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Locost Roadster Project Thread


Guest daveb666

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Guest daveb666

07-04-14 - This thread is on LCB and goes back to May last year when I bought the car. There are loads and loads of photos missing from the first 5 months as they were all hosted directly on LCB. I may transfer these across when I get time but the latest photos/videos are all working fine at the end of the post.

 

Firstly, this won't be a 'build' thread. The car was 99.9% complete when purchased from "big_wasa" and pretty much just needed to be put through an IVA to get road-ready.

Apologies for picture quality, most are taken on my mobile

 

Spec from the advert:

 

2.0 Zetec rebuilt pre aug 95 with letter from ford.

fuel injected

Scholar sump

Scholar lightened flywheel

Dunnel alternator kit

Mt75 gearbox

Fisher stainless exhaust manifold

Capri atlas axle

Cortina fronts

Gaz shocks

D&F prop

Cai dials

Obp pedal box

Obp fuel tank

Obp catch tank

Mk2 escort steering rack Quick ratio 2.9:1

Front wish bones 4" wider than stock to match the atlas rear axle

Sierra column

Momo 10" caterham steering wheel

Gts fiberglass

Descent 15" alloys pug offset

 

So after agreeing a deal with Warren, I left got the car transported back home. Warren told me a bout a few little IVA jobs that would need doing, so whilst the IVA application paperwork was winging its way to VOSA, I took the usual 'pre-IVA' pics for people to look for things that may need sorting.

 

First thing that I noticed was that trim needed adding to the bottom of the headlight brackets (yes they will get painted!)

 

Lambda sensor needed wrapping

Breather pipe from the rocker cover to the catch tank needed purchasing and fitting

 

It was suggested that it would be prudent to put some sort of threshold cover on for the IVA, and to prevent scratches in future. I purchased some Cope Moulding #11 from Click Metal and cut it to length. I wasn't keen on the bare metal though so wrapped it in 3M carbon fibre sheet.

 

I then phoned VOSA to chase my application, as it was over a week since I had paid. I was told that they are 3 weeks behind so my test date will be at least 6 weeks away! :- So I decided to start tinkering as I had time to spare.

First job I wanted to do was to paint the mesh in the nose-cone as it was bare metal and starting to look a bit shabby.

 

While painting the cone, I decided it would be a good idea to carbon wrap the indicator brackets, so removed them from the nose-cone and dismantled:

 

Whilst at Newark I saw some of these indicators on a stunning MK so decided to get a pair, ready to fit after my IVA

Car was then wheeled back into the garage ready for IVA day; 4th July!

 

 

So, IVA day.

 

Got there nice and early and unloaded

Got in, did the emissions test- failed. (Weird, water temp on 90 and car was very warm)

Gary (tester) said to let the car warm up some more. (Car fan come and on and off a couple of times it was that warm!)

Waited...waited...waited

Retested.... failed.

:(

 

Asked Gary why it said "CAT" on his testing machine, and after a quick discussion it was agreed the car should be tested without a CAT on it (1993 engine), oops.

 

Gary played around with the machine and 2 minutes later I got a pass straight away. Phew, on to the next bit!

Moved up on to the ramp up and turned the car off. Up and down we go and Gary looked under the car, around the front wheels etc. Light test all done with some minor adjustments on the headlamps as expected.

 

Gary asked me to move the car forward and...it wouldn't start! Wondered if it was the battery, but turned over nice and fast! Waited 5 minutes, same thing. BOLLOX!

 

Gary said he'd complete as much of the test as he could so I'd hopefully fall under the 3hr (£300!) re-test category.

I went back to the waiting room to sulk. 55 minutes later Gary waves me into the testing area,

"I've managed to get the car started so we'll carry on!!!"

 

Back to the waiting room I go, and another 90 minutes (2.5hrs in total) later Gary brings back the sheet of paper to the office, with the FAIL information:

 

So -

 

Brake bias bar locking mechanism. I plan on adding a split pin (See other forum for info)

Seats - don't really understand that one, but I was going to replace them with GRP ones anyway so that's just speeded up that process!

Mirrors - this was mentioned in the original post but I thought they'd be OK. Apparently they're not, so new ones will be ordered.

Headlights - Gary forgot he let me adjust these so that technically shouldn't be there.

 

Not AS bad as it could have been. Need to sort out the hot-start issue too!

Offending seats removed:

Offending mirror:

Brake Bias Bar:

Now to buy some new stuff :)

So, new Mirrors ordered from Furore Products (top service Russ - highly recommended!)

 

Didn't want to make anyMORE obvious holes in the bodywork so fitted them through the edge of the aeroscreen; that way if I change at a later date the edge trim will cover the hole I've made.

