Hi There, great choice of car.
I have been down a similar road, if you have not yet seen it your might find some of my experience a help, see thread below
https://www.gt40s.com/threads/canamsa-sa-stratch-build.19604/
I also offer this advice to anyone doing a scratch build:
Starting out advice - mid-engined scratch build
A friend of mine who is not big on literature research is talking about starting a scratch build mid-engined full body sports/race car project, and in conversation with him I am reminded of things I have learnt during the process of my build so far. I note below some of my thoughts on how to approach a project like this. I understand that the below is spelt out in much greater detail in various excellent books and websites, and is being discussed on other threads, I note it here as a summarized version. If I had followed these recommendations when I started, I would have saved myself considerable time, hassle and expense.
When starting out at least do the following, in this order:
Decide what the car is going to look like, i.e what body shell, if not original. This also determines wheel base dimension and the width over wheels. i.e determine the wheel positions.
If original body, decide on at least the front and rear track, wheel base can be adjusted.
Decide on what tyres you will use, exact width and profile, and procure if you are serious.
Decide on what hubs/uprights/steering rack you will use and procure/make if you are serious.
Decide on what rims/offset you will use and procure if you are serious.
Decide on what engine and transmission you will use and procure if you are serious.
Position all above parts on garage floor or build table and sort ergonomics – where do you fit?
If you are going to draw up in cad, finalize the position of all above parts in your model only now.
All the above could be an iterative process, but please complete it BEFORE you start the chassis.
Design suspension – if you are not going to do the research to enable you to do this yourself the only options are:
Get someone else to do it for you.
Copy an existing car, strictly only valid if using that cars uprights/hubs/wheels/tyres.
Guess
Once you know where the inner suspension points are, you can design the chassis, to accommodate all above. CAD / balsa model / cut and tack on build table are all valid methods, but best results would be obtained by combining them. Please do not start with a Locost chassis and try to modify it to accommodate a rear engine drive train.
