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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: January 26, 2017, 8:56 am 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Hey Howard,

I would like to ask my family in Wilcox, McNeal to come take a look. I will be getting stationed back in the states this summer. Not sure where yet. I've been wanting to build a Locost and your project would be a great way to jump in with both feet. Did I mention I haven't really learned to weld yet...? :lol:

My nephew, Jason, is a very handy guy with his own shop. He works for Cochise County as a heavy equipment mechanic. I would like to have him go take a look if you're okay with that.

I'll shoot you a PM with my contact information.


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PostPosted: January 26, 2017, 12:05 pm 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Hey Everyone,

Howard just replied, so he's obviously still hanging in there. :wink:

I'll ask my nephew to swing by. Maybe even take a picture or two to post.

More to follow... :D

Rob


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PostPosted: January 26, 2017, 1:09 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2008, 2:13 pm
Posts: 5326
Location: Carlsbad, California, USA
Thank you, Rob. I'm glad to hear he's OK. I hope his project works out for you.

I wonder if he ever got that MGB?

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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PostPosted: January 26, 2017, 1:13 pm 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
He posted earlier and just confirmed in an email that he has the MGB, but has only driven it around his property.

I'll report back with more later.


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PostPosted: January 26, 2017, 4:18 pm 
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Joined: July 6, 2008, 11:15 am
Posts: 1047
Location: Cave Creek, AZ
I would love to take on that Locost project of his but my fun money is too low right now.

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Sometimes, I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar.

My short term memory is absolutely horrible and so is my short term memory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG16m2e4O6I


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PostPosted: January 31, 2017, 3:56 pm 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Jason went by and saw Howard this weekend. It sounded like they hit it off pretty well.

Here is Howard and his Duratec 442 project.

We're exchanging emails back and forth.

Oops. File is too large. I'll try again later.


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PostPosted: February 1, 2017, 8:03 am 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Hey Everyone!

Here is Howard and his Locost! :D

(Hopefully soon to be my Locost... :wink: )

I think my nephew Jason has found a new friend. They live just a few miles from each other and seem to have a lot in common.

The frame is mostly just tacked together, so it isn't ready to come off the build table anytime soon. Howard said I can leave it there until I get back to the states this summer. Then I will HAVE to learn to weld! :lol:

Hey Howard!

Folks are still anxious to read about your Salt Flats racing stories! Let's hear it! :wink:


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PostPosted: February 1, 2017, 8:10 am 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Here is another shot.

I look forward to the challenge of helping Howard organize a few things this summer.


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PostPosted: February 1, 2017, 8:34 am 
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We are Slotus!
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Joined: October 6, 2009, 9:29 am
Posts: 7651
Location: Tallahassee, FL (The Center of the Known Universe)
Yo, Howard!
Nice lookin' shop you got there! How are you? How's that MGB doing?

So, I've got a cup of hot coffee here, and I'm waiting to hear about Bonneville...

:cheers:
JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom


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PostPosted: February 1, 2017, 2:51 pm 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Hey Locosters!! Make a trip to Wilcox, AZ for a 24 Hours of LeMons race and swing by and see Howard too! Better yet, swing by Howard's first and take him with you!! :D

The race is April 8-9.

http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/events-r ... dium=email


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PostPosted: February 14, 2017, 1:01 pm 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Hey Everyone,

Howard and I made a deal on his project. I'll be heading to Arizona this summer to pick it up on my way back from Germany.

He isn't getting around very well right now and is very tired. His medication is messing with his blood pressure again. He just doesn't have the energy to tell us a Salt Racer story right now.

Jason is checking in with him pretty regularly. I'll keep you posted.


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PostPosted: February 21, 2017, 12:35 pm 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Awe Man!!
Two pages of posts (including Howard's tales) are gone. :cry:

Is there any way to recover those posts?


