LocostUSA.com

I guess I should change the location on my user profile.

Since I'm now in BC, the Alberta regs are not particularly applicable, and the BC ones seem to be a lot less specific which I suppose makes it much more subjective and depends on the inspector.


I guess in the end I would like to have them powered anyway, just in case I drink some pina coladas and get caught in the rain. I also got a horn off Amazon which I installed today (Wolo Full Blast, as per the recommendation of other forumites), and I have a pair of motorcycle mirrors on the way. There's still a bunch of electrical cleanup work to do, and I need to paint the frame with POR15, but I'm really starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe I can actually get it road worthy this summer.


cs3tcr - I got to put about 80 hours on the T6A out of Moose Jaw. That was a fun aircraft to fly. I even got to fly it to Medicine Hat once to show off to my wife. It was cool flying the traffic pattern at 220 knots doing 60 degree banked turns.

Welcome to BC! I live in Surrey on the mainland, but my in-laws live in Sidney. I usually head over there a few times a year, but haven't been able to in over a year because of the Covid restrictions.

I sold my Locost years ago, but had it registered in BC under the ICBC "Ubilt" category:

https://www.icbc.com/vehicle-registrati ... ilers.aspx

Regarding a powered wiper, type in "hot rod wiper" in Amazon, and there are a number of them that are usually under $100, and most of them look like they came from the same factory as the kit available from Speedway Motors:

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Universa ... 38962.html

Glad to see you making progress on it again!

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Photo gallery of my completed Locost:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10397358 ... banner=pwa

Mainlandboy, any tips about getting through the registration process?

The best advice I can give is to find an inspection facility that has already inspected and passed someone else's Locost before. I found a local guy that had built a Locost and had it inspected at South Delta Motors in Tsawwassen, so that is where I took mine. That was quite a few years ago though, so I'm not sure if the owner of that garage has changed hands.

I'll ask my brother in law who lives in Sidney if he knows of a place over there that can inspect it. Also check out the licensing and titling section of this forum, to see if there are any other builders in your area that have made it through inspection in your area.

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Photo gallery of my completed Locost:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10397358 ... banner=pwa

No personal experience, but apparently this place does vehicle inspections:

https://www.sidneytire.com/

Might be worth talking to them to see if they are experienced in inspecting home built cars.

_________________
Photo gallery of my completed Locost:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10397358 ... banner=pwa

Thanks for the recommendation. They are actually the first place I called as they did the out of province inspection on our daily driver (which is now a weekly driver, it seems). The guy I spoke to had to ask around, but eventually told me that they have done inspections like that in the past but haven't had one in a long time. So they are an option, although they didn't inspire confidence. Another place recommended to me was Gurton's, and they also said they can do it although they weren't sure at first.

I've just been puttering around getting little things done and realizing how much more is still needed. Added a pair of cycle mirrors, a horn, and working on a fender mount right now.

Got one front fender mount looking kind of right. I only have one fender though, which I made from fiberglass. It's okay, though not perfect. I'm trying to decide if I want to make a mold off this one and pull a second one, make a second one from a positive plug like I did the first one, or scrap it and just buy a set from somewhere.

So much for having this done last summer. Life got in the way.

I decided to ditch the overhead wiper and went with a more traditional scuttle mounted setup.
Made a second fender out of fiberglass. It came out ok, but like the first one the edges are a bit wavy. Might do some more filling and sanding to smooth that out, or I might look into putting on some edging material.

Also, I started working on the hood. A while ago I had decided to make is a centre hinged hood so I don't have to take the whole thing off every time I want to check the oil. This also narrowed the required sheet of aluminum since the two halves of the hood taper, so if you cut out two patterns rotated 180 degrees the widest point of the sheet is a lot narrower than the widest point of a single piece hood. I decided to try solid rivets here for aesthetics, and also to learn to do solid riveting. Somebody gave me some countersunk (flat head) aircraft rivets, so I made myself a dimpling tool and decided to try setting the rivets with a hammer since I don't have a rivet gun. This worked alright; the results are not aircraft quality (shop formed heads way out of spec) but as a first pass they'll work.

