LocostUSA.com

Nice fab! Nice dog!
Rear toe adjustment?

What kind of tig setup do you have? I'm concerned about buying a seemingly cheap used machine off craigs then needing a $500 repair.

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Thanks guys! I'll try to keep the pics of the shop help flowing.

You're correct I don't have rear toe adjustment. Have you found it necessary to have rear toe adjustability?

My tig setup is a Lincoln square wave 175. it's all the welder that I've got currently, probably should get a mig and learn that someday.

It seems like non-inverter machines have less to go wrong if you're looking into a used sertup. A little bigger packaging though, it's all a trade off I suppose.

When performing an alignment, I usually start by squaring a rear wheel to the chassis, then align the front on that side based on the rear. It prevents crabbing. Everything you build will have tolerances that can stack against you.

Thanks for the tig tip!

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Hey that's a good idea, thanks for the alignment tip! I'm used to aligning a McPherson strut fwd car without adjustable rear toe, I usually square up two strings parallel to the chassis referencing the wheel centers. Rear toe has been pretty equal on both sides so I've never really stressed it but the crab walking thing makes sense. I'll double check the rear toe setting on the locost before finish welding the control arm mounts.

How's it coming along?

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My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

I ended up using some GSX-R (?) with bell cranks for front and rear (longest stroke). Kept the stock spring rates. Tried the lots of math, and then I finally made some 'adjustable' bell cranks did a bunch of measuring, recording, calculating. Hope the spring rates work out. Don't even remember if they're rising or falling rates. I like the idea of bell cranks (change characteristic), but it was a bunch of extra work.

what length did you come up with your steering rack? Waiting on some taps and dies to make tie rod extenders.

I'm assuming you used fractional sized tubing for the frame and control arms? In the plans, the front control arms call to use 33.7mm and 19mm ERW but I figure you would use 1-3/8" and 3/4" respectively? Because of this, did you have to modify the plans at all and/or did it change the overall dimensions of certain components in the end?

Sorry I've been vacant for a while here!

Randy, I haven't made any progress on the locost but soon I'll be back on it. Long story short, I'm a sucker for crappy VW's and rescued one from a field. Not really the type of distraction I needed but it's running and driving now and just needs a few more boxes crossed off the long list. pic of said crappy vw below, it's name is "Beige"



Xfer, we'll have to talk shocks and suspension setup sometime. How did your setup work out for you? I was also thinking about doing bell cranks. My rack length came out pretty close but not perfect, I think I made it a little short. It's 18-1/8" long. You probably already got done modifying yours, they're not too bad to drill and tap but cutting it to length is tough, the case hardening is no joke.

Evel, all of my control arms are 1" dia .085 wall DOM, the pivots on them are 1.5" dia .125 wall DOM. I strayed from the plan diameters to work with the prothane 19-603 bushing. Granted I made delrin bushings but if I ever need replacements I can buy the prothane ones. To compensate for the size difference I made a solid model of each arm, changed the tubing sizes and layed out my jig based on the new design. This way the pivot to pivot distance was maintained.

I hope this makes sense, sorry I haven't been on the forum in a while. Should be back at it soon here! Feel free to shoot me an email to talk locost build stuff!

Well, welcome back, Mike.

I'll have to say, if you get that distracted by old Volkswagens, you definitely better keep your distance from puppies and pole dancing females.

You were doing great work. I look forward to seeing more of it in future.

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 googled <pole dancing puppies> <images> and wow are there a lot of choices. I doubt I'm the first to notice this, but any pervy thing you can think of is available on the internet.

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

Since it's been over a year since posting its probably time.

Update on the VW from the field: Long story short - swapped in a 1.6d from an 84 rabbit, added a ko3 turbo off of a 1998 TDI, patched some of the holes, new brake lines and brakes among other stuff. There have been numerous other VW projects but I think its a little off topic.



Back to the locost. We left off around November 2018, mounting the control arms and steering rack. My friend Dan helped me a bunch with suspension mounting, rack width, rack mounting, cad design, etc. Here are the mounts, different positions for different Ackreman settings.





Rear arms mounted:


Based on photo dates, almost a year went by. So October of 2019 we made some motor mounts. Didnt like the motor position so those got re made and the frame got cut up some to move the motor up and back. Here's how that turned out:


Oct. 2019 still, Trans Tunnel:


In between here, I posted the crappy VW for sale, which led to selling the 1.6d motor out of it. Then it sat for a bit because no one wants an old vw from a field, let alone an old VW from a field with no motor. So I did the only sensible thing and bought another 1.6d motor, refreshed it just like the last one and this time painted it up nice. It's been sort of my car to run around town in since.


End of March 2020, started thinking about rigging up these 04 GSXR600 shocks:


Made some scuttle hoops, only one pictured didn't document this well.


Installed 2004 GSXR600 shocks up front:




Decided on some 2011-2018 GSXR600 shocks for the back.




[/img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3f99cxspH7u8otGiF3xu4PJ3O7Mv9tF_-t3A17EgRCRuDJ4JrdLFseqBehpRX6VwEzJlA2Vf2bJDA9vLkIVlR1PnXJ0ZHxoanlkN-j2cjGNINsADlPbq5yv5Frf0N_wjsvZB77gCmiV2rmyCavvTZXn=w708-h943-no?authuser=0[/img]

Decided the newer GSXR600 shocks are way nicer than the old ones, so we got another pair and re did the fronts.




May 2020, started on mounting the column:










Now some of you may have seen me post this thing for sale back in September. There was some interest in it, but mostly lots of encouraging words to finish it. I suppose for now I'm going to focus on getting the chassis finished and painted because it will likely end up sitting for a couple of years after this spring. That is unless one of y'all wants a good deal on a chassis that needs to be finished, get in touch with me!

Ill try to keep some updates coming through here though. It's made it's way back to the top of the project pile so that's good!

Whooa, very nice
davew

Yes, nice work. I really like your welds too.

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

Quick update, finished attaching the column and disassembled for welding. Currently working on capping tubes and finish welding most joints. My buddy is also pretty good with a tig torch so I'm taking advantage of having two people when possible. Been working on cage and floor design, need to order some more tubing for these soon. Anyway, here are some pictures.



Had my friend turn this column extension. I'm running an extended miata column, retaining all collapsible features not very interested in getting skewered I guess.

















There are some pictures of my dog Stella in there too. We've had her a little longer than we've had Wally, who appeared earlier in the build thread.

Looking good.

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