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 Post subject: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 29, 2015, 2:52 pm 
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Joined: May 27, 2006, 9:46 pm
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
Well, many of you know me here - I've asked a LOT of questions, and gotten a lot of great answers over the years. Even answered the odd one from others, too.

My car is nowhere near finished, despite working on it, on and off, for almost 10 years :shock: My God, has it been that long??? In my own defense, many things got in the way, though - one divorce (i.e., almost bankrupted!), moving (3 times), retiring (did I mention almost bankrupt? Retirement doesn't help that at all!), getting re-married (she's a gift from God - let me keep the Locost frame on the family room carpet for 3 years while I scraped up the money & built a shop to build the car in), getting a new job (again, to keep out of bankruptcy - still paying the ex-wife), etc. etc.

For a few years, even once I got the shop built, I was working so much that all I could do was go out to the shop, stare at the car, and dream. *Sigh*.

What didn't help was that I allowed myself to fixate on one, overriding issue I was having (the starter wouldn't go into the bell housing). One day I got so frustrated that, having a few days off, I decided to hammer the problem until I solved it. Once I got past that, it was time to get back at the build!

Another thing that has re-energized me is that my father (now in his '80's), who has always been my indestructible rock in life, is in hospital after cancer surgery, and suddenly is incredibly frail. We've frequently been mistaken for brothers in past decades, strong and healthy, and now I'm faced with the reality of the fleeting nature of life. In the past year, I've lost several friends, my best friend of 45 years, a few family members, and a number of loving pets. It's been a tough year. As my goal has been to build a 7 since the early 1970's, and I don't know how many years I have left, it's time to "git 'er done".

Anyway, my plan is to re-publish a few of the initial photos to bring the log up to speed, then start adding the new stuff I'm working on as I go.

Thanks for bearing with me so far...I'll try to make it worth your while. And please, feel free to chime in with suggestions, comments, criticisms, concerns, questions, etc.!!

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 29, 2015, 3:21 pm 
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Joined: December 29, 2007, 10:41 pm
Posts: 1004
Location: Vancouver, BC
Sorry to hear about all your troubles, but great to hear that you're back at building the car. I'll keep a close eye on your build, as I'm using a Zetec in my own build.

Where about's in BC are you?

Rod


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 29, 2015, 3:29 pm 
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Joined: July 4, 2006, 5:40 pm
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Location: Novato, CA
Good to hear you're back at it, Zetec. Hopefully nothing but good luck for awhile.


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 29, 2015, 3:43 pm 
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Location: Massachusetts
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I've lost several friends, my best friend of 45 years, a few family members, and a number of loving pets.


There are bad days, and I am finding there are also bad years. It's great you have an angel in your life, hold on to her.

Let's get her done, we can help with everything from how to use a sledgehammer and how to cook up to whatever you run up against. It really is nice to see people who've been long time contributors on this forum staying around.

Take care of yourself, difficult times take a toll and I'm sure we have many people who look forward to your posts. We love pictures!
:cheers:

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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 29, 2015, 3:49 pm 
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Joined: May 27, 2006, 9:46 pm
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
I'm over on Vancouver Island, in Sooke (about 20 kms outside Victoria, for those not familiar with the area). Thanks for the interest!!! I may be calling on you for advice!!

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 29, 2015, 3:49 pm 
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Joined: May 27, 2006, 9:46 pm
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
Okay...to start off, I'll describe the build. Or two, actually, as my buddy is also building basically the same car.

Frame:

It's a McSorely design, modified somewhat. It's a +2+2+2 over book frame, but tapering to a book nose at the front, so a standard nose fits. We originally ordered a lot of parts from CMC (remember them?), but ended up having a huge hassle when the guy disappeared...with several thousand dollars of our money. In the end we got some of our parts (fenders, and noses), and the remainder of our money back. I had to make a few calls to accomplish that.

Engine:

For engines, we decided (well, I decided, and browbeat my buddy into going along with me) to use Ford Zetec 2-liter engines, on Weber carbs. As I'm a bit of a traditionalist, my thinking was thus - they look the part (Ford, 4-cylinder, twin-cam, 4 valves per cylinder), but are of reasonably modern manufacture. So, parts are available, the engines have modern metallurgy (so will last hundreds of thousands of miles, rather than tens of thousands), and they're lighter than the original Kent engines (with almost double the power).

