My Lotus build

[Mike S.]

Thanks Charlie
I always liked a challenge LOL This one is of my own making though LOL I wanted to get rid of the rather small rear drum brakes. To go with disc all arround. Well one thing lead to another (don't they always?) I was converting from the inner U-joints to CVs. The friend who's doing my machine work. Just happened to have a pair of CV joint drilled discs from a formula Ford (I think). So rather than trying to find a disc set up that would work with the rear uprights & bearings etc. It just seemed to make sense to use them & reduce the sprung weight at the wheels. Besides the discs were free so HEYYYYYYYYYY? We're trading work he's doing the machine work in trade for all the fiberglass work I did on his Devin. Helped make the mold (body), made the molds & parts for doors & headrests etc. I happened to have an extra pair of front calipers on my shelf (I'd tried a pair of Fiat X19s but didn't like the clearances.) Yeah I will on the electrical. Probably something like a "painless" loom. Not be a victim of the Dark Lords Lucas or Smith LOL I do have the whole harness I took out in toto. Looks like a pile of colored spageti over in the corner of the garage LOL (actually on top of the race engine crate for my 850 spider).
Mike S.

 

[Mike S.]

Got the body mounted on a rotissery set up now. That way I can rotate it to get to the under edges on the side pods. Also makes it much easier to duck under to work on the engine bay area & wheel arches. Used an engine stand to bolt to the front & built a simmular stand for the rear. Easy rolling it around too. My son & I moved it to my back yard because of complaints from the neighbors about the dust. Aint neighbors grand? LOL
Mike S.

 

[Jack]

Mike, do your neighbors have fire insurance?

 

[Mike S.]

Mike, do your neighbors have fire insurance?

Probably but these are renters. I like the actual owners. The big problem I have with their complaints are. They're up-wind from where I was working & 50 ft away. The prevailing wind & we nearly always have a breeze. Is away from thier house & into my backyard/patio area. I haven't cleaned off the tables on my patio since I started working on the car. There's a little extra dust on them but not significantly more than just the normal from the air. So there's no way the dust could go upwind in any ammount. But I took the path of least resistance & moved it further away from the prop. line & on the other side of the garage.
Mike S.

 

[Jack]

Than just ignore them..

 

[Mike S.]

AHHHHHHHHH well the things we do/put up with for our hobby/passion LOL Into each life a little rain must fall. Why is every one always raining on MY parade?
Mike S.

 

[Jack]

It rains every day here in Florida! Persevere, it'll all work out.

 

[Mike S.]

Off the subject Molleur. Your avatar is interesting. Are you a pilot? Like your flight jacket (if that's you LOL). I used to be a big collector of Flying Tiger memorabelia. Still have a couple of flight jackets myself. Can't really make out the squadron patch. Nice "friend" too LOL
Mike S.

 

[Jack]

Mike, look for an e-mail..
Jack

 

[Jack]

Hey Mike, fat fingers. That was 90th Fighter Sqdn. CBI

 

[Mike S.]

Hey Mike, fat fingers. That was 90th Fighter Sqdn. CBI

LOL Jack
Got the E sent one back.
Mike S.

 

[Phil]

Mike:
I just went thru your whole build log and I like it. The body stuff for me is something I am not so good at so I trade services to get that done, and I think yours looks good but I am no expert.
The reference you made to the Chevron B16 is cool, I always liked those cars, and the rear suspensions were very similar to what you are doing.
Looking at your rear setup it looks like you have the geometry setup pretty well. I can't see it all so I can't fully comment, but there is definitely adjustability there, and camber gain is built in...you won't need much anyway, and you took the time to set up the wishbone inner mounts to acheive a roll center and virtual swingarm. If you get stuck on that stuff drop me a PM. Also I could not see if your half shafts were setup for plunge or if are changing to CV's, maybe I missed that....only one cup of coffee so far!
Now I will have to check your build every day to see progress and photos.
Good job, I can't wait to see how those molds come out for the final body.
Cheers
Phil

 

[Mike S.]

