My locost build

Sept 2004

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:10:12 +0100

Well as you can probably guess, there has not been much to report recently
New additions to the family have quite rightly taken priority.
However things appear to be settling in to some sort of routine now, as a result I have managed to get outside
The chassis has not changed, but the donor has lost a good few pounds.
Pics will follow soon

Floor pan is a goer..

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:27:46 +0100

Progress, not a lot, but progress.
The sheet of steel that is to be the floor pan is now 5 smaller pieces. Two of which perfectly fir the appropriate holds in the chassis. Two more to go, then weld ‘em in!
Once the floor pan is done, I’ll complete the rear end..
Photos to come…

February 2008

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:33:22 +0000

Hmmm ..
That was the quickest year ever!

So what have I done?
Not a lot actually, I successfully managed to side track myself with my new hobby, air rifle shooting, and have been busy in the garage designing and making various air rifle targets that are now for sale here.

So the car.. what’s happened..?

I have primed the front wish bones
Assembled the hubs and attached the front wheels!
I have also welded a plate of steel to front of the chassis to between chassis rails LD and E
Suspension mount at the front has been fully welded and “mock” springs made to substitute the lack of real ones

Next goal is to weld in the floor pan.
I’m getting into the garage much more at the mo, so with luck and dedication there should be some progress (oh and my eldest daughter Mia will be driving next year, a bet was made that it would not be ready for her to learn in - I don’t want a pile of bits - if I should fail it should be a close thing
)

Jan 2007

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 10:23:18 +0000

Front suspension… Done. All bar a lick of paint.
Bracket on, welds cleaned up and primer sprayed
I’ll let the primer harden for a bit then pop in the bushes.
Then I have the top coil over bracket to locate and weld onto the chassis.

Nov 2006

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:22:33 +0000

Well, I failed my target! However I have made some good (for me!) progress.
All wishbones are welded up, the bottom ones have the plate fully welded in place.
All that needs doing is the brackets welding in place, a little cleaning up with the grinder
and a splash of paint.
Then it is onto the rear… or may be the engine.. or the floor pan!!!!!..

October 2006

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:21:21 +0000

Well I’ve done it again… Huge gap.
So what’s happened? Well, Dad has cleaned up the rear hub carriers on his lathe, they look lovely now.
I’ll be reusing the hub carriers from the sierra, they have been cut off from the funny swing\trailing arm thingy that Ford
supply. I’ll be making my own contraption to connect up to the de-dion and trailing arms.
So thanks Dad! they are great.
Picked up some tubing for the de dion bar. It is 2.5mm x 50mm square section tubing.
Not the best solution but should be more than man enough, it’ll be welded in the middle
in a way similar to the GTS tube.

In the photo gallery you can see the progress with the front wish bones, I’m pleased with them.

I have to remake the bottom bones as I messed the first set up.
Still the benefit is I will be using the larger CDS tube (25mm) to prevent the bending
some Locost users have experienced.
**TARGET** - for me!
Get the front end rolling by the end of Nov!!!
Not a huge task but… I am playing with making my own resetting air rifle targets and designing and
making a new stock for my air rifle… so plenty of distractions available!

Watch this space!
Ta ta

July 2005

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 10:19:11 +0100

Spent a fair bit of time experimenting with the foundry and burner
nothing really to show, prototype waste oil burner was cool!
Stripped nearly everything off the engine, jet washed it and managed to rest the chassis over it.
See the photo gallery for this month for more.
Ordered more bits, 2 x Landrover engine mounts at �3 odd each and a Westfield type 9
gear box mount at �12ish see costs page for more detail.

Feb 2006

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 10:19:45 +0000

….hmmm..big gap.
6 full months of nothing. I guess I have suffered ‘motivation block’. I’d go into
the garage and be totally unable to ‘get into it’ - the enjoyment had gone…
So I would go back into the house.
I can’t believe its been 6 months though!

Anyway, I’m back!!!.
Had a rustle round the garage and started the jig for the bottom wishbones and…
….enjoyment!! again!!! So motivation is back up - hence the update..
Lets see if I can get this thing rolling over the next few months?@%*&�???
More to come….

June 2005

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 10:18:40 +0100

Started work on the rear but ran out of tubing so that slowed things down
Completed the bulk of the bending brake, will post some piccies soon…
also did some experimentation with a home made pipe bender, this will be used for the back curves
and possibly the wishbones.. not sure yet…
Made some investigations on home foundries for melting aluminium - this looks cool so temporarily got side tracked onto that..
More on that to come in it’s own little section…perhaps

May 2005

Mon, 06 Jun 2005 10:16:14 +0100

Engine is out! Stripping final things off the bulkhead… brake cylinder, pedal box etc still needs to be done.
As a result of a thread in the locostbuilders forum I had a kind offer from a local builder
to ream my hubs out ready for maxi ball joints. Very pleased with that.
The big supprise was that he did not want anything for it!!!!!!!
Anyway, as his lovely Leugo is nearly ready to be SVA’d I’d decided a nice drop of Lanson would be in order
when it passes. So I dropped the bubbly off when I collected my hubs.
You know who you are, thanks VERY much!!!
I’ve not mentioned your name as I don’t want you swamped in requests for free-bees, you’ll have your car to enjoy very soon!!!

Discovered that the Transit Track Rod ends are M20 thread… and a dodgy taper…
Dad had a go at cutting the thread but the make shift die was not up to it
so I decided to buy the tubes made up…. �4.00 each from Lolocost while i was there id decided topick up some
lock nuts, Transit DRAG links M18 x 1.5 grand total �31.00.
Order turned up a couple of days after faxing the details over, unfortunately one of the ball joints was missing
So I called Robinhood and spoke to Sheena. Very helpful!!! She did some investigations and agreed to pop one in the post
It turned up a day or two later - Well done Lolocost! (a.k.a Robin Hood Sports Cars)
Now I have all the bits I can start considering the front wish bones…
I have noticed that the taper for the mushrooms is different to the Transit ball joints …
But a quick call to GTS and I was reassured that this was to allow “pre-loading” of the mushrooms?
Not entirely convinced of this, so if you know any different let me know, please
In the meantime, I have been fiddling with the diff and I am pleased with the result. I had to move the back most uprights of the tranny tunnel
to give better clearance and improved positioning of the diff, see July 2005 picture gallery…
I have also started working on a bending brake, this will be used for fashioning brackets, the rear de-dion hub carrier etc.
if it works well I’ll make a larger one to help with the fuel tank. Watch this space!!!