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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: November 9, 2008, 8:17 pm 
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Joined: June 11, 2008, 1:31 pm
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Location: Denver,CO
Today I manged to pull the dash and the main body wiring harness. I intend to reuse the I30 dash as its already prebuilt and looks nice. I found the speed doesnt use a cable so thats a plus.

Due to the lack of space in my garage and the inablity to manuver an engine I intend to simply unbolt the engine/trans and lower them to the ground and then cut off the frame supports (the front of the car) so I can examine it and make a proper locost replica.

Im making progress one bolt at a time.

evo


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PostPosted: November 12, 2008, 2:12 am 
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Well the engine is out (sort of) and I cut the front end off the car. (sort of its in the same place just need to back the car out, lol but its cut. Only used 4 harborfrieght knockoff sawzall blades! The suspension is very interesting. It uses struts and a transverse link setup. Very strange to look at but its nearly all one piece. Next is for me to remove the rear wiring harness, seats, and rear brakes. Almost there!
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evo


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PostPosted: November 13, 2008, 9:59 pm 
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Location: Denver,CO
Well it looks like a carbomb went off in my garage. Parts every where. But the hard work is done, the car has been dismatled. I just need to have them pick up the body.

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PostPosted: November 14, 2008, 8:16 pm 
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Location: Denver,CO
I sent the car-cass off to the recycler. They took it no questions asked. I kept a copy of the title and the vin plate. The more I work on this the more I want it to drive and function like a factory car. So this is going to be more of a luxo-locost build than ever. I want factory type heating controls. Heated seats, a factory car dash, tilt colum and the list goes on. I am even planning on going so far has having things assembly much like a factory car for easy of service. Big dreams!

Here is a pic of the dash and the seats in the car. I'm going to have to slim down both items to get them to fit. No glove box for me. :(

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evo


Last edited by evo626 on November 15, 2008, 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: November 14, 2008, 9:05 pm 
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evo626 wrote:
The more I work on this the more I want it to drive and function like a factory car. So this is going to be more of a luxo-locost build than ever. I want factory type heating controls. Heated seats, a factory car dash, tilt colum and the list goes on. I am even planning on going so far has having things assembly much like a factory car for easy of service.

It's not the bolting it in that's the PITA, but the miles of wire and weeks (and weeks) of figuring out how to get it to work right. ECU control more and more of a car these days, sometimes with 2-3 ECUs...

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PostPosted: November 14, 2008, 11:44 pm 
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KB58 wrote:
evo626 wrote:
The more I work on this the more I want it to drive and function like a factory car. So this is going to be more of a luxo-locost build than ever. I want factory type heating controls. Heated seats, a factory car dash, tilt colum and the list goes on. I am even planning on going so far has having things assembly much like a factory car for easy of service.

It's not the bolting it in that's the PITA, but the miles of wire and weeks (and weeks) of figuring out how to get it to work right. ECU control more and more of a car these days, sometimes with 2-3 ECUs...


Oh trust me I found that when I was removing the miles of wires from the car, very very carefully. I did all the wiring on my last racer with full standalone and moving the main harness inboard. Being a luxo car it had more electronics than i would have imagined.

evo


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PostPosted: November 22, 2008, 11:03 pm 
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Location: Denver,CO
This week I tacked up the stock car dash mount tube, the steering wheel and the brake pedal. I'm probly going to go overboard with the pedal mounts just because of how critical they are. The egronomics are very good and the car is very very comfortable. I'm planning on using the nissan mc and even the abs.

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PostPosted: November 29, 2008, 11:06 pm 
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More progress. I tacked in the driver's seat mounts and test fit the seat, with electrics in place. It turned out very comfy. I also tacked in place the off-center tunnel. I decided that since this is my car, screw the passenger and decided to deprive them of 4 inches. I hope this doesn't bit me in the end. The passenger side is about the same size as a normal locost and not a 442.

