Sports Car Club of Vermont

I've mentioned this in various parts of the site, but thought I would start a project page.

I am building a Locost Seven. Basically a home built replica of a Lotus Seven. If you are interested in what that is in more detail, there is a decent wikipedia page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locost

So far I have bought a donor, just ordered the welder, and have lined up steel. I expect the project will take a year or two, but in the end I should have a 140hp, 1300lbs street/track car. I might someday in the long future create custom bodywork for it (they are aero bricks, and not the prettiest car), perhaps using the Lotus Eleven for inspiration.

The donor for the car is a 1989 Nissan 240SX. I purchased it for $325, and it runs quite well, although with significant structural rust, and some brake issues. In other words a perfect donor. The engine is on the large side, and pretty heavy, so the frame is going to be a bit larger than stock, but there are good plans out there for that.

My father and I have started to take it apart, but given that neither of us has pulled a motor or anything, its a slow process. So far we have disconnected everything from the motor, and pulled most of the wiring harness out. Hoping to get the transmission disconnected and everything ready to pull out. Its a useful learning process, and hopefully we can get everything out and still be able to get it running in the future!

I started a web site for the project at:
www.enthusiastmag.com/locost

The engine is out, welder is here and just need to learn how to weld!

The steel has been bought:


The 240 Is now in 'turtle' mode so I can get at it's juicy underbelly:




I also have shocks:

They came from the Shelby Series One Supercar, very slick, especially for the price.

Still working on the car, alebit rather slowly. Luckily I should have a solid week coming up to weld up the basic chasis.

Also deciding on some alternate donor options for front uprights (have some 1999 Miata uprights/brakes coming) and rear axle (looking at doing a solid rear axle, probably from a 95+ Ford Explorer). The solid axle will mean much simpler rear suspension design, less to adjust (and therefore get wrong) when it comes time to align, and means it will have a limited slip. It's amazing, you can get an entire rear axle with brakes, LSD etc from an Explorer for the price of a limited slip unit for a 240SX.

Oh, and we completed the table last weekend. Very solid, should be able to support the whole car, engine and all!

I'd gladly give you some welding tips sometime, it'd give me a chance to take a closer look at your project, as I'm really interested in it, and would like to build one of my own sometime.

Feel free to e-mail me: chris@chrisachilles.com

Some more progress this weekend:

Just a bit of camber, and look at the ride height!

Starting to look like a real car. Frame is coming along nicely, got a rear axle (Volvo), fitted the engine (well tested it's location), tossed in a seat, steering wheel, and took come photos. Still a lot of work to do!

Next weekend I am hoping to:
Mock up engine mounts
Finalize rear axle location, mock up brackets for mounting suspension, trailing arms.
Finish welding the pieces that should never move

Good job.
Though I think you might want to finish up that garage some time before the cold weather hits.

Well progress has been wretchedly slow of late, but there are some updates.

I am one bracket away from attaching the rear trailing arms, and once I figure out my shock location, I can make that bracket as well.

The garage is now enclosed (although not insulated), so it will be a better working space.

I really need to spend a long weekend just working on the car to start making some progress again.

Nathan ,

I am very interested in your project. I just found this site and plan on joining the SCCV ASAP.

A little background on my self. I built a V8 tube chassis hot rod when I was seventeen and used to race Formula Vee's. I have been into bikes for the past 15 years but am now excited about building a Locost. I have been doing some research and am in process of writing some software to help with the design process. I want to calculate weight and balance, suspension geometry and feed into a FEM program to do the stress calculations.

Anyway, I would love to talk to you about your project, see your progress and offer any help with anything from welding to analysis. It looks like you are making great progress.

Drop me an email at mark@steinhoff.com or give me a call at 238-8958

Thanks,
Mark Steinhoff