LocostUSA.com

easier to get in trouble than to get out of it.

Zetec weighs at least 50 and maybe 75 lbs. more then the Duratech. The original motors are dry sumped in these cars and they don't have the large flywheels common these days. The Hewland is built in a VW case but it is upside down so that the transmission input shaft is below the halfshafts. The halfshafts are probably about even with the rear of the frame and they are about 8 inches behind the motor block. I'm guessing the motor is about 2' with the water pump and everything.

The sideplates may not bolt up right if the tranny is right side up. They may come in a flavor that would work though ( for bottom mounting on an upside down transmission ).

There are adapters from Kennedy for the Duratech and someone must make them for Zetecs also. Zetecs where used in some Formula FOrds in Europe, but they are considered to hurt the handling from the extra weight, that's even in cars that were designed for them.

In original form it would have weighed around 1100-1150 lbs. with the driver. The Xflow motor at 120 HP would be pretty exciting. Unless your someplace with long straights, it would be a great deal faster then a 450 HP Mustang and should be treated with a lot of respect. It will be extremely responsive. Some people are unable to drive these in a straight line without practice. With the hefty rear weight bias it will not tail slide easily like the Mustang. When it lets go, you will likely do a full rotation before you even notice,

You should Magnaflux things like the stub axles, steering etc. One of them failed Magnaflux on my car when I bought it. You should really look over the frame for cracks. If you don't find any look again. See if you can get a sense if the tubes are rusting out from the inside, especially the ones coolant went thru.

I like the original motors. They are retro, which is in keeping with the everything about that car. I think you will enjoy that when you drive. I do. Carbs feel different and they need to be driven a bit. Go for the driving experience.

Does it have a fuel cell? Forward braces on the main roll hoop? These things were added to the rules. Most of my driving was without them and they are a bit of a pain on these old cars, because there is not much room for those things.

So strip it to bare metal and paint it grey and go from there. All the nuts and bolts put together will not fill half a small coffee can. Put it up on sawhorses for all this work.

Toyota 4AGE with VW based gearbox (adapters, diffs and ratios available) would be the fast but budget way.

Not sure if you Guys got the Renault 16 in the US but that engine and box (all aluminium and very light) would keep it more on the timeline and a Lotus connection (the Lotus Europa used the R16 engine).

http://www.scatvw.com/

horizenjob wrote:

easier to get in trouble than to get out of it.

Zetec weighs at least 50 and maybe 75 lbs. more then the Duratech. The original motors are dry sumped in these cars and they don't have the large flywheels common these days. The Hewland is built in a VW case but it is upside down so that the transmission input shaft is below the halfshafts. The halfshafts are probably about even with the rear of the frame and they are about 8 inches behind the motor block. I'm guessing the motor is about 2' with the water pump and everything.

The sideplates may not bolt up right if the tranny is right side up. They may come in a flavor that would work though ( for bottom mounting on an upside down transmission ).

There are adapters from Kennedy for the Duratech and someone must make them for Zetecs also. Zetecs where used in some Formula FOrds in Europe, but they are considered to hurt the handling from the extra weight, that's even in cars that were designed for them.

In original form it would have weighed around 1100-1150 lbs. with the driver. The Xflow motor at 120 HP would be pretty exciting. Unless your someplace with long straights, it would be a great deal faster then a 450 HP Mustang and should be treated with a lot of respect. It will be extremely responsive. Some people are unable to drive these in a straight line without practice. With the hefty rear weight bias it will not tail slide easily like the Mustang. When it lets go, you will likely do a full rotation before you even notice,

You should Magnaflux things like the stub axles, steering etc. One of them failed Magnaflux on my car when I bought it. You should really look over the frame for cracks. If you don't find any look again. See if you can get a sense if the tubes are rusting out from the inside, especially the ones coolant went thru.

I like the original motors. They are retro, which is in keeping with the everything about that car. I think you will enjoy that when you drive. I do. Carbs feel different and they need to be driven a bit. Go for the driving experience.

Does it have a fuel cell? Forward braces on the main roll hoop? These things were added to the rules. Most of my driving was without them and they are a bit of a pain on these old cars, because there is not much room for those things.

So strip it to bare metal and paint it grey and go from there. All the nuts and bolts put together will not fill half a small coffee can. Put it up on sawhorses for all this work.

Now that's the stuff. Keep that sort of stuff coming.

It's already been stripped to bare metal and primed (I did a little prep when I first got it). After all the time spent fiddling with it I didn't see any signs of any rust to speak of and I didn't see any signs of cracking on the tubes or welds. It's been kept dry but it's pretty dusty nowadays. It's got no bolts. Perhaps a duratec will work. I'll have to see what's available in the aftermarket for them and see where I can find one. It doesn't have a fuel cell but I'll have to figure that out too. The interesting part will be packaging for the fuel cell. There's like zero space in the chassis for a 10 gallon lump. That's going to have to be custom anyway. I'll end up fabbing something... Where do you guys typically put your gas tank anyway, and how big is normal. A 200-250 mile range is what I'm shooting for. I'd like to be able to drive it to vegas and not worry too much about the "next gas 121 miles" sign if I just filled up. I've decided (well not decided but leaning pretty heavily toward) to do a metal skin (aluminum probably) on the body since it's to be a street-ish car. I think it'll be lighter in thin aluminum than fiberglass anyway. There's going to be enough stuff going in that's going to increase weight as it is.

I've got to try to be home in the daytime soon so I can get a set of pics for you guys.

