LocostUSA.com

That tubing came out well! I was looking at one of those flat stock benders the other day and wondering...

Nice progress on your build.
I like the old school method to bend tube, thought I was one of the few not to own a bender

Just wondering how far into the build can you go without a donor for dimensional info?

I'm anxious to start, but hesitant to strike an arc prior to finding a donor

Came out better than most tubing benders methinks.

I've not done it, but always fancied sand packing as the best way...

This is as far as i am going to go until a gather the rest of the major parts, like engine, transmission, rear end, and front hubs. Although i did base my frame dimensions on the size of the parts i plan on using.

where are you purchasing steel?


I checked around a bit, & looks like Alp Steel has the best prices & availability

http://www.buffalosteel.net/

They had all the tubing i needed surplus and it only cost me about $45 its worth giving them a call and seeing what they have.

I found a 1998 Twin cam saturn engine with 77 thousand miles, and picked it up last night.

Now i need to find a transmission and get to work on a bellhousing.

Lee,

I was just wondering about that very issue. Do you have any plans laid out so far? I was in the same situation with my love of VW's, but luckily the off-roading world came to the rescue.

Is there anything similar for the Saturn blocks? Were they totally unique or are they similar to another Mfg that will help you bolt something up?

Cheers,

Ken

Or. .. could you post a dimensional drawing of the rear of your recently acquired engine?

I have got some quick dimensions but I'm going to get some more accurite ones tonight or tomorrow and i will draw something up in auto cad.

It looks to be true that the top two bolts will line up correctly with a gm 60 degree V6 bellhousing but it will be interesting to see how the rest line up. I'm going to look into that as soon as i get a good drawing done.

Here is what i got after allot of screwing around. The task of measuring this ended but being really simple but for some reason i could not wrap my head around it for a while. The dimensions are precise to about .5 of a mm and the starter location is in there just for reference but if anyone needs dimensions for that let me know.

There are no adapters available that i have found so it looks like i am on my own. I think my first step is to acquire a bellhousing from a 4 Cyl. or V6 Camaro or a 4 Cyl. S-10. The top two bolt holes are in the right place and the correct distance from the center of crank. Having looked at all the different choices i like the S-10 the best because of the location of the clutch slave cylinder. The 95-02 Camaro ones seem to have a hydraulic throwout bearing that would be nice in the small space of a locost.

If anyone has a bellhousing they would like to donate to the search for new possible donors in the locost community it would be appreciated.

Lee

oh this is getting me excited!!!

Ok I'm looking for some advice. I have two options

Option 1 is to use a 60 degree v6 bellhousing and T5 out of a camaro. I will have to modify the bottom two bellhousing bolt holes. This is the simplest but i am using a book frame so the large T5 will give me space issues in the foot well along with the clutch slave cylinder located in poor place for the same reasons.

Option 2 is to use a smaller transmission like a toyota T50 this will be easier to package. In order to use this transmission i will have to fabricate a bellhousing which is something i am not afraid of doing it is just time consuming. This option also allows me the freedom to place the clutch slave cylinder in a convenient place. I really like the idea of a tubular bellhousing that i saw on a formula ford at the Watkins Glenn historics this fall it looks simple and easy to adjust all the the angles of the clutch fork, throwout bearing, and slave cyclinder.

Really? What was that, do you remember? Just curious. I've only seen simple adapters with upside down vw cases..

We had someone cast their own bellhousing. Check out Jack's thread on his high milage cars. I think he made one for a Kubuto Diesel.