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Build Diary Entries

7/16/06 - The frame is finally painted.  I had been dreading the job, but in the end, it was not too bad and now it is done.  I am feeling good at this point, because things will start to go together in a more permanent fashion from here forward.  The first order of business will be to get the hard lines for the brakes and fuel run through the tunnel.  At the same time, I will be getting the rear end cleaned up and back together so that it can be put in place.

6/15/06 - Another milestone has been reached.  All major fabrication on the chassis is done.  I am now in the process of tearing the car down for painting the chassis.  I am not necessarily looking forward to painting the chassis, as it will probably prove to be a bit tedious.  But it will be GREAT to get that done.  It means that the car will start to got together for good.  There is still lot of work ahead, but as the car starts coming together, my motivation should keep going up also.

5/21/06 - As you can see, I don't write in here that much.  Most everything gets documented in the construction pages.  I am pretty excited abut the recent progress.  I have set a goal of getting the car finished this year, and so far things seem to be on track.  I am now down to a list of things to do that is less than a half page long before the frame is ready for painting.  The fact that I am so close to that point is really keeping the motivation up.

On another note...I think that I have decided on a different color scheme that I had originally planned.  The car was going to be all silver (bare brushed aluminum) and black.  Now it is going to be orange and black.  I recently was given a sample of the pre-painted aluminum, and think that it will be perfect for what I want to do.  Since my car is going to be for track and autocross use only, the perfect paint job is not a high priority.  Although I promise it will be very presentable when it is done...

2/6/06 - It feels good to be working on the car again.  There has been steady progress made over the past few weeks.  The scuttle frame is done, the bike engine mounts are done, the steering is done except for welding it all up, the pedals are done as well.  I have decided to focus on getting everything done related to the frame as far as fabrication goes.  My goal would be to get all the fab work done by spring and get some paint on it.  That way, everything that gets bolted onto it will be for good from that point forward.  I am just glad to see some progress and motivated by it.

1/8/06 - Well...it has been a LONG time since I wrote in here, much less updated the web page.  I have been making some headway on the car.  The task at hand today is to get a good start on updating this tired old web page.  More to come...

5/11/03 - After taking some time off I am back at it again.  I have been helping a friend build a Factory Five Cobra and I have been building a roll cage for a E30 325 BMW that will be a track car (not mine).  I have just finished my mumford linkage and it seems to work quite well.  After I finish the rear I will be rebuilding the front.  Wider A arms are needed and a geometry change is needed to work with the Mustang II spindles.

8/20/02 - A couple of things to talk about this time.  First, I have completed the roll bar for the car.  It is much more substantial than most seen on a car of this type.  The tubing used is 1.5" x .095" wall DOM.  It is a 6-point design and features a diagonal brace, a harness bar, and side bars that serve both to protect the driver from the waist up and to make the rear half of the car more rigid.  I am convinced that the rest of the car will crumple around me before the roll cage fails.  I hope to never test it out.  It may look like a big heavy mass of steel but it only weighs less than 45 lbs!  1.5x.095 tube weighs 1.42 lbs/foot x 30 feet.

Mounting the rear end is the next order of business.  I chose to make my own linkages using .75"x.156" DOM tube tapped to accept 1/2" rod ends.  The brackets are made from 1.5" x 3" x .125" square tubing with one end cut out.  The goal in the design was to make the 4-link suspension very adjustable so that I can experiment with geometry.  The lateral locating device still needs to be put in place.  I plan to forgo the panhard rod and use a mumford linkage instead.  The mumford linkage will allow for a low roll center and will keep the axle located in the center through the suspension travel. 

6/26/02 - It has been a while since I updated the diary.  I have made some good headway during that time.  I located a disk brake posi rear from a first gen. RX7 along with all the e-brake hardware for $50.  It was a good find.  The floor pans are welded in and the driver's seat is now securely mounted in place. 

