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John's Nissan 240sx-based Locost build
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Author:  Sven [ February 12, 2006, 3:03 pm ]
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You're hauling ass now ... :)
Author:  datz510 [ February 13, 2006, 1:20 pm ]
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Last night, I got the chassis about 95% finish welded. I am sure there are a couple of joints I missed so I'll go over it again tonight to find them.

I got the beams in to allow mounting of the differential as well. I built them around the diff, so I can attatch plates for the diff mounts. The differential will be solid mounted to the frame for now. It'll be noisy, but oh well. :) I will try to build it so that I can add bushings later on if needed.

I did make one change to the chassis design. Once I got the seats test fitted and sat in the car, I found that the side chassis members for the passenger compartment were too high and would hit my left elbow when driving, so I cut them out and lowered them as shown.. I like the way it turned out.

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Anyone else done this to their chassis? Looking at all the books I have, it looks like many other chassis have this same feature.
Author:  datz510 [ February 18, 2006, 1:42 pm ]
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Here are some updated photos!

Got the tranny tunnel mostly done this week. Still have a few more braces to put in, but its really starting to take shape. The KA24 trans is a tight fit in there, but it looks like its going to work fairly well.

You can also see the new dropped chassis members on either side of the passenger compartment. Looks much better I think.
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It becomes obvious that I will need to cut out and move the tunnel crossmember forward a bit:
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This was the big project for Friday night.. I scrounged around the garage and came up with everything I needed to make a rubber isolated rear differential mount/moustache bar. :) The ends and bushings are salvaged off of some old shocks. The steel I happened to have in my scrap pile! turned out pretty nice, I think..
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First project this weekend will be to figure out what to do for a front mount on the differential. The diff has vertical mounting holes on the front. I may end up making a front mount subframe that bolts to the diff and then use the other two shock eyes/bushings as horizontal mounts.
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The rear diff mount had to have a very thin profile and could not protrude rearward of the differential cage because the fuel cell will be mounted aft of the diff cage. I think this setup should work fairly well.
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This weekend's other project.. Need to modify this Porsche steering column to remove the key switch housing.. I might even try to get a riser built to house/mount the column as well. Would be nice to get that bolted in place this weekend.
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a view of the rear trackwidth. WMS-WMS is approximately 61". With a height of only about 36" to the top of the windshield, this is going to be a very low but very wide car!
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Author:  datz510 [ February 18, 2006, 2:07 pm ]
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A couple more photos...

These are the front mounting tabs on the differential. Need to figure out a way to get this mounted to the chassis with bushing isolation, yet still allow for removal of the differential:
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I got 32 of these little guys in the mail yesterday: These are poly/graphite A-arm bushings from a Triumph spitfire. TINY! I'll have Just enough of them to do my whole suspension.
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Author:  mr.peabody.d [ February 18, 2006, 2:52 pm ]
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Very nice job....very quick and clean so far.

Do you know the diameter and length of those bushings?
Author:  datz510 [ February 18, 2006, 3:31 pm ]
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OD = 0.812"
A = 1.090"
B = 0.130"
E = 0.680"
ID = 0.503"

The sleeve that came with them:

OD = 0.504"
ID = 0.377"
L = 1.436"

These bushings are a PERFECT fit inside 1"OD x 13ga tubing, which is about 13/16" ID = 0.815
Author:  mr.peabody.d [ February 18, 2006, 3:44 pm ]
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Thanks for the meassurements wont fit my mustang II arms.

I noticed you started building your scuttle/dash...What is the highest peak at center line (engine side and gauge side) ...looks like about 10 inches.

Can you measure (apromimately) how many inches this is off of (above) the rear trunk height. (should be in the neighborhood of about 2ish inches if you are using a 10 inch scuttle, center line height please)

Thanks
Author:  datz510 [ February 21, 2006, 12:00 pm ]
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This weekend, I got the steering column finished and mounted temporarily to set the steering wheel position. Just need to weld in some support braces now (have it all tack welded in place).

I also got the driver's seat mounted. The final seating position is about 3" off the floor of the car. I raked the seat back about a degree or two. Its in a very comfortable position. I hacked up the OEM porsche seat sliders and welded them to some chassis crossmembers, so the seat is even adjustable. Turned out really nice. Once I build and weld in some mounting plates and get the floor skin in place, the seat framing and associated crossmembers will neatly unbolt to allow seat removal.

This week, I'm going to get the steering column mounting finished and finish the differential front mount (didnt get around do that this weekend). I may even start jigging up the A-arms so I can start working on those.

I'll post up some photos this afternoon when I get home. Doesn't seem like I got a whole lot done on the car this weekend, but in reality, it was quite a bit of work to modify and/or fab everything up to make it fit.
Author:  datz510 [ February 21, 2006, 12:05 pm ]
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mr.peabody.d wrote:
Thanks for the meassurements wont fit my mustang II arms.

I noticed you started building your scuttle/dash...What is the highest peak at center line (engine side and gauge side) ...looks like about 10 inches.

Can you measure (apromimately) how many inches this is off of (above) the rear trunk height. (should be in the neighborhood of about 2ish inches if you are using a 10 inch scuttle, center line height please)

Thanks


I just eyballed the scuttle height. The height, I took from the Tiger Avon book dimensions, as I want the top of my +2 height chassis to sit a little lower than what you would expect a +2 height to be. You are right, the measurement is about 10" from top of chassis to top of scuttle frame. I looked at the various books I have and just eyeballed the curves as close as I could to make it look like them. The framing has helped in positioning the steering wheel and getting an idea of what size gauges I can put in. The scuttle is approximately3- 4" taller than the upper rear deck height, so it should loook nice, i think.
Author:  sethmo [ February 22, 2006, 1:36 am ]
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Sweet pics man. The motor cam out of a 240sx, but did the trans and differential come out of the 240sx as well? I am contiplating using a 240sx drivetrain or a miata drivetrain.

Keep up the good work and keep up updated with those great pics!
Author:  datz510 [ February 22, 2006, 11:39 pm ]
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sethmo wrote:
Sweet pics man. The motor cam out of a 240sx, but did the trans and differential come out of the 240sx as well? I am contiplating using a 240sx drivetrain or a miata drivetrain.

Keep up the good work and keep up updated with those great pics!


The engine and tranny are out of a later model 1995 240sx. The later model chassis is the S14, which has a higher output DOHC engine (vs SOHC for the S13 model). The differential, halfshafts, drive hubs, and spindles for the front are all out of a 1989 "s13" 240sx. Either the s13 or s14 chassis would work very well as a donor. The main difference is that the later s14 differentials only mounts with two bolts in the rear and does not have the cooling fins as can be seen on mine. The later cars also have 5 lug hubs vs the 4 lug hubs on the earlier cars. Personally, I prefer the 4 lug hubs on a car such as the Locost.

For the drivetrain, the 240sx is a great donor car. As you may have noticed though, I am using some Porsche steering parts in mine, as the 240sx rack and pinion is very wide and is also power assisted. For the car I wanted to build, the 240sx steering column was just too cluttered. I wanted all controls to be on the dash or console, leaving just the steering column and wheel to be just for steering.

Here is a link to another Locost build that used an S13 240sx as the donor:
http://www.pbase.com/paulgreen/lotus_7

Also, I have a bit of good news tonight.. I went and picked up the 1995 240sx engine. It even came with an automatic tranny (which I wont use). The engine is very clean and has low miles on it. It is a DOHC 16 valve 2.4L 4 cylinder with tuned port injection. Looks like it will be a nice fit in the seven chassis. :) Got the whole shebang for $500. What a bargain!!
Author:  datz510 [ February 23, 2006, 3:15 pm ]
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Here are some new photos I just took:

The new engine comes home, complete with auto tranny:
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Here is the steering column box mockup. Need to weld in some support bracing and it will be done.
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The modified steering column bolted in place. I designed the support bracketry so that it'll function as a collapsable column in the event of an accident.
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The driver's seat mounted. It is adjustable forwards and backwards. Seating position is about 3" off the floor of the car. Image

The steering column angle that I decided on:
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Author:  datz510 [ February 23, 2006, 3:27 pm ]
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I've found a few really good deals on aluminum flywheels for the engine as well.. going to see if I can snag an 11lb Fidanza flywheel off ebay for around $80.
Author:  Dave [ February 23, 2006, 5:10 pm ]
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nice score on the engine - I'm sure you could flog that tranny for a few bucks too.
Author:  datz510 [ February 24, 2006, 1:17 am ]
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Some new photos:

Finished the steering column bracketry.. its pretty solidly mounted now:
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Started making the pedal assemblies. Basically just flipping the mounts upside down and then extending the pedals out what was the top side of the mount. This creates a cantilever arrangement. Hopefully it shoudl work ok. I'm a little concerned about the pedal pressures increasing due to loss of mechanical advantage.
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The steering linkage will be routed down between the two reservoirs.
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And my dog Rocco says "RAAAAARRRR!!":
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