LocostUSA.com

Hi, everyone. My name is Mike H. and I'm building a Locost 7.

Well, lets see... where to start.

First of all, thanks to ya'll for all the GREAT information hiding in these forums. I still have a TON of reading to do.

Second, I am keeping a blog for updates, but I'll still throw things into here from time to time.

Third, I am building a McSorley+442 frame from scratch with parts from a 1990 Mazda RX-7 convertible. The 13B engine is N/A but I am thinking about adding a turbo since it will be a lot easier not having to add the turbo in the RX-7 chassis. I am going for a look resembling the Caterham Levante with a bit of SR-71 Blackbird thrown in.

and a little about me... I am an Electrical Engineer by degree, Electronics Engineer by trade and a Computer Scientist/Computer Engineer in practice. I live in middle Georgia with my wife and daughter (and another ??? the way). My daily driver is a 2002 Pontiac Trans Am WS6. I don't know how to weld, but thankfully my dad has dreamed of building a go cart/dune buggy/car with me since I was in middle school and is a certified welder, amongst other things. He's also been a mechanic since he could walk, me however, this is the second major thing I've attempted with an automobile in my life (the first was removal/install of a waterpump on my old 1994 Camaro Z28) and I would say that this is slightly more involved. Call me crazy, all my friends do (seriously). But, thank the Lord I am literate and am a quick learner and know how to follow directions (a la the internet or a Haynes manual).


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Welcome aboard. I look forward to seeing how you pull off the SR-71 look of your build.


Inspite of all that, welcome aboard (your post has been stickied)

thanks


My parents were here this weekend and my dad and I spent a lot of time on the donor. I updated my blog with pictures and the full scoop, but here's a teaser...

Whenever you bost in your blog you should just copy it and paste it here because honestly alot of us are to lazy to click links. lol

Yeah, there were a couple of things I was going to comment on, but I wasn't registered so I couldn't. And with my attention span, they were gone by the time I made it back here.

wow... .... .... for the lazies. (someone get these people some Riddalin).

IM IN UR BAYZ STEALIN UR ENGINEZ!!1



Yup, this is my dad. He is quite happy if you can't tell.


And here is me, taking a break and relaxing.



My dad was a humongous help this Memorial Day weekend. We got the whole rear end out, the engine and trans out, the dash cover, the vert top off, vert motors out, the doors off, the rest of the exhaust, rear brakes and suspension and probably some other things. No one was seriously hurt (few scrapes) and a number of sore bones and muscles, and we only made a little bit of a mess!!

The transmission decided it couldn't hold its bladder anymore and it peed tranny fluid all over the garage floor. But thanks to O'Reilly Auto being open on Memorial Day we were able to get a nice big bag of 'kitty litter' aka Oil Dry, so now my garage floor is covered in clumps of tranny turds (not THAT kind of tranny!!!).

A guy I work with, Gary, was nice enough to let me borrow his 2 ton engine lift. And while we (my Dad and I) were picking it up, Gary said, "hey, I got an engine stand and a balance bar in the shop, you want to borrow those too?" Two tons of hydraulic lifting is probably a bit overkill for a 300lb engine.

Its a lot of hard work, but man, tearing a car apart is a lot of fun! I can only hope putting one together is as fun.

Here you go. lol

for the non-lazies: http://caterham-sr71.blogspot.com/
for the lazies:

Almost done!

... stripping the donor.



I had quite the productive day on Saturday further tearing down Adam. The only things I have left to take off are the gas tank, fuel lines, fuel filter, A/C condenser, oil cooler, front sub-frame, rear bumper and windshield. And wow... there are SOOOOO many wires in a car.


Its amazing that I didn't have to cut but more than a couple wires (3 out of 100's) to take the entire wiring harnesses out.

A car definitely takes up a lot more space in pieces than it does as a whole. I had to put the doors BACK on the car because I didn't have anywhere to put them. There's also a lot of parts sitting in the car since I didn't have room for them as well.

I also had a bit of fun with some spilled gas as is evidenced by this picture:



Who wants to buy some RX-7 parts? I need room to build a frame!



Yes, kids are great for providing lots of diaper and wipe boxes for parts and baby food jars for nuts and bolts.
Yes, my wife let me use that comforter, its old, has a big tear in it and for some reason we had two of them?!?
Yes, this is going to be a big For Sale list.

Long time since my last update, but having surgery, another kid, the holidays, etc... will do that.


6 Month Hiatus Comes to an End!

Well, after having another kid and the holidays, I finally have more progress to report. My Dad and Chris came over and we destroyed 6 cutting discs, 3 saw blades, an angle grinder, a reciprocating saw oh and an RX-7 frame!

Metal bits lay strewn about my garage and front yard.



I think the most satisfying thing was actually cutting it in half. It was a lot of fun cutting other bits and trying to kick the windshield out but that was by far the best.



Now, on to building!

(more pics of the carnage @ flickr)


Shop Table



Finished my shop table. I designed it myself one afternoon last week.

Top surface is 49"x97"x40" (WxLxH)
Lower Surface is 24"x88"x12"

Materials:
12 - 2"x4"
2 - 3/4"x4'x8' MDF
~80 - 10x3" exterior wood screws

5-6 hours of time


Metal

Just ordered the metal for the frame!!! Should be here later this week. Ordered it from metalsdepot.com

Let me be the first to say it (cause there will be several), if you will use steel stringers and another layer of MDF your table will be must stiffer and the surface more likely to stay flat.

FINALLY got started on the frame.