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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: February 24, 2012, 4:57 pm 
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Jeb,

Very interesting reading as I am about to travel that path quite soon. Have recently arrived in WA state with a mostly complete car and am in a quandary. Not sure where to go, what I need, etc.

I'm a little shy of paper work. Didn't have a donor. Did get a title for the Miata that supplied my suspension pieces and I have some receipts for the many pieces that I collected.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.


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PostPosted: February 24, 2012, 6:15 pm 
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Wow Larry, looks great!
Did you build the frame?
What they will look at is the major pieces, so you will need receipts for them. If most of the major pieces are from your donor, then it is pretty easy to go the "assembled car route." I think I would call it a Lotus assembled with a Miata. Did you use the Miata rear suspension frame member? If so that will help. Take a look in the licensing section of this forum for Washington state stuff. Peter U, (First350) posted a ton of great info. from Washington state DOL. Peter also had a good conversation with the WSP inspectors before he took his car in. I would call around and chat with the inspectors at a couple places you do not plan to take your car. Just talk with them and get a feel for how they look at things. I talked too much for the first guy I spoke with and he wanted to call my car a homebuilt, which has some requirements I did not want to have to deal with (Smog and Air bags).
JEB

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PostPosted: February 24, 2012, 10:15 pm 
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HI JEB,

Thanks for the kind comments and the advice. I will read Peter's post's on the licensing part. I have followed his build some as well as yours. I don't know yet where the inspection places are.

I bought the frame from an individual in Louisville, KY. It was about 60% done. The deal included Miata front and rear sub frames with all the suspension pieces intact except for a differential, a nose cone that had been cut right down the middle, rear fenders and some miscellaneous pieces. Engine and transmission are Toyota. An early Corolla T50 trans and a JDM 20 Valve Corolla, early to mid 90's vintage. I have a title from the Miata the sub frames came from but they don't have any identifying marks to tie them to the title. Do have a stack of receipts for all sorts of things I have purchased for the little beast. So do I do like attorneys do and bury them in paperwork?

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PostPosted: February 24, 2012, 10:36 pm 
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benny_toe wrote:
Have recently arrived in WA state with a mostly complete car and am in a quandary.
I was in a Quandary once; decent power but worthless suspension--should make a decent donor, though. Better than my '58 Funk ('58 was the last year of the blue ones), which was totally gutless and an embarrassment to be seen in. People would point and laugh, "There goes Jack--no wonder he's depressed, he's in a blue Funk."

As I recall, it's pretty easy to transfer Oregon registration and title to Washington, so if worse comes to worst, bring your receipts and c'mon down. If you have the engine and trans receipts too, then you'll have no problem--if you can't find the bodywork receipts I can print some up for you.

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PostPosted: February 24, 2012, 11:47 pm 
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WSP Vehicle Inspection - http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/docs/cvd/vin_hours.pdf

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● I have a dream: My car has a new type of engine: a half-turbine half-reciprocated engine. I invented it! ~ Dr. Felix Wankel
● It has occurred to me, amateurs built the ark and professionals built the titanic.


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PostPosted: February 25, 2012, 9:34 am 
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Quote:
I was in a Quandary once; decent power but worthless suspension--should make a decent donor, though. Better than my '58 Funk ('58 was the last year of the blue ones), which was totally gutless and an embarrassment to be seen in. People would point and laugh, "There goes Jack--no wonder he's depressed, he's in a blue Funk."


:rofl:

Good one Jack!

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PostPosted: February 25, 2012, 10:58 am 
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Little is written about the Funk marque, and some might think that is rightfully so. As Paul Harvey would say, “And now, the rest of the story”.

Funk tried to revive the blue Funk in 1962, I believe. However they quickly met an unknown and unexpected adversary. In the first draft of “Unsafe at Any Speed”, Ralph Nader was the first to identify the hazards of driving in a blue Funk. Nader showed this first draft to top management at Funk to get their comments. To prevent any future legal actions, Funk stopped making the blues permanently sometime in the 1963-64 timeframe. In exchange, Nader agreed to eliminate any reference to Funk from his book. By the time the early 70’s came around Funk had changed their direction to a more upscale models. I had a Grand Funk back then. The engines got bigger as did the bodies. The power to weight just got worse and worse as did the handling. We nicknamed our Grand Funk “Rock and Roll” as it handled like you were riding in a Railroad car. On some road surfaces it would begin to Rock back and forth, as the springs were soft and the shocks were terribly under damped. And in the corners, since it lacked anything resembling a sway bar, it would Roll to the point of tipping over. Despite the many shortcomings, the car had a loyal following and the GF fan club, yes there was such a thing, toured across the USA and beyond. Our car had it reliability problems too. Almost as if it were designed by a British car company, as the went by, our Grand Funk had lost on piece only to be replaced with another. By the time it was over, there was little of the original GF left. I recently read somewhere on the internet that in the early 1980’s Funk was bought out by American Motors which was bought by Renault, which in turn was then sold to Chrysler which was …… you know the rest. Little is remembered of the Funk name and if you can find one today at all, it is in the Orphan’s corner of the local car shows.

