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Author: Subject: Locost Project Thread
yellowcab

posted on 23/4/14 at 08:08 PM Reply With Quote
Certainly a far cry from when you bought it - looks much harder, with stacks more road presence.

Might come as a shock - but I love the look of it too

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DannyScarbro

posted on 13/5/14 at 10:20 AM Reply With Quote
Just spent some time reading through the build thread Dave, you have done a great job.

Looks twice the car and I'm sure will be quite the weapon on track!

It's amazing how similar our builds are!

Dan

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daveb666

posted on 13/5/14 at 01:28 PM Reply With Quote
Thanks Dan, it's nice to see the thread does actually get read!

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

Fitted high level brake lights



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)


I bought a new aeroscreen at Stoneleigh from Aerodynamx

Old one:


Removed


New one offered up in place


New one fitted


From behind


Needed a filler to empty jerry cans in at trackdays so constructed this using Ikea parts




Then I needed some new wing stays making so went to Steve Bell for help



I'm just on with painting them at the moment, will post some updated photos when it's finished.

Steves, nearly completed car;



Oh, I also had a race with a C63 AMG the other night, on a roll from 20-120mph. There was nothing in it...the cars couldn't have been more perfectly matched. On noseying at the specs the base AMG has 457bhp so has a power to weight of approx 264bhp per ton; assuming our cars had a similiar power to weight that means, based on the Mercs figures that my car weighs around 650kg. Time to get it on the weighing scales I think





2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire

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DannyScarbro

posted on 13/5/14 at 08:35 PM Reply With Quote
Me and my brother have had many discussions over the last few months,

My seven has 190bhp and weighs 562kg. Rolling roaded and weigh bridge.

This giving it a power to weight of circa 340bhp per tonne.

However we think that when you get upto some bigger power figures it's not quite so clear cut;

Mine was a little quicker than a stripped and carbon clad m3 at blyton but my M135 is nearly as quick as the kit car although having a power to weight of circa 220!


Dan

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daveb666

posted on 14/5/14 at 07:31 AM Reply With Quote
I suppose when you get to bigger power figures it's all about traction and how much power you can actually hold around the corners? Thankfully I don't really have that issue, yet

I finished off my wing stays last night, all painted and fitted and sikaflex'd on:





I'd also ordered a sheet or carbon to try and have a go at making some pretty side wind deflectors, but ordered 2mm which is just waay too thick so I had to find something to use it for:








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daveb666

posted on 27/6/14 at 09:53 AM Reply With Quote
The car was originally fitted with a 2.0 zetec flywheel which had been lightened by Scholar engines; reducing the weight from around 10kg to 7.5kg.

A friend who races a Ginetta G40 had an old engine going begging, a deal was done and I acquired the Ginetta race flywheel from that engine. The Ginetta G40's use a crate-blacktop 1.8 zetec engine, standard apart from a Raceline sump, race flywheel and bespoke camshafts.

The new flywheel weighs 3.75kg but the clutch setup will be a bit mix and match.

To make sure I get the right bits I took a visit to Calder Clutch in Brighouse, West Yorkshire who suggested the best way to progress would be to take my old flywheel, clutch and release bearing setup down to them and they will build me a suitable replacement kit for the new flywheel.

That meant taking the engine out;

First few bits off


Wheeled into the garage and under the crane (Excuse the mess!)


and out


Took me just over 2 hours to remove it all. To say I was by myself and half an hour of that was arsing about with trailers and shifting cars around I'm quite happy with that.

This dinnertime I'll be taking all the old bits to Calder so I can pick up the relevant new bits.

I also interestingly found that my old clutch wasn't really working properly -


It appears as though either it was the wrong friction plate, or the Scholar flywheel wasn't flush - eitherway it meant I probably had less than 30% of the actual friction plate touching the flywheel - I always thought I had clutch-slip but this being my first RWD car I just dismissed it as the tyres spinning.

Nevermind - but adds to the reasoning for taking it all apart anyway!





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daveb666

posted on 30/6/14 at 08:10 AM Reply With Quote
Another update, does anyone read this? lol

Today was set to get the car back together.

Bolts all organised


Old flywheel and clutch, around 12.5kg



New flywheel and clutch - 7.5kg. A decent 5kg saving!


New flywheel and clutch on the engine


Ready to go in


Engine all in


All done and finished


First impressions are good, it revs soon much faster and sounds like a racecar with a bit of heel and toe around the twisties.

Looking forward to getting out during the week for a blast, hope the weather warms up a bit!





2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire

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40inches

posted on 30/6/14 at 09:45 AM Reply With Quote
Did you find the reason for the small clutch contact area?






