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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: July 20, 2021, 6:57 am 
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@Nick94tt
Mate, you are a life saver .
Never even occurred to me that a pressure washer can be used for media-blasting .
I hate rust on a cellular level, so that sounds like the next best thing, after sliced bread .
Big THANK YOU !


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PostPosted: August 1, 2021, 1:12 pm 
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Joined: January 28, 2021, 3:32 pm
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Location: Port Orchard, WA
Alright, some forward progress. I built a chassis cart a while back so that I can do MIG welding and plasma cutting as too much flammable stuff indoors for that and finally got the leveling standoffs finished this week. Made a couple different varieties, some individual pieces and a pair of crossbar mounts all of which can be leveled. Yesterday a few friends came over and we moved the Beetle from the indoor table to the outdoor cart, and the Locost from the sawhorses it had been sitting on to the indoor table. Now on to cutting away more of the Beetle body to allow fitting of the front/rear subframes.

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442 Locost - in progress
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PostPosted: August 1, 2021, 9:57 pm 
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Quite a bit done today. Subframe fits in the car now, will still need a little cutting around the rear lower control arm pivot. Still needs to be about two inches higher in the chassis. Seems like a lot of work for that little pile of scraps. And if anyone is wondering why I'd cut up a perfectly good Beetle, that rust line in the right front fenderwell is pretty representative of what the rest is like. Patches will be fitted behind both rear quarter windows and the lower part of both rear quarters. I stepped through the floorpan on the side that looked best.
And if you're wondering what the line of removed undercoating in the middle of both fenderwells is about, that's where the nose is getting cut off. One piece fiberglass nose will replace it.

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PostPosted: August 26, 2021, 8:13 pm 
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Location: Port Orchard, WA
More updates...

I did more cutting on the front of the car to clearance for the subframe and it's now sitting approximately where it needs to be. Cut the front of the nose off completely now just ahead of my axle centerline markings. It's getting a one-piece fiberglass nose and OEM non rusty German sheet metal with no accident damage is quite saleable. Also finished up the lower chassis and got it under the car. Need to line it up, bolt it in securely, then I can set the final position of the front subframe. Then on to the rear.

Welcome to "it's not sketchy when I do it" land. It worked though.

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And lower chassis sitting roughly in place.

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And a couple of the front subframe sitting roughly in place on the lower chassis. Another cross piece will be added to the chassis just behind the lower rear mount holes in the subframe with tabs to mount it to.

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PostPosted: August 26, 2021, 8:38 pm 
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Cool. Reading and watching intently.


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PostPosted: August 30, 2021, 10:43 pm 
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Location: Port Orchard, WA
Some progress to report from the weekend... the first part of the roll cage is fabricated and in place. Got the bender out and made the main hoop. This wasn't without its travails though, as I completely screwed up V1.0 by not paying attention to my marks in one case and putting them in the bender the wrong way in another. V2.0 worked out great though. despite working in a race shop for a bunch of years, one of the things I never did was building roll cages (we mostly worked on 60'-70's F1/Can Am cars which rarely need a new roll structure built). So this is a learning experience for me.

Now on to the harder parts... bending and notching tubes to fit, the main hoop has flat ends. I have a good bender, and a good tube notcher, so the only weak point is me.

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PostPosted: August 31, 2021, 11:47 am 
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Location: Cornelius OR
Good on you for moving the main hoop back behind the door pillar.

Many just put it at the door pillar and then not have enough room for the seat.
Remember the shoulder bar should be straight across (no bends) behind the seat to brace the compartment in a side impact.
Also the seat mounts should connect to side bars so the seat moves with them in a side impact.

Tack weld stuff in anticipation of design changes that will come as you move through the build! :)

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PostPosted: August 31, 2021, 11:56 am 
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Bent Wrench wrote:
Good on you for moving the main hoop back behind the door pillar.

Many just put it at the door pillar and then not have enough room for the seat.
Remember the shoulder bar should be straight across (no bends) behind the seat to brace the compartment in a side impact.
Also the seat mounts should connect to side bars so the seat moves with them in a side impact.

Tack weld stuff in anticipation of design changes that will come as you move through the build! :)



I set the seat in place ages ago and measured so I knew where to put the main hoop. The "shoulder bar" will get put in after the "X" brace on the main hoop. And the Seat mounts will be tied to the main lower chassis. This will be a single center seat so I'll be a fair distance from the sides of the car. And yes, everything is just being tacked for now. Once I get it all tacked up I'll remove the body for finish welding. There will be chassis down the center tying the front and rear suspensions together. Think a Locost type chassis down the middle tied into an external cage.

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PostPosted: August 31, 2021, 8:22 pm 
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Next bar bent, right the first time on this one. Just needs a trim and notching. This is the "halo" bar above the driver from the main hoop to the front of the car.

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PostPosted: August 31, 2021, 8:51 pm 
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Joined: April 23, 2006, 8:26 pm
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Seeing all you're going through with that rusty shell, you're a shining example of how going full tube frame isn't all that bad, hah.

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PostPosted: August 31, 2021, 11:00 pm 
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KB58 wrote:
Seeing all you're going through with that rusty shell, you're a shining example of how going full tube frame isn't all that bad, hah.


Non-rusty Beetles these days are expensive enough to not want to cut one up unfortunately, at least in my area. So I just found the cheapest one I could knowing that I had a bunch of metalwork ahead of me anyway. The only real bummer is that there aren't any repair panels for behind the quarter windows. Everywhere else there are panels available and they're fairly cheap. The quarter window area, I'll have to hand make. Time to get better with the English Wheel...

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PostPosted: September 23, 2021, 7:35 pm 
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And a couple more bars in place... matching that front bar on the other side will be interesting. My notching skills are fairly abysmal, though I'm learning.

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