LocostUSA.com

I finally get to start a build log!

Browsers of the WTS subforum will know I picked up Geauxkart's partially complete build.

My dad & I loaded up his Denali Saturday morning & made the 600 mile round-trip journey. Fog between Beaumont & Houston, construction in Beaumont & heavy traffic at the MS river bridge in Baton Rouge made the drive take about an hour longer than expected.
I was up at 4:30am & we had it unloaded in the garage at about 8:00pm. Long day, for sure.

Was a pleasure meeting Geauxkart & I'm looking forward moving forward (after moving backward for a bit).

Loaded up & on the trip back home. Stopped to check straps after a few miles & made a pit stop for some LA boudin.







Home & in the garage, couldn't resist mocking up the nose & fenders to get a glimpse at the future




Pre-teardown shots, lots of nice parts on here







Teardown started yesterday morning while the girls were out for a few hours. Will be taking it down to the frame to clean it up & check all the welds (and finish the RR suspension) then paint the frame.

Body parts & wheels off, car up on stands.


Engine bay teardown nearly complete & ready for engine/trans removal.
Sump tank, catch can, remote oil filters, coolant tank, elec water pump, steering rack, radiator, oil cooler & elec fan removed






Next up is getting the engine/trans, LSD, suspension & 'interior' removed.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

Bit of progress made last night & this morning.
Got the seats, steering wheel/column & suspension removed from the 3 installed corners.
Just have the pedal assembly, 'dash' electronics & drivetrain to pull, then starts the rust remediation.

The the build can commence. First task will be to finish the RR suspension mounts & add in the LR shock mounts.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

How are you going to treat the rust?

_________________
I don't know who I am, when I am somebody else.

Another great start though unfortunate the chassis tubes were not primed as the build progressed. Primer does little to interfere with a weld bead and the paint blister is nothing to remove/clean up and reprime after cooling. To actually remove all the rust is a lot of work.

You can probably find a shop that can dip the bare chassis to remove rust, dip to flush, then dip in phosphorus. Much more effective and less work than trying to remove just the surface rust with a heavy wire cup in an angle grinder to get it all out. Follow up with rustoleum “heavily rusted metal” primer which is a great product, rusted or not. Concentrated “metal prep” comes in a gallon jug at home depot for about $20. Dilute as needed in a spray bottle after wire brushing. Repeat as needed, let dry, then scuff and prime with rusto. For the inside, pour in “boiled linseed oil”, rotate the chassis to coat all the inside surfaces then let it drain. It will take a few days to dry completely inside.

The front suspension points appear to only be tack welded which is great. Get the dims to go into vsusp using the existing slicks to see where you are at and save the specs. Then you can rework the UCAP and LCAPs to work with the new tire size, wheel offset or back space, and speed bump defying ride height.

The rack links look too long for the existing suspension and I spy the rack already has a mount installed. Once the final susp points are determined for desired traits, the necessary rack width, pivot to pivot can be determined and the existing rack altered or replaced.

This was being built as a race car and unlikely to have a traditional windscreen, wipers, and cowl to interfere with access to the hydraulics and electrics, just a quick release cowl panel and maybe a little wind splitter. I’d move the firewall back about six inches or to the aft end of the steering column boot, raise the pedal box an inch with a lip for drainage around the deck and add a cover, panel and seal from the new firewall forward to the foot well firewall, reverse mount the masters to hang forward of the firewall, drop the column support as needed to clear the masters, mount the reservoirs directly to the masters instead of remotely (the bottoms pop out), and move all the electrics forward of the new firewall. Tricky bits can be clearance between the end of the clutch master and the body panel and column clearance around the brake pedal and masters.

You can solve the column issue by installing the masters low and forward, keeping the remote reservoirs high for bleeding and to prevent drain back from the calipers and air pockets. How low to mount the masters will be determined by the pedal pad location for the ball of your foot in normal shoes and a floor covering. A little high is better. Easier to fit a heal shim block for a smaller person than to move the whole assembly later for a larger person. You may need a different pedal box frame to go from aft master, hanging pedal to traditional forward master, floor mount pedals or forward master, hanging.

