University High School's 442 build log

tpark94 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:48 pm

hi iv been lurking for a while and have always waned to build a locost. Finally we are building one at my high school as part of my independent study with a few other people. I had shown the designs and this forum to my tech teacher and he liked the idea of a locost. We started construction on the frame last week and dont have a donor car yet but wer looking for a miata as our donor.

im very excited to finally be building this

horizenjob · **Posted:** Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:41 am

Excellant! Keep us posted. You're going to have a lot of fun with this, and that's the best kind of work... :cheers:

(root beer)

oldejack · **Posted:** Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:42 am

rock and or roll dude!

GonzoRacer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:22 am

Yo!!!
Hey guys, that is a GREAT project for "shop class"!!! Good on ya! Please do keep us posted on your progress.

So, who gets to make the first "Test Drive"???

:cheers:

(Dr. Pepper, better'n root beer!)
JD Kemp

gtivr4 · **Joined:** Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:17 pm **Posts:** 548

Awesome! I wish I had done something like that in High School. Practical projects like this will teach you (and your teacher) SO much more than your average classroom. Make sure to keep us updated and best of luck!

tpark94 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:05 pm

im sure i will have fun with it and will be sure to keep you updated

in the past 2 days iv been starting to tack some of the pieces together and its really starting to take shape

Earley Motorsports · **Posted:** Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:05 pm

Hi Parker. This is going to be a great project and I look forward to helping you guy's which ever way I can. I am looking forward to meeting all of you on Tuesday.. As I live in the Bloomington/Normal area, Parkers teacher, Cory, approached me about giving some advice and I am honored to do so. When the weather gets better I will take my car over for some inspiration and give some rides if there is any interest. :roll:

As Marcus said :cheers:

(root beer)

carguy123 · **Joined:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 2:25 am **Posts:** 2362

I think this is a very cool deal. Wish we'd have done something like this or even had a shop when I was in school, but please don't let this take time away from your English class.

I'm not trying to be mean, but helpful. Spelling and learning to write are skills that you'll be using all your life.

If you want a good job or even a promotion, the ability to write coherently makes all the difference in the world. Look on this forum as a way to practice your skills. This way you'll kill 2 birds with one stone.

tpark94 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:36 pm

carguy123 wrote:

I think this is a very cool deal. Wish we'd have done something like this or even had a shop when I was in school, but please don't let this take time away from your English class.

thank you for the advice, ill be sure to check my spelling more when posting :oops:

Earley Motorsports wrote:

This is going to be a great project and I look forward to helping you guy's which ever way I can. I am looking forward to meeting all of you on Tuesday.. As I live in the Bloomington/Normal area

it will be nice to have your help on the project and am excited to see your car when the weather gets better.

krepus · **Posted:** Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:17 am

Judging by the all "lower case" text and lack of punctuation, I'd say he was posting via cell... Welcome to the forum and keep up the studies; believe me, it's worth it...

*Posting via cell too, but I know where the shift key is... lol! :ack:

Blackbird · **Posted:** Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:40 pm

Cool school project and welcome to the forum!

You might have a plan for this but just in case you overlooked it I want to point out to you a couple of things while they are still rather easy to fix.

The miata donor that you're looking for has independent rear suspension (IRS, in short), but the pieces that were tacked together are build as if you were doing a solid rear axle (SRA).
That vertical rear tube is used to connect the suspension links to which is why it is designed to stand that way and not connect to the joints of the other tubes that are right next to it.

In a car with IRS, there's no need to put it over there and in fact it would be better to connect it to both common tube joints that are above and below it.

With that said, in the Lotus / Caterham cars, the horizontal tube that defines the shape of the cockpit isn't horizontal at all, it is actually sloping down towards the rear.

I'm attaching pics to show you what I mean.
GLWYB!

Moti

bremms · **Posted:** Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:21 pm

The vertical tube should be perpendicular to the bottom tube if you are using
a solid axle as that is where the trailing links attach. The top tube looks better
sloped. Didn't slope mine, kind of wish I had, but no matter. Keep it going!!

tpark94 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:47 pm

Blackbird wrote:

In a car with IRS, there's no need to put it over there and in fact it would be better to connect it to both common tube joints that are above and below it.

With that said, in the Lotus / Caterham cars, the horizontal tube that defines the shape of the cockpit isn't horizontal at all, it is actually sloping down towards the rear.

Moti

Thanks for the examples, I showed your post to my teacher and he said he would have to think about it over the weekend but I like the sloping horizontal tube. I think it will help the look of the car. The picture of yours I reposted is the design change that I like the most we will just have to figure out what approach to take in changing that part of the frame.

Attachment:

LocostIRSSlopeTube.jpg [ 77.89 KiB | Viewed 3135 times ]

tpark94 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:15 pm

Today we started to lay out the rest of the bottom part of the frame and will be hopefully get them all tacked tomorrow. Also we have Graham Earley of Earley Motorsports visiting after school to see the progress and give us tips if needed. We all look forward to meeting him.

dhempy · **Posted:** Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:01 am

Relating to moving the M1/M2 tubes:

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2858

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University High School's 442 build log

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