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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 12:13 pm 
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Joined: March 28, 2012, 5:29 pm
Posts: 316
Location: East Lansing, MI
OOPS, Posted this in the wrong place originally. Not a good start :(. How will I possibly build a car!
Well I have been lurking here long enough, I suppose I should start a log and actually start on a car!
I like hot rods, particularly those that look that were built in the late 50s early 60s. I also like sports cars of that same era. I go between a Lotus vi replica, or a hot rod. I know hot rods, used to make a living making them, so in the end the hot rod won. So it's going to look like a hot rodder built a sports car, or a sports car guy built a hot rod.
I have had this idea kicking around in my head, and there's enough empty space in there to kick a ball around. So here's the plan. Using a '25 T Ford roadster body, I will build a spaceframe chassis and attach the sheet metal to it in a similar fashion to a Lotus. It will use a solid axles front and rear with quarter elliptic springs. It will use a Suzuki 1.3 dohc mated to a Samurai 5-speed. In an attempt to keep it simple and look period I will fabricate an intake and use twin SU carbs or a single Weber. I have a set of period Smiths gauges and some English lights. I have a set of MGA steel wheels and some skinny tyres.
I am under no illusions that it will handle as well as some of the cars built here, but I do want it to handle the best I can using the components I have chosen mainly for their aesthetic, in my eyes. As long as it handles better than my '33 coupe I will be happy.
So when choosing parts I made up several criteria.
It had to do the job.
It had to be as light as I could find.
It had to look cool, to me.
It had to fit in the budget, which is not large.
Compramises may be made as one criteria overrides another.
My aim is to keep the car under 1300lbs, and the engine should put out around 100bhp. Not exactly warp speed, just fun. I would like to run occasional track days and autocross, and run the flying mile at Wilmington run by the ECTA.
So that's the rather long introduction. I will post some pictures as I start.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 12:49 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2008, 2:13 pm
Posts: 5326
Location: Carlsbad, California, USA
Limeykid wrote:
OOPS, Posted this in the wrong place originally. Not a good start :(. How will I possibly build a car!
. . .


Just like the rest of us Stewart - one mistake at a time. :mrgreen:

I'm looking forward to following your build log.

Cheers,

Lonnie

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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


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 12:55 pm 
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Joined: June 12, 2012, 8:40 pm
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Location: Mount Airy, NC
Hmmm, a Hot Rod that is a sports car and kind of like a Locost? Like Ron Covell's California Star?
Attachment:
0204sr_milestones01_z.jpg


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My car viewtopic.php?f=37&t=16434
1930s Style Sports Car viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16888


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 1:30 pm 
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Location: East Lansing, MI
Run87k wrote:
Hmmm, a Hot Rod that is a sports car and kind of like a Locost? Like Ron Covell's California Star?
Attachment:
0204sr_milestones01_z.jpg


A bit too modern for my tastes. Wonderful craftsmanship. I will be using a stock '25 roadster body, turtle deck and grille shell, all original sheet metal. I will be using later, '26/'27 T hood sides which are a couple of inches longer. My aim is for something that looks like it was built in the late 50s.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 1:38 pm 
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Joined: August 12, 2012, 6:38 pm
Posts: 1937
Location: worcester county, Massachsetts
Welcome Stewart, I think you've got a good plan. there were several cars of that meet your idea back in the 1950s, not the least of which was "The Eliminator" T bucket built for roadracing

Image

in action, back in the day...

Image

sometime later with a VIntage racing-legal roll bar

Image

fascinating car, had some success too.

looking fwd to the build.

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The B-3 build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13941 unfortunately, all the pictures were lost in the massive server crash

The beginnings of the Jag Special,
https://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19012
Again, all pictures were lost.


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 3:55 pm 
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Location: East Lansing, MI
robbovius wrote:
Welcome Stewart, I think you've got a good plan. there were several cars of that meet your idea back in the 1950s, not the least of which was "The Eliminator" T bucket built for roadracing

Image

in action, back in the day...

Image

sometime later with a VIntage racing-legal roll bar

Image


fascinating car, had some success too.

looking fwd to the build.


That's generally the look I am going for, only lower, much lower!
Cheers,
Stewart.


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 4:09 pm 
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Joined: June 9, 2013, 9:15 pm
Posts: 37
I'm thinking the same thing! Have a 'glass '23 body. Trying to decide on Midlana suspension/Honda power or the old dropped axle. I do have some wire wheels....hummmm.