Thanks Phil I really like your build thread too. Yes the susp. geo. should be pretty good (I hope). I have a good friend helping me with these things. In particular the machine work. He & I trade work too. I do fiberglass work & mold masters for things like the front uprites on his last race car. He's been building, racing & maintaing race cars for over 40 years. Besides I have a pretty good library of books on the subject of chassis & susp. design. Fiberglass is my forte more than metal (I'm a whiz kid in wood too LOL). He was given an old Devin body a couple of years ago. We took a mold off it & it's setting in my back yard. He traded me the body for a couple of days work doing the mold. I have a 63 Spitfire sitting waiting to be the chassis for it once I get the Lotus done. Did you check out the limk to my photo album on photobucket? There are a lot more pix there that I didn't post here. Yes there are CV joints that the brake discs bolt dirrectly to. They were for a formula Ford (I think) anyway my buddy had them laying around so I used them (hey they were free why not? LOL). The half shafts origially used twin U-joints with the axle being the top link. But I knew I had to make allowances for the in & out with the new susp. set up. you can see the CV & stub in the pix of the brake set up & the adapter for the 1/2 shafts. It lets the stub. slide In & goes in the cut off 1./2 shft & then welded to gether. Will look very much like the 1/2 shafts for a McLaren only not splined.
Mike S.

 

[Mike S.]

Todays update: I started working on the passenger side. I'd made a mold to make side pods to cover where the body curve ends. Then there's a flat flang that just looks crappy. So I made side pods to cover it & form a door sill. The inside surface is smooth rather than the outside. But when you want to do rapid prototyping it's easier & faster for one or two pieces. Besides I'll have to glass it to the rest of the body & smooth that. So smoothing the pieces is no big deal. Cut off the old scoops & had to do a bit of filling. The new scoop opening will be a bit smaller.

Just hung in place:

Drivers side on:

Old mods cut & started filling:

I'd also made up a rotissery set up. Using my engine stand in the front & fabd up another one for the back. Used two 2X6s with blocks between & bolted one end in the tunel for the "back bone" of the chassis. & clamped it in the back. Now I can rotate the body up to work on the underside of the sides. Makes it easier to duck under to work on the engine bay side. You can take a look here for pix of them & other pix of the project.
Pictures by skystone3 - Photobucket
Mike S.

 

[Jackal]

I very quickly realized (too late though) that a rotissery set up was the way to go. I think though my plug would of been too heavy but when i did the foaming on the verticals I created new swear words at an unbelievable rate.... I used mostly two pack foam and when you mix it and it expands, it just ran off like a thick pudding when applied to the sides. Ended up doing most of the vertical foam work with airosol cans which costs a fortune in comparison. Sorry to hear about your neighbor. As you know I'm in the same boat.

Nice work. You are a 'go-getter'

Cheers
jackal

 

[Mike S.]

Yes I've played a little with the two part stuff. It does rather have a mind of it's own doesn't it? LOL The spray cans are very expensive for what you get. I buy ridged foam sheets at my local home improvement store (Home Depot). You can get it in 4'X8' sheets from 3/4" to 2" thick. Then spray adhesive it together or to the surface. I at least had the room to move my project to the other side of the property & on the other side of a building from the complainer. Plus the prevailing wind is away from him. I set up a sun shade (which I was going to do anyway) pretty easy. So it actually works out ok for me. Keep on trucking on you project too Jackal. Yours is more ambitious than mine being a whole new design. Then you'll have to build the frame etc.
Mike S

 

[Mike S.]

Now that I've moved the body from one side of my property to the other. Because of complaints about the dust. NOW I'm having issues with the neighbor on the other side over noise! This afternoon I was disc sanding in my yard. He was on the other side of the fence using a table saw. I had to holler at him to keep it down, I couldn't hear my sander for his saw! Can you emagine? I mean the nerve of some people. Making more noise than me? LOL
Mike S.

 

[Mike S.]

Well It's been quite a while. The Lotus has been on the "back burner" for too long. I'm getting ready to go on with it. I just bought a Buick 215 aluminum V-8 to put in it. I'll be dumping the Ford 4 banger & Renault trans. In favor of the Buick & a Porsche 914 trans I had sitting in the garage. Probably going back & making some changes to the frame too.

 

[Hellemans]

Interesting project Mike,
Seems you are on track to build a Lotus 47D ( LOTUS-GKN 47D - THE CAR THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN) . You will need to increase wheelbase and fabricate a rear chassis to get around the V8. Great project, keep posting

 

[Mike S.]

Hi Hellem not really I've got the V-8 & trans setting in the frame right now. Only clearance problem is the oil pump. that can easilly be worked around. But being me I'm thinking a rework of the rear frame anyway. More for asthetics of the way I WANT it to LOOK. More than real structural reasones. I'm waiting on the engine/trans addapter to get here to start cutting metal though. Mean while I'm doing some work on my 70 El Camino.:thumbsup: