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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: May 29, 2017, 5:51 pm 
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I've been slowly working on my build.
- I decided that the body was sitting a little too low. I raised it by 1 inch. This created more tire clearance, I'm proved the head to top of the windshield clearance, and creates enough hood clearance so that my SBC with a Carb will fit under it. Raising the body created more work than you might think. I had to cut away all of the flanges that I molded into the body that fit the frame. Then create the flanges again.
- Then I cut and rough fit 29 aluminum panels. These seal the frame, create foot boxes, and duct the air when it comes through the radiator.
- During that time I worked on final welding. The frame with all of the pieces and joints took me 2 full days to weld.
- This morning I finished painting the frame.

In a couple of days I'll final fit the aluminum panels, bond, and rivet them to the frame. Then assembly starts.

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PostPosted: June 1, 2017, 10:08 am 
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Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Looks good. That first picture makes either the car look huge or the driver tiny. Must have been taken with a wide angle lens?
Kristian

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PostPosted: June 7, 2017, 11:23 pm 
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turbo_bird wrote:
Looks good. That first picture makes either the car look huge or the driver tiny. Must have been taken with a wide angle lens?
Kristian


I can see what you mean! I took the picture with my phone. The car is pretty small. My son is 6"2".

I was hoping to be further along with my build. Some how everything takes longer than I plan. It doesn't help that my health isn't great.

Summer has arrived in the Adirondacks. I'm spending June working on our family summer camp and my house. Then I'm taking 2 months off to enjoy the camp and family. It's going to be Oct before I spend meaningful time on the car.

Have a great summer everyone!


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PostPosted: October 25, 2017, 6:09 am 
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Hello Everyone, I'm back on my project. I'm back to building my Cheetah inspired Street Roadster. My main focus this fall and winter is to get this car done.

I'm not paying Photobucket. I'm sorry that my previous pictures won't show. I'm still working out the best way to post new ones.

I've had 4 people contact me about buying a frame and body. I'm not wanting to build kits but I'm working with a welder that can reproduce the frame and with a fiberglass company that can make bodies. If I can have those parts made I will offer them for sale.

I've modified the body quite a bit. Because of that it's pretty heavy. It makes sense to use it as a plug and make molds. Because the body won't be provide any structure it can be made reasonably light. I'm making mods to the 2 piece body to make it easier to mold and to fit. I'm also making it so that it can be laid up in colored gel coat. This will give the option of eliminating body work and paint. As we all know body work and paint consumes a lot of time and can be expensive.

The Cheetah's hood is wider at the top then at the bottom and is a simple piece of floppy fiberglass. When lowered it overlaps the firewall. It takes 2 people to open and close the hood and requires spreading the bottom as it goes over the firewall. Other wise it sill scrape the tub. I'm making it so that the body tub and hood BUTT together. I'm making a new firewall and molding in a flange on to the rear of the hood. The flange will keep the hood the same shape. When closed the hood/body tub firewall seam will be about an 1/8 of an inch. Yesterday I started making the mods.

Her is a picture of the frame and the start of the body mods.

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PostPosted: October 25, 2017, 10:10 am 
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The simplest solution to the pictures is just to post them here that way they will always remain with the thread, but slightly bigger pics would be nice. :P

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PostPosted: October 25, 2017, 10:21 am 
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Try to make a flip front hinge that slides forward before it goes up.


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PostPosted: October 25, 2017, 10:33 am 
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Location: Guadalupe, CA
It's nice to see this come back to the top Stinger.. I was hoping to see this build resume- love the shape of this car, and looking forward to how it turns out..

Also encouraging to hear that people have reached out about getting a body from you.. such a slinky shape, no wonder others would like to build one.. I'd have to think selling a few could go a long way to paying you back for your time and effort 8)

Please keep it coming with lots of pictures :wink:

--ccrunner

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PostPosted: October 25, 2017, 6:25 pm 
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John Hancock wrote:
Try to make a flip front hinge that slides forward before it goes up.



Alternatively could you just split it above the front wheels and hinge the top section like older Vettes did?

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PostPosted: November 20, 2017, 10:26 pm 
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Thank you for the comments. I did make a receiver to the front of the frame that the hinge bracket slides into. The full front end tilts up nicely. Remove 2 bolts and it can be slid off.

I finished with the body mods. I wanted to see how it looked in one color so I did a rattle can paint job today. There is still a lot of body work to get it to the mold making point


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PostPosted: November 21, 2017, 8:32 pm 
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Today I put the car outside for a final mock up. The side pipe is PVC pipe:)

I thought that the rear deck looked a little plain so I set a spoiler that I had made for another car on it. While not a perfect fit I like the look. I'll be making one for the car.

Man, it looks tiny next to my truck. :)

The body is going to a friend who will finish it out. I'm going on to assemble the chassis.

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PostPosted: November 21, 2017, 11:08 pm 
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That's purty!!

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PostPosted: November 22, 2017, 4:40 am 
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Right! it is purty!

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PostPosted: November 22, 2017, 9:54 am 
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Very cool. My favorite HO-gauge slot car from when I was a kid was a Cheetah so I've always had a soft spot for them.

Side note: It looks like I could recreate my childhood for just $60 on ebay!


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PostPosted: November 25, 2017, 3:52 pm 
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I started to rework the windshield base today. I wanted the "pad" that the side posts mate to to be smaller. And, to make the transition from the body to the leading edge of the windshield frame more gradual. I'm only able to work a few hours a day on the car right now so it will take a few days to finish it.

There are "legs" on the windshield frame side posts that extend through the body. They bolt to the frame. I've designed it so that the frame is mounted slightly above the body. The frame does not rest on the body. Normally there is a gasket at the base of the frame that would seal the leading edge. The one on my frame was in bad shape. I cut it out. I'll simply use some black sealant to make the seal.

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PostPosted: December 17, 2017, 2:54 pm 
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I've ended up doing a lot more work on the tub. I wanted to get it closer to being finished than what it was. I am tired of sanding!

Now I'm working on the bonnet. The Cheetah had a narrow, very wide grill opening. I wasn't fond of that look so I've molded in dividers to break it up. The center opening is the width of the radiator and duct to it. The outer openings can be duct to the brakes.

The picture of the finished car is a Shell Valley Kit Cheetah. The nose of my car slopes down faster and is much lower. In fact, my car is much lower overall.

I've molded in a rear bulk head for the bonnet. This will keep the shape correct out of the molds. It matches the firewall of the tub. The sides are slightly tapered to help in self alignment. The horizontal edge is 5/16 of an inch shorter than the height of the frame that it sits on. This will allow for adjustment.

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