LocostUSA.com

So, I think that in some aspects, I'm SOL and in others.. I may have gotten a sweet deal..

It looks like they may be early late 90's early 2000's corbeau seats out of a special edition something or other.

So they aren't cheap seats.. but the bad news is there ain't a snowballs chance in hell they still make the leather for em. looks like I'm breaking out the needle to fix em up a bit.

_________________
Tucker

Will the seats fit in the frame or are you going to have to narrow them a bit?

Dave,

At first glance, they should fit with the bolsters squeezed slightly. They are 2.5" narrower than the corbeaus, which should give me ~5" for a driveshaft tunnel, which should be plenty of space. worst case scenario,I cut down some of the foam on the outside of the side bolsters.

The problem with the corbeaus is the frames themselves were too wide. I would have to trim the fiberglass to make them fit.

_________________
Tucker

So.. the seats aren't going to fit, I'm going to have to trim ~1" from them, which is actually really doable. I can do it in just the side bolster foam, maybe trimming the frames a wee bit.

in retrospect, I should have gone with a +2 wider frame.. but hindsight is 20/20 and I dont think I really realized just how wide most current seats are.

First, a motor mount vibration isolator!



4 hockey pucks for $8 shipped.. plus $4 in grade 8 hardware, and tadaaaaa. two motor mounts.



All tacked up.. other side is the same.

Next up was transmission mount. The trans still had the factory mount on it.. but it was much too wide for my use, although it would have been easily adaptable.


So I bent 3/16" flat stock to fit the mounting tabs. And then I forgot to take more pictures of it finished.. but its basically just the same 1.5" 11 ga square tube I used for the motor mounts with an isolator between it and the flat stock.



heres a picture of the whole drivetrain being supported by the motor and trans mounts.. slack chain!



next up I started boxing in the firewall area/ area around the footwell and realized that until I build some manifolds, I needed something to maintain the clearance I needed.. so flippity flop and the exit is out of the way, while still retaining a solid spacer.



structural work..



with a little up and over of the transmission



and then I started building the tunnel



Then laid the bottom two center rails leaving 1" of space on either side of the driveshaft.


I decided to cut down to 3/4" tube for the remainder of the tunnel.. which I'm pretty sure champion does in his book anyways. I figure that the cage will help bump whatever stiffness or rigidity I may lose from stepping down.. but I need the extra room in the center, I'm also going to taper the trans tunnel from the bottom to the top. 6" wide at the base and 4" wide at the top.

I left off the night by constructing the side uprights and making the rear shifter mount. The shifter is easily removed via a locking pin at the transmission side, and it simply slides through a 3/4" 16ga square tube with a 1/2" hole bored through it.




couldn't have asked for a nicer day.. 65* and sunny.. weather is finally coming around these parts..

_________________
Tucker

Also.. forgot to take some pictures, but there is no chance of making it left hand drive. the oil pan would have been a conquerable obstacle, but the side of the transmission houses the crank sensors and even with a massively cut down pedal box, there's no way its happening. oh well!

just one more conversation piece for when its ultimately done.

_________________
Tucker

I'm really interested how this will turn out. Are you using the S10 diff? Have you test fit it?
I used the S10 diff and I had to have ~6" ID throughout from top to bottom of the tunnel because of the cast diff housing pinion gusseting on each side, and that's after grinding some gusset off (I said some, not enough to make me nervous). The diff case pinion housing enters the tunnel by about 2". My tunnel is centered so that the seat width is the same DS and PS taking into account the pinion CL offset.

_________________
Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

I've test fit a cardboard box version that's a little bit bigger than the pumpkin and snout assembly LOL. My next project before going further with anything else.. is to pull the rear end of the s10, along with the knuckles and such.

I did this (with the narrower tunnel) with the intentions of almost the entire diff in the space behind the passenger compartment. I am still going to try and run a triangulated four link, and
I need a little bit of space between the front of the axle tube and the rear of the passenger compartment to do so.

I did stray from the path though.. I haven't looked at the book with the intentions of copying the plans since I got the m30. I think I may have to put some bolt in triangulation bars in the engine compartment as I don't think that if I weld the bars in, I'll be able to pull the engine/ trans out past them.


---------------------
I also found out - from another thread here last night - about AA MFG.. they have weld on suspension mount brackets for $.63-.85 a piece.. for the time and cost of steel to make them.. I'm better off buying at that price.

I'm also going to have to try and find a slip joint for the driveshaft.. the BMW trans output flange uses the typical guibo, the s10 rear end is your standard 4 bolt u joint coupling. so.. I need something that allows for movement in there. AFAIK, or can figure.. the s10 rear u joint is a 1310 series.. or a Saginaw s44.. depending on which source I read. Guess I'm measuring it!

It's tough to find 2" slip joints.. everyone who upgrades goes bigger.. 2.5", 3", 3.5" are everywhere.

