Thinking about a red locost...

I did manage to get some hands on the Miata this weekend even if only for a short time. I pulled all the access panels over the fuel tank and nearby. I also detached the convertible top from rear mounting locations and have only hinges to detach... but first I need to get some pictures of the small tears forming in the top so I can sell it with accurate decriptions.

I was originally thinking about doing something crazy with the paint job on the car but also like how the following picture looks. It's nearly a dead ringer for the color used on the Miata which would be a nice tie-over from the donor car.

Time is precious... and often scarce!

I haven't done much aside from thinking about working on the car lately. I haven't even fired up the welder and used my new gas bottle lately! The Jeep is again needing a few things done and the head replacement for the Silverado is waiting in the wings on some cash before I can buy parts.

In the meantime I've been helping our exchange daughter with some science club projects and have been draawing designs for a tower on AutoCAD and trying to decide if I want to take the plunge and learn SolidWorks for 3D modeling and strength analysis. While these tasks both take time away from getting work done they can both pay off very well if turned towards Locost building. I've got to control myself from getting too crazy as it's easy to be swept into building a conceptual Locost and playing with endless designs versus just building the darn thing. Within reason a car can always be fine-tuned later on.

Still... being able to build the virtual car in 3D does help nail down things like engine mounting, hood clearances, driveshaft placement, etc and can potentially save a lot of wasted time and money later on.

Piece by piece...

I had a pretty good hour and half in the garage last night and drained the coolant prior to removing the radiator with fans, the washer fluid resevoir, and some more trim pieces including some minor interior trim. Once the A/C condensor and related lines as well as the sway bar is removed the front end will only be the shell of the unibody. Areas that were once a real pain to access are now literally right out in the open!

It then struck me the work required to label and remove systems from around the engine, unbolt the transmission, and remove the motor could really go quite quickly. Pulling the dash and removing the wiring harness will likely be more involved but still not terribly difficult.

There doen't seem to be a huge amount of interest in the first batch of Miata parts I've listed on eBay through I'm accounting that to having prices marked only slightly lower than the others and giving 100% honest descriptions of the parts with decent photos. I may need to be more aggressive to clean the parts out and should drop some hints with Miata clubs that I'm stripping a 99' out. It may also help once spring draws near.

Why does building a Locost take so long? Well...

Yesterday brought some excitement in the form of a bench grinder I received from Northern Tool. Based on some orders before the holidays I received a $50 voucher for use online which I have since used to buy a bench grinder on sale for $49 with free shipping. My end cost was $1.45 for a 8" grinder that so far seems to be perfectly adequate for anything I will need :)

My other big realization is less happy. My Silverado was built with some flawed cylinder heads which allow micro-cracks to form over time. The result is coolant being pushed into the oil. The first time around I was unemployed when I made this less than happy discovery and had to do the repairs at the beginning of February in an unheated WI garage. That was three or four years ago and was the most intensive thing I had ever done as far as repairs. Here's what I found when I opened up the valve covers:

Coolant + oil = sludge and sludge is abrasive. It also plugs up oil passageways, so I was pretty terrified to see a vehicle I maintained to the Nth degree have these issues. GM recognized the problem in a Technical Service Bulletin and claims their supplier used a defective alloy. Despite the "defect" they refuse to stand behind their product which leaves guys like me on our own to replace the heads with known good casting numbers. Avoid any 4.8 or 5.3L GM motor with casting number 706 on the heads to be safe.

At least this time around I caught the problem very early on, have all the tools and experience to fix it, and have a heated garage. The cost to replace a bad head yourself is about $400 in materials and a weekend of time. Having a garage do the work would typically come in around $1500.

On a closing note: this is what the valve train is supposed to look like in a healthy engine. This is the Miata head with 187,000 miles on it (over double the truck's mileage):

A great weekend of progress :)

I had a pretty good run going on Friday and made some decent progress pulling off the other fender, the doors, most of the carpet, the wiper blades and much of the surrounding trim,and the nearly all of the exhaust before running out of kerosene for the heater on Saturday morning. The big surprise was pulling back the carpeting under the driver's seat and finding $1.45 worth of change which Stephen quickly scooped up: it pays to help dad on a project!

Stephanie is half joking about the Miata disappearing from the garage and reappearing in the basement. She might be half joking, but she's mostly right!

