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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: September 4, 2007, 10:35 pm 
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Louisville's luckEseven Lauds Locosts
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Okay, another quick update.

Got the engine and trans in last week, so now I can start on the transmission tunnel. I came up with a neat idea to combine the engine bay triangulation tubes into the start of the trans tunnel. Looks clean and should work very well. More detail on this set-up can be found at my build log website in my signature.

Next, I received a present from Jegs, in the form of two Kirkey 16" Pro Street drag seats, adjustable seat rails for the driver's side, and a Jaz 12 gallon fuel cell with a level sender. Naturally I had to throw everything in to see how it'll look!
8)

Putting the seats in confirmed my suspicion that the passenger side would be tight, with the offset RX7 diff in a book-sized frame. So i came up with an idea to widen only the passenger compartment by 1" on each side, leaving enough room for the larger seats (for showing off to my friend/family). My hope is that it won't impact the overall look of the car, as I've never been fond of the look of the wider chassis's.

I will describe my plan in greater detail in the next installment, as I can't do anything on it until I go get some more tubing. But in the mean time, I can chop it up!

Hey, it's a Locost Chopper now!


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PostPosted: September 5, 2007, 2:05 am 
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how happy are you with the seat rails? How much work is it to add them to the kirkeys? Cost?

Cost of the fuel tank and sender?

I like the mod's for the engine bay-to-transmission tunnel rails!

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"the all-consuming time-sucking car, which I really enjoy working on" -KB


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PostPosted: September 5, 2007, 7:46 am 
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eVox wrote:
how happy are you with the seat rails? How much work is it to add them to the kirkeys? Cost?

Cost of the fuel tank and sender?

I like the mod's for the engine bay-to-transmission tunnel rails!


I'm very happy with the seat rails. I expected them to be expensive, but they were only about 25 bucks from Jegs. I put several detailed pics of the brackets I had to make to adapt them to the kirkey seat below, probably took me an hour. not difficult at all. The only potential problem is that if space is tight, say in a book frame, you may have to offset the rails slightly to have enough room when you push the bar sideways to release the seat adjustment. You just have to measure before installing. Standard deal.

The fuel tank included the sender for 209 bucks total. Also from jegs.

I should mention I received my shipment from jegs.com within 24 hours of ordering it online! And my items were non-box, oversize items that had to be shipped ground, and I just opted for the standard shipping (I think it was free)! I also got an email with tracking numbers, so I could check on their progress. Great prices, fast service.


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PostPosted: September 10, 2007, 12:38 am 
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Hey guys, another small update. Speaking of which, I'm not sure if you guys like a lot of small updates, or if you prefer just me posting the big moments. I personally feel that the more updates from everyone, the better, no matter how small they may seem. I like the regular traffic, even just to see a small amount of progress, it makes me feel like we all stay on task and pushes everyone to get out there and melt metal! Just a thought, I'd love to hear what you think.

First things first, I spent an afternoon cleaning the garage which had been neglected for quite some time. It may not look clean or organized to you, especially in comparison to some of the garage-mahals I've seen around here, but it's all I've got and I'm making the most of it.

Another thing that I've been thinking about for a while, and finally took a step towards is the height of the boot area. Now, the more I look at pictures, models, and book of these cars, the more I think that visually something doesn't look right. There's something proportionally wrong, IMO, how the back of most cars I see is at or BELOW the hood line. I like the look of a high shoulder line on production cars (Audi TT, Chrysler 300C, etc), it looks very muscular to me. So I've decided to raise the top of the boot 2 inches in relation to the hood line. It will also mean the roll bar is a little shorter (I think disproportionally tall roll bars look goofy) and I'll have some more room for the fuel cell on top of the diff subframe.

Okay, so regarding the "surgery" I mentioned in my last post, i'd like to report it was a success. The passenger compartment has been widened by an inch on each side, allowing me to run two 16" kirkey seats in a book sized frame. The modification has little effect on the look of the car overall, no effect to the front of the car, and will actually help my car proportionally, considering my rear suspension is going to be so wide.

What I did was add a section of tubing next to the outer, lower frame rails on each side, as the seats sit above that tube which has no effect on the seat fitment. This effectively moves the diagonal tube K3-4 out one inch, allowing for more room for the seat. Then, the horizontal tube (can't remember the letter, it's the one that intersects with K3-4) is now angled out a couple degrees, so i made a wedge-shaped piece on the bottom so the body panel can still sit flat on the side.

I also am near completion on the transmission tunnel. I've started the l/h diff mounts, and added the r/h tunnel support plate, necassary for the offset diff I am using. This also provides protection to the passenger, if the drivehshaft were to ever have a problem.

As usual, I've updated my build photo album with detailed captions, check it out and let me know what you think.


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Scratch building an IRS, RX-7 based book chassis @ myBuild Log

*Make way for the luckEseven!


