LocostUSA.com

So i figured I would start a build log to keep people up to date as well as to track my progress and keep my drive alive.

I spent the last 4 years living in Arizona. While there I bought a 2007 R1 motor for dirt with the hopes to make some type of vehicle with it. Since then i have designed and researched ideas from a 1000cc quad, to a sand rail, to a trike, and finally to a street legal mid engine car. Well in May a took a temporary job in Michigan (homestate). Well they asked me to stay, only problem being half my stuff was in AZ. Well i had it all shipped back minus the motor. So since then it has sat in my buddies garage. Once i finalized my idea he packaged it on a crate and i arranged shipping to pick it up. $250 later its on a truck to me now. Engine, wiring harness, ignition, exhaust, and all... its a complete motor with less then 2k on the clock.

Over the past two months that i have been designing, I have also been working on a set of custom seats just to give it more of a personal touch. I have worked many times with fiberglass and all, but this is my first big part, and first time using carbon fiber on a large part . I know its not as great as prepreg and using an autoclave, but none the less its going to be strong as hell, and a lot lighter then most other seats. The biggest thing to me is, in the end i can say i made it from scratch. So while waiting for my engine this is what i have been up to. Cant wait to lay in the Carbon and pop a seat.

Picture 1 - bought a 4x8 foam board, glued parts together, and went to work carving and sanding my way to a seat that resembled that of a Ricaro or Sparco.

Picture 2,3 – painted the seat with a latex based paint. This was supposed to be so that the resin would not eat through to the foam. If it did, it would be a sticky mess… it was

Picture 4, – Layed up fleece for the first layer. Fleece will hold its shape over a hard surface and it bonds well with the Polyester resin because its polyester based. And the best part is it wont irritate your skin when you sand it.
5.jpg

Picture 5 – time to lay on the resin. Some resin ended up getting through the paint and eating away at the foam. It about doubled my work time. Next time I will use epoxy resin for the first few coats because although its more expensive, it wont eat the foam like polyester resin.

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

oh and yea i know there is a couch on the trailer in the background lol. I was moving into my new place at the time. Obviously you can see what was taking priority.

Picture 6 – My helper / guard cat… she’s 19 and pretty fierce.

Picture 7 – My solution to the cold. It will easily get the garage to a comfortable 60-70* pretty easy. Nice propane heater.

Picture 8 – The fleece is pretty rough and thin so it would get sanded right through. I mixed up 50% resin / 50% bondo and painted it on layer by layer.

Picture 9 – Sanding between layers. You can see it looks like camo. Because the resin seeped through the paint in areas and ate the foam there were low spots that needed to be filled. I probably had well over 80 hours of sanding, filling, and sanding till a 600 grit.

Picture 10 – Bondo pin hole filler. Pin holes can easily ruin a project like this. This bondo small crack fixer is great. It can be wet sanded and all

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

Picture 11- Sanded to 1500 grit and lightly polished.

Picture 12 – Wipe on the mold release wax and buff it off

Picture 13 – Layup of the chop strand fiberglass

Picture 14 – More layup. I put some mixers in there for a little added support.

Picture 15 – I cut the edges for a nice break. After some swearing and pulling the mold popped off.

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

Picture 16 – The mold had some air pockets in it so I need to fix those. I built a frame for the mold and screwed it down to the table. The table is screwed to the saw horses. This way it doesn’t move when I sand it.

Picture 17 – filling the air gaps with 50/50 bondo resin. Bondo leaves too rough of a finish by itself so you mix it with resin.

Picture 18 – My motivation for the spring. My other R1 powered track/street machine. It will get a white/black paint job in the summer with the car.

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

So update. The motor will be here in 5 days from AZ. Only problem is i have finals all next week for school. Ill be lucky to get the carbon in the mold this week. Ill have two weeks off of work and school for the holidays so ill start my build table and frame then.

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

Great work!

Thanks for showing what all is going into building your own seat.
Only fitting for a Locost builder to build his own seats too.

How come everyone else scores these fantastic deals on engines, donor cars, steel, and everything else?

Just 'cause I'm in Alaska....
James

Pretty much luck for me. My buddy looped the bike (wheelie... only you kinda go over and past upright lol) and didnt have full coverage on it. He decided to part out the bike, but he didnt have the skills, tools, or knowledge to do it. Also he was getting shipped out to Iraq two weeks later. So i parted the entire bike... from the blinkers to the wheels and packed/shipped all the parts. He was originally going to give me a percent of the profit (or in his case attempt to get anything), but i just told him to give me the motor for dirt. So 2 months of wrenching and shipping got me the motor.

The 2007 R1 motor is actually a pioneer in the motorcycle world. It is the first production bike to have variable velocity stacks (computer controlled to move up and down) and throttle by wire. Also the 2007 motor went back to a 4 valve setup per cylinder from the 2004-2006 style 5 valve setup. These are abviously each positives and negative to a build.

I cant wait to just get this thing rolling. I also have my 2000 Miata spindles on their way right now too.

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

Looks really great.

I think I would have purchased the seat, but I like yours a lot.

Often times, I look at how much fiberglass materials cost, and I try to find just how much more a completed part is vs. the materials alone. Sometimes, the pre-made part wins.

http://www.agmsportscars.co.uk/agm%20se ... nsions.jpg

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Old car restoration experts, help me out. I've got a 1977 Capri that will need some serious attention. Pics of the restoration project http://1977caprirestoration.shutterfly.com

Nice composite work. You can go from foam to drywall skim to bondo with no issues and no fleece or paint.

Another good way to make a seat mold is to sit in wet sand in a box. use burlap and plaster of paris to make the plug.

With the right shape from a arse molded seat, glued-on headliner material can be quite comfortable.

ive seen those processes done except the drywall... son of a bi***... wish i would have thought of that. Would have saved me hours. Being automotive i picked up some seat back padding from the CTS. Ill take an electric carving knife and make the padding much thinner. Then ill hand it off to my mom to sew lol... unlike me she can sew just about anything. Ill make pads that cover some areas but not the entire front of the seat. Gotta show off some of the bling!

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

Totally understandable, but i have had a 50+ yard roll of Carbon Fiber sitting in a bag in my garage for about 3 years now. I figured i finally had a reason to use it. That and ill also use it on my bodywork. The most expensive part of the process was free so why not? If i had to buy the carbon... then yea i would have bought a pair of at aluminum kirkly things.

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

I guess you didn't see this:

http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtop ... 93&start=0

Edited to correct the page linked to.

guess ill use that cheaper, easier, and faster method on the body. Makes me cringe a little less when i think about when that time comes.

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

Heres my thoughts on a chain drive differential. I think i just changed my mind again do go with a chain drive over driveshaft
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4983

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970

So to make things easier I had my motor shipped to my work... Its on a pallet so I could have shipping and receiving unload it with a fork lift. Well I didn't think it would be here till wed or thurs. So needless to say I was going to give shipping a heads up tomorrow as today I'm at the plant. Well it must have been a good suprise to them today as its here! I can't wait to go get it!

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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970