_________________
Tucker

I think I found a pretty killer deal on a small car trailer that would be perfect for this and the super beetle. its 6.5'x 11'. little home made job. it will need fenders, a coat of paint and probably trailer brakes to get through CT inspection, but that's easy enough.

best part.. guy is only asking $275 for it, wants it out of his yard. Heading up to look at it tomorrow. would be nice to have in mean time. would make getting rid of the s10 parts easier down the road too.

_________________
Tucker

Well, that was a bust. He told me it had a 3500lb single axle on it. what he didn't mention is that it did not have any suspension.

CT home made trailer laws state that anything with a GVWR over 3000 lbs needs suspension. I don't want to reengineer the entire trailer just because its cheap, I would rather build from scratch.

_________________
Tucker

Hmmm... So I stumbled across from shocks locally. they're motorcycle shocks, guy got them in a box with three motorcycles he bought from a lady whose husband left or something yadda yadda.. they have paperwork saying the springs are 110kg, or ~240lbs. I know most people that use the motorcycle shocks are supporting a 12-1300lb vehicle, and not the 16-1700lb vehicle I'm speculating i'll end up with.

He wants $120 for all four. I think the 240 for the rear should work well, but I'm worried about the front with the extra weight. maybe i'll buy two, use them on the rear and find some stiffer ones for the front. 13.5" length eye to eye with air reservoirs as well.

_________________
Tucker

Fairly uneventful weekend - mostly due to the "help me with this real quick".

a simple pressing of a power steering pump pulley onto a dodge pump turned into a 2.5 hour fiasco and ended with three stripped grade 8 bolts and a pulley that made it 1/16th of an inch from where it needed to be.

ANYWAYS

I did get SOME stuff done. For example - I bought a trailer. Its a 1986 cox super loader. Its 24' long, with space for a 14'6" x 6'1" deck and a 5260 GVW. surge brakes, but needs a new master and brakes at the wheels. And of course, a manual winch. For what I paid ($500), I couldn't build what I have now, so I'm satisfied with it.




I immediately pulled off the boat cradles and replaced the trailer jack. it was two steps over worthless, and trailer jacks are cheap now a days.



Its galvanized and built of some pretty heavy duty square tube. It is, like most boat trailers, bolted together. I'll be welding all the unions together. Going to build two separate ramp ways and dovetail the back of it so that it keeps the weight down, gives me an easier entry/egress and gives me a chance to do whatever may need to be done at eventual track days.

-------------------

Now onto the car.



Pulled the motor and trans after I had everything sured up so that I could start with the rear end and build the rest of the tunnel.

Speaking of rear end..


Took me longer than I'd like to admit to get this sucker out of here. every bolt was frozen in every bushing, and what were once 13/16ths bolts, were now somewhere between 21/22mm. So I eventually broke out the angle grinder and sawzall and cut it out. I'm going to have to find a different ebrake cable solution, as I surely don't need 13ft of it, and the sheathing has worn away at parts.



Here she is... tried to get the drums off to see how it all looked in there.. tried. tried. key word. my god they're factory original drums. they haven't been off in 120k miles. Still have the factory speed clips on them! un mangled speed clips at that! so.. I've been hitting it with rust penetrant every time I walk by. Hopefully after three days of soaking I can go back out there with my sledge tonight and break em free.

Weather is supposed to be nice this week, and I'll be in Milwaukee next week for work so I'm going to try and get some stuff done before I go. Have to balance it with mowing the lawn and picking up sticks from the recent windstorms we had.

_________________
Tucker

Do we need to have The Talk about "Be careful welding galvanized metal"??? Work outside or have a big fan blowing or both. WEAR A MASK!!! Grind off the galvanizing all around the areas to be welded. Weld within the clean areas.

The galvanizing, when heated, gives of fumes of zinc (I think?) or some other metal. The important part is, IT'S TOXIC! In other words, it ain't good for ya. I don't think you'll fall over dead right then, but it's bad ju-ju for real, so treat it with respect.

You know all this, right?

Peace, Love and Toxic Fumes-
JDK

_________________
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

I'm going to spray it down with some brake clean before welding it

All joking aside - I know its no joke. I'll be wearing a respirator and welding it right where it sits in the big ol outdoors. I have a couple flap wheels and wire brushes dedicated to cleaning those bits. Also, white vinegar works great for removing zinc from steel.

The toxic stuff is the zinc oxide fumes - which will give you metal flu! Sweats, hallucinations and all sorts of flu like symptoms.. nasty stuff!

_________________
Tucker

I'm using the same S10 rear end, and therefore have some notes on them.

Let me know if I can be helpful.

Hell, I'll call you if you get yours figured out better than I have mine figured out!

_________________
***************
Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.

Those drums take some heat in real life, so also try warming them with a torch next time you go at it. You're making lots of progress.

_________________
Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.