LocostUSA.com

Yo, Kristian!
Glad I could help out... Berget's folks have been very good to work with every time I've talked to them. Matter of fact, I'm gonna be talking to them again about some new front slicks in the near future.
Good luck with yours!
JDK

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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

Thanks, I'm definitely looking forward to trying them. I mentioned to John that I had never driven a car on slicks before and he said I'm in for a real treat it'll feel like it's on rails. I'm almost a little worried about how quickly things are going to be happening, I can already barely drive the thing.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
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I went to an event called "Touch a Truck" today. It was all kinds of stuff for kids to do, not just a bunch of trucks. One of the cooler things was that the local autocross club in the town brought out a few cars to take kids for a ride along on a mini autocross course. They asked me if I could bring my car because it's a bit of an attention getter. So I loaded up my new trailer with the car and hauled it to Dawson Creek. I built it just for my locost, so it's pretty nice and light. The deck tilts so I no longer have to mess around with ramps, and it's nice and low, so no clearance issues either. All up weight with the car is 1825 pounds, including 110 on the tongue. Sorry about the crappy cell phone pic, but you get the idea.



The event was way busier than I thought it would be, I probably took over 100 kids for rides. Did three laps of a small course with each of them. The kids ranged from about 2 to 15, so there was quite the size variety. I definitely need new tires now, after well over 300 laps in the same direction the Toyos are done. Hopefully they hold together for one more autocross next weekend. Here's a video of me taking my daughter for a ride. The spin at the end was on purpose.

http://youtu.be/lgEDBRmEqoM

After being in my car basically all day, I think it needs some work in the comfort area. My steering column support rubs my leg, so I think I'm going to replace the square tube that angles in with a hoop made of 1" round that goes straight up so my leg won't rub on it so much. I also need to do something about my dash, the bottom edge digs into my shins pretty good. And I can barely reach the switches on it, so I might try to build a new scuttle so it can come further back. Those will probably be winter projects, along with replacing the crappy, wore out heims that CMC sent with the frame with some good ones. I'll probably order them from Jack at Kinetic, and I might as well try to figure out some spring rates while I'm ordering stuff. Maybe that will mean not having to try sway bars. This car building stuff never ends. I also need to do something about my solidly mounted exhaust, the drivers side broke free today. I figured with my solidly mounted engine I could do the same with the exhaust, but no dice there.

Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
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I've not seen any pics of the interior, but there is no need for a hoop below the column. I'm guessing you have a diy column versus an oem which has flanges. I used a single flange the length of my column (about a foot) along the top to bolt to a flange built into the scuttle frame.

Are you providing the ignition curve with the ford ecm or an aftermarket retarding box?

If you want to reduce the height of the fuel system later on, a used takeoff harley cv carb in front of each head rising to a flattened funnel intake adapter. Even a single carb would work. An edelbrock/carter 4bbl is a little lower in profile. I just switched my fiero 4.3L v6 to one of these. I've always had holleys but I like the carter much better.

Yeah, the exhaust expands and contracts a lot. I like the baffles.

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
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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

That was really generous of you to take all those kids. Your daughter is going to remember that ride for a while, I'd say.

My ride's not finished yet, but based on what I see here, the fiddling with these Locosts only ends in one of two ways: 1) death; or 2) building a new car. Personally, I'd choose number 2.

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

Here's a picture.of my steering column support.


I am using a round steering column from a 1977 F-150 that I removed the mounts from and shortened the tube. It mounts to the horizontal piece of angle iron with a u bolt. The problem is that I angled the vertical side pieces in towards the center and they rub on my legs. I think I'm going to change that to make it a little nicer to drive.

The ignition is just a vacuum advance duraspark distributor controlling an MSD ignition box with rev limiter. As far as lowering the air cleaner, I'm thinking megasquirt would be an excellent way to do that.

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
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[quote="Lonnie-S"]That was really generous of you to take all those kids. Your daughter is going to remember that ride for a while, I'd say.

My ride's not finished yet, but based on what I see here, the fiddling with these Locosts only ends in one of two ways: 1) death; or 2) building a new car. Personally, I'd choose number 2.

Cheers,[/quote ]
It was a pretty fun day. The look on the kids faces when I nailed the throttle off the start and drifted some of the corners was worth it. I should have had my go pro on the dash, but I forgot to charge it the night before. Maybe some of them will remember it and be more into cars than they otherwise would have been.

As far as tinkering, I don't think that stops with car 2 either. I'm pretty sure option one is the one for me, but hopefully it will be a long time coming. Of course with how stiff and sore I am today, I'm reminded that I am getting older all the time. I haven't read through all of your build yet, but it looks like it will be a lot of fun. You put a lot more thought into yours before starting than I did, and it will probably show in the finished product.

Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
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Yo Kristian-
I'm pretty sure I qualify as an "Old Codger" and "Not Cool" and so on... BUT, doing stuff like taking the kids for a ride, anything that makes the child's life better, is the best thing anybody can do in this world. Good on ya! That was time well spent, I promise you. Thank you for doing it.

JDK

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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

So the answer to my traction issues showed up at work yesterday.

Now I'm just waiting on the wheels I ordered. I can't believe how much shipping is to Canada though, same price as the tires themselves. So total came to $600 shipped for the set of 4. I got them from John Berger. 9x20-13 front and 10x20-13 rear Avons in a11 compound. After doing a bit of reading, it turns out even slicks can be directional, so I might try mounting them myself with my manual tire changing setup. Should be fun, they are really stiff sidewalls.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Yep, can be... I don't know about the ones you've got, mine are not directional.

Did you read about the "Rotation Arrow" that would be molded into the sidewall of a directional slick? It'll show you which way they are supposed to be mounted. No arrow, not directional...

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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

Apparently Avon doesn't use an arrow. At the back of a rear wheel drive the product code goes on the right side of the tire and on the front it goes to the left. Opposite for a front wheel drive car. It supposedly has something to do with how the tread is attached to the tire and stopping the overlapped area from delaminating. I found this when I was trying to figure out what the rubber compound of the tires is.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
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Uhhh.... I be confused now... If the product code goes on the right side in the rear, that would be on the inside of the LR tire and the outside of the RR tire... Same problem only reversed for the fronts...

Not tryin' to confuse you, if you gots it sorted out, go right ahead with it. I'll catch up later.

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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

You got it. This is straight from the horses mouth. When I first saw it mentioned on a forum I was confused too.
http://www.avonmotorsport.com/resource- ... ment-guide
I'm guessing they know what they're talking about. I hope I can get them mounted myself, because I doubt if any of the local tire shop monkeys would be able to figure it out, maybe if I print out the picture for them.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
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The tread is extruded and the ends are cut at a compound angle. Each end is opposite of the other so when its wrapped around the carcass on the tire assembly machine it overlaps perfectly and creates a nice splice. The green tire is cured in the press and it is ready for use but it isn't actually 100% cured; heat cycling from break-in finishes the process. Street tires are actually cured 100% so this is a non-issue.

If new tires are mounted backwards you'll tear the tread splice. Once they've been cycled some its not really an issue.

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-Andrew
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Had an autocross in town today, but still haven't got the new wheels for my slicks yet, so I was on my old Toyo r888s again. Amazing how well they are holding up, considering they've been on the car for five years now. They are rock solid and have no grip, but they still have a bit of tread left. They are kind of fun to drive on, real easy to slide the car around and they are actually pretty predictable. My best time was a 1:21.7 compared to the FTD at 1:19.x. There were at least 6 cars on r comps, and I was pretty much in the middle. I was 1/10 faster than an LS powered rx7 on fresh r comps, so still not too bad.
I fixed my broken exhaust mount from the last event with a rubber hanger, and at the same time welded new side pipes with some cheap glasspack mufflers. It's a lot quieter now, but still fairly throaty. I like it, and the mufflers don't get anywhere near as hot as the old pipes. I had to cut and reweld my collectors at a different angle coming off the primaries to make enough room beside the car due to the bigger diameter, but that gave me a chance to fix a spot in the one collector that I forgot to weld up when I originally built them. I also put the turndowns pointing down at about 45 degrees instead of straight out.







Hopefully it works out good long term. I have to take them off again to paint them and maybe clean up a couple welds. Note too self, beer comes after the work is done. At least I didn't forget to tighten the lug nuts this time. I found more stuff that needs attention too. My clutch master has had a bit of a weep since day one. Today it got worse and dripped down enough that my foot was sliding around on the soon to be bare steel floor. I can't be too pissed about it though, its the original 1982 master cylinder along with the brake master. As much as I hate bleeding hydraulics, I think I might replace both at the same time. I think I also have a leaking wheel cylinder in the back as well. I had a look at my crystal ball, and can see a steering quickener in my future too. I'll post up a video from today when I get it on youtube later. Hope everyone else's builds are going well.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
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