I have also done some modification to the frame to suit my project.  First, I cut the top side rails from the scuttle rearward and dropped them down in the rear to make the car more closely resemble the original 7.  Also I removed one of the vertical members in the transmission tunnel and replaced it with 1/8" plate (bent at the intersection for strength) in order to clear the drive shaft.  The center section of the rear axle is offset 1 1/8" to the right and this modification is necessary to compensate.

4/4/02 – I finished fabricating the transmission crossmember.  I wanted it to be removable to aid in engine pulling and replacing.  I used the original Corolla crossmember and some 1 1/8” steel angle.  See the gallery for more detail.

3/31/02 – The motor mounts are complete and the engine is in the car.  I was able to get the parts laser cut for the mounts at a local shop for $70 including the 3/16” steel material.  By using AutoCAD to make paper templates, I was able to trial fit everything before spending $$$ on the laser cutting.  Everything welded together and fit perfectly on the first try.  I used universal motor mounts from Energy Suspension (Part #9-4101) for isolators.  The next task will be to install the seat so that I can place all the controls in reference to it. 

1/30/02 – Next was getting the engine and transmission together and ready to place in the car.  I had a Toyota T-50 transmission from an ’81 Corolla that was originally bought as a donor car for $25.  It used a 3TC engine that looked to be slightly on the large side to fit under the hood of a seven replica.  I had also acquired a Toyota 4AGE engine from a first gen. MR2.  I located a bellhousing and mated the two together.  The engine and transmission will be placed in the frame and supported so that I can design and fabricate the engine mounts.  I will design the various plates using AutoCAD and take them to a local sheet metal fabricator.  They can laser cut any design out of sheet for a nominal fee as long as I provide a CAD drawing file.  I will then weld it all up and bolt it in.

1/12/02 – Spindle mounting is next on the list.  I decided to use Mustang II spindles due to their popularity and the fact that they were free from a car in a friend’s field.  A stock lower ball joint was modified slightly and used.  The upper locating would require a different solution.  I wanted to have plenty of and fairly precise adjustment for camber.  I would also like to have a bit of adjustment for the geometry as well.  A standard tie rod assembly would not provide any of this.  I decided to use a tapered insert that is used for a monoball assembly in stock car suspension setups.  I then could used a heavy duty 5/8” rod end which allowed for more camber adjustment.  By using spacers under the rod end, the geometry can be altered if desired.

12/30/01 – I started fitting the front suspension.  I ran into my first snag in the build.  The metal inserts for the control arm bushings were ½” dia.  The holes in the mounting brackets were slightly smaller than that.  All the brackets had to be drilled to ½”.  Another problem encountered was the fact that the brackets that the control arms mounted to were not exactly “in-line” with each other.  This made it difficult to get the bolts through and the arms had some binding through their travel.  I made a tool to easily “adjust” the brackets slightly by using the kit-supplied panhard rod with a bushing assembly installed in one end.  By tweaking the brackets slightly, assembly is now a breeze and there is no binding in the suspension.

12/15/01 – The journey begins.  My wife and I drove from Roanoke, VA to Richmond, VA to pick up my new Stage 1 Locost Seven kit.  It will be a most memorable trip for one reason alone…rain.  It rained the entire way to Richmond, stopped once we were about a mile from the freight terminal, and it rained for the entire drive back.  I was concerned that I would end up with a big mass of rusted tubing, but the car faired well and we simply dried everything off well once we were home. 

Project Goals (Original from 2001) – Since this is my first attempt a building a car, the main goals are to make it safe to drive and to learn a lot in the process.  I currently participate in SCCA Solo II (autocross) events along with some open track driving.  I plan on using the Locost Seven for both purposes as well as trying to make it street legal for cruising around on nice days.  The car will incorporate some enhanced features to improve performance.  They include a very adjustable suspension both front and rear, adjustable brake bias, and a custom digital fuel injection system.  Safety will be key for the project also.  There will be proper racing seats, harnesses, structural enhancements where needed, and an improved roll bar/cage.