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 6:25 pm 
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Location: East Lansing, MI
So I'm cheating a little, I did start piecing the body together a few months ago. I got sick again, had surgery, and am back at it.
In quite the opposite to most of you guys, I have to start the body skin first. You guys decide which version of the Book Frame will suit your needs, Haynes, McSorley etc etc. You then modify the frame to suit your driveline and suspension requirements and build accordingly. Your body skin is made to fit your frame. Well because I wanted to use an existing body, I have to get that into shape, build the frame to fit the body, and then package everything carefully so it fits inside the body! I have spent several months scouring the web for dimensions of parts to help with the planning.
First things first. Early Ford model T bodies had very little in the way of steel structure. The sheetmetal was nailed to a wooden frame. There are several panels that bolt together to make up the body. I have been collecting body parts (makes me sound like Hannibal Lector) for a few years now. I only bought them when I found them cheap, which usually meant they were also a bit "tough" as the restoration crowd say. o you and me that means rusty and full of dents! I am not a bodyman, in fact it always amazes me that sheetmetal is cleverer than wot I am. I hit it with a hammer or weld it together and it moves into places I wasn't expecting it to. Like the plastic castle to the goldfish, its a surprise every bloody time! So the eagle eyed amongst you will be able to see where I had to piece together the panels. I did find a reproduction part for a different year and different model, so with some altering, I was able to use that to replace some really bad bits. As there is no structure, the body flops about all over the place. So I made a small table, marked out a grid, and started with the firewall and bolted that on. Everything else bolted to that and I screwed them down to the table, using the grid to make sure everything was square. As you can see, I havn't finished welding the passenger side pieces together yet. This is were I am at as of today.
I need to clean and reorganize my garage, complete some honey-dos around the house and then I'm off! So it will be a couple of weeks before I will make any progress, but I will keep you guys updated.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 7:22 pm 
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Joined: June 9, 2013, 9:15 pm
Posts: 37
Those look like some nice body parts. You going to build a tube frame and dzus the panels to it?


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 8:21 pm 
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Location: East Lansing, MI
JohnHancock wrote:
Those look like some nice body parts. You going to build a tube frame and dzus the panels to it?


The panels are like a bag of walnuts in places, and have some creases. It's all solid now, but not really smooth. I'm a frame guy, not a bodyman. I chopped the roof on my coupe and did 80% of the bondo work, just to be able to say I did it!
The bottom frame rails will be 3" x 1" 18ga. This is to give the appearance, and visual weight of the usual hot rod style rails. The rest of the spaceframe will be similar to a Lotus. I will use 1" square and round tube, and some 3/4" square and round tube. The firewall be be welded in as part of the space frame. It's 14ga, very solid, and the rest of the body bolts to it. The body panels will either be screwed or riveted to the frame, but I have considered dzus fasteners too.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 8:49 pm 
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I'm liking where this is going. Go man!


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PostPosted: June 10, 2015, 10:39 pm 
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Joined: January 1, 2015, 1:55 pm
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My Sport Rod that I built in 2007.

Image


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PostPosted: June 11, 2015, 7:55 am 
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Location: East Lansing, MI
[quote="stinger"]My Sport Rod that I built in 2007.

I have seen pictures of that from your build logs. It must perform and handle well!
I prefer my hot rods to look more traditional. As I want to run the flying mile organized by the ECTA, I have fit into Modified Roadster rules. Basically the body has to remain stock from the windshield back. Minus fenders and running boards. So I can't widen the body or move the turtle deck. I prefer the stock look anyway. It's what I love about the various forms of this car hobby and particularly this site, is the freedom to build what YOU want, YOUR way, and that be OK.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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PostPosted: June 11, 2015, 8:15 am 
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Joined: August 12, 2012, 6:38 pm
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Location: worcester county, Massachsetts
Stewart, thats a really sweet stell T bucket body you've got there, andI love that your putting a trutle deck out back. just about every T bucket I see locally, (and online) has the shortened pickup bed, which - while it makes a convenient place for the fuel tank - is ugly.

before I settled on buildiong the B-3, I was looking at a t bucket as you've imagined and found several interesting tube-frame builds out there on the interwebs.

here's one...

Attachment:
BossTTubeFrame.jpg


there are others I might have on my external HD. I would expect though, that you've got a chassis idea in mind already, right? ;-)


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The B-3 build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13941 unfortunately, all the pictures were lost in the massive server crash

The beginnings of the Jag Special,
https://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19012
Again, all pictures were lost.


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PostPosted: June 11, 2015, 9:03 am 
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Posts: 1879
Location: 4AGE in S.E. Michigan
Sweet :lol: What's the plan for the drive train. Dave W


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