Build Tips
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When the outline has been drawn, it is useful to place blocks of 1" square timber, about 3" long beside the lines to help with the alignment.
There are some fantastic cutting diagrams with all sizes and angles for a standard chassis by Phil Kench Here These drawings are in zipped.DWG format, so you'll need winzip and something like Turbocad to read them.
Once the shs is cut and trimmed to the correct size, I clamped the ends to the board using nuts and bolts and bridging peices of timber to help to prevent distortion when welding.
When it comes to the verticals, use the cheap magnetic 90 degree clamps, they make the job so much easier as you can reposition and tack easily, and check the alignment and make sure they are still vertical after each tack.
If you fancy the centraly mounted seat belts as fitted to westfields, and my car, there is a diagram of the mods needed to the chassis. These need to be incorporated early in the chassis build.
I used Ford Sierra engine mounts and the modifications are shown below.
A small plate was welded to the roll bar for the attachment of a third brake light as shown. The light is earthed and the feed is taken to the brake light circuit.
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Most people who build a locost find that the most expensive part of the entire car are the coil-over dampers. New, these can cost from £200 to over £700 per set of 4. These diagrams show several ways of making these parts cheaply. A different version can be found on the club website and also on darren ponton's site
The use of longer coil-overs can be acommodated by utilising a longer top trailing arm bolt and new bracket as shown here.
This modification allows the use of coilovers approximately 1 1/2 to 2 inches longer than in the "book". Compare with diagram page 73 (2nd edition).
See here for 2.0 Pinto engine service data.
See here for Pinto Tuning guide, courtesy of Puma Racing
Click here for common engine/gearbox combination details
The pinto engine is possibly not the best choice for a Locost, due to the overall height, but mine came free with the donor so in it went! Some people have made the chassis deeper to accommodate the engine, or raised the scuttle and it is neccessary to shorten the sump by around 3 inches, or as an alternative, to fit an RS2000 alloy sump. The RS sumps are around £80-£100 if you can find one, and you must get the oil pick-up pipe to match. If you trust your welding you can shorten your own sump by fixing it to a sturdy board with screws through the bolt holes ( to prevent distortion when welding ) marking and cutting off the bottom 3 inches and welding a plate across. Save the bottom so you can cut out the sump plug and weld or braze it in to your plate. This method will obviously reduce the oil capacity and this can be restored by extending the sump at the same level all the way across.
The oil pick-up pipe needs to be shortened to about 1/2 inch from the new sump bottom. Measure the amount that needs to be removed from the pipe and cut. Sleeve with a tube in which the pick-up pipe ends are a good fit. Weld around the ends of the sleeve, the welds must be good as any holes will suck air into the oil pump instead of oil - not to be recommended!
One thing that adds height to the pinto is the oil filler cap, this can be moved to the rear of the cam cover where the slope of the bonnet alows a little more room. The original air cleaner obviously won't fit under the bonnet ( and looks hideous ). My IGS air filter sticks through a shaped hole in the bonnet, but if you get a side draught carburettor (or two!) this won't happen although if you have built a standard width Locost the filters may stick out of the side.
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The floor of my locost is carpeted with cord carpet which is attached to a false floor which serves to cut down on road noise and provides a flat floor in the cockpit.
The carpet alone bridges the gap between the two sections giving a flat floor. The cockpit sides are trimmed with carpet at the bottom and grey vynyl at the top, which is attached to panels made from 3mm marine ply and aluminium. The division between the carpet and vynyl is a steel strip which is attached using M6 studs welded to the back. These are fastened through the panel with nuts and washers.
The dashboard in my car is made from 10mm marine ply covered in dark grey vynyl with painted aluminium panels let in for the minor instruments and the heater controls.
You will notice the "hump" where the speedo/tach are located, obviously the scuttle has to be modified for this. The top of the scuttle up to the windscreen is also padded and covered in the same vynyl.
Boot
Because I have used a larger capacity fuel tank (from a Chevette saloon) I havent got much room in the luggage area. This is how I used the available space.
Making Rear wings
if you have used other components than the "book" then it may be difficult to find rear wings of the correct width, this is one way to make wings that are the right size for the car. You will need two sheets of 10mm chip board (6 ins all round bigger than the arch you want to make), a steel trailer mudguard, some steel sheet, a welder, screws and glue. Draw the outline of the arch on one piece of chipboard and cut as shown in the diagram. Piece"B" should be glued and screwed to the other board (the Basebord). The trailer mudguard should be cut about 50 mm from the outer edge and if you have the facilities, joddled (stepped) by 15mm on the cut edge.if you cannot step the edge it should be overlapped by 15 mm onto the steel sheet and welded on, this will leave a step of one metal thickness wich you will have to disguise with filler,etc. You then need to cut the steel strip to the correct width for your arch, for example a 300mm wide arch would need a strip 265 mm wide, 300mm minus the 35 mm of the edge strip (50mm -15mm for the joddle) The steel strip is then placed on edge in the baseboard/piece"B" jig and piece "A" replaced to hold the steel in the correct curve and screwed in place. The mudguard rim should then be drilled at two inch intervals through the step and plug welded to the top of the steel strip. see diagram The mud guard may not be long enough in which case you'll have to join two together. Now you have a choice. I made mine symetrical and used it as "buck" to mold two identical arches in GRP, you could make two, one left, one right to use as seperate "bucks" or you could make two in steel and use them on the car with"L" shaped brackets welded on to attach them to the car. Whatever you decide the next step is the same, the step line should be filled and smoothed and a few coats of primer filler apllied. This should be wet-flatted until the surface is perfect and then painted. If you're using the steel arches then thats it. Bolt em on with some tadpole beading - job done! If you are to use them as a buck they should be polished several times and coated with PVA release agent. Lay up the mold with a wooden frame bonded in to retain the shape. Gel coat the buck and leave until tacky(20 - 30mins)and then use three layers of GRP mat to lay up the mold. Bond the timber to the outside. A flange should be liad up on the outside as shown here. This is to bolt on a removable piece, which is used to form the mounting flange when forming a wing. When the mold has cured(4 days min) remove the buck. Make sure that the mold interior is perfect,no mater how long it takes, as every blemish will be on each wing made in it. The wings should be laid up in the same way as the mold. once removed from the mold, lay flat for a couple of weeks to prevent distortion.