In any case, I've started working up some sketches of ways to package things and I'm totally amazed at how much is going to have to be crammed into such a tiny space. One of my good friends is an electrical engineer and he's volunteered to work on the electrical and electronics package which helps keep that tidy. I'm more the mechanically inclined type, so I get to work out all the wrench-y bits.

Keep those links coming too... any company you can think of that's got parts and that you'd do business with. I'm kicking this build into high gear. Time for a gauge package too.

cheapracer wrote:Toyota 4AGE with VW based gearbox (adapters, diffs and ratios available) would be the fast but budget way.

Not sure if you Guys got the Renault 16 in the US but that engine and box (all aluminium and very light) would keep it more on the timeline and a Lotus connection (the Lotus Europa used the R16 engine).

http://www.scatvw.com/

That's a great idea! Those 4AGE's are cheap and plentiful and easy as hell to work on. I've seen a lot of head gasket issues but I think an o-ring'd HG will fix that shiat for good. If I can stuff that onto a vee-dub/porsche tranny, then that makes that whole thing kinda simple. Bellhousing adapters ought to be fun... Why am I dreading that?

Just some food for thought:

Honda has recently begun offering dry-sumped 1.5L fuel injected complete Fit motors and installation kits as an SCCA approved alternative engine for the Formula "F" class. I don't know the price, and I'm sure it isn't "low-cost", but it could potentially be the easiest modern motor to install...Provided you end up going with a Hewland as well. No the stock 115hp isn't anything crazy, but there is always aftermarket upgrades that could be done to it as well.

http://racing.honda.com/hpd/press-releases.aspx?id=5383

r3dn3ck wrote:
That's a great idea! Those 4AGE's are cheap and plentiful and easy as hell to work on. I've seen a lot of head gasket issues but I think an o-ring'd HG will fix that shiat for good. If I can stuff that onto a vee-dub/porsche tranny, then that makes that whole thing kinda simple. Bellhousing adapters ought to be fun... Why am I dreading that?

Good adapter kits are a breeze, not sure what the worry is...

http://www.kennedyeng.com/vw_por.htm

Good pics of LOTI here. The Type 69 is about half way down the page. Great pics! as for the fuel tank/fuel cell....I think he is sitting on it.
http://britishspeed.com/forum/showthrea ... 59&page=15





For everyone else the Loti are talked about by year and model number
The lotus 15
http://britishspeed.com/forum/showthrea ... 259&page=4

The Lotus 9, 10, 11
http://britishspeed.com/forum/showthrea ... 259&page=3

Lotus 5 6 7 8
http://britishspeed.com/forum/showthrea ... 259&page=2

Pics as promised:









And some with the old busted body (and a tail cowl mold) on it.








I got it set up on jack stands in the garage and I took a good look around it. It doesn't appear to have ever had coolant or any fluid running through the frame. That's a plus.

So, please tell me more about what I have. Somebody might even recognize the body work and be able to tell me about the history of its owner/driver or the car itself. That would be pretty amazing.

The gas tank on these is a wedge shape that goes under your back. They wrap around the driver a bit and hold about 5 gallons. A fuel cell would be smaller and also expensive, though if you don't have a tank already that may not matter much.

I don't recognize the frame, it may be a lotus I just don't know. Especially if it's a Lotus, you should be able to find pics. The little extension to the frame at the bottom rear seems unusual, it may have been added on, though I don't know why. Perhaps this car doesn't use a long radius arm on the bottom?

Do you have the suspension also? Would be nice to see the front and rear uprights and brakes. You can see from the body work that this car wasn't using a front radiator, the pics above show how those work. If it was set up for that the upper frames tubes usually extend forward a couple of inches from the front bulkhead and the radiator hoses connect to that.

Perhaps you can get a pointer to your local SCCA region and their newsletter. A picture posted there would likely get you results.

Another unusual feature of this frame is the way the upper frame rails are tucked inwards in front of the dash. Perhaps the radiators fit in there somewhere? Do you have any radiators?

All the parts I have are pictured.

I planned on fabbing pretty much everything. The suspension is one of those areas that I planned on having to sorta develop/reverse engineer. Knowing what was there to begin with of course makes things a heck of a lot easier.

Looking good. Can't wait to see how this develops... I've been wanting to do a retro formula car and a sucker for the old Lotus designs.

Just a suggestion, I'd redo the lower gussets on the rear bulkhead (bottom of 2nd pic) using a taco-style gusset in order spread the loads on face of the rectangular tubes and not the middle of the tube. However, if it's tied in to the tube running through the box section, then I take it back (looks like some work has been done to it... accident damage, maybe?)

GIVING IT AWAY!

Chassis and body parts and molds are free to anyone that'll come over to my house and pick it up. Located in Livermore CA. I can't seem to get started on it but I want it to go to someone that will make it shine.

I got it for free originally. Paying the deal forward.

I don't log in often but I will for a few days. Spread the word, it's free!

I have noted this at a well known and respected historic forum, I encourage to not give it away rashly and wait till a few of them see this over the next few days just in case it truly has some historic value please.

It's often a shame what happens to some notable cars when they end up in unknowing hands.

Roger that. I'd love for someone to restore it to its former hill climbing glory.

Hey-
You might try sending the pictures to Hayes Harris down at Wire Wheel (www.wirewheel.com) and see if he can identify it. Maybe it's historic... Worst case, he may offer you a few hundred bucks for it, he'll restore it and re-sell it. Just my .02.
HTH
JD Kemp