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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: April 24, 2017, 3:33 pm 
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It's not an immediate issue for me, but I'm starting to think about what happens when I get the car built and have to surrender half of our 2-car garage again. I still want to do and make things, especially things that will enhance our ride, or improve it's performance. Since I can't "go wider" inside our garage, I'll have to go higher because I'll still need all the tools and gear I acquired to build the Locost. I've had some random thoughts about it, but this post I found on Pinterist last night got me thinking about it again.

Here's the photo (actually it's one of several) I saw:
Attachment:
Locost Storage.jpg


Here's the article on the Internet. It's in Russian, but there are other photos worth looking at there too:
https://www.drive2.ru/c/467770730436625404/

Have you solved this problem for yourself already? Do you have some good ideas about how to solve it?

Cheers,


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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

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PostPosted: April 24, 2017, 4:52 pm 
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If it's to get it up and out of the way, it needs to actually be up and out of the way. As it sits, it sure doesn't look high enough to be of much help, but maybe he's got a lot of 2-ft tall stuff to store. A two- or 4-post lift is the right way to do it - assuming you have a tall roof, which few have.

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PostPosted: April 24, 2017, 6:16 pm 
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I think something along those lines is a good idea, but I would make it a fixed platform that you can just affix ramps to when you want to get the car off. That way you can actually store stuff underneath it semi-permanently, such as tools, spare materials, etc. which leaves the rest of your garage as mostly open floor space for other vehicles and actual work.


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PostPosted: April 24, 2017, 6:32 pm 
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KB58 wrote:
If it's to get it up and out of the way, it needs to actually be up and out of the way. As it sits, it sure doesn't look high enough to be of much help, but maybe he's got a lot of 2-ft tall stuff to store. A two- or 4-post lift is the right way to do it - assuming you have a tall roof, which few have.


I think you're right that it needs to be taller, Kurt. For me, that means it will have to be further from the big garage door towards the front of the garage, otherwise the roll bar will hit the garage door going in and out.

I subsequently thought about a fixed platform that would go between the front windshield and the nose of the car, when parked. That would give me a lot of storage space. I put almost all of my shop equipment on wheels. I'll have space between the nose of my car and the workbench at the very front to store most of it. When I'm doing a project, I could move out the second car, and roll my fab stuff into the vacated parking spot.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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PostPosted: April 24, 2017, 6:34 pm 
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Posthumane wrote:
I think something along those lines is a good idea, but I would make it a fixed platform that you can just affix ramps to when you want to get the car off. That way you can actually store stuff underneath it semi-permanently, such as tools, spare materials, etc. which leaves the rest of your garage as mostly open floor space for other vehicles and actual work.


I think you're on to something. See my post just above. Thanks for the idea.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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PostPosted: April 25, 2017, 8:38 am 
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When you drop the car from the bench or sawhorses to the floor, you realize how close to the ground all the bits that need to be worked on, cleaned, or adjusted really are.

If you have back problems, raising the car two feet up so you can putter about with it would be a huge help.

When my car approaches completion I'm going to have to build a covered parking garage for it since we have no covered parking, and I'm going to need the shop space for shop stuff. One of the features in my garage sketches is ramps to park on, with a step for getting in and out.

That rocker setup looks interesting. A bit more trouble, but you wouldn't have to assemble the ramps every time you took the car out.

Alas, an electric parking lift isn't likely to be in the future budget.


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PostPosted: April 25, 2017, 11:26 am 
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@TRX

You said, "That rocker setup looks interesting. A bit more trouble, but you wouldn't have to assemble the ramps every time you took the car out."

Yeah, did you see the size of that trolley jack? Man, you could lift a small tank with that thing.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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PostPosted: April 25, 2017, 4:36 pm 
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The rocker/ramps look like a cute way to service the Seven. On /off angles would have to be carefully verified, just like ramps to a trailer or a tilt bed trailer.

