Philippe's Locost : TD diesel, leaf springs, air bags, etc

[Philippe]

It occured to me that my first build which is currently being finished in a professional workshop may be of interest to some of you guys who think out of the box .

The car is built on a +4W+2H+10 L. It is a long locost. Then I have added "pontoons" in an attempt to give this rig more stiffness and better aerodynamic penetration. It looks formulaesque but I don't think now that it is worth the trouble.

Then I ignored the traditional riveting technique and welded sheet metal plates directly to the steel tubes. This was not bad. Next time I would like to work with gauge 26 instead of gauge 20 which is probably to heavy. I found that gauge 26 can be welded with low amp and rigidity can be achieved by rolling half inch beads into the plates (simple operation) .

The suspension is also unconventional. I have used quarter eliptic leaf springs (the types that Posies makes for hotrods) and air springs. This combination provides a great range of ride height adjusment. On my next project I will not use both. Not worth the cost and the trouble. I will probably use the air bags only.

Now the engine. I have bolted on a conventional RWD with a VW turbo diesel and Samurai 5 speed transmission. This power train proved in the driving test to give this little car quite an interesting personality. Think of 145 lbs-foot @ 2200 rpm moving a 1600 lbs car!

[Driven5]

That's definitely got to be one of the most unique setups I've seen! I like the out of the box thinking, even if some of it didn't work out exactly as origingally thought.