FastG wrote:
Chuck is correct, I have a book frame, that was Miata powered. It used a Miata engine and trans, uprights, but I 1st Gen RX7 solid rear axle. It has a 1 1/4 square tube spacer that runs from the nosecone to the scuttle. This was because the car originally ran a late NB Miata engine with VVT. The Miata VVT valve sticks straight up from the front of the can cover, so that is what required the spacer. That extra room was then used by the Honda K24A2 engine. I wish I had a little more headroom in the engine compartment as the Honda motor sits a little to low for my liking and I would like a little extra ground clearance.
But I do fit in the car, I am 6'3" and 230 pounds, it not exactly roomy but once strapped in with the 5 point harness you don't need much room. But that said, I would pick a larger frame if I started again, because of the engine compartment space, not the passenger compartment space. But the passenger space would be a bonus.
Graham
According to drawings I have found, the Champion book frame is 42" wide at the bulkhead behind the seats and the Gibbs book frame is 44" wide at that point. The length of the cockpits appears to be the same at 53.5". Which book frame did you make? I have been planning on using a 1994-1997 NA Miata in order to get the 1.8 engine. I see that the Gibbs frame is 1" taller than the Champion frame and I like that.
Also, I had been wondering why many locosts look to me a little different than a Lotus Seven around the cockpit area. I think it may be that the Lotus scuttle is farther back than cars with the book frame, making the locost cockpit look more wide open. The only Lotus Seven drawings I could find didn't have that dimension, or the drawing was at such low resolution that I couldn't make out what the drawing says.