I was going to tack in more supports for the steering wheel when I reliezed before I do much more work I needed a different smaller wheel. Off to ebay I went and for $50 purchased a knockoff steering wheel with an adapter and qucik release. Should come in some time next month.

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PostPosted: December 11, 2008, 2:07 am 
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Well I got my new steering wheel. I was able to get the flashers to self cancle by drilling three small holes in the steerng wheel adapter to do it just like the factory does. The qucik release hub works wheel and I like the steering wheel.

I added bracking and put the colum in its final place. Everthing is just tack welded at this point. Aslo located the placement for the gasp! pedal. My next work is going to be working on bracing everything and working on the front suspension to get th rack in place so I can figure out the steering shaft. Otherwise its going quite well.

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evo

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PostPosted: December 11, 2008, 9:27 am 
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Location: Lexington, KY
Is that an automatic?

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PostPosted: December 11, 2008, 10:03 am 
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One question evo626? If it's a middy, which I can only assume means mid-engine since the car is FWD, then why the center tunnel. You could eliminate that completely since the car is cable shifted and doesn't require a driveshaft running to the back. Brakelines, wiring and other necessities shouldn't require that much room.

I'm not being critical just trying to understand.

SamM

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PostPosted: December 11, 2008, 10:27 am 
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SamM wrote:
One question evo626? If it's a middy, which I can only assume means mid-engine since the car is FWD, then why the center tunnel. You could eliminate that completely since the car is cable shifted and doesn't require a driveshaft running to the back. Brakelines, wiring and other necessities shouldn't require that much room.

I'm not being critical just trying to understand.

SamM


Well I put alot of thought into this and here are my reasons for having a tunnel. The tunnel is only 3inches wide and 13inches high. It provides a place for the coolent lines, heater lines, brake and fuel lines to be run, in addition to the wiring harness. and the cable shifter. If anything the tunnel may be a llittle tall but this provides a place to run every thing neatly and protected from the passengers and driver. Also it serves as bracing for the the center of the chassis and engine craddle and mades a nice arm rest. It really is all about the arm rest!

Aslo I thought about the cooling system and mounting the radiator in the rear didn't appeal to me because of the ducts I would have to add to get it to not overheat. In the front of the car it gets all the cool air it can get. Also it moves 15-25lbs to the front alone with the fuel tank and battery. This car will have a nearly flat floor.

dhempy
It is an automatic. There is a lot of logic in my build. One of them being I couldn't drive a standard locost if I wanted to because of my size 15 extra wide feet. So having an auto means more foot room and more time to think about driving the car and not pushing more than one pedal at a time.

The last medthod to my logic is the price. I paid $500 for 190hp and 205tq. With minor mods that number will be over 230hp and the car should be reasonbly fast.

evo

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PostPosted: December 11, 2008, 10:34 am 
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I really think you're taking your build down an interesting path...Although this feels a little more like a "non-tradtional" build to me. ;)

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Last edited by Driven5 on December 11, 2008, 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: December 11, 2008, 10:59 am 
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Location: Ithaca and Watkins Glen, NY
So is this going to generally look like a traditional 7, but with the engine behind the seats? If so how is that going to effect the weight balance of the vehicle, and having most of the weight on the back half of the car?

I wanted to do this with my donor car, but I can imagine the rear compartment would be slightly larger to accomidate everything.

Logan

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PostPosted: December 11, 2008, 12:39 pm 
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Driven5 wrote:
I really think you're taking you're build down an interesting path...Although this feels a little more like a "non-tradtional" build to me. ;)

It started as a traditional build and then something strange happened. It kinda of still is traditional from the front end. The biggest change will be the way it looks in the rear. The wheelbase will be longer, but not much wider. I honestly dont know what it will look like until the chassis is done.

As for the weight balence. I figure it wont be two bad off. With the raditor, battery, fuel tank upfront that should off set some of the weight. Plus with this drivetrain the engine still sits in front of the rear wheels. So most of the weight will be in the middle of the car or slightly aft of.

evo

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