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Any swimming pool supply house. ..

Here's a listing local to you but I'm sure that there's more. http://www.spatacularhottubs.com/index.html

It's common trade name is "D.E.", it's considered to be (in California at least) an inhalation hazard.
Inexpensive and no "dangerous uses", no fancy paperwork needed.
Crushed fossilized shells of teeny tiny bugs.

Princess auto sells it if there is one near you

Over the last couple of days I've added a few more tubes including the scuttle support cross tube, some of the rear end, and the lower transmission tunnel tubes. However, I took the rear axle out of the donor Ranger this morning, and noticed that the pinion is offset about 3-4cm. This means I will have to have the transmission tunnel encroaching on passenger seat space in the rear.

Don't sweat the offset too much - drop the axle in place and see how much squeeze it will put on the passenger. I had the same issue with my Izusu rear end and jogged the rear end of the tunnel (rather like the book). But I'm a +4, and you're 'book' as i recall. But it should still be doable if you're picky about seats or build your own.

Thanks Warren, looks like that what I'll have to do. I laid the axle into the frame opening for a test fit yesterday, and the centre of the pinion lies directly in line with the lower right hand transmission tunnel bar which I had put into place earlier, so looks like I will need about a 2" jog to clear it safely. I'm unsure yet how far up the tunnel the jog should end and return to a longitudinal bar - perhaps I'll make that bar run slightly diagonally all the way to the front A tube.

I used an 8.8 Explorer axle in mine, you can look at my build log it might help or give you some ideas.

Al

A word of caution. Your transmission is a TK. They are not a very satisfactory trans, a big ratio jump from 1-2. By big, I mean 3.96 to 2.07. In addition, first is "hidden". When initially selecting first, you cannot feel its presence, you just have to know its there. In addition, they are not very robust (bearings), but that probably would not be a problem in a Locost.

Its replacement, the M5R1 is much improved and does not have any of these problems. While it is a bolt in replacement, it is bulky, shaped much differently and sits upright, not at an angle. In addition, the shifter location is forward about 6 inches. It is quite likely that a car built around a TK would have to be modified to accept the M5.

A Mustang 2.3 T5 is also a bolt in, but I know little about them other than the shifter is further back than on the TK.

Just thought you should know.

Bill

BBlue, I didn't notice the big jump from 1-2 when I was driving the ranger, but you may be right. However, the same Toyo Koygo transmission is used in the 3rd gen RX-7 turbo (though with a different shifter location), so it seems that durability should not be too much of an issue. The shifter location is not a big issue, as I will make a shifter adaptor anyway. Anyway, as this is a street car, I'm not going to be flogging it too hard.

Raceral, isn't the explorer axle wider? I seem to recall it was 59" or so.

Here's a pic of the rear axle being test fitted.


This shows the offset compared to the central tunnel quite well:

Yes you are very close 59.25 inches wms to wms for drum setup.
I was more thinking along the lines of the offset pumpkin in relation to the tunnel etc.
Moving the power train over an inch to the passenger side will help offset the flange slightly.

Al

I ended up with the rear of the tunnel on on the passenger side being offset a couple of inches, with the bar running straight (no kink) to the front of the tunnel, so the passenger area basically starts out narrow at the rear, widens towards the front, than gets narrow again in the footwell. Here's a pic of what I mean:


I also added the rounded top tube for the rear boot structure:


I'm hoping to have the major frame structure finished this weekend, and weld it fully next week.

I ordered some 1/2" heim joint rod ends, jam nuts, and weld in threaded bungs from Midwest Controls this week. That will allow me to start on my suspension in June. Still have to decide on shocks and springs, and design the A arms. A friend of mine from FSAE is visiting this weekend, so hopefully I can get some help with the design.

Making good progress!

Your tunnel solution will give a clean-looking cockpit, although you might have a smaller seat selection for the passenger - but that is a common issue.

The ranger pumpkin looks nice because the snout is short and doesn't go too far into the tunnel. My Isuzu snout is long and its a PITA to install or remove the rear end.

It would be a good idea to bolt up the rear end of the driveshaft before going much farther to ensure that there are no interference issues between the yokes on the universal and the vertical tube at the passenger-side rear end of the tunnel. Easier to adjust stuff now than later. Adjustment could include notching the offending tube if there is interference so the tube itself doesn't move.

My friend's Birkin has no tunnel structure whatsoever - just steel strap driveshaft loops, hidden by a removable GRP tunnel. Notching the vertical tube at the end of the tunnel (if necessary) would be small beans compared to no structural tunnel at all.

I couldn't agree with this more. My first trial fit, I had the axle resting about where I thought it would sit in the frame. Later, when I had all the links in place, the axle had moved an inch farther forward. That wiped out most of the overhead clearance, and I ended up having to tear out the O3 tube and weld in a new one higher up.

I would recommend raising the tube above the pinion to 11 or 12" opening (Ron's book has 10") - I had to do so on mine after the fact (axle contact on bumps, especially with 2 people in), and it was not fun.

I also had to move the two vertical tubes on either side of the tranny tunnel outboard another 3/4" each, to clear the axle width-ways.

Lethal Locost #2 is getting the driver's axle shaft shortened 2" to re-center the pinion (I just cut the entire ~offset~ tunnel out, and re-tacked everything centered).

Made some more progress today with a friend who came down from Edmonton. I'll post some pictures tomorrow, but basically the main things left to do on the frame are the triangulation members on the sides, the engine support tubes, and the panhard support diagonal. After that it's a matter of fully welding all the joints.

In regards to raising the O3 tube to provide more clearance for the diff, I had certainly considered it. Right now I have about 2.5" in bump from where the axle was sitting on the table, and another 2.5" available in droop between the rear axle and the lower tubes. That gives me 5" travel room total, which will probably end up being 3" bump/2" droop from static. If I have problems, I may notch out the horizontal tube.

SkinnyG - I'll be in Kelowna next weekend. Would love to be able to show my GF that these cars do actually exist on the road. Would you care to show off your creation?