LocostUSA.com

Congratulations! It sounds pretty quiet too. I know that's been an issue with some RX-8 builds.

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

I stood too near the track at an IMSA race as an RX8 went by. I got scorched. How close was I? Over 25 feet away, way outside the track beyond the fence. But someone needed to lift, there was a backfire, etc and there was a considerable ball of flame that came out the back.

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

Congratulations.

Geek, if you think the RX8 is loud, you should hear a RX7 with the 12B or 13B engine! And yeah, that backfire will strike fear in babies and mothers.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

I was shooting for quiet and at least at low rpm it is. The car will be a fair weather commuter and didn't want to be waking my neighbors when leaving at 6:15 in the morning. It's got the biggest muffler I could find and the cat. is there mostly for noise reduction.

Wow really long time since I did an update. No lack of work going on. This will be a multi-parter.

After I got the motor running I tried to get the alternator working. It was originally computer controlled and the megasquirt has a provision for this. Unfortunately it didn't work for the RX-8 alternator. This was after doing hundreds of dollars in damage to the electrical system of the car. The alternator just went full bore and was trying to charge to over 100 volts! I started the car and noticed the voltage was a bit high and was creeping up towards 18v. Then smoke came out of my lithium battery and the car sputtered and died. Turns out lithium batteries have little tolerance for over voltage and will fry themselves. Then after the battery fried there was no capacitance in the system the voltage sky rocketed and blew up the ECU, both of my wideband controllers and damaged my motogadget control unit(start circuit stuck on). Luckily a friend of mine after more than a few hours was able to repair the ECU. The battery was covered under warranty by Battery Tender. Can't say enough good things about those guys.

After several back and forths with megasquirt and testing with a lead acid battery in place I couldn't get the alternator control to work. Plan B was to install a 1991 RX-7 alternator. That is internally regulated and worked with almost no modification. I only had to drill out one tapped hole and swap the pulley.

Next up is brakes!

RX-7 Alternator in place-


Some of the ECU damage. This was the only obvious thing blown up. There were about a dozen components that needed to be replaced.

Cowl sheet metal is done minus final trimming(still need to finish modding the cowl).



I'll be using these super low profile screws to hold a lot of my sheet metal on-



Brakes- My donor car was a "sport" model and had larger brakes. Turned out my 16" wheels were no way going to clear the caliper. Ended up having to downgrade to the normal brakes. Even then they just barely clear the rim. They are still huge brakes for a car like this.





Then was on to plumbing the reservoirs and brake lines. I picked up some heavy gauge ground wire from home depot. This made figuring out the hard brake line runs much easier. Basically hand make it in copper then repeat in tubing.

And just some random stuff.

Battery hold down


Throttle squared away using a pedal from a company called doppler out of argentina. Prices on their stuff is about 10% less than tilton and the throttle at least is of good quality. They use tilton master cylinders.





Added an O2 sensor further away from the engine that will be the one that gets used long term. I have two on the header also that are too close to the motor and will be used only for tuning.

Brakes are done and I was able to drive it up and down the street!

https://youtu.be/qlqmh70rW_A

Congrats on the first drive.
Only thing I miss is the close up of your grinning face when you pulled onto the pad.

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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

Congratuations

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

First drive was more like terror. Was waiting for something to explode all over me. Afterwards though such a relief and sense of accomplishment. I so want to be driving this thing around for real now! Jealous of all you guys that are already there.

I remember that feeling! It is awesome! but after that first drive your confidence goes up until you start doing stupid things

Checking things off the list!

Parking brake done! Used a lever from control cables, Cables are cut down RX-8 cables. I made my own cable ends that clamp on the cable to shorten them. I didn't see anyone do this with e-brake cables but I've used it lots of other places so figured I'd give it a shot. Seems to be working great so far.







Some more wire and fuel hose routing-

I didn't like a few things with my front suspension. The tabs I used for the rocker arm were a little thinner than I liked and I had bent the tabs at 90 with a bender. I just worried that bend maybe a weak spot. New tabs are 50% thicker and made with angle iron so no bend. I also redid the frame right above the rocker arm to add more compression travel. The rocker arm would hit the frame originally at ~2.5" of travel. Now there's about 4" of travel. Also added some bracing in that area.

I've used those cable ends on motorcycles and they work loose so be sure to check often to catch them before they fall off the end. Once the cable has been deformed it's tough to get a new one on there to replace the lost ones.

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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.