The downside, of course, is that these engines 1) were designed to be transverse-mounted, and 2) were highly computerized (no distributor, etc.). Initially, we thought to run the original computer & attempt to "fool" the no-longer-applicable sensors, but this turned out to be a huge task, and quite possibly insurmountable.

We could, perhaps, have gone the Megasquirt route, but when we started off on this venture the MS systems were pretty much build-it-yourself propositions (on a good day, I can solder two wires together...if I'm lucky), and programming them represented a whole new technology I'd have to learn. Carbs, on the other hand, I understand.

So, we purchased dual Weber 45DCOE carbs & manifolds (my setup came from a Formula Ford race car), Fidanza alloy flywheels (mine is 8 lbs., all-in) and, so as to be able to turn the engines inline, bell housings from Quad4Rods to fit the Ford T-5 WC transmissions we decided to use.

Rear Axle & Suspension:

For the rear end, we're using Ford Pinto/Mustang II axles, with the original suspension mounts cut off & the usual 4-link + panhard/+ coilovers setup used. This axle is surprisingly light and, of course, simple. We originally considered using Heim joints at both ends of the links & Panhard rod, but decided that that might be a little...harsh. By the same token, we felt that poly bushings at both ends might be a little too compliant, so we used (fairly massive) Heims at the proximal (frame) end, and bushings at the distal (axle) end. We think that might work out just right.

Front Suspension
:

Front suspension is Mustang II uprights with dirt-track racing upper A-arms, home-fabricated lower A-arms, and again, coilovers. BTW, the GAZ fully adjustable & rebuildable coilovers were ordered from England, custom built to our specs. A very expensive bit of kit, but beautiful!

Ignition:

As we don't have distributors, and weren't up to building our own bespoke computers, we purchased simple, 2-D-mapped ignitions from Quad4Rods (now, they have 3-D mapped systems...*sigh*). They're basically a 1980's GM ignition module, modified into "run home" mode, with 10* static (idle) advance, and another 14* added in over the next couple of thousand RPM's. To use this system, we shipped our crank pulleys to them, and they modified them with a trigger wheel. They also sent us gorgeous CNC-machined pickups that bolt directly to the Zetec engine. Simple system indeed - 4 wires, total - ignition (12V), ground, signal input from the aforementioned pickup, and a tach-output wire. Even I can wire that up!

Body work:

We're using our original CMC-sourced rear fenders & noses. We originally planned to use the gull-wing front fenders as well, but owing to the change in angle in the sides of our frames (+2 tapering to book noses), they don't fit at all. My buddy still plans on using his, but splitting them lengthwise & fiberglassing in wedge-shaped fillers to make them fit the frame angle. I decided to go with cycle fenders...much easier, much lighter, and much less induced front-end lift in an already light car. If I change my mind, I can always modify my gull wing fenders & add them later. BTW, I bought my cycle fenders from C.O.L.D., here in BC. Nice quality (far better than the CMC stuff, too). The rest of the bodywork will, of course, be aluminum. I'm both dreading & looking forward to pounding & fitting the alloy panels...

Interior
:

I'm using seats from a Miata. Due to their width (and the narrow cockpit), it was necessary to remove the recline mechanism & substitute a plate (T-6061). This works fine, and is very strong. In order to have access to the area behind the seats, I welded hinges onto the front of the upper seat sliders (the sliders still work), and a remote, plunger-activated latch mechanism at the rear of the sliders. So, the seats can be tilted forward, even if the recline doesn't function. That was a LOT of work!

As for the dash, I'm (again) a bit of a traditionalist...and perhaps a bit of a masochist. I'm going with black leather (or quality vinyl) over high-end marine ply, and a full suite of 6 Smiths (MGB-sourced) gauges. All the gauges are in good nick, and all function, but...getting the tach (for example) to speak the same language as my ignition may be...challenging. We'll see. The fuel gauge, at least, works as fitted, as I'm using a Triumph Spitfire fuel tank (looks like it was designed to fit a Locost!) & matching sender unit, both of which speak the same language as the fuel gauge.