 

Not sure I really like the look of the mirrors to be honest, but if it passes the IVA then that doesn't matter for the moment.

 

Needed some new seats so went for GRPs. After a previous post about the quality of some KAD seats I'd decided to buy them, but they didn't have them in stock so I had to go for some more expensive ones from http://www.kitspares.co.uk/

 

The finish is probably the same as the KAD ones (same supplier probably) but they feel very solid. The guys at Kit Spares were great as well and the seats arrived as told, 20 hours after ordering.

 

So, on to fitting my new seats. Eventually the drivers will be mounted on runners so the wife can have a drive, but for the moment I just banged it on some bobbin mounts to get it level, and absorb some vibration :)

 

Drivers one now all finished; drilled the holes wrong in my passenger one so need to do that tonight. DOH.

 

 

sooo today I passed my IVA!!!...and now move on to the saga of the DVLA :)

 

Whilst waiting for my DVLA inspection next week I got on with fitting my carbon rear arch covers:

 

Dominator headlights going on next.

 

I wanted to replace my 'friendly' front indicators every since I saw some motorbike ones on a stunning white MK at Newark. I'd already bought them and was just waiting to get through the IVA procedure before fitting.

 

Yes I know they're little but loads of cars have these and they are, surprisingly bright.

 

Whilst fitting these, I'd noticed that the induction kit was right behind the radiator, which can't help with cool air so, after spying a discount Carbon NACA duct I set to work fitting it.

 

(All likelihood is this will be redundant once the TBs go on but I like the look of it, and any cool air in to the engine bay can't be a bad thing)

 

So on Monday I passed my DVLA inspection - now just a waiting game for the paperwork.

 

I bought some Dominator headlights a few weeks ago as I wanted to replace the chrome ones to give the car a slightly harder look.

 

Really happy with how the car looks now - just want to drive the bloody thing!!

 

Then I broke it - the starter motor seized, it wouldn't start and I couldn't jump it. I had to call my Dad to tow me to his house. I then removed the starter motor, and drove home.

 

The starter motor was a Lucas (LRS707). For those of you that may need one of these in future, a company called Wood Autos in Huddersfield stocks a smaller, lighter replacement:

 

The part number for your reference is STR50041 and it costs about £60.

 

Unfortunately, me driving home without the wires to the starter connected overloaded the alternator, so today I need to get a new regulator for that.

 

Because I needed to remove the alternator anyway, and to do this easily meant taking off the inlet, I decided to start fitting my GSXR throttle bodies.

GSXR 1000 Bodies (£75 ebay)

ST170 Complete Inlet and Fuel Rail (£40 ebay)

MBE Loom and ECU (£250 ebay)

 

In this picture the throttle bodies have been spaced to match the ST170 inlet, at this point I'm filling the 2nd butterfly holes in the bodies and filing back.

The complete bodies

The engine setup as it stands, pre-TB fitting:

 

The induction kit was suffering from massive heatsoak, so I heatwrapped an old airbox and did a direct feed straight into the box from the carbon scoop on the bonnet, hugely improved the performance of the car.

Inlet and alternator removed

 

TBs offered up for encouragement

 

I then pulled all the engine loom through into the car, dropped the dash, smiled at the general tidyness and skill of big_wasa's wiring abilities, and then gave up for the day.

 

Unfortunately an issue with my phone meant I lost loads of photos so this is more of a textual update than anything and quite dis-jointed.

 

Following on from last time. I managed to complete the fitting of the GSXR tbs and borrowed a trailer and truck to take the car to Noble Motorsport for mapping.

 

The car produced 168bhp/142lbft and drives beautifully. The mapper said if I had ARPs fitted that it's likely I could squeeze a bit more out of the car, and of course rev it a lot higher but that's maybe a job for winter.

 

I never really liked the bling of the aftermarket wheels that were fitted to the car so set about painting them satin black; I really like the new look that this has given the car; certainly feels more purposeful to me.

 

I snapped the front arch stay a few weeks ago, and as I'm waiting on some new lovely carbon arches arriving did a PROPER bodge so that I can still drive the car (I don't have a welder).

 

I've never felt comfortable when sitting in the car, and after taking a seat in the "yellowcab" busa we did some measurement comparisons to see where the differences were. The most notably variation was that the steering wheel was higher in the "yellowcab" than my own car, so I set about modifying the column to raise it up to the 22" as per the busa.

 

This meant moving the warning LED board.The dash hole looks a bit out of place now, but I'm a lot more comfortable driving the car. Maybe I'll consider a carbon-dash over winter if funds allow, but it will do for the moment :)

 

I'm also replacing the gear/handbrake gaitors and re-covering all the transmission tunnel over winter. That's currently a WIP in the photo above!