However, if storage space is the primary goal, why not build a self- standing shelf to sit over the hood (bonnet) of the seven. Then you can simply pull in, under the shelf. No ramps to worry about. No approach angle to deal with. And the height of the storage area is much more than trying to fit under the rocker/ramp. I remember as a kid we had a 4ft wide shelf about 40 inches off the floor, across the entire back wall of our garage. our car would pull in under the shelf. It held a lot of cr@p.

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PostPosted: April 25, 2017, 5:17 pm 
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My brother just built something exactly like that and parks his Stalker under his new build table upon which he's getting back into RC planes. I told him "extra points if the table folds up onto the wall."

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PostPosted: April 25, 2017, 6:13 pm 
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I never went there but using furniture dollies to turn the car 90 degrees so it could be slid sideways beneath shelves was always my plan if space became an issue.

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PostPosted: April 25, 2017, 6:35 pm 
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I can't find the pic of the wall mount forklift/pallet jack storing the 7. Cool setup for lite cars. If you have the height, hard to beat 4 post lift.


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PostPosted: April 26, 2017, 1:22 am 
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If you built a ramp/rocker setup for servicing it, you could build it so that it would tip up as the car comes forward to where you park it, and then gravity tips the whole thing up. Then you just get out of the car and lock some rear legs in place so it can't move. No jack needed then. I built my tilt deck trailer to do that, and it works really well. Doing any kind of work on a locost sitting on its wheels is a huge pain due to how low they are. Lifting them all the time with a jack and jack stands is a pain too.
Kristian

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PostPosted: April 26, 2017, 10:14 am 
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Rafter storage, wall shelves above shoulder height, pegboard, house basement and a shed have taken care of my storage issues. That and the mentality that if it's not getting used it goes up for sale, to the scrapyard, or in the trash.

I have been getting away with cribbing blocks under the wheels/tires for the car that sits a lot. Adds some good storage space for totes underneath when it's not getting worked on.


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PostPosted: April 26, 2017, 11:04 am 
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@rx7locost
There are now 3 of us in this thread that have come to pretty much the same idea, more or less, that the "drive under" storage space looks like an easy, practical solution.

@KB58
RC models are cool. I've been to that park in Oceanside when all the "big time" modelers are flying their multi-engine planes and F-15 models. It's very impressive. But, I'm just a car wonk. I understand tires and coefficients of friction, but that invisible lift and drag stuff - it's all voodoo to me. :mrgreen:

@a.moore
My garage isn't big enough, Andrew. If I slid my car 6", I'm going to collide with something. :lol:

@Evlshnngns
One of the larger tool sellers (Eastwood, Harbor Freight?) now sells those 4- and 2-post lifts to the home shop guys. I don't have the ceiling height or $$$ to seriously consider either of those. It would be great if I did.

@turbo_bird
My build isn't even finished yet and I discovered some of what you've written about, Kristian. For example, I designed my build so the engine and transmission go in together. I'm very happy with that decision and the way it works. However, to get them in as a unit, the chassis has to be jacked up in the air. The angle of entry and the length of the combination prevents it from being workable at normal ride height. That's OK, because at normal ride height, I can't get under the car anyway, so it has to be up in the air to some degree.

You raised some good points.

@jere
You sound like a very efficient fellow. My philosophy is that if I sell a tool or give it away, then I'm going to need it tomorrow. Just last week I used a set of large metal shears I've been toting around for 20-25 years. I've only used them maybe 3-4 times, but when you need them, you need them. They're old-time, made in the USA shears that really work, and I probably couldn't even find them in a store today. "Different folks, different strokes", I guess?

Some of here even suffer from OGS (Old Glove Syndrome), but you probably don't want to ask about that one. :mrgreen: Thanks for the input, though.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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PostPosted: April 27, 2017, 7:34 pm 
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Last fall I saw someone with a homemade stacker trailer used for hauling their pair of Lotii racecars. It started as a normal enclosed trailer and they built some ramps and a frame to support the front end of the ramps. The back end lowered to allow the top car to be pulled up the ramps then two Harbor Freight winches and some pulleys hoisted the ramps into the "up" position. Once they were locked in place the second car was moved below. Not sure how much it will help your shop space dilemma but it would at least allow two cars to occupy the same footprint.

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