LocostUSA.com

Yo Andrew-
Wow... Just... Wow...

Looks really, really good! You've done a great job of integrating the roll cage with the frame, and the triangulation around the footboxes looks incredible! Well Done, Sir!

Thanks guys. I'm pretty pleased with how its gone so far.

Marcus - I'm measuring about 24.5" from the front edge of the footwell bulkhead to the front edge of the pullies (subtract 1-1.5" from pullies to get to front of cover; its difficult to measure due to its shape).

Got a little more work accomplished on the back end so I could have somewhere to start locating suspension mounting tubes. The rear edge of the hoop will almost touch the sheet metal.

Its funny....almost 2 afternoons worth of work for one lousy picture.

There are two swoopy, curved tubes just forward of the main roll bar vertical and just below the diagonal going forward. They seem to be triangulated with some forward elements too. It's kind of like the stuff done in the original Lotus designs. What connects to those tubes, Andrew?

It's great seeing how professional your work looks. It's quite inspirational since you're working out of your garage with pretty much low-buck tools like the rest of us are doing.

Happy Thanksgiving as well.

Andrew,
Nice work on the new chassis. I'll be following your progress closely. It is very similar to a project I have in mind for a track day car.

How well do you like the A-frame tube bender and does it work well. After using it so far, would you recommend it to someone else or would they be better off buying something different?

Wondering why the chassis tubes inside the cage? Great work so far.
Jim

Thanks guys.

Lonnie - Right now those two tubes go forward to the tubes next to your legs. It adds another connection between the front and rear sections of the chassis. I'll snap some better shots later. Its essentially the same as the side of an original 7 frame.

I don't know if I'd go as far as calling it professional. Its still amateur work in a garage.

Homebrew - Out of all of my tools, it is one of my favorites. A few things really sold me on it:
1) Being hydraulic and with an air motor on the cylinder I can literally drag a recliner into the garage, sit back, and bend away without breaking a sweat - it sure beats manual benders.
2) Its portable and it bends vertically so it takes up very little floor space. If the garage ceiling isn't tall enough I can always drag it outside (never had to).
3) Since it swings vertically, I do not need horizontal clearance for the tube to swing while bending (huge plus when you are not working out of a warehouse).
4) You do not need inserts in your floor or a solid object to mount it to.
5) Mine was $550 ready to go (one die set included). Fair enough I saved a few bucks by using a 20% of coupon at HF and not doing the Type B model but you will be hard pressed to find a new or used hydraulic bender for anywhere near that price and have it be ready to bend.

With that said I can respect a comment Kurt made that you can get a cage bent for a few hundred dollars and not have to trip over the bender later. Really this is the only downside to this tool. As long as you have room to store it somewhere, I say go for it.

Regarding the sides being inside of the cage, I did this to keep the cage away from the passenger compartment but to still have something to mount the skins to. I was seriously contemplating leaving the tubes out and bending some sheet metal to look like there was a side but in the end decided to make it structural.

Andrew, About the bender - when you said HF is it safe to assume it came from Harbor Freight and if it did do you have a model # for it? That bender doesn't come up when I use their search feature. How long ago did you purchase it?
Thanks in advance,
Jim

Sorry I may have misunderstood your question. The HF tubing roller that I have is this guy: http://www.harborfreight.com/tubing-roller-99736.html

It is not terrible as long as you only need large radii but it will not do anything like you typically see on a Locost for the hoop or a cage. I only used it to roll the 1" tubes by the driver and passenger's elbows.

The rest of the tubes were done with this bender: http://www.gottrikes.com/Tube_Bender.htm

Did you build it from his plans? If so, what was the building process like in terms of difficulty?

In the YouTube video for the bender, it looked like he was inserting pins from the from legs into the concrete of the driveway. He may have been doing something else in terms of assembly. It was hard to tell. I seem to remember yours isn't anchored.

Cheers,

Yup. He did a nice job putting together the directions. If you can build a Locost, the bender should be no problem.

Most of the holes are 7/8" so a decent drill press and a set of bits in different stepped diameters is a must unless you buy the predrilled kit.

I didn't bother adding the legs to the front of mine and I've yet to have an issue with tipping so I don't think anchors will be necessary for the sizes of material you will be bending. I'll add some wheels at some point to make moving it easier.

What about the die? I am curious as on the website for the plans it said he would tell you were to get the die it and how much i would cost after you bought the plans. Did you get the die from the vendor in the plans and about how much did the die cost?

While we asking about the die, was it available in a 5" radius?

Yes I did buy from the recommended die guy. All of the die sizes are less than $300 for the 120 degree version (the 180 degrees versions go for $375 and under). The die sizes we would use for a Locost are significantly less than those prices.

I would prefer not to post the die supplier's site since the guy at Got Trikes did a great job developing the plans and I do not want to take away incentive for anyone to buy from him.

Marcus - the supplier does have 1.375" and 1.5" dies in 5" CLR.

Yup. That is why i did not ask who you got them from just about the price.

Making some more progress - all of the tubes are placed except for two diagonals between the rear arm rear mounts and two gussets between the upper rear arm rear mounts and the tube going across the back of the chassis. I need the fuel tank to be in place to install these.






I also have the cage about half way welded. So far so good - things seem to be staying straight.