LocostUSA.com

I had the very same experience after completing Kimini and Midlana - driving a hardcore sports car in traffic completely took all the fun out of driving. They're now sold and I spend time building other things such as a CNC router, wooden gear clock, power draw bar, and so on. I'm happy

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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/

Time for a "major" update. The fabrication stage of the project has finally started. Last Saturday, March 23 things looked like this:


And today, March 31, things looked like this:





The chassis fabrication started in earnest on Sunday (24th), I started with the cockpit sides as they were relatively easy to construct and were flat:



Then moved on to the front top section:



By Sunday evening I had the bulk of the chassis taped together to see how well things fit:



Monday was spent welding, then welding a bit more, followed by even more welding. Tuesday was spent fitting the diff into the chassis:





Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday were spent on suspension pieces, and making spacers/bushings for assembling all the various brackets.





Saturday was spent mounting the front suspension mounts/brackets/tubes. I would have like to say it was easy, but I'd be lying. It was a pain the bahookie. It took nearly all day, but I did finally get in the right spot:



Which lead to today, which was spent loosely bolting things to the chassis:





The pedal box was also tacked in, which lead to one interference in my design. The clutch pedal hits a chassis tube, the tube will get massaged slightly tomorrow:



I still have tomorrow off from work, which will hopefully see the chassis lifted off the table, followed by putting the motor and gearbox in the chassis to see if it all lines up. I'll post more photo's in the upcoming days/weeks.

Rod

Incredible progress! The frame will be like a modern piece of art when you are thru.

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Thom

Thanks Thom. I'm eager to get this one finished. In fact, 8 sheets of aluminum were ordered today, it looks like I'll be "bashing tin" for the next few months.

In other news, the chassis was lifted off the table on Monday, and the motor and gearbox were shoved in. It actually fits, though does need some slight adjustment to the mounts on the block. The motor has to come forward roughly 1/2".

Here's the chassis fresh off the table will all four wheels attached:


Next was lifting the diff back into place, this time with the engine hoist rather than me lifting it on my own:


Then the motor and gearbox were shoved into place:




And the reason the motor needs to shift about half an inch:


It turns out you need just over 3 1/2" to put two 1310 weld yokes back to back, currently I have just that with the slip yoke pushed all the way in on the gearbox. I'm hoping I wont need more than 1/2" of slip with the diff solid mounted, but the motor on rubber mounts. The other option would be doing what Bill Thomas did with the Cheetah, and just have the slip yoke and flange connected to the diff, but that means moving the motor even further back.

In any case, body shaping/fabrication should be starting in the next few weeks. Provided I can get this one a little further along:

Already a roller!
Congrats

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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

what about a cut ?

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American 7 5.0 T5
Lotus 15 ish?
914/H6

I think that may be the last resort. The mainshaft would need the splines extended, and I'm not to keen on gluing the tailshaft housing back together without it leaking. In saying that though, I will do some research on it, and see if it has been done before.

I think that is a T5 trans? If so, there are several different length tail shafts available. You can swap out the shaft and housing for a shorter one.

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Thom

There has been a Jag XK motor locally on FB Marketplace. Your project makes me want to pick it up and build something around it! Always thought the Jad inline was one of the more interesting looking motors under a "bonnet"!

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Thom

Thom,
It is indeed a T5, sourced from an S10. I don't think there is a shorter tailshaft housing available unless I pick up a jeep 4x4 T5 and do some fabricobbling, or spend $9K for an E type T5 kit. At the moment the modified engine mount is most likely the way I'll go.