 

I've got plans over winter; although notably a lot is to do with giving the car some storage - I'm adding a glovebox, tunnel pockets, seat covers and boot-box.

 

The tyres that came with my car, although un-used weren't the best. big_wasa had always intended on upgrading the wheels to 13" along with decent tyres. I haven't got the funds just now to replace the wheels but I do have a friend that participates in a race-series throughout the year. The control tyre for this race series is a Michelin PS3 which has to be new before each race. Therefore I have access to these tyres, in 15" flavour that have done 15-20 laps of a race circuit, so are for the most part brand new.

 

I've always intended on making a boot for the car so with the colder weather coming in set about dismantling the rear panel of the car.

 

Didn't get any further last night as I wanted to watch something on TV, will carry on with it over the coming week and hopefully get it finished off fairly quickly.

 

I've bought some hinges from a mini to use on the lid (ala. "40inches") setup and hopefully, budget allowing, intend on fitting a carbon fibre lid and top panel.

 

So whilst I was in the middle of my boot box I decided to make a glovebox for storing err, gloves.

 

Booked a last minute trackday in my Locost this weekend at Elvington airfield. It was meant as more of a shake-down than anything as it's the first time the car has really been driven in anger since it was completed.

 

There was torrential rain in the morning sessions which was, quite frankly, awful and meant I had to go to the local Asda at dinnertime to buy some dry clothes!

 

A few videos are below:

 

Morning Session - VERY Wet

 

 

Morning Session - Wet

 

Afternoon Session - Moist

 

Spins of the Day -

 

This was my first ever track day in this car so don't be too harsh on the driving style :(

One thing I did notice was that I was shifting at 6k instead of 7k; I couldn't see the rev counter - so I'll be fitting a shift-light over the weekend.

Here a few of mine that capture the essence of a rather moist day out...

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When I booked the Elvington trackday I was made aware of the relatively low drive-by sound test. Not wanting to trip this sound meter, I created an 'induction noise' shield for my TBs.

It looks very rough and ready but did the job on the day and didn't affect performance either.

 

IMG_20140118_142833_zps020f1611.jpg

IMG_20140118_144804_zps24e99ac6.jpg

Edited by daveb666
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So, further Ollys very wet photos above; this was the state of the car when I arrived at Elvington:

IMG_20140119_090454_zpsed2c212b.jpg

IMG_20140119_111553_zpsd2e1c3aa.jpg

...and this was the state of the car the following weekend :(

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So after giving the car it's first proper bath since I bought it nearly 10 months ago I got on with the 'post-trackday' mods.

First up, I noticed I was changing gear at 6k and not the 7k limiter. I ordered an LED cluster from Maplins (£5.89) and fitted it under my aeroscreen;

 

IMG_20140131_182601_zpse937c7a8.jpg

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Added the necessary shift-light pin-out from the MBE ECU plug

IMG_20140131_190931_zps30dd57e1.jpg

made some tweaks in the Easimap MBE software

IMG_20140201_122325_zps7fa8dbf6.jpg

IMG_20140201_122455_zps0fbbc403.jpg

..and I now have a working shift-light

IMG_20140201_122627_zps1977b50a.jpg

As the track day went on I was conscious that my oil was getting too hot. I didn't know because I had a temperature gauge but the engine was noticeably 'tappy'. When I got home (and the car had cooled down) the noise had gone so I know it was the excessive oil temperatures that had been reached.

Now I know zetecs need 'high oil temperatures' to work, which is great, and I know I could buy more expensive oil but, IMO, the oil I use got too hot, therefore I need a cooler to bring it back down to suitable temperatures.

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Unfortunately the lack of space between my oil filter and steering column meant that I was unable to fit a sandwich plate so I had to first get a remote filter kit, which then branched off to my oil cooler.

I offered up the remote filter plate and oil cooler to where I hoped it would go:

IMG_20140201_140432_zpsff8601eb.jpg

IMG_20140201_150819_zps6bb4233a.jpg

 

IMG_20140201_151454_zps4de6fb33.jpg

and then fitted the remote sandwich plate:

IMG_20140204_154830_zps5894f5e7.jpg

close up of the remote filter setup

IMG_20140204_162215_zpscc8713a2.jpg

 

I then got some pipes made up, cobbled together some brackets and this is the result:

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I always wanted some wider harnesses with the aero-style bucket to increase the speed at which I can get in and out of the car. 'yellowcab' replaced his so I swooped in and purchased his old ones. I didn't want the colour red in my car though so whipped out the rattle cans for a bit of colour-coding.

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IMG_20140206_164728_zps83f8910e.jpg

IMG_20140206_165931_zpsefcfb288.jpg

 

IMG_20140209_132617_zpse7318ae9.jpg

I did fit the passenger side but forgot to take any photos :)

Did another trackday at Blyton, broke it; but that's for another day.

