emmodg wrote:
My fist question: I'm building my frame and using a Miata donor. I keep hearing "book" frame - Does this term cover BOTH Haynes books by Gibbs AND Champion? I also really dig the Vodou (sp?) plans for the emphasis on using a Miata. Would either of the aforementioned authored-books lend itself to Vodou mods?
You got the answer on this one... I'm convinced that most of us abandon the plans at some point along the line, no matter what plan set we use.
Your choice of sizes might be determined by rear end measurements -- both you and the donor axle system.
I got into an original Seven once. I'm 230 or so pounds, 38" waist pants, and the experience was like getting into a kayak (or mummy bag w/o unzipping it). Had to remove shoes to get to pedals.
The Champion chassis is 42" wide, which is 3" wider (??) than the original Seven. However, some of this butt space was taken up by a needlessly wide center tunnel... might be 1-2" more butt space?
The Haynes / Gibbs chassis is 45" wide, and this is the one that the Vodou mods modify for the Miata bits. It also incorporates a bunch of the "Aussie mods" and other ideas that came along after Ron Champion wrote his book. While this Haynes book is out of print, there are *some* on here with a PDF file of the thing. There is a big Haynes ecosystem in the UK I think. The original Brunton Stalker is this size, if for no other reason than the S10 rear end that they use is perfect for this size. I think that with a simple modification you can see 4" more butt width than the Champion book.
There are plans out there for chassis that are 4" wider, 4" longer and 2" taller (aka "442"). This one is for American-sized butts.
emmodg wrote:
I'm REALLY looking forward to the build AND the wisdom this forum is full of!
Wisdom? Here? I never welded before, saw the Champion book, and decided to use this as my first welding project... I'm a liberal arts grad...