LocostUSA.com

Very cool solution to the exhaust issue , I never would have thought of that. “Necessity is the mother of invention”, no truer words were said.
Nice!
-Eric

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MGiata current build here: https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mga-forum.2 ... n.3898051/

A more traditional answer is to create oval tube, or flat tube with round sides.
See Jay Leno's Lotus Elan build video for details.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

It would appear Dean is posting in the correct subforum...

5-31-21

A few random shots and call backs in these pics... the tire and wheel belong to my widowed neighbor.. she's a friend of my wife's, and every now and again I do things for her that she can't do herself.. today's task was to plug a tire.. easy-peasy.. I rolled it by the Berk on the way out of the garage when I realized that her run-of-the-mill Toyota (Camry?/ Avalon??) tire is as tall as the Berk body (235-45R 18).. both cool and terrifying at the same time

I've also included a few shots of the OEM Berkeley badge on the nose.. so many questions about 'What is it?'... Now they know it's a Berkeley, which is now normally followed by "What's a Berkeley?"

Finally, a few underside shots with the exhaust in place.. I'll pull it and paint it soon..

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

May 31, 2021

Today I wired in a manual fan switch up under the dash... Not very flashy, but it offers some peace of mind..

I also spent some time reshaping the grille opening a bit to better accommodate the fog lights.. At some future point I'm going to narrow (top to bottom) the grille opening and widen it a touch (left to right). The fog lamp mounts are a bit tricky because the base I'm anchoring to is recessed back in there a bit, but I think it will work out in the end.. A work in progress at this point..

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

fog3.jpg has some Jag EType vibe to it.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

Funny you would mention that.... In the end, my grille opening will be a similar shape to an E-Type... I don't have the measurements yet, but I've been toying with the idea of getting a Jag grille bar ("Motif Bar") and having it 'float' in my grille opening in front of the yellow fog lights, and putting the Berkeley badge in the round center.. just not sure yet if the sizes would mesh.

I'm being somewhat purposeful in sourcing British parts for this little mutt (motor/underpinnings notwithstanding).. The windshield will be AH BN-100... and maybe a Jag grille piece(?)... also, if I need to cut fender vents in for cooling, I may use a pair of Austin Healey fender spears to tart up the opening(s). Body-wise, I'm seeking out odd British bits to try to keep things 'in the family,' while adding a little splash of chrome here and there.. If it's British chrome, all the better

*If anyone here knows the length of that Jag grille "Motif Bar" (pic), or the length of an AH fender spear, please share

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

Berk By The Numbers..

Now that the car is on it's feet, I wanted to document where things are with some data/ stats..

PUT IN SERVICE ON MAY 15, 2021, with the odometer reading 38,800 (these are the actual miles on this bike motor).. The car was actually running and driving a bit before that date, but on 5-15-21, I took it on a 250 shakedown run with very minor issues.. I'm certainly still working on it, but since that date, I have not hesitated to take the car wherever I wish.. I've been driving it to work (64 miles round trip) for the last 3 weeks.. my students do in fact laugh at me.. As of today (6-3-21), the ODO shows 39,555.

MILEAGE; I've only calculated a few times, but she seems to get about 25 miles per gallon- I've seen 23 up to 27 depending on how I drive.. The tank holds 5.5 gallons, so I'm learning that my range is about 120-130 miles. Surely I could stretch this out a bit, but I drive it pretty aggressively, because it's fun to drive a slow car fast

WEIGHT; I finally did it- I took it to a local scale yesterday (6-2-21) and learned that with a half tank of fuel and no driver, it weighs exactly 1,000 pounds. The clerk wasn't sure, but she thought the scale was accurate to within 10 pounds, so I'll take her word for it. I'm both happy and sad learning of this weight, because my goal was to keep it sub 900 pounds, and I've missed that by a lot. In just this last day I'm obsessing, thinking of where I can cut weight, and I'm now trying to be sure not to add any more (like the silencer I was planning to add to the exhaust).. I think I need to get over myself though, as any car that comes in at 1K# is pretty damn light.. I like the way she drives and handles, and so far, I haven't felt the need for more power.. At 1,000 lbs and aprox 110 hp, I have a 9:1 power-to-weight ratio, which is proving to be really fun

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

You are a brave man to drive that to work/school.

That little Berk seems a good target for a senior class prank.
I bet the football o-line could put it in any number of humorous places.

If you ever can't find it in the parking lot, check the girls bathroom, the roof, or the principal's office.

I like the badge idea - and "What's a Berkeley?" is a much better starting point for a conversation than, "What is it...?"
Although, in this instance you'd be justified in calling it a "Crunner Special"...

Nice exhaust! I'd make a slip-in baffle for the end, held by a couple screws and easily removed for adjusting the noise level. You can have one for long quiet rides and one or none for short trips.

Think of the exhaust as a series of pulses that can be reflected out of phase. Tapering passages allow response over a wide range of rpm rather than band pass for a specific engine like may mufflers.

The modern wheel really puts the size into perspective. Those massive, expensive tires and wheels are how they hide the size of the modern car.

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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

June 4/5-21

Not much of an update this week, but I did take the Berkeley out Friday night.. I went up to a 'cruise night' in the small city of Templeton, CA (about an hour north).. I'm beginning to worry about cooling.. It was 'warm' (maybe 80 degrees) on the way up there, and I pushed the car hard on the freeway and on a few hills/ grades.. I wanted to tax it and see what would happen.. Nothing alarming, but it seemed that once I got heat into it (heat sink), it was a struggle to get it back down below 200... again, nothing crazy, but it makes me wonder how she'll do when I'm somewhere and it's 90/100+ ambient temp.. At very least I think I have some vent/ductwork in my future..

So other than me being paranoid about what isn't yet a problem, the car ran great.. I met some cool people and stayed out too late, which had me drive home in the dark. Not a huge deal, but even in the daylight with excellent visibility this is a spooky car at 70 mph, and at night all I get to see behind me are the tiny white dots of headlights whose distance I'm still having a hard time gauging.. All went well, but speaking of headlights, the LED/ 5.75 housings I've cobbled together for this build work surprisingly well! I'm shocked at how much light they throw, and what a clean cutoff line they give.. No one flashed me the brights to indicate that I was blinding them, even though it felt like I was really lighting up the whole road, and the high beams are wonderful... I can see for miles with them

..As for work on the Berk; didn't happen this week. My wife's 2016 ND Miata got some love as I detailed it for her instead. It just now has 10K on it, so I rotated the tires, washed and waxed it, and cleaned and re-sealed the convertible top.

She looks super sexy when she's detailed... and I even find her attractive when she has not been detailed... What?! Oh! you wanna go there?...ok, for the record, she's also fabulous without a top

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

The core area of the 750 rad appears to be smaller than the 800 rads combined, plus the restriction of the engine bay to airflow and hauling more weight. The civic rad would work well.

If you have a 20x18 space (a little further back maybe?) and can run the lower pipe down the passenger side, the scion rad would work better than the civic rad. No filler and much more core area:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324268077261?f ... %3A2334524

_________________
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

As much as I want to disagree, I think this is where the solution will lie... this little baby 750 radiator may just be too small for the job. It is in fact marginally smaller that the 800 radiators (combined surface area).. I thought I could get away with it, but I may be up for a cooling rework it seems

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com

What you've done with that little car is amazing. I really admire your ingenuity and creativity. [Clearing throat, and entering JD Kemp mode] How-sum-ever, could you please paint, or at least primer, that little thing? I look at the body, and think it's got some kind of fiberglass skin cancer. Poor little baby! It deserves some primer/paint.

Thanks for your consideration, any way.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886