did not have a pilots license." - Gordon MacKenzie


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 9:40 pm 
Offline

Joined: October 19, 2009, 9:36 pm
Posts: 2199
Location: meadview arizona
yes i thought along the same lines
Attachment:
john camera 024.jpg

Attachment:
p3.jpg


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 9:59 pm 
Offline

Joined: September 21, 2013, 5:44 pm
Posts: 83
currently I live in Minnesota about an hour from the citys or an hour from BIR brainerd international race way..
so here is kind of the short list on what the car has or is planed to have

drive train is duratec 2.5 with the m50dr1
I currently have the m50dr1 and am saving up for the d25 I would like to get a very late model motor and go about disbleing vvt and save that project for later.... thanks to all the duratec fans on this forum they swayed my decision to go with the d25. I felt it was the best bang for the buck compared to the price of rebuilding my very aged ford 2.3l turbo motor even with low miles. the real kicker was the weight diferance the duratecs vs the old 2.3l was i believe a 125pld difference!! weight saved is speed earned...At the corners are enike kojin 17x9 rims wraped in 275/45r17 nitto 555 rubber
the rims were a steal of a deal and came in at 21plds sadly they were my second choice the first choise weighed in at 16 each for the same size...well I guess I just spent my hard earned weight savings there...

the front spindles are ether classic 74 pintos with hub sections from a 66 mustang drum brake car I did my research and all the bearings inner change I just had to change the inner bearing seals to 74 pinto. the rack is a mustang ii with fox body tie rods on it to extend its length for the increased track width.

the front brakes are 04 mustang cobra calipers and 13" rotors they maybe slightly over board but for the performance, pad availability and reasonable price for aluminum calipers I went for it ... I have not yet set up the back brakes untill the car has most/all of the wight in it so I can properly size the rear bakes. I am however leaning towards a ford factory rear brake set up that's 13.?" vented and a fairly large caliper off a ford flex? have to recheck my notes. the only reason is I have read and did a very early and rough weight distribution guesstimate and found the 7s to be rear weight biased..

as for shocks and springs revalvable shocks from bilstein and as far as springs ... not sure but I do know they will be one of my last purchases so I'm not buying several sets only to find out my initial calculations of weight and spring freq were wrong ..

the rear end sigh...... original I had collected not one but ended up with two ford 7.5 rears from the ns mustang during the build I found out that the pinion was offset by 1.25" I believe.. as you all know space is the second premium after weight ....it ate at me so long and so badly I just did not want to compromise my interior room so i put together a list of pros and cons to get the rear end to where i wanted it lsd and proper gear ratio for the drive train with upgraded disk from a crown vic and and little machining to do so vs. a IRS from an 02+ explorer with explorer half shafts and hubs machined to fit 92+ t bird rear uprights.. the whole combo is only one inc wider than the 7.5 mustang rear plus a better ride and handling PLUS!! I saved aprox 75+ plds in unsprung weight .

this is what actually brought me to register on the forum I reversed engineered the front suspension from the original plans I had so I could properly design the rear. the ting I found that has all but stopped progress and has me scratching my head is the fact the front roll center is 2" below ground I know that suspension is a compromise always but Im having a difficult time finding any one with evan an opinion and below ground roll center height. I just received the caroll smith series and found out they were crushed during shipping...thx amazon/ups.. and am having problems with my puchas of millkens RCVD book I did however get the Q&A book of milkens "WOW" very cool ...so I haven't gotten to read and may not for a while I do have the book by Herb Adams and literately grew up on it, i purchased it at age 17, still there is no definitive answer about above or below ground roll center. and if the rear roll center is classically a few inches higher than the front that puts me at ground level witch I have read is a very poor place to be ...any ideas or opinions??

_________________
DESIGN ICONICALLY - DO EPICALLY


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 15, 2013, 10:29 pm 
Offline

Joined: September 21, 2013, 5:44 pm
Posts: 83
here are some pics sorry boat tail was the wrong description more 7 meets tron I think .. judge for yourself ..


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

_________________
DESIGN ICONICALLY - DO EPICALLY


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 17, 2013, 10:34 am 
Offline

Joined: September 21, 2013, 5:44 pm
Posts: 83
Wow no coments ? I didn't think the body design was that bad..
I'll try to mount it on the frame for a better perspective and do
The classic vroom vroom picture ... Btw thx for the "like" Justin ??
Is face book the only social media you aren't fallowed on?

_________________
DESIGN ICONICALLY - DO EPICALLY


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 17, 2013, 11:19 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: January 2, 2009, 1:45 pm
Posts: 1318
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
I may have missed it in your posts but will you be building the F27 front suspension as per the plans, with a 'rocker' upper control arm and inboard springs?

Somewhere along the way I missed your posts. Your rear bodywork is intriguing, but iwonder about the bump in the front profile. It may work, but is unusual.

_________________
Warren
Isuzu Pickup/SR20DE, +401 COLD frame
Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=11601


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: October 17, 2013, 12:13 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: July 4, 2006, 5:40 pm
Posts: 1994
Location: Novato, CA
I think it looks cool. Potentially.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 112 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 8  Next

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 63 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
POWERED_BY