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OK, well here it is and I hope I am doing this right. My name is Joe Garrison and I have wanted a Lotus 7 for about the last 40 years. Work, family and ignorance prevented that and then there was "The Book." To make a long story short, time passed, parts wore collected and a lot learned, then I came across a partial build for sale in Dallas, not to far from me. The frame was done very nicely, and it included a R1 engine, and a Toyota LSD rearend. I have some early pics take by the first owner:
I didn't like the Toyo struts, and I got lucky and got a set of Previa uprights and used ball joints and an adjustable upper BJ collar to set up. I still need to ger the radius rods set up right and am just using some temporary rods.

I also have the smallest build space of anyone, I'll bet!

I got lucky on eBay and ended up with an Appleton steering rack and a quaife reverser both cheaply got.

I'd like to thank Jeff U., Dave W., and Martin K. for all their help. I look forward to being a contributing member of the group with a real build--look forward to driving the build even more.

Here goes, I hope this is not screwed up and the pics come out OK.
Joe Garrison

Nice rolling build so far.


I took the liberty to sticky your post it should be towards the top now depending how much you post.

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I'll keep an eye out for you!

To err is human...
I am more human than most.

That's a good looking roller! Where did you get those coilovers? What did they set you back?

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Looking good. I like the little fifth wheel at the front.

Dave that's just in case the big wheels fall off!

Chet, The coilovers were part of the partial build when I got it. Sorry can't help with a source.

I made some changes to the rear,and I will post later on today.
Joe

I manage to get the engine all secure, and was able to roll the car out of the build shed today. That allowed me to clean out the shed a bit, and take a couple of pics. My welds look nasty now, but I will be doing a lot of clean up. Wish I had a TIG, or even a MIG. I'm flux wire, but so far all the welds are really tight.
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I also replace the upper rear sections of the car. The original radius of the bend was about 6" and I was pretty sure the rear fender wouldn't fit. I ahve a bad habit of picking up junk, and about 3 yrs ago grabbed an old thrown away trash dolly. Turned out to have two nice 3" radius bends and was 3/4 14 ga. steel. Perfect solution to the wide corners.


Started the scuttle, and eager to see how that will turn out. Later, thanks for the comments.
Joe Garrison

Hey, everyone. I have been working on the scuttle frame (Kudos to Jeff U. for his excellent site and great ideas!) although it is nowher near finished, it has been a lot easier than I thought it would be. I also got the rear arches right in front of the rear wheels done. They are a 15" radius, and are made of some 3/4 14ga. I had. Should be plenty sturdy!! They took some oomph to bend, but I used a 1/2" conduit bender that I had widened slightly. No pics yet but I will post some soon.
Joe

Not much to report. Working on the dash frame right now, just trying to get it just right. I went out to the build shed tonight to do a little more, but I was dismayed to find that a family (rather large family) of wasps had decided the shed made a nice home. I will fix that tomorrow!! I did find a nice relatively local source for pre painted .040 aluminum. 4'x10' sheets (in a nice yellow) at about $85 a sheet. It's in Tulsa, only about 60 miles away. Should save a pretty penny on shipping. It is from Allstar Performance, and Grand Prix Auto Shop in Tulsa is a dealer. Allstar has dealers all over, I think. They were very helpful when I called for a dealer near me.
One bad bit of news, the drive adapter that was included with my partial build purchase is the wrong size for my R1. I need a 30mm 13 spline. I am going to see what I can do about an exchange. I hope to have some time this weekend to work on the car.
Later!
Joe

looks good, are you planning on reinforcing that front upper shock mount? That'd have me kind of nervous.

Rebel;
Thanks, and yes! I bought the car as a partial build, and those supports have made me wonder a few times-So I will figure something out. Any Ideas?
Joe

Mine are in almost the same spot and here's what I did. I added another tube that goes across under the top chassis rails and ties a couple large brackets together. The brackets are 1.5" wide and cut from a piece of 3" x 1.5" 12 guage rectangular tubing.

Here is a crude sketch. I'm not saying this is the best way, but it stays off the top rails out of the way of the nosecone.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Chet!! I like the Idea! It looks really good the way you've set it up. Only problem for mine is I dont have enough bracket under the chassis rail to hook onto. I had thought about going over the top much as you did on the bottom, and tying it together using some 14ga rnd .75 tube I still have. I'd have to notch the nose. Sound workable?
Joe

Joe

I think the easiest method may be just adding a doubler on each side of your current bracket that looks like a "C" . This could glove other the top. the outboard side and the lower part of the top side rail, which would increase the amount of welded area. As for the nose cone just a couple small slots in it to clear the doubler gussets is all that is needed.
I used just the two of "C" shaped brackets, but can send you picture if it's any help.
Dave W

Dave-
I think I know what you mean, but a pic would certainly help!!! Thanks!
Hope to clean up a lot of welds this weekend, and get some pics taken.

Well it has been a pretty weird month, my dog got Parvo, but survived,my daughter had something they cal 'Orbital Pseudo Tumor', painful!! and 10 days at UCLA Med cen (doing well and moved to KC now.) They asked her if they could follow up with her to do some research papers--apparently pretty rare.
Oh, and work ahs been awful!!
And I managed to get a little done in between!!!!
My welding still looks bad (I use flux core 'cuz its all I got to dance with) I have done a fair amount of destructive testing, and it seems as strong as it looks bad--lots of clean up!! but I actually kinda like the cleaning.

I am slowly getting the scuttle roughed out and I think I am going to used a shortened Spitfir column, with part of the Spit steering shaft. I ahve the shift mechanism all sussed, I just need to check clearance with the chosen driveshaft. Pics attached;