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Yes, I have had trouble with it. They catch a lot of air at highway speeds. In the car's first 2 months on the road, the driver's side fender came off twice. Not violently, I just noticed the fender about to separate from the car. I did some major reinforcing to the fender stays to keep them on. This included welding them directly to the spindle, as opposed to bolting them on. In the end, the decision is up to you. Just make your fender stays really strong if you do.

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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

So i've just finished reading your build on & off for the last few days. What a great build! I'll be over in the spring for a spin if that's OK with you hehe

Tom...

Congratualations! Thats a lot of reading. I don't know if I could ever do that.

You are more than welcome to go on a drive in the spring. Just PM me in the spring.

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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

Time for a bit of an update!

This is the 3rd year that I've been driving the seven. I still drive it to work every day (rain or shine) during the 5 months of spring/summer/fall. Everything has been running great. I've made a couple of changes over the past month. First of all, I cleaned up the exhaust. The tips are stainless steel, and they were getting dull, so I needed to polish them back up:


Initially, I painted the exhaust with a cheap high temperature paint, so the paint has worn off. They used to be completely black (except the tips), and this is what they looked like before I painted them again:


To paint the exhaust again, I used VHT high temperature exhaust paint. I don't have a picture of the finished paint job, but it looks way better. I'm very happy with it.

Next, I decided to do a bit of engine dress-up. I didn't want to spend any money on fancy chrome, or new parts, so I decided to paint my intake and valve covers. This is what it looked like before:



Painting parts with VHT Red Wrinkle Paint:





After:





The last thing that I changed was adding trim to the carpet in the trunk. I spent months trying to find a nice trim to cover those edges, but eventually found it in a flooring store. It was a special order item, that I saw in a catalog when I was shopping for hardwood flooring. It looked like this before:


Now, it looks like this:

_________________
"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

Looks really, really good Jon! All those little improvements make a big difference, don't they?
Well done!!!

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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

Looking good. That red really dressed up the engine bay.

How many miles have you racked up after 3 years? It sounds like the car gets a ton of use.

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

I average about 3000km each year, and I have 9000km on the odometer now

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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

Its now winter time, so I can finally tackle something the has been bugging me for a while; my paint job. My first job was a badly implemented "$50 Paint Job". I didn't do enough bodywork to make the paint smooth and there was minimal shine to the paint job. So, its time to strip off the old, do some (I mean lots!) of bodywork and paint with a good quality paint.

I think that this is the color combo that I will be doing:


I started to disassemble my car, and strip the paint. This is the paint stripper in action:






Lot of bodywork so far on the nosecone (bad fiberglass job):


Hood is stripped:


Fenders:


Now that all my paint is off, I started to shop around for some paint prices. I was extremely shocked to find out that the paint that I want will cost me $1096, if I paint it myself

I haven't seen too many alternative's for paint, so I will have to start to look harder. I can't possibly justify spending that much money on paint alone. Note to self: find new paint before you strip off the old paint....

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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

That's hilarious! I'm sure you will find something. If you don't get any good answers soon start a thread for that question. We have a couple of good people for this, people that own shops and do this. Dealing with temperature and ventilation may be an issue for you too.

Good luck and thanks for keeping us posted. I think it's really great it's your daily driver in season.

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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.

Jon,

My friend Tony ( viewtopic.php?f=33&t=12949 ) painted his car with International 'Brightside' one-part polyurethane ( http://ca.binnacle.com/pdf/Interlux-Bri ... -Specs.pdf ) which is the same stuff I use to paint my boat(s). He sprayed with a cheap Princess Auto HVLP gun, colour sanded with 1500 grit to chase away the dust, and then polished. We don't know how it will last on a car, but both of us have lots of good experience with it on boats: parts of my Soling paint are ten years old, albeit with inside winter storage.

Until Tony sprayed the Birkin we had always applied Brightside using 'tip and roll' techniques, but Tony tried and failed to get the quality he wanted on the Birkin with tip and roll. Ultimately he switched to spraying (in his garage). Ironically, the only panel on which he had any runs was the louvered hood! Grrrr. It was his first ever use of a spray gun.

Depending on where you buy it, typically $35 to $45 a litre. Required thinners for spraying are similarly priced as I recall. They only have a limited range of colours (see http://www.boatcraft.com/Paint.shtml ). Sea Green is close to BRG, but their yellow is perhaps lighter than what you show on your example colour scheme.

Available at your local (?) boat supply store.

(PS, a few hours later: I'm in the midst of building a new hull for my iceboat and just bought a tin of Brightside, Sea Green, 37 bucks, and a tin of the '216 special thinner', 18 bucks, required for spraying)

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

The paint that was going to cost me $1096 is for paint code "Lotus B86" (Lotus Racing Green). I did some investigating, and there are a couple of reasons why it is so expensive. First of all, the paint supplier quoted me for a gallon of each can of paint (Primer, Base, Clear, Reducer x2). As I have found out, I don't need a gallon of paint. One or two quarts should be all I need. Secondly, the paint was a premium type of paint. There are other alternatives that are less expensive. Finally, the paint is only available in Waterborne paint. I am told that this is more expensive than solvent based paint. I am very unfamiliar with waterborne paint, so more research is needed on them.

For now, after I finish sanding, I will start with an 2 part epoxy primer to cover the car:



The above primer was bought at NAPA for $70 for a total of 2 quarts. This will give me a good base for whatever I paint on as a top coat.

After talking with the NAPA guy for a while about each other's car projects, I asked if he could mix me up a sample of the Lotus B86 paint. He made up a couple of ounces, and put it in a can for me, and he didn't charge me . I used this to paint a piece of paper, so I can compare this color to other (cheaper) colors. Please note that this was brushed on, not sprayed on, so there are really bad streaks in the paint, and bubbles around the outside.



You will notice that one side is shinny, and the other one isn't. The shiny side has a clear coat on it.

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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

Jon,

Make sure you look at the WHMIS sheet before you use that primer. Most of those two-part paints require use of a cartidge mask at the very least, if not an independent air supply. These water-borne paints may be better, but better safe than collapsed on the floor. Some of these products are definately not 'garage-friendly.'

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

Thanks for the warning. I did buy a cartridge mask to spray the primer.

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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

I spent all yesterday getting ready for paint, and laying down my epoxy primer. It took me far more time than I expected to finish all the last minute things before I could spray. This included final sanding, masking, covering the garage in plastic, degreasing parts, washing parts, running the tack cloth over everything, etc.

Ready for Paint!




Diaper for the car!


Painted in Primer:






I am glad I had a respirator. I would have died without one, even with the garage door partially open.

Unfortunately, the paint didn't spray as nice as I was hoping. It turned out really clumpy. I'm not sure if it was the cooler temperatures (sprayed at about 10-15C), the paint itself, my cheap spray gun, or something else. I guess I will be sanding it smooth, and using a high build primer on top of the epoxy primer, as per a friend's recommendation.



Here is the 'ideal' green color against the body:

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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan

My Build Log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054

Yo, Jon-
I'm liking that green! Is it a metallic? The sample looks like it is... Check the pics over in my build, as I had a real "go-round" with paint colors, and wound up with a metallic green from 1971 Fords, called "Grabber Green". It looks a bit like your sample. Cool color, vintage looking with the metallic luster. And only about 120 bucks for a half gallon including activator and hardener.

Paint prep looks good! Too bad about the primer finish, but as you say, a high-build primer over is should sand down smooth. Hang in there!

JD

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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