LocostUSA.com

First of all let me introduce my donor:


1991 Eagle Talon
The outside is a little shady but It has a brand new 2.3 stroker motor inside and all the goodies to go very fast.

The thing I hate about this car is the weight.
So I decided to Locostized it ...

First get rid of some weight.


And more weight:


Ooops the roof is gone:


Sawsall I love you ...


I did not like the windshield either.

I did a lot today.
First I pulled out the new body:


It looks like it could fit...



The wheelbase is good:


The tub is to heavy.
Back to my favorite tool.


Some more cutting:


Here we go, who thought that It would never work?

Widow Maker,

I have a body just like that one but Mine is Gold Metal Flake though. I can't bring myself to cut it up though. After I get my 7 frame welded up I might just put it up there to see if it would fit. Kinda on vacation right now so I'll watch and see how yours comes out. If you git it done it will sure do the trick. Good Luck fittin it up! Your pretty good with that sawsall there.

Mark....

What body is that?

Looks Meyers Manx-ish. Lots of similar VW buggy stuff like that around. I'd love to build an old school Corvair powered Manx someday.

That thing is going to be monstrously fast, do you have a plan for putting some stiffness back into the unibody, or are you just winging it?

t

It is a long wheelbase Manx buggy replica body that i found for cheap on ebay.
If it was up to me I will go without a body but inspection is a pain when you drive up with a ride that people don't recognize.

I need to bring some stiffness back into this thing.

1" square tube as the base of the cage.

Then I mocked up the front and rear hoops.



I have 120 feet of 4130 tubes ready to go.

I use blue tape to mock the tubes position.


Some more cutting and welding.
By the way i hate my tube notcher.


More tubes...

It is very wise - required in fact - to have those diagonals in your added side tubes. As it is now, you can probably jack up arear corner of the car and have the chassis twist to a distressing degree...

uh-oh. .. i see a rear diff, this could get seriously interesting in terms of handling, not to mention the severe diet you put it on!

Gosh, Kurt, you don't think the blue painters' tape will be sufficient? Extrapolating from the work he's done to date, I suspect he intends to replace the diagonal tapes with tubes, as he did with the vertical tapes. That painters' tape is good stuff, but still, better safe than sorry.

(PS--Midlana is coming along great, your site is well worth the click)

Wow...this will be one to watch! I got all confused when I saw the engine sitting east-west (ho-hum...another FWD), but then I saw the rear diff and I'm all like, "WTF and stuff, Buffy!" I've never been into AWD cars at all, but I feel downright disoriented trying to imagine the driveshaft sticking out the side of the transmission.

Keep posting pix...you'll have quite an audience!

-dave

Don't worry, I will be adding more tubes and build as much triangles as possible.
I had the idea of building this when I first drove the Talon.
It was slower and clumsier than my Seven but I loved the traction off the line.
No need to modulate the throttle, you just floor it and it goes.
So I decided to get rid of some weight and the big overhangs.
The body was an easy pick, cheap and lightweight.
By the way that is what's inside the engine:

All forged internals good for 800 horses...

wow. i had a daily driver of a talon and thought the same about it being an overweight pig. so when it got totaled i thought about a little weight loss but nothing like that. i used mine for the donor for a the Locost instead.

keep up the DSM butching. and i'd love to see what the final weight will be

That is going to be one crazy-assed beach buggy!

You need to run the exhaust all the way out the rear and point it up in the air like they do on VW's

Something like this maybe: