Mike has been kind enough to include a few pictures of my car on his popular Locost web site and after I got it on the road he ask me to put together a few comments on it's construction.
First I should mention that I am a 58 year old retiree who still likes his toys. I am still riding my Yamaha V-Max motorcycle although it is so scary fast and I'm having so much fun with the Locost I'm thinking of selling the bike.
Now about building the Locost . Workshop - I am very fortunate in that I have a large well equipped workshop in my basement that has direct double door access to the back yard. I could work year around in complete comfort . The car was completely built right in front of my workbench and I think you can see this in some of Mike's early pictures. The car was only moved outside for final assembly and painting.
The chassis is pretty close to that described in Ron's book. The only change I made was to add 4" to the length of the cockpit area . I have two sons both over 6 ft. tall and I was sure they would want to get their hands on it some time in the future. In hind sight I shouldn't have bothered because neither of the kids can get their size 13 feet on the pedals in the tiny foot well. This is probably a good thing !
I used Isusu Impulse ( 1985 ) front uprights because the are very close to the dimensions of those shown in the book and are designed for standard ball joints on both the top and bottom. The are definitely heavier than those used on most Locost but most of the weight is in the large 10" vented disk and calipers.
I ended up tying these brakes into a master cylinder and power brake booster from a Suzuki Swift. This combination on this light car provides unbelievable stopping power.
I originally had the coil overs mounted externally as shown in the book but then I read that shocks are designed to be mounted vertically relative to suspension movement and that they loose over half their effectiveness if they are mounted at 45 degrees! After I had it together I did a few crude test and I didn't like the way they worked at all so I set about designing the strut and rocker arm system you see in the pictures on Mike's site. You'll note that the shocks are internal and vertical and the bottom of the shocks are held in a channel that pivots at the front of the car and can be jacked up with large jack bolts. This allows me to easily adjust the ride height without changing the spring pre load settings.I also added a 1/2 "front anti-sway bar that wasn't included in the original design. I've used a MGB steering rack that has proven ideal in that it is quite quick and fits perfectly in the frame.
Now that the car is on the road I have to say that this change to the internal shocks was well worth the effort. The front suspension works beautifully. It is very compliant to road irregularities; doesn't rise or squat under acceleration or braking and corners like it's on rails. The ride is down right plush compared to some small light production sports cars I've been in. I've used a solid rear axel from an 85 Celica.
I never bought a complete donor car but ended purchasing a Toyota 4AGE engine and transmission through a local shop. In hind sight it would have been cheaper to buy a whole car.
The engine came with the wiring harness chopped so I scratched around for a harness and ECU in the hope of using the stock system but once I started to try and sort through the mass of wires, connectors and relays I quickly decided that I didn't like where this was heading.
It was about this time that I learned that the engine I had is a JDM product and was never on the road in north america . A number of parts had Japan only part numbers and the engine was never equipped with the north american EGR pollution system. At this point I was considering going with Weber carbs and actually got a set of DCOE's and TRD manifold but I couldn't come up with anything that looked dependable for the ignition. I finally decided to bite the bullet and go with the SDS programmable engine management system which is a whole lot simpler than the Toyota system and is completely flexible if I want to play with the engine at a later date.
Right from the start I didn't want any holes or big bulges in the hood so the intake manifold had to be modified. I ended up cutting off the stock plenum flush with the horizontal intake runners. I fabricated a new plenum out of 3 1/2" square aluminum tubing with the throttle body relocated to the rear. I had all these pieces Tig welded together and since the SDS system uses a MAP sensor system I could throw out the Toyota air flow sensor and mount the air cleaner right on the throttle body. I bolted on this home made manifold; installed the SDS system and turned the key. It fired up instantly and after a little fiddling ran like a top.
I've got over a thousand miles on it as of this date and it hasn't missed a beat. It starts every time hot or cold and you drive it away. I couldn't be happier with the SDS system and it's so simple you not only have an engine that just sings but an engine bay is as neat as a pin because there are only a half dozen wires involved.