A few photos from the day -

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IMG_3992_zpsd8374619.jpg

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So I decided to take the plunge and get an LSD for the car. The LSD will be fitted by a professional, after reading enough posts about LSD's locking up and people almost dying I decided to opt for the safer, but more expensive option.

Arches off

IMG_20140301_145148.jpg

IMG_20140301_145141.jpg

Grimy :( That'll be the trackday at Elvington that did that then!

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I took loads of reference photos so I have a record of how everything went together!

IMG_20140301_150726.jpg

 

Garage dog interested as usual :D

IMG_20140301_162418.jpg

Had to dismantle my boot box which was depressing :(

IMG_20140302_144949.jpg

Got everything off and dragged the trailer out of the garage to pull out the axle (with the help of a mate)

IMG_20140302_144959.jpg

[Excuse the thumb on the lense]

And out....

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IMG_20140302_152612.jpg

I drop it off this evening and get it back next week. Very excited.

Wow, a while since I was last in this thread! :o

So, my axle came back with the lovely LSD all fitted. No pictures of the refitting as I just cracked on with it. But the axle is all back in with no issues.

At my last trackday at Blyton I had an issue; the fkin exhaust snapped off

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and the weld snapped where it joins the manifold:

IMG_20140216_120331.jpg

That put an end to my trackday so I needed to get the system all off for re-welding. A mate re-welded it for me and added some extra support brackets.

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It's not the prettiest thing but if it does the job then I'm not bothered.

I also replaced the bobbin exhaust mounts for some stronger items to prevent future failures

IMG_20140301_125916.jpg

IMG_20140406_151847.jpg

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Then we move on to my new cycle wings. The cycle wings that came with the car were quite heavy and did not help in anyway to prevent stones/water being fired up at me.

I was meant to be getting a set of carbon wings from a supplier on here in exchange for some commercial photography that I did for them - I did the work but never received the wings (lesson learnt I guess) so had to find some more.

I contacted a composite supplier in Huddersfield and lucky for me, on the shelf, they had some carbon-kevlar wrap around arches! A price was agreed upon and the arches were brought home.

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I removed the old wings, re-bent the supports and mounted them with sickaflex and bolts to hopefully prevent them snapping off in the future.

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All finished and fitted

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Now, I know they're too low at the back. I have been out for a little drive but they didn't actually catch so I'll have to see how I get on with them. I can't move them forward on the mounts due to the way I've had to cut a notch in the arch so worst-case means I'll have to cut off the return at the bottom to give me an extra inch of clearance. We'll see how we get on.

Next up, it was my birthday this week :D and Mark Chandler was giving away! the front-hoop for his old roll-cage. I'm always a sucker for free stuff so made the 8 hour, 450mile round-trip to Tadley to collect it.

It's an almost perfect fit (cage is just rested on in the photos)

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That's getting fitted properly next weekend.

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I went over to Steve Bell's this Saturday so that he could fit my roll cage for me.

 

Before

IMG_20140412_090610.jpg

 

We decided to bolt he cage through the top triangulation point of the chassis on the edge of the cockpit (as we'd both seen numerous times before).

 

Hole-Sawd

IMG_20140412_095003.jpg

 

Tidied Up

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Increase the hole for the bolt

IMG_20140412_100006.jpg

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Steve had machined a sleeve earlier in the day to ensure the chassis doesn't get crushed

IMG_20140412_100637.jpg

 

Supported with an engine crane to get the correct position

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Tacking the legs in place

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Welding the rear bars onto the original roll-bar

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WIP

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And done

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There were un-painted bits in this photo and the threshold-cover sealant was still drying (hence the masking tape) but the fit and job is excellent.

 

Really can't thank Steve enough :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest daveb666

Olly was kind enough to give me his old rear diffuser, so last weekend I set about fitting it.

 

Off the car

IMG_20140419_194646.jpg

 

Offered up with wood for the fit

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Moved off the trailer to make fitting easier!

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Flat floor, hole chopped for diff room

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and finished

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Probably won't make much difference to the 'aero' but should reduce and parachuting that I may have had at the rear.

 

I just love the way it looks now anyway :D

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest daveb666

I've done a few bits since the last update -

 

Fitted high level brake lights

IMG_20140426_171827.jpg

IMG_20140426_171849.jpg

 

I have fitted two but forgot to take a picture of the completed article :(

 

Upgraded the headlight bulbs to LED ones (they are actually more white than blue)

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I bought a new aeroscreen at Stoneleigh from Aerodynamx

 

Old one:

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Removed

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New one offered up in place

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New one fitted

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From behind

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Edited by daveb666
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