LocostUSA.com

Today's task was to get the main boot interior panel done. I feel I need to get the rear inside panels in place, so I can finalize the fuel system layout and supporting infrastructure for the fuel and electrics.

I fitted a cardboard pattern some time back. I transferred the cardboard pattern to 0.063 aluminum sheet. The bottom panel will be thicker than all the others at 16 gauge. All other panels will be thinner material.

Using a nibbler, Dremmel tool with steel burrs mounted plus some small hand files I went to town after trying out some techniques on a scrap piece of aluminum. This is the first time I've used the nibbler. It's hard to see where it's cutting, but it's workable.

The nibbler maker claims it will cut 14 gauge steel. I believe it. The thing is a demon on 16 gauge aluminum. It does throw off some pretty sharp and nasty chips.

This is as close to the marks as I could get with the nibbler. I used the Dremmel and hand files to clean it up to its desired final state.


I'm not expecting an offer from the fab guys at Team McLaren, but not too bad for a first time "old man in a shed." Most importantly, it fits. I left a little excess material on the outer edges. I'll fine tune those when I have the actual boot body panels made, so I can fit them closely.


Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Oh I don't know. I visited a well-known restoration place in Sorrento Valley that does classic sports cars: Ferraris, Lambos, Bugattis, etc. They were in the middle of a frame-off restoration of a 1960's Ferrari and I got a close-up look at the tube chassis welds - they were Terrible! I mean, you'd see better ones from a high schooler with a stick welder. If it was in any other context I'd think someone was pulling a joke. No, some of the most valuable classic sports cars are worse than "ordinary" under the skin, so you're doing really well!

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

@KB58
Thanks, Kurt. Much appreciated.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Kurt, I had a similar experience at a Pebble Beach level restoration shop doing an early Ferrari frame rebuild. Most of the original welds were utter cr@p. Manual welds on many Porsche production line cars were of similar quality. Lonnie, your craftmanship is way better!

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Cheers, Tom

My Car9 build: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14613
"It's the construction of the car-the sheer lunacy and joy of making diverse parts come together and work as one-that counts."
Ultima Spyder, Northstar 4.0, Porsche G50/52

Have you seen the welds on Donkervoort's? You're doing great Lonnie!

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Peace, Ron

Good to hear the consensus on welds! Personally I've got 10-20% looking nice, 10-20% looking terrible, and the rest somewhere in between. For me the bottom line has been to, at least, get good penetration, and if I can make them look good, so much the better.

@seattletom
@RTz
@anduril3019

Thanks for the comments, Gents.

I'm really pretty far under the weather right now (no pun intended - this area is flooding along the coast), but wanted to check in get my Locost fix today.

It's hard looking at all the beautiful fab work professionals do and then falling short even though we try so hard, isn't it? I did have time to see "Ford Versus Ferrari" this week. It didn't have enough about one of my hero's, Phil Remington. I know people that knew him very well (he and I never met). He did some amazing things. My friends tell me he's the guy that really got the GT40 working right. RIP Phil.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

After 13 days my respiratory infection is finally breaking. We also had a several hours relief today from our atmospheric river rain storm, so I got out into the garage and did some minor things including marking out some aluminum for later use. We have 5 more days of rain from a new, larger atmospheric river starting Sunday, but I'll see what I can get done before and during the big new storm.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Glad to hear you're feeling better. Did you weather the storm okay? I see reports of significant flooding in the area.

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Peace, Ron

@RTz
Yes, we did OK in our neighborhood, Ron. Thanks for asking. There was some wind damage to trees, but it was relatively minor.

The "Big Kahuna" pineapple express storm is due to arrive in full force today, Sunday. Depending on who is doing the forecasting, we could get from 4 to 7 inches of rain from it. Keep in mind that our average annual rainfall here is 12-13 inches. If it stalls out over SoCal as some are predicting, all bets are off. They say it is flowing enough water our way to fill the Mississippi river. That's pretty scary.

I hope to get some work done in the garage anyway assuming the power stays on.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Hey Lonnie

Did you survive the storm alright?

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

@horchoha
So for, so good, Perry. We got a LOT of water, but it wasn't as heavy as expected. There's a slight break right now at 9am, but we're awaiting heavy thunderstorms and more rain expected to arrive by 11am.

It's expected to rain continuously until Thursday afternoon.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Good to hear Lonnie, stay afloat!

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

Having been in storms and fires, I've found that the media typically points a camera at a flooded street or burned up yard, then states that the situation applies to the entire area and it never does. It's all about contrived drama for ad income...

_________________
Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

Well, I do have some good news. My setup in the garage is storm worthy. With the new lighting and the two old milk barn heaters I bought years back, we were dry, relatively warm (63+) and able to work in just a T-shirt and long sleeve work shirt with the big door closed. Mostly I finished up on remounting the boot panel, fuel tank and battery and doing final adjustments to all the components and mounts there.

I think I know how I want to mount the scissors jack and I'll work on that today. The next task will be to tackle the bracing for the rear of the roll bar. My lazy side wants to just put in some plates on the structure as is and call it a day, but my responsible side nags me to reinforce what I believe is an inadequate situation. I reviewed the Haynes Roadster book again to see what they settled on. It just doesn't seem substantial enough to my eyes even though I know they had good, practical engineers doing the prototype.

This respiratory crud is still kicking my butt. I definitely have brain fog and I'm going to have to check my work very carefully to make sure I don't do something stupid. I would like to make the bracing removable to keep the boot section serviceable and not all cut up into 3 little, permanent compartments.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886