So, that's the more historical stuff - now, on to more recent endeavors.
Lately, I've been working on the curved tubes that mimic the rear fenders (the tube beside the driver's and passenger's elbows). Though they follow the contour of the fenders flawlessly (and look good, IMHO), they're 4" above the edge of the fenders. Looking at lots of other Lotuses, Caterhams, etc., this distance is normally 2". I couldn't figure out what the problem was until I spoke to my buddy, who reminded me that, when we went with a 2+2+2 frame, it included 2" extra height...and the fenders (CMC, again) were made for a standard height car. No problem, though - I kind of like the higher curved bars.
I also had to build a new home for the serpentine belt tensioner, as the engine no longer sports an A/C pump, power steering pump, etc., and in the original location, the belt would have ended up either not having much purchase on the water pump, or turning it the wrong way. That tensioner has ENORMOUS torque (at first I thought it was seized, but it's fine), so the new mount had to be extremely rigid, easy to remove/replace, located tight in to the engine, and precisely mounted to prevent any misalignment. The newly-fabricated mount meets all of these criteria, and I'm quite happy with it.
I mounted my '90's Civic welded aluminum radiator (purchased, cheap, on Ebay). Initially, I thought to make a fancy shmancy mount for it, but given that few people will see it, I opted for a simple, light, strong mount. Another issue was fitting it inside the nose. Even thought the rad is very small, there's VERY little room (height, anyway) inside the nose. The rad's lower outlet is angled slightly up, which helps, but it still interferes with the steering rack, so the rad had to be canted back a fair bit. This seems to be common in 7's though, so I'm not concerned about the lean angle. Even with all of that, the radiator cap is within 1/4" of the underside of the nose. With the lean angle, the fan is a tight fit between the rad and the front of the fan. I feel like I'm building a ship in a bottle here!
I finished making a hinge system for the tilt nose. Originally, I was just going to use Dzus fasteners top & bottom, and had already installed the top ones, but there turned out to be no easy-access areas to install bottom ones (once the suspension is all in place, access would be more difficult). Plus, I figured being able to get at the rad easily & quickly later was worth the additional hassle now. I fabricated the hinges (shown below), and was quite happy with them - smooth, precise, rattle-free operation. What I'm not happy with is the flimsy, thin, CMC (again) nose. The upper parts of it are rigid enough, but the bottom surface is paper thin, inconsistent in thickness, and quite badly warped. Instead of being convex, the bottom was concave. I had to add an aluminum stiffening rib (riveted & JB Welded into place), and was able to get it straight across the bottom, at least. Even so, when the nose is opened, there is enough compliance that is sags when open. I'm going to have to fabricate stays to hold it open at a set amount (and keep it more or less level). I'm thinking scissors-shaped aluminum folding parts, one on each side near the top.
I recently finished the roll bar, too. The fish-mouthing of the back stays was rather complex, owing to the odd angle that they meet the bar itself, and the fact that they meet it at the beginning of the curve. In the end, it worked out fine. I also welded on small brackets at the bottom to hold my LED high brake light (a must, on a car as low as the Locost, IMHO). I bought the strip of LED's (red, when illuminated) and machined a piece of ABS plastic with a groove & appropriate holes for mounting & wire passage. The housing I built has a slight curve to the top surface, to match that of the underside of the roll bar (which I wanted to match the gentle curve of the scuttle, etc.). While I don't own a milling machine (*sigh*), I do have a milling attachment for my 1947 South Bend 9" lathe, and milling of this simple nature is well within its capabilities.
Anyway, I'm sure you're all bored to tears now! My future posts won't have as much junk in 'em, as I'll be posting stuff as I go, rather than playing catch-up. This would have been easier if I'd done it as I went along...
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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.
http://zetec7.webs.com/
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, your kind words helped get me going back in the day, hard to believe it was 8 years ago, time does fly by.
