LocostUSA.com

Funny you bring these things up...

We're native Californians, and I wonder if on some level you just get used to the red tape/way things are.. I resolved years ago to limit my toys to pre 1976 so as to totally avoid the hornets nest that is CA smog rules.. As for HOAs, I made a fist on this one with my wife and she agreed.. they need to be avoided at all costs- I live in the garage among the grinders and air compressor noise; the last thing I need is the neighborhood nannies giving me grief (to be fair to me, I don't run the stuff early or late, but some HOAs won't even let you keep your garage open)- wtf?!

I also made a fist on the lot we're buying.. make no mistake, it's small by any standard, but it's the biggest one in the development (end lot).. I need a place to stash my projects-in-waiting

So we're going even deeper into California.. the house is near Santa Maria, and is about 10 minutes from the beach, which is a lifelong dream for my wife.. and I'm happy as long as I'm with her, wherever that may be.. plus, we haven't moved in almost 2 decades.. this will light a little fire under us to purge and change things up a bit.. could be 'big picture' good.. we'll see

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

Santa Maria eh, you may want to find Mike Rogers.
He's got a LOT of old Brit and Vintage Racers.
One of the lucky guys who got to buy back when it was all cheap, and still has it.
I may have an email address for him.

_________________
If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

Sometimes change is a very good thing. You may find it's just the thing needed to reinvigorate your life. The central coast is still relatively unspoiled. Enjoy Santa Maria.

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

May 2019

So the move is grinding forward.. I've turned into a pretty big jerk about all of this moving business.. I forgot how stressful the process is, and how much $$ you bleed as it goes on.. The other day a nice lady from one of the Escrow companies called to set up an appointment and I said, "I'll give you whatever you want, just don't ask me for money- EVERY time my phone rings someone is asking me for money " I've been on-edge and rude and I hate it.. I so want this process to be over.. I'll shut up now; about 6 weeks from now we'll be in the new place.. we're blessed to be making this move at all really.. I just need an attitude adjustment.. I don't like me when I get stressed like this..

Too many things at once is what's happening really.. Over on the 1800 build I'm trying to strip and prep the Volvo for a full paint job.. I was going to have it spot-painted for the door/fender damage, but decided to make some other minor mods while it's going to paint, and it just makes sense to shoot the whole thing.. I need about 2 more weekends on it, then I send it over to the body shop..

Way, way at the bottom of the priority list is my poor little Berkeley.. Part of my lousy attitude is that I haven't gotten to work on this thing in months, and I really do miss the puzzle/build aspect of a project.. While it's not really an update, I did in fact have machinist Sean turn out these tie-rod end adapters in the pic.. these will allow me to use a modded/narrowed Miata rack and have a 3/4" hiem joint (HUGE!) out on the end.. had him turn 2-pairs, enough for both Berks I'll end up building..

I'm hopeful the dust will settle from the move/Volvo paint to allow me some time on the Berk later this summer.. The goal is to get back to this one by late June.. we'll see

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

Just now figuring that out, are you?

8-22-19 ....Back at it

The last several months have been lost to moving from the central valley CA to the central coast CA.. I'd forgotten how taxing and time consuming moving is.. We're settled in pretty well at this point, but I still have a full-page list of honey-do's to make the new place into what we want it to be.. Optimistically, I hope to have the house list whittled down by next spring (April-ish 2020).. What I do know is I don't want to lose next summer to this damn house (again) , and as I told my wife (the one who put the move in motion), I'm never moving again..