I purchased the front and rear fenders and nose cone from Ken Howatson but they all required extension modifications. The mounting flanges on the rear fenders didn't match the contours of my car so I had to cut them off and form new ones. The nose cone had to be extended about 4 " on each side to match the Locost frame. I also had to add the flares to cover the suspension push rods. I fabricated the hood out of fiber glass in a home made mold. The hood louvers where punched in aluminum panels that I inlaid in the glass hood. The rest of the body panels are aluminum pop riveted to the frame. When I tried to cover the rivets with body fill it kept popping out so I ended up laying a layer of fine fiber glass over all the aluminum panels.
I couldn't find any seats that looked right and fit so I ended up molding fiberglass frames then I dug out the wife's old sewing machine and taught myself how to sew. I also molded the gas tank in fiber glass.
I bought the 12 circuit race car wiring harness from Painless Wiring (PRF-50002 ). This worked out well in that all the wires are bundled and labeled well and tied into a standard GM fuse panel but this harness is designed to plug into GM instruments and steering column. These dash panel connectors where abandoned and the wires taken directly to the new instruments. I bought a complete instrument set from VDO that included an electronic speedometer that utilized Hall sensor sending unit that screwed right into the Toyota transmission. You can calibrate this unit in about one minute no matter what the axle ratio or tire size.
When you start a project like this you full of enthusiasm as you make real progress in actually building your own car . The real problems start when your a few months into it and your into all the little bits and pieces that don't work out exactly as you expected and progress slows to a crawl . This is when you realize just how much you still have to do. It took me over three years to get this thing on the road when I initially thought it would take half that long. There were times I would be stumped on some stupid little part or problem and I couldn't touch the thing for weeks. Let me just say, " Stick with it ; it's worth the effort !". The car is an absolute blast to drive and they go like stink. You can't go anywhere without attracting comments and questions and when you tell people you built it yourself from scratch you feel like your the master of the automotive world.
My first reaction? Disappointment.
Bob's car, as you can see in the photos, looks awesome. As he mentioned, it started right up. I was over helping one of the evenings. Bob hops in, backs down the driveway and scoots away around the block. Beautiful I think, as I watch the car disappear around the corner. Same again as it returns, the car has great lines.
So then he pulls over, jumps out and invites me to hop in. Cool! No need to ask me twice. I jump in, slip the car into gear, and start to pull away from the curb. Huge problem - I can't get my foot all the way off the clutch! My left knee is pretty cozy up against the steering wheel with the clutch pedal depressed. There's not enough space for my fat leg between the wheel and the edge of the cockpit. Back into neutral, I hop out of the car very disappointed...
That's life though. The good news is that Bob used a custom SDS system for fuel injection management, and that some adjustment is required. This means a hour or so of driving around, full throttle accelerations, hard braking, fiddling with computer readouts, listening to engine sounds. A tough job, but someone's got to do it :).
Truth is, the first hour or so I was concentrating on the SDS system and readout, and barely glanced out of the cockpit. There wasn't much to adjust when all was done, the SDS pretty much came set up perfectly for the 4AGE from the factory. We put the car through it's paces verifying the mixture stayed where we expected it. Once we had it pretty much sorted, I finally got a chance to look around, relax and enjoy the ride.
Like the MGB, at higher speeds conversation is impossible. Unlike the MGB, conversation is still difficult at lower speeds, we had to yell at each other - the windscreen keeps the bugs out of your eyes and teeth, but not much else. None the less, this type of car is not meant for conversation, it's meant for driving.
And drive it does. The light weight means it accelerates very quickly, turns on a dime, and stops in an instant. By the time the SDS fiddling was complete, I couldn't believe we'd been driving that long. The suspension is set up perfectly and I didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable. The straight line ride is smooth and supple. With such a light car I was expecting it to be harsh. Instead I found the car rides smoothly, the road surface can be sensed but the car doesn't jar around on it. It corners flat, doesn't skip and shudder around the turn, and is not so soft as to bottom out either. A good thing too - the car, and most importantly the engine sump is very low).
Net, I'm impressed and relieved. Bob's shown that a Locost, with some thought and planning, can be set up to drive and handle very well. It can look professional if one pays attention to the details. So it's definitely worth the trouble to finish (or get started if you haven't yet). I'm at the same time inspired and overwhelmed - every time he drops by, Bob just shakes his head, smiles and says "You've got a lot of work to do".
I'm going to get started on it right away :).