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PostPosted: February 25, 2012, 11:56 am 
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Yo Chuck-
Y'all been in the Hornitos awful early in the morning, haven't ya???
:rofl:

Wasn't there a "Sport" version of the Grand Funk called a "Locomotion"???

JDK

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PostPosted: February 25, 2012, 1:07 pm 
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Quote:
Y'all been in the Hornitos awful early in the morning, haven't ya???

That would have been for the Funk "Pee-Wee" model. The PW model had a small pedal compartment that required wearing shoes with rounded heels. While the Funk "PW" was great in the corners due to it's Short wheelbase, it was difficult keeping it straight for any period of time.

The Grand Funk LocoMotion? If it is the same as the Sports Edition, that model brought great joy to its owners. Originally the Sports Edition was shortened to "SE". I seem to remember there was a Funk Promotion where owners sent in different meanings for the letters "SE" and this was the origin to phrase "Get that S...E...ing grin off your face" came from. but I may be a bit fuzzy on that point.

Was the LM model the one which had a comercial ditty that went something like:

Everybody’s buying the brand new Punk now,
Come on baby, drive the LocoMotion...
I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now,
Come on baby, drive the LocoMotion...
:roll:

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Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

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PostPosted: May 31, 2012, 9:53 pm 
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Took my first LEGAL drive in ROTUS

Wahoo! What a ride!

Legal - One of my big projects for the winter this year has been making my car legal. Put the required parts on there and made (most) of them work. I took my paperwork to DMV to get the paperwork to request a Washington State Patrol vehicle inspection. Then the plan was to go to the WSP, so I called ahead. The first time I talked took much and the inspector said my car was a homebuilt and would need to pass current emissions. I continued to “shop” WSP inspectors. Found another one who viewed it as an assembled vehicle, meaning its emissions requirements would be based on the age of the donor vehicles. This worked for me because the paperwork on the frame said 1948, and the body panels resemble a 1967 lotus, both had aged out of emissions. The miata parts really did not come up much in our conversation, I just presented him with the paperwork which included this title. I needed ROTUS to be defined as a street rod so I would not need fenders, bumpers, and such. Long story short WSP approved it as an assembled vehicle street rod, and put a Washington state vin on it. (I think I posted the long story version in the licensing section).

Insurance - Haggerty would not touch it because it was not a “real” old car. Grundy said they do not write single car policies in Washington. My insurance broker (her father races cars, and she is a car person) went on a quest to insure my car. She finally got Progressive to write it as a “dune buggy”, the challenge was the Washington state vin is not 17 digits long, so this is the only way she could get it written.

Engine - I lost an apex seal so I pulled the engine this winter and took it apart. Replaced a couple of seals and there were a couple of things that I did not like I was able to correct. Now it runs GREAT! I am still planning on going back to fuel injection and have a new ecu, just have not completed this part yet.

Monday I raced it at the track and Wednesday I drove it on the street, and ROTUS is just what I wanted.

Done… no not really, there is still a lot I would like to do, experiment with, adjust and fiddle with.

Thank you all for so much help!


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● Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. ~ Enzo Ferrari
● I have a dream: My car has a new type of engine: a half-turbine half-reciprocated engine. I invented it! ~ Dr. Felix Wankel
● It has occurred to me, amateurs built the ark and professionals built the titanic.


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PostPosted: May 31, 2012, 11:06 pm 
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Congratulations. It certainly is a great feeling, isn't it?

I'm surprised that Hagerty wouldn't insure you. They insured me. Must be a state by state thing.

I was told you aren't an experienced rotary rebuilder until you rebuilt the same engine the 2nd time. I hope I never become experienced. I'm 1/2 way there.

Anyway, Cheers and Happy miles :cheers:

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“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


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PostPosted: June 1, 2012, 12:11 am 
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Awesome, CONGRATS!! Has to be a great feeling!!

-n

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PostPosted: June 1, 2012, 12:17 am 
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Three cheers!
:cheers:

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PostPosted: June 1, 2012, 1:45 am 
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Hey JEB,

Have experienced some of what is exhilarating you now except for the legal bit. Have driven mine, it is a thrill but I'm not quite ready to go before the WSP.

I have your printout of the inspection stations and hopefully will be there before the end of June.

Thanks for your help and encouragement with the legal stuff!

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PostPosted: June 1, 2012, 1:47 am 
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Forgot to mention the windblown look fits well!

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