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My Locost's body was not built the conventional (rivets) route but with welded steel. I still think that welding thin sheet steel is a good idea. I should say however that to get all these panels, hood, fenders to show condition is taking a lot of elbow grease ,a lot of body filler and a good deal of $$. I have hired one of my neighbours who is a retired bodyshop operator and together (mostly him) we are bringing my build's body to life one gallon of body filler at the time.

Beside all this, prior to be driven to the body shop I too the car for a spin and I was delighted to find that she was responding adequately; steering, brakes, suspension. The engine which is a VW 1.9 turbo diesel (TD) must offer 145 lbs-f of torque (awsome for a car that light), is running properly and I am looking forward to an opportunity to take the car to a race track to find what she can do. Some of you are curious to hear back how my unusual suspension (leaf springs and air bags) is performing, I will report on that to. Here are below a few shots taken yesterday.

Unusual suspension?...Where?

Thanks for visiting my log Here are below more recent pictures. The car rolled out of the body shop last week. I will now tie up the loose ends, mostly wiring, speedo, tacho, etc and in the Spring the shop will have her again for the final coat of paint (cobalt blue). Why in the Springs? Because in Canada a topless vehicle is of little use in the Winter.

Philippe

Philippe

Years ago I had a conversation with a former race shop owner, after attending one of his chassis seminars. He said he had realized he wasn't going to make any real money building stock car frames just like everyone elses'. After much thought, he came up with his first Really Bright Idea: He replaced the front coil springs with a monoleaf fiberglass spring. The spring was clamped in the center, and had a pair of rollers on sliders to either side of the clamp. This solved a whole bunch of problems: It was cheap, light, eliminated the interference with spring pockets common to a lowered chassis, and with a pair of cranks and cables, allowed infinite adjustment of spring rates, on the track.

He patented his idea, mortgaged every thing to upgrade his shop, built some inventory, then sat back and waited for the orders to roll in. They didn't.

So he had his second Really Bright Idea. He took out second mortgages, built a shop car, hired the best driver he could find, hired the best crew chief, and had the best engine builder fix him a stash of killer motors. He sent them out to win races, and they did, everywhere they ran. He built some more cars, then sat back and waited for the orders to roll in. This time they did:"I want a car just like the one Racer X won with last night, but without that goofy front spring!"

He should have applied for a job at gm, they use composite leaf springs on the vette mounted the exact same way you describe

I think someone just got to it first.

[quote="mcteardrops"]

Thanks mcteardrop for this interesting account. The fiberglass or carbon fiber single monoleaf suspension has been a GM feature for a while. Mostly the Corvette, but I think other smaller cars (cavalier) too. They make a great deal of sense (to me). But I do not consider myself an expert and I have no real ground to argue monoleafs vs coils other than gut feelings. You may have noticed that I am using air springs (air bags) too. There I think that I have some arguments. Airbags are lighter than coils, and given the right hardware can be adjusted for various rides without stopping the car.

Philippe

Just an observation, what are you using for front dampers(shocks??)It seems to me you have two springs(air and Leaf) but no damping unless I just can't see it in the picture

Here is an earlier picture showing the shocks in position.

Hi Philippe.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm just a safety nut and was a little concerned cause I didn't see the shocks. Kudo's to you for such a unique build. Look forward to the next update.....

Andy