Are you going to stick with the rotary or go with a small 4 or 6? If converting, with such small OD tires and an rx7 diff (find out the ratio and hope it is close to 4:1), be sure to have a significant over drive gear in the trans if you intend to do any highway driving. Around 0.65:1 would be about right imho.

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Initial plan is to see how it goes with a wire brush/wheel & Ospho, still have to finish stripping everything from the frame to get started on that part.
As mentioned in the post after you, I hadn't given any thought about oxidation/rust on the inside of the frame.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

Responses in the quote above...
Thanks for all the feedback/suggestions.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

If I'm interpreting the pictures correctly, the dry sump pump appears to be mounted too high. The inlet of the dry sump's pressure section should be below the tank's oil level, and the lower the better. As it is, it appears that the pump likely has to suck oil from the tank, which may work, but isn't optimal. Look at online pictures and virtually no car has the pump mounted so high. It's also possible I'm completely wrong about the elevation of the tank and pump...

_________________
Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

Thanks, will look into that.
May re-mount the sump tank & take a few photos for reference. New territory for me, so definitely appreciate the insights on best practice(s).
Looking at the attached photo, it looks like the oil pump is just a bit below the sump tank return lines (post catch-can). You can see what I assume is the feed line coming from below & around to the pump.
Will see if I can get a few better detail shots of that setup this weekend. A bit tough as space is tight on the driver's side of the car, in the garage.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

The feed line appears to be routed higher than the pump before turning down towards it. This forms a natural air-lock if the oil level isn't higher than the entire length of the hose. It will work okay if the pump can draw a vacuum ("self-priming"), but shouldn't be counted on. Also consider the corner case where an oil leak has occurred, or the oil level hadn't been checked in a while, and the oil level in the tank is half what it should be. With a true gravity feed setup, it won't cause any problem, but with the pump higher, it's not guaranteed to keep working, and depends upon how much vacuum the pressure pump can pull.

If it's decided to leave the pump and tank where they are, at least route the main feed line under the engine/transmission, then turn upward to the pump (getting rid of the potential air-lock).

There is some good information on the website http://www.drysump.com

_________________
Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

Thanks, will look into the feasibility of routing the feed line under the engine/trans.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

I'd just buy some Evapo-Rust. Wipe it on, wipe the rust off, hose with water, prime. Way less hassle than sanding/grinding/blasting, and cheap enough too.

Almost done moving backwards. Spent a bit of time in the garage over the weekend.
Got the diff pulled, which was a bit of a chore, as there are 2 longitudinal crossmembers that prevent it from dropping straight out. Took some creative maneuvering to get 1 side of the upper diff mount to clear it, then the other side dropped out easily.
Finished clearing the cowl/dash/firewall. Pulled the brake/clutch assembly & their respective M/Cs, pulled all of the wiring & components (possibly the part I'm lease looking forward to in the future), and got the front brake lines pulled.
I gave some effort to trying to remove the engine/trans, but was not able to separate them far enough to pull them individually. The bellhousing on the trans hits the trans tunnel rails before it's able to fully separate from the engine & the engine is flanked on 3 sides by frame rails, so it cannot be easily moved either. New plan, with them reattached to each other, is to raise them as a single unit, slide forward, then separate them again to remove the engine; trans should follow forward easily.

Just have the accelerator pedal & engine/trans to pull, then I can start rustoration, followed by finish welding & installing the missing bits for the rear suspension. Then comes frame paint & reassembly can begin.

Current status:

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

Small victory/progress.
Got the trans pulled last night. Took a bit of maneuvering, but it dropped out pretty easily & was a lot lighter than I was expecting.
Now I just need to recruit some assistance removing the lump of 13B & I can start on the frame.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

Do you not have a hoist?

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Trochu Motor League

I do not. Making do with the 3 jacks I have & a helping hand when needed.
Would prefer to not buy a hoist to only use it twice & have to store it. My dad has one, but he lives almost 2 hrs away. If it comes down to it, I'll have him truck it down here, but we should be able to get the engine out by hand, gravity is the only thing holding it in right now.

_________________
1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899