Here's a couple pictures of the basement which used to be quite clean and is now loaded with items being stored for winter, Miata parts, tools for building the Locost, and boxes for packing and shipping Miata parts to good homes. It's going to get a lot more crowded before it gets better... but at least this is only about 1/3rd of my basement.

The kerosene heater is loaded up again and ready for some more

The Miata is losing weight for the New Year...

Here's how the Miata looks tonight...

And here's my welding setup complete with C-25 gas cylinder as well as a motivational bumper sticker:

...and this is an example of what a Locost looks like!

Sharing much of the construction methods and design with race cars builds in a lot of the safety and performance virtues of a racer. The basic chassis construction is known as a space-frame with stressed skin. The aluminum panels contribute to the strength of the chassis while overall weight is kept minimal.

The final car should weight about 1300 lbs compared to 2400+ for my Miata and roughly 3500 for my 98' SS Camaro. This means the Locost using a Miata motor has the same power-to-weight ratio as the V8-powered Camaro... but with FAR better handling.

It all begins with... a wrecked Miata and a dream!

To get this blog started... here's a basic FAQ:

What is a “locost”?

It is a scratch-built kit car based on a car kit that Colin Chapman made and sold in England back in the early 60’s through 70’s. Colin Chapman later would found the Lotus car company and was famous for the concept of “adding lightness” in car design. There’s a story circulating that he became fed up with manufacturers putting a larger engine in a car and then realizing the frame needed to be stronger (heavier) which then required larger brakes and tires. He argued that by adding lightness performance was enhanced in all areas. His car, called the “Lotus Seven” was later sold to and refined by Caterham and is still built in kit form in England.

In years following Ron Chapman wrote a book in England entitiled “How to Build a Sports Car for 250 pounds (British currency) and Race!” which provided instruction on building a space frame and using salvage auto parts to make a Lotus Seven-like car. Mr. Chapman is the man who coined these cars “locosts”.

Why build a “locost”?

Building a car from scratch is as much about the process as it is about the finished product. In all fairness most people that build these cars are never truly done… but they all have some amazing stories of the things they learned. For me this journey will involve learning how to weld and work with a range of tools I’ve never used before such as a right angle grinder, welding equipment, air shear, panel flanger, chop saw, and engine hoist. I see this as a time to spend time learning new skills myself and sharing time with my boys and wife.

The final product will have the running gear out of a Miata but will be packaged in the body of a car that weighs half as much. The suspension resembles a race car more than a street car as will many other aspects of the car. The car will be street-legal to drive and will be very crude in creature comforts compared to a production vehicle, but that is part of the car’s charm. It’s not a car to be driven daily and many people would refuse to drive it if given the chance. Some folks would refuse to even ride in it due to its very small size and almost lack of crash protection.

When did I know I wanted to start the build?

I started looking at builds other people were working on after seeing mention of Locosts on a Miata forum and was captivated by watching a car arise from a pile of steel and a wrecked Miata. In mid-November 2010 my 99’ Miata was first hit in a parking lot and then rear-ended the following day. The sum of the claims was roughly equal to the value of the car, so I decided to pay the car off and start on the process of transforming a wreck into a race car. The balance of the insurance money bought the necessary tools to begin disassembling the Miata and start on welding the space frame chassis.

How long will the build take?

Longer than I think it should and less time than I fear. I’d like to have a completed chassis done by the end of summer. By the end of 2011 I hope to have the engine, rear differential, suspension arms, and some minor systems in place.

By the end of 2012 I hope to have the car running and in drivable condition and expect to shake out any remaining issues prior to spring of 2013.

Will Stephanie and the boys really help and what do they think about this project?

They are certainly welcome to be involved as much as they would like. I bought a second welding helmet and set of protective gear so they can be a part of all stages! I’d like the finished car to be something special to all of us and have elements that each of us can say, “I did that”. Stephanie realizes it is something that will keep me busy in a way that I find very therapeutic and also sees it as a good “bonding time” project with the boys. Samuel doesn’t quite grasp what’s going on, and Stephen misses the Miata terribly. I think he’s having a difficult time seeing the finished project from the concept stage, but he does like hearing about the injured Miata coming back to life with a new body and an entirely different realm of performance.

What are “the Three Questions”?

People that drive these cars mentioned getting a constant stream of the three questions. What is it? Did you build it? How fast does it go? To save time here are the condensed answers: a home-built Lotus Seven-style reproduction, yes, and pretty dang quick.

And here is the beginning of taking the Miata apart...