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PostPosted: September 10, 2007, 12:55 am 
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I personally prefer lots of little posts from everyone...now if only I could manage this...

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Locost finished - book frame, IRS, '84 celica GTS donor, '99 tacoma 2rz motor with a turbo, megasquirt DIYPNP. Getting rebuilt with new IRS, F20C
"the all-consuming time-sucking car, which I really enjoy working on" -KB


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PostPosted: September 10, 2007, 1:41 am 
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I prefer the same. Now if only my steel was as clean as yours.


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PostPosted: September 10, 2007, 8:54 pm 
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How long is that differential? Extremely?

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Locost finished - book frame, IRS, '84 celica GTS donor, '99 tacoma 2rz motor with a turbo, megasquirt DIYPNP. Getting rebuilt with new IRS, F20C
"the all-consuming time-sucking car, which I really enjoy working on" -KB


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PostPosted: September 10, 2007, 9:16 pm 
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Nice work!

There should be a dump truck repair place near you that does driveshaft work. The tubing should be less than 50 cents and inch. Welding in the new tubing and balancing should be around $80, same day turn around.

The weld yokes have a shoulder which presses into the tube. A shop will press the ends on, adjusting for straightness with a guage, weld the ends, then spin balance. Butt welding will cause the parts to move around a lot more during welding than if they are pressed together before welding.

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PostPosted: September 10, 2007, 9:25 pm 
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Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F wrote:
Nice work!

There should be a dump truck repair place near you that does driveshaft work. The tubing should be less than 50 cents and inch. Welding in the new tubing and balancing should be around $80, same day turn around.

The weld yokes have a shoulder which presses into the tube. A shop will press the ends on, adjusting for straightness with a guage, weld the ends, then spin balance. Butt welding will cause the parts to move around a lot more during welding than if they are pressed together before welding.


Thanks for the tip, but actually I wasn't planning on using the driveshaft in this configuration. I was most likely going to have a new one made, as the UJ's on RX7 driveshafts are not serviceable. I mentioned it in my build album, but this driveshaft I threw together was purely for mock-up, as it was taken from the donor and cut to size. I wanted to be sure my UJ's weren't at too high of an angle and that they wouldn't bind on me.

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Scratch building an IRS, RX-7 based book chassis @ myBuild Log

*Make way for the luckEseven!


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PostPosted: September 11, 2007, 7:49 am 
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I guess I didn't go back far enough. Better to say it than assume.

My source for driveshaft components is Powertrain Industries. I used to buy direct but my driveshaft shop stocks their parts. I have received parts that were not exactly as they should have been, so I just let the shop deal with it.

http://www.driveshaft.com/catalogs_type ... 2d3c160fcb

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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


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PostPosted: September 29, 2007, 9:55 am 
WOW. A J-port 13B is going to be a beast to drive on the street and very noisy. Should be wonderful on the track though.


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PostPosted: September 30, 2007, 1:39 am 
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Yeah, we'll see how long it'll last, too.

I'm not too worried, as I got a killer deal on the whole set-up, so it's still well worth it. It's is a track/autoX car first, and definately a street car next.

I will also do my best to keep the thing as quiet as possible.

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Scratch building an IRS, RX-7 based book chassis @ myBuild Log

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PostPosted: January 13, 2008, 8:53 pm 
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Update:

Well, racing off-season testing is in full swing now! I just got back from Sebring, FL from a test at the famed ex-airport. I've been busy building new race cars (not much on my own, unfortunately!) as our driver roster continues to grow. On top of all of this, we are switching to a different tire next year, so that is being extensively tested.

I've made some small steps on the Locost, though the garage is too cold to work in right now! So I've been inside building my new website dedicated to the build, instead of the photo hosting site I utilized before. Feel free to check it out, it's mostly there, except the blog section I need to finish. You can find it at:

http://web.mac.com/emiletabb

I should be able to make some progress this week as I picked-up a few space heaters. I will post here with more updates soon, I just didn't want you guys to think I'd given up! Let me know what you think of the site, or if you have any suggestions! Thanks.

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PostPosted: January 16, 2008, 10:29 pm 
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It may be a little late for this, but for the seats, the countersunk screws are not really needed (and not a great choice), you don't feel bolt heads through the seat padding. Really you may want to consider a single bolt with a big fender washer on the inside. I'd hate to see the seats torn loose in an "incident".

Great build, though. Keep us updated.

-bill


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PostPosted: January 19, 2008, 1:55 am 
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Thanks Bill, that had occurred to me. The seats will most likely end up being bolted to the back as well (for track use), and I (the seat occupant) will also be well-secured to the car with my 5-points. I will also prolly add another few sets of screws along the bottom, similar to the ones already there. I intend to use the seats bare sometimes, so I think the countersunk screws will help.

Thanks for the feedback though! :P

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