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daveb666

posted on 30/6/14 at 10:12 AM Reply With Quote
Nope, although I haven't checked. Will offer a rule up to the old flywheel and if its warped I'll get it skimmed before I sell it on.:-)





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daveb666

posted on 3/7/14 at 08:51 AM Reply With Quote
I thought it was about time I got the car setup properly so am booked into ProComp on 28th July

Really can't wait - aside from now knowing the current setup of the car, I've never even had the car tracked since buying it a year ago so I'm hoping that some big improvements will be made





2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire

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daveb666

posted on 3/7/14 at 08:53 AM Reply With Quote
Also did a video of a little run about in Leeds (pre flywheel fitting) - it also shows my breaking it in the end



[Edited on 3/7/14 by daveb666]

[Edited on 3/7/14 by daveb666]





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daveb666

posted on 29/7/14 at 01:58 PM Reply With Quote
Since getting through the IVA test in August 2013 the car had always needed setting up properly. I'd just ticked over the 1,000 mile marker on the car so decided that now would be as good a time as any to get everything pointing in the right direction.

I chose to take my car to Procomp Motorsport in Birmingham. Father and son team, Ivan and Matt, have worked in the kit-car industry for many years and compete in the Locost Race series; racing their own car and providing support for many other racers.

I feel I should point out that, as the name of the car suggests (Locost) that this was never a big-budget build by the creator of my car. The front wishbones are 'static' and made to a spec, the chassis is home-made (box section welded together by a chap in Lincolnshire in his garage) and most significantly the car runs a big, heavy Atlas rear axle as opposed to having the independent rear suspension of the factory-built cars. (There is an argument that live-axle cars are better on tracks than IRS but we'll save that for a later date).



After the car was loaded up on to the trailer I made the 200 mile round-trip to Procomp. Upon arriving the car is wheeled into the garage and all 4 shock absorbers are removed. They are then put on a shock-dyno and measured for rebound and compression on each 'click' setting for consistency.

My car runs GAZ Gold shock absorbers which is not expensive suspension by any stretch of the imagination. The shock dyno, aside from highlighting any physical issues with the shocks, also checks the pairing of the adjustment i.e. That 4 clicks on the LF shock is the same stiffness as 4 clicks on the RF shock.

Once all 4 shock absorbers had been put through their paces on the dyno, each spring was then tested for lb-age on a press.

Once all the suspension is built back up they move on to the height and then corner-weighting of the car.



The end results, without me in the car were:


They then move on to the camber, castor and toe adjustments - however as noted already most of mine is fixed so it was more of a case of adjusting what we can and checking to make sure none of the other readings are massively out.

Although I have a solid rear beam, there are many cases of these distorting when extra mounting brackets are welded on. In my case, due to having the larger, Atlas rear axle instead of the English axle, mine was within a couple of mm of being straight.







Once the settings have been checked and OK'd, the car is then corner-weighted against incase any of the adjustments have altered anything.

After that, there's some complex testing in order to assess the best shock absorber stiffness setting



The end result can be seen below:



The guys started at 10am and I didn't leave until gone 7pm, and all for a fixed price.

My car was found to have no dangerous, or worrying issues however a couple of points were noted:

1 - We ran out of camber adjustment on the RF so ideally the wishbones needs a few mm shaving off in order to obtain another turn.
2 - The RF wishbone has less castor than the LF but not enough to cause me any issues on the road.
3 - My rear springs are 160lb and ideally could do with being around 120lb due to the weight of the rear axle. (one for the shopping list)

My car isn't an out and out track car and spends most of it's time on the road, I also live in Yorkshire and, despite what the roads looked like on the Tour-De-France route we probably have some of the worst-maintained roads in the UK.

I didn't get chance to get behind the wheel of the car yesterday so have no comparisons to make yet, I just wanted to document my day whilst it was still fresh in my mind.





2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire

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yellowcab

posted on 29/7/14 at 05:29 PM Reply With Quote
Great writeup Dave - looking forward to hearing how it handles now
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daveb666

posted on 6/8/14 at 03:05 PM Reply With Quote
Anyway, since the suspension was setup I still haven't er, driven it. Life has got in the way, or something like that.

Despite just 10 posts ago saying that I didn't like the power delivery of a turbo'd engine, I have decided to go to the dark-side.

Shortly, I will be fitting a CA18DET engine into the car. These engines were originally from an S13 200SX. (My aim was to fit an SR20DET from the S14/S14a 200sx but aside from being a bit trickier on the wiring, a bit heavier than the CA18DET, they are ridiculously priced). (IMO)

So, after doing some top-class Internet snooping, Googling and forum searching I actually found the donor parts through a friend that does drifting.

A shopping list was given, an offer list given back, some money changed hands and a few days later my donor bits arrived:

- Engine Loom
- Dead Engine with bigger turