Ok, my bad I haven't up dated this log for far too long and I have made some design side progress. I keep a separate log which I can copy over, leaving out the bad language.
Here goes:
31 December 2011
While looking for some pics to post on the Locost site I came across the CD I bought as part of the Westlake XI build manual. The XI is similar to 7 (surprise) so a lot can be learned from these pics. One example is why the RHD XI uses floor mounted pedals and the LHD XI uses pendants. The Sprite exhaust and carbs occupy that space.
I am currently struggling with how to get going. The long single focus house project has made it hard to shift gears.
That’s about it for 2011.
3 January 2012
Pay dirt! While trolling an “old school” build on the Locost site. It was mentioned that if you use trunion type uprights you are stuck with mounting the A arms at an angle (≈5° from horizontal) in order to get the necessary caster. It would have been a pretty nasty mistake to have missed that que.
4 January 2012
I keep trying to design a Satchell link to locate the rear axle laterally. This would give a lower roll center than the usual Panhard rod. The difficulty is that the front mounts are in a place where there isn’t any structure.
12 January 2012
I made myself a target completion date of 1 June and since I did that nothing has gone well. I figured if I did this it would be good to have someone else rebuild the engine. So I have spent hours trying to find a shop to do it. Probably enough hours to be about 25% done if I had rebuilt the thing myself.
I also have been working on the rear axle layout. This is a problem as the thing is too narrow to easily mount a four trailing arm suspension arm on. I don’t want to be welding any brackets in the bearing area so I have been trying to disassemble the axle to find out where that is. Everything is corroded to dust and anything the former owner touched he torqued the hell out of. Disassembly is not going well.
To check how everything was going to fit in the 80” wheelbase I reassembled some of the front suspension and rack to check the steering wheel and seat locations. Two things were learned: 1. the seat can be quite a bit further forward than I thought which will allow those trailing arms to be mounted further inboard. A good thing. 2. Fooling around with the massive brake/clutch pedal assembly I bought from Wilwood convinced me there is no way this would fit in a 7 foot box area. So I found a stock pedal assembly on ebay. After it is cleaned up and painted and mounted on a seating buck I will be able to establish the location of quite q few things.
I love that target date
More later