I just noticed the LBJ nut only clamps the insert. I measured my ranger and found the flange to be 1.125" thick. I measured a Chrysler K772 joint I have for the spitfire LBJ and found it easily has enough stem length to clamp and may allow you to ream with no insert. Note the weld in adapter ring size is slightly smaller for this joint than the chrysler K727. Rings and joints cost me about $50 combined with shipping from two sellers.

On the upper adapter, if you wanted to add kpi to counter scrub, a tab could be added to prevent the adapter from rotating in the UBJ boss of the spindle from the lever of an offset UBJ. I'd suggest a few roll pins drilled at the gap but it would be tough to drill without a very long, thin bit for the chuck to clear the top of the adapter.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway ... 38296.html

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Hello,

I got the following from a gentleman at Alberta Transportation. We discussed it further, but essentially any inspection facility that can do an "Out of Province" inspection can do the mechanical inspection. Prior to that you need to get someone from Alberta Transportation to inspect the vehicle and give it a VIN. The VIN inspection will cost you $550. Note you will need proof of where the parts on your locost came from. Keep all your salvage yard receipts, otherwise you can not prove the source. Also, there is a difference between wrecked vehicles. You cannot use parts off of a vehicle that has been condemned. Some vehicles you can't even reuse a bolt off of them. Those are scrap only. After the VIN inspection, they will then decide if you continue to use the VIN from one of the donors, or if they issue you a new one. In the case of most locosts, you get a new VIN. Other hotrods, they decide if that Cobra is really a cobra or more 5.0L Mustang. Please note the VIN inspection has nothing to do with the mechanical or structural fitness of the vehicle. They are merely verifying where the parts came from, and what VIN to give it. The mechanical and structural is verified during the "Out of province" inspection. You can look up the requirements here: https://www.alberta.ca/special-interest-and-custom-built-vehicles.aspx

I suggest getting in touch with the gentleman below. He was very helpful in my case.

"Thank you for your responding email.

The type of inspection will depend on the donor parts used to build a homebuilt vehicle. It is most likely you will be sent for an out of province inspection; if the donor body or frame has a salvage status then you would be sent for a salvage inspection. The request for inspection form should identify what kind of inspection is being done.

Alberta Transportation only has the 3 inspection programs. There are types of facilities within each category of inspection; you are building a car so any facility licensed to do automotive inspections can inspection your vehicle

Chris Yanitski, P. Eng.
Vehicle Standards Engineer

Carrier and Vehicle Safety
Alberta Transportation
Government of Alberta

Tel 780-422-0812
Fax 780-988-7628

Chris.yanitski@gov.ab.ca

511 Alberta - Alberta’s Official Road Reports

Go to 511.alberta.ca and follow @511Alberta"

Hi Mohle,
Although I started the build in Alberta, I moved to BC about a year ago so I'll have to go through the assigned VIN program here. I was just looking into the process and it's not too different here. Basically, I need to have an out of province inspection done, then send in an application for assigned vin ($25 fee) along with proof of purchase of all the parts, photos of the vehicle, and the inspection report, and I have to specify an inspection shop for it to be sent to who will attach it to the car.
I hadn't heard of parts not being useable if they came off a wrecked car. I've pulled plenty of parts off of wrecked cars at the Calgary pick-n-pull for various projects so maybe it's something I should have been aware of, but they don't keep track of which cars they come from.

Miatav8 - it's been so long since I did the suspension work, I'll have to go back through my notes to see why I used the parts that I did. I think I wanted a bolt on LBJ for some reason.

"Although I started the build in Alberta, I moved to BC about a year ago so I'll have to go through the assigned VIN program here."

My bad for not reading that. Always rushing into things, just like my marriage. Hope you enjoy BC

I got the hood finished up with some curved ribs that I riveted in, and added tabs to the frame for 1/4 turn fasteners to hold the hood closed (3 per side). After that I stopped working on it for a bit again until I finally got the motivation to start pulling the car apart in its entirety so that I can paint the frame with POR-15. It's something I've been putting off for a long time since it seems like such an enormous task, but I guess it's gotta be done. The bodywork that came off the car takes up a lot of space, so I need to spend some time figuring out where to store it before I can make further progress.