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Hello all,

I'm off to buy steel tomorrow morning and I have already accumulated a bunch of the parts so I figured I should start a build log.

The direction I think I'm going (subject to change);

4+ ish chassis with some mods to accommodate a full roll cage. Right hand drive
Hayabusa engine (purchased)
Ford 7.5" rear end with 3.45 gears (Might change ratio and still looking for a lsd)
Mustang II uprights with 9" disc (purchased)
13" wheels


The car will be designed for primarily track and auto x use. I am not building it to compete in any particular class and am not really interested in wheel to wheel racing. I just want a fast safe car to do laps in and learn to be a better driver.

Here are some pictures of what I have so far. This is a first for me as I don't really have any race car or track car experience to speak of. I will follow up shortly with some progress and most likely many questions. I thank you in advance for all the advice and guidance I am sure to receive from this knowledgeable group.

Welcome aboard!!! Can't wait to see more. Looks like that build table would hold up a tank!

-dave

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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

Thanks for the welcome.

Yeah the table is a little beefier than it needs to be but it was fun to make. I've made a bit of progress this week.. The chassis is coming along pretty well. So far everything is turning out as straight as I can measure accept for the roll bar supports the seemed to rotate back about 1 degree once everything cooled down. I guess my high tech wood and rope jig wasn't up to snuff, oh well. I hope to get a bunch more done this weekend

Welcome aboard!

9000 miles seems about the standard life-span of a Busa engine on 2 wheels. You BEC guys should talk to the DMV and see if you can get "Check this box to donate your engine to a locost build" on the form right below "Check this box to donate your organs"
You'd have yourself a roaring business. - And you don't even have to fly the engine across the country on ice!

(OK I'll take my borderline sacrilege and cork it now.)

Good luck on the build. We look forward to seeing the progress. I always like to see a build log started with the expensive parts already in the stable.

-Just curious, why RH Drive?

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In God We Trust... All Others, Bring Data.

Miata based, custom chassis build in progress. First Drive!!! http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2269&start=375

Oh yeah and nice bikes! I just picked up a Lemond Zurich. Why do I always see cool bikes in Locostering pictures?

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Looks great so far!

Where did you find that angle clamp? I might have to pick one up.

The reason I chose right hand drive because of the bike engine. If you put the drive shaft somewhere near the middle it forces the rest of the engine to stick out to the left so i figure the car would be more balanced with me on the right.



Great minds think alike?

Zenginner

I got the little clamp at harbor freight. It's really poorly made and i wouldn't trust the angle gradients cast into it, but it does do a good job of holding tubes together.

Here are some more pictures. It's comming along pretty well so far

So I have been slowly chipping away at the build. and made a bit of progress over Christmas.

I completed the rear suspension. It's the run of the mill 4 Bar. The pan hard bar has the roll center at about 7.5" above the ground. I was originally going to put it much lower but after reading up an the R1locost build I decided to mount it higher. Which makes sense since in a bec as the two heaviest things in the car are in the back and sit up quite high (me and the roll cage). We Will see how it works out. I have the chassis set up so I can lower it a little more than and another inch if this proves to be too high. I mounted the shocks behind the axle to allow for a very low ride height with a longish shock. I also have the tops angled forward just a little for a slight rising rate. I also didn't kick up the tail until it was behind the axle, this will allow me to run a flat bottom back there since it I worked it out that the pumpkin won't have to pass through the floor in droop. In hindsight I could have kicked the tail up sooner but I just keep moving forward because I strive for perfection I'll never finish and I'm positive after driveing the thing a bit I will find hundreds of things I will want to do different next time.

Seat mounted On riser blocks attached to two cross tubes. I've got the seat mounts set up so I can move the seat 4" in case I don't like where it is now. I also plan to make some upper mounts for the seats later. THE space between the drive shaft tunnel and the seat is going to be tight on the drivers side. I know the scca rules will allow for me to use 1" tube for driveshaft hoops so to do so should be safe but I think I like the security of using .25" plate as driveshaft hoops.

If after agonizing for what felt like thousands of iterations on wishbone I came up with a front suspension geometry I was happy with. Ive also got the front suspension mounts designed so I can move the pickup points for the upper and lower control arms vertically by .5". For the lowers this doesn't change much but on the uppers in allows for fairly significant changes in roll center height. I got the lower mounts installed and have built he structure to support the upper mounts and the rockers. I don't want to build the mounts for the upper control arms until i have the lowers built and the steering rack in.


I've also got the front hoop for my roll cage figured out and the mounts in place.

Will the scuttle be removable with the front roll bar?

Lookin' good,
-dave

_________________
...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

Arp

You making excellent progress, looks like a first class build. One suggestion, you make want to modify your pan hard rod frame bracket. The higher the attaching point the higher the rear roll center, you probably want a much lower bracket, or mounting hole pattern.

Good luck on the build Dave W

Nicely done and thank you for your describing your decisions.

Do check in with local autocross/track rules. From past experience one small change may take you out of being in a class where you are having fun. Once the juices start flowing on the track it's painful if one tire size or ? puts you into a faster class.

Where did you find your Hayabusa and are you going chain or ?

a solid rear end would probably point to shaft drive

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

So I'm going to have to put my current project hold for a little while. My cad capabilities at home have taken a huge leap forward, my obligations at work have grown to the point where I really won't have a lot of time in the garage, my employer has already "temporarily" (they say) liberated it's employees of their raises and our business unit is currently still outperforming our goals so who knows what will happen if we actually start to loose money in the future.

In light of this I plan on exploring alternate built configurations in cad and putting my current build for sale not because I really want to sell as much as it's going to just be money taking up space in my garage for a while. If it's still here when i have time to work on it, I might just pick up where I left off.

Time for take II on my build. I sold the last chassis to a very enthusiastic young man and I hope his build goes great.

I'm too busy with work to really get building in the garage anytime soon. I have slowly started thinking and accumulating parts for a slightly more ambitious build. Much of the gals for this build are the same as the last and I still have my hayabusa motor. I figure it would be certainly helpful for me and maybe help other people if work though my design process.

Did some work in wishbone and came up with something that i feel has a good balance between RC height,camber gain and RC stability. Have yet to work the steering arm location as I have yet to pick a rack so you can ignore that part of the wishbone stuff. The suspension is designed to work with a home built upright that uses a bolt on hub from the rear of a toyota echo.


So far I have taken the wishbone stuff an tried to build different nose but still be able to wear one of the nosecones already available, as I really don't want to make my own. Its similar to a 2+ at the top. I built a control arm that will allow me to turn the wheel about 30 degrees in full bump +.5" with some clearance to spare. The wheel in the model is a 13X8 with 1.75" backspace (in the mail with a pair of 13X9 with .25" bs for the rear). The wheels are wide, I know but I figure if I design around wide wheels I can always go skinner later without really having to alter the cars track. I was too lazy to look for or make models of the heims. It should be able to do a u-turn about 5ft tighter than my GF's Subaru which is good enough for me. Next I want to work in the rest of the control arms, pushrod system, steering rack, and triangulate the front box.

Welcome back for build 2. What brand of hoist is that under your build table? How high does it lift?

Ron

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They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. By the time you finish the car it'll feel like you've done it on your knees.