LocostUSA.com

The fluorescents tend to hurt my eyes if I'm trying to focus on small detail stuff for a couple of hours. I found I'm most comfortable with 3800K bulbs. I think they refer to them as "daylight" colored.

In the garage, When I'm doing detail work, I fill the space I'm working on with the 300watt work light. The xenon bulb color is ok, and obnoxiously bright.

_________________
Tucker

3800 is still in the bright white range. Daylight is around 5k

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

It has been a while since I've updated here, but things are still moving right along. I ttied fabricating my own tubing bender to bemd the roll bars, and that didnt go particularly well. The overall design seems like it would work, but i need to either buy dies made from the right material, or wait to collect a machine shop so I can make those myself. Regardless, that wound up wasting about two months of work. I did eventually find out a friend did have the ability to bend these, but I didn't know to ask him. He did great work, and for the right price, too. As of about 2 weeks ago, my frame entered the third dimension. The center chassis tubes have been tacked into place, and I am moving on the the front next. My only question at this time is, "how much of the frame should I tack into place before starting finish welds?"

Enjoy the eye-candy below:

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

This morning's 2-hour work window let me get started on the front of the chassis. My upper suspension supports are tacked in place, held partially by my super-precise open-cell Styrofoam jig.

It is taking, on average, about 1 hour per tube to build this part of the car.

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

I have made a bit more progress on the front suspension support. There was a lot of grinding to get the tubes properly shaped to fit, but it looks pretty solid, now.

Final welding will come later. For now, everything is still getting just tacked into place.

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

I've nearly finished tacking together the front part of the chassis. The steering rack mounts will wait until I have my hands on an actual rack for the car, just in case I can't find a Miata rack for a good price. That means 3 more tubes and I can move on the the engine bay portion of the chassis and begin laying up the power train support structure.

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

About an hour a tube is what I am finding too. Seems like forever, but is pretty satisfying, as you actually see things taking shape and growing. Watching your build, (and the builds slowly progressing on the Midlana site) as I am doing a midship build loosely based on midlana.

_________________
Figuring out how to build in the bucolic garden state
Build log: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18224

Today I finished tacking the front of the chassis together. This week, I'll be working on drivetrain placement and rear chassis structure. Stay tuned!

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

This morning, I got the engine jigged into place. Fitment looks good. The engine is centered left/right based on the ends of the axles.

Fore/aft placement is set based on axle centerlines. Clearance is a little tighter than I'd prefer on the front of the engine, but it'll work.

Vertical placement is based on frame clearance. I should have a bit over 1" of clearance from frame members under the engine and transmission, probably more.

Next, I get to begin building the chassis around the engine. Fun!

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

Now, I'm building up the rear chassis structure. This is bit of a slower start than the rest of the chassis so far, lots of tight spaces requiring a lot of forethought.

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

Two more tubes added this morning.

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

I've been working every day since the last post, just haven't updated here. I added two more down tubes to the rear chassis frame, and began building the rear suspension support weldment.



The two layers were built, tacked, and welded up first.



Next I built up a jig to hold the layers in the correct position until I could get more supports tacked in.



Once everything was tacked together, I welded it solid. It is now ready to be mounted to the rear of the car, which leads to a new problem.



The motor mount at the rear of the engine is exactly where I'd like to put this suspension weldment, so I need to make some modifications to the design to make this work. It looks like the diffuser will be getting tacked up next.

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

Well... it's attached. Those bottom supports were hard to get right. I ended up modelling the mating surfaces in NX at work so that I could get a good lay-up for how to orient the cuts and find dimensions using an ideal position. With that, I made a full pattern for each side of the tube and used that to guide my cuts. I had to invent these tubes, and they had to mate to something floating in space, and make sure that thing floating in space stayed level, too. All things considered, it turned out almost too well. Let's hope it stays.

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

Engine mounts are tacked into place.


With Engine - Left


With Engine - Right


Front Engine Mount


Right Engine Mount


Rear Engine Mount

One still requires a bit more reinforcement upon completion of the rear structure, but for the most part, engine position is now defined.


Transmission Mount

I had to remove the engine before completing the rest of the frame because of the height required to lift the engine on this table.


No Engine - Left


No Engine - Rear


Once the table is lowered later in the process, I'll be able to reinstall the engine.

This will also give me a chance to finish rebuilding the engine. In the meantime, for framework, I need to reinforce the suspension mount structure, and extend the the rest of the rear of the frame to meet it.

I have an idea for how I want the rear of the car to look, but I am not sure how best to set up the supporting structure for it. I intend to use vacuum-pulled fiberglass for exterior panels. I've worked with materials like that in solar car and mini baja competition teams in high school and college.

The car will look quite a bit different than the rear of a Locost or even Midlana, and a big difference there is the roll cage will not always be the defining edge for the panels. I am not sure if I should set up structural edges for the panels, or simply create reinforced brackets at key locations to hold the panels. One would certainly not have issues with wind-induced vibration, but if the panels are created properly, that shouldn't be a problem anyway. Not really looking for guidance here, just letting you know where my head is at for the design of the remaining rear of the car.

This is so much fun!

_________________
My PRIMARY build log: http://www.midlana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=678
For the best detail and discussion, see this log!

My LocostUSA build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17917
A good snapshot of my progress. The LITE edition!

Wow, you're zipping along now. One thing I kind of regret with my build was not building the frame myself and just buying it and modifying it for the miata build....good for you!

_________________