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PostPosted: February 27, 2017, 6:27 am 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
It's really disappointing that Howard's Bonneville stories were lost. :cry: I had planned to copy them to include with the story of his Locost project that I will be continuing. I was a day late and a dollar short.

Maybe Howard will feel up to re-posting at least a portion of it for us.

Jason went by and saw him again this weekend and Howard's son should be spending a few days with him this week.


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PostPosted: February 27, 2017, 1:40 pm 
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Joined: April 5, 2008, 2:25 am
Posts: 4829
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
ALL IS NOT LOST!

I liked Howard's story so I cleaned it up a little and posted it on my Facebook page for all my car guy friends. So minus only the very last sentence here it is.


:D howdy,

A little story about my philosophy that has served me well. I was struggling at work with all the projects I was working on being cancelled and I needed to have a feeling of accomplishment.

Most of the classes at Bonneville are burdened by rules that somebody is always challenging when you beat them so I took the east way out.

Streamliners are the premier class on the salt and the rules were simple. "Must have at least 4 wheels. Not required to be in rectangular pattern. At least 2 must be covered. " All the rest of the rules concerned minimums on tubing, fire equipment, etc. B asically build a safe car and have fun. I had found my home.

I bought a bunch of books from the SAE Book store on automotive aerodynamics and spent some time visiting with Dr. Scott who taught aerodynamics at the University of Arizona.

Contrary to popular belief what our mind likes sometimes is an aerodynamic disaster or wants to fly. Not good. A couple of basics here.

(1. It takes more horsepower to get out of the air than it does to punch a hole in at assuming you are not ramming a flat plate forward

(2. Once aerodynamic drag exceeds available traction, adding power will NOT make you go faster.

Using those basics I designed a car at the kitchen counter and starting buying parts. This was 1986 in Tucson , Az.

The existing record in I/ Streamliners ( 750 to 1000 cc.) was about 147 MPH held by a dentist on the East coast with a 2 liter Cosworth Vega with two pistons and all the associated gear removed.

My good friend Bryan Savage from Cal. and I talked constantly and he said" why don't you put a motorcycle engine in it?" I found a 1986 Ninja 1000 R motorcycle In Phoenix with 8xxx miles on it. The rider had failed his depth perception test and it was totalled. I brought the whole bike back home.

My philosophy is KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.

I used all the wiring and whatever I could from it and integrated it into the car. The clutch lever was mounted on the firewall and foot operated, etc. 2" diameter tube for rear axle mounted on high speed flanged bearings.

Ninja front discs mounted on a simple hub I made on my Atlas lathe, available sprockets mounted on homemade hut (?) and away we go.

The car was covered with .060 aluminum I hand formed and I made to molds and laid up the glass nose, top of tail, and some of the canopy myself. When complete and ready to go with the water tank and fuel full with me in it weighed 1090 pounds.

The car had a nose down attitude ro keep it on the ground and used M & H front drag car tires. 15" x skinny.

First meet out using Texaco gas from the Wendover, Ut. station we went almost 200 against the 147 record.

Boy did we cause a stink!

They called an emergency meeting at a casino and tried to outlaw motorcycle engines in cars. They failed.

The following year we turbocharged the ninja with 25 psi and eventually raised the record to 256 MPH two way average with a best pass of 262.

That record has been broken of course but we bumped an existing record about 100 MPH which is unheard of on the salt.

Some of us try to out engineer ourselves and over complicate things. Complexity increases weight, reduces reliability, raises cost and increases maintenance and effort.

My elevator may not go all the way to the top floor but that KISS works for me. We set the record in 1988 and my wife discovered she had cancer so a guy in Florida bought the liner, put suspension in it with twin engines and never went faster than Bryan and did.
KISS works.

Howard :cheers:

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.


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PostPosted: February 27, 2017, 3:20 pm 
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Joined: January 14, 2016, 4:16 am
Posts: 118
Location: Brandenburg, KY
Dude!! You ROCK!!!

Thank you! :cheers:


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