So a few pics of the transition.. Had to make a kitchen island.. put up garage cabinets and misc storage, and put up LED light strips.. The LED lights were from Amazon.. pretty cheap, and really light up the garage nicely.. ended up linking 12 four-foot lights.. much nicer than my last setup

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

Love the island. What is the manufacturer and model number of the LED lights. Do the put out as much light as a fluorescent fixture the same length? Russ

_________________
You meet the nicest people in a Locost Se7en.

The garage lights can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HB ... UTF8&psc=1

I really like these.. low initial cost, and low operating cost for as long as they work.. They are in fact 'cheapies,' but the reviews are mostly good, and people don't seem to have an issue with longevity. As for lumens/brightness, I'm going to say yes, they are markedly brighter than my prior setup (a pair of 4' 40 watt florescent lights-- <a total of (4) four foot 40 watt bulbs>). This setup is much better at 'coating' my garage in light, as opposed to what I had prior.. It's super subjective, but in short, this setup is much more inviting to work in (particularly at night with the garage door closed).. my old florescents gave a cave-like feel to the garage, and arranging these LEDs in a grid pattern really spreads the light around the work space.. I highly recommend them if you're looking for more, even light

===============

The overlap of the projects

More details coming over on my Volvo 1800 build, but here on this build, it's enough to know that my 'other' project was delayed coming out of paint, so it allowed me to truly work on the Berk for a little over a week this summer while waiting for the 1800 to come home.. So on with the 1959 Berkeley

First up was to clean up the build table as it had become my garage 'coat rack' of sorts .. Once cleared off, I decided to pick up at the rear clip and finish the rear suspension first, then work my way back up to the front of the car.. The goal was to have it become a 'roller' by summer's end (spoiler alert; that didn't happen, although I did make pretty good progress overall... details coming soon)

Here are a few pics for now.. rear upper/lower control arms being fabbed in..

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

Just ordered some of the lights. We'll see how they work out. Thanks

_________________
You meet the nicest people in a Locost Se7en.

Glad you got through the move - and so good to have you back. This project has always been one of my favourites here.

Good to see you are able to get back into it!

Out of interest, how wide is your rear track?

So, now you're a coastal animal too? My only advice is that it's a quick, slippery slope from purposeful, mechanical work to whale watching and sipping chilled Chardonnay. Be watchful, my friend.

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

Thanks for chiming in guys

..I haven't allowed myself to sit and watch the whales go by, but man, my wife has acclimated quickly! She makes her way out to the sand 2, 3, 4 times a week, even if only briefly.. something about 'stopping and enjoying the here and now.' Obviously she's never built a restomod

So on with it.. Here are a few shots as the rear suspension came together.. It's tiny for sure, but should do the job nicely.. the R6 shocks will live up on top of the rear clip structure- that's for another day..

The pics of the car's front clip are just to show a bit more trimming was needed to fit over where the upcoming front end bits need to go..

**LC10W.. I'm not ignoring you.. I need to reassemble the rear end a bit to get you the measurement you need as it's now back apart... If it helps to know in the short run, the body is 48" wide, and the tires just tuck at the corners front and rear.. it will take several weeks to get the 'real' measurement you seek, but I will get you the track width at some point asap

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

Skipping around the table..

This might be a bit confusing, but it's just the order I took the pics, and the process of pulling them off of the camera to post here: I'll be moving between focusing on the rear end to the front, and generally bouncing back and forth.. If you're interested, the growth is coming from a gusset here, a chunk of frame there.. This is a very incremental part of the build that is probably boring to most I imagine..

So here are some of the front suspension (control arms and mounts) being designed and fit where space allows, and space, or lack thereof, is always a concern on this wee car

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

The rear suspension is set up neutral with lots of adjustment possible at the hiems.. 0 caster, 0 camber, lower arms parallel to the ground at eventual ride height, upper arms slope downhill 10 degrees toward the diff. The car's belly pan (aka the Berkely 'Punt') will ride 5" above the road surface

Front suspension also has lots of adjustment... currently has 5 degrees caster, and 0 degrees camber... ....Same as the rear, the lower control arms are parallel to the road surface at ride height, with 5" of ground clearance. (Actually the oil pan/oil pan skid plate will hang down below the Punt and will have just 3.5"-4.0" ground clearance.. while not preferable, it was a necessary compromise to achieve the engine/hood clearance needed up above). Front upper control arms also slope downhill 10 degrees toward the engine.

These pics show more UCA/LCA fab details.. note how very tiny they are


--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com