So, that's the basic design parameters in a nutshell. From this point on, I'll try to keep the prose to a minimum & start adding pics!

_________________
Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 29, 2015, 4:05 pm 
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Joined: December 29, 2007, 10:41 pm
Posts: 1004
Location: Vancouver, BC
Sounds like a good start. I'm curious about the ignition system, is the GM a 36-1 system or something else? And is the 24 degrees total advance going to be enough? I'll soon be looking at ignitions, but I'm leaning more towards Megajolt as I've already got an EDIS module and coil pack.

And I'm sort of familiar with Sooke, I used to sell parts to a chap called Peter Lee in Sooke who was restoring MGs.

Good luck with the build.

Rod


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 12:50 pm 
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
To be honest, I don't know much (okay, squat!) about ignition systems. The module is the standard unit fitted to all 4-cylinder GM cars in the early-mid '80's (a "lost spark" system), apparently modified to not require any input from anything except the one sensor, so it's a stand-alone of sorts.

We had our doubts before we bought them, but the designer (John Ehrlich) advised us that the system works great for street driving, and added that he holds a land speed record on a 2-liter Zetec-engined car on Webers using this ignition. He felt that the 24* total advance was appropriate for the Zetec, on carbs. I bow to his expertise...

Looking back, it's hard to say if I would have gone to MS or something, even if I knew enough to build & program one. I suspect that mapping on a carburated engine is less important than it is on a fuel injected one.

I'll take a picture of the module & sensor block and post it here. You'll probably be able to tell me more about it!!

One issue, though (and it might seem a silly one) is plug wires. The Zetec, having exceptionally deep (in my experience) plug wells, has unusual plug wire ends, and nothing else I've found will work. That raises the problem - the Zetec wires are precisely the right length for the Ford module, but no more. As the GM module sits a minimum of 2" further away from the end of the cylinder head, wires 2" longer are needed. Plus, the GM module ends of the wires are completely different from the Ford ends (kind of a male-to-male problem). My research has not revealed any GM-style wires that will work with the Zetec head, so I need some kind of bespoke wires to do this.

While pondering this issue, I recalled that, years ago (when everybody made up their own plug wire sets from easily-available parts), there were splicers available in the event that one of your wires came up short, or if you damaged one mid-wire. I asked around at auto parts specialty places etc., and they looked at me like I had two heads. They can't seem to get around the idea that anyone could require anything other than a factory-made set for a specific car model. I did some more research, and discovered that NGK still makes splicers. They're far better than the ones I remember, being both waterproof, & intended as a permanent part of the wire. They're actually intended for modern wires, specifically where the plug wire is integral with a coil pack, and a damaged wire could force someone to buy the entire module, coil pack, etc. (which, on some vehicles, can cost thousands). Basically, the splicer is like a double-ended compression fitting, with a conductor in the middle to fit into each of the two wire ends.

I've ordered 4 of these. My thinking is that my buddy will need to do the same, so if we order a set of generic V-8 GM plug wires, we'll get the coil ends of the wires we need (enough for both of us), and the means to add them onto our Zetec pulg wires.

Such are the trials and tribulations of the scratch-builder, eh? :roll:

_________________
Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 1:03 pm 
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We are Slotus!
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My thinking is that my buddy will need to do the same, so if we order a set of generic V-8 GM plug wires, we'll get the coil ends of the wires we need (enough for both of us), and the means to add them onto our Zetec pulg wires.

Such are the trials and tribulations of the scratch-builder, eh?


Trials and tribulations, yes, but a brilliant and elegant solution! Good on ya!

:cheers:
JDK

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"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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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 1:07 pm 
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
So, as I said, I'll start off with some archival pics of the frame build. There's nothing unusual here, I suspect, for anyone reading this, but for the sake of continuity...


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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 1:11 pm 
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
...more old stuff...


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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 1:28 pm 
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Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Hey, good to see your build on here. The Zetec is an engine I've thought about if I were to build another 7, that or a Duratech 2.0.
Kristian

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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 1:41 pm 
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More pics...


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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 1:49 pm 
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
And more...


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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Long-term +2 build
PostPosted: September 30, 2015, 2:03 pm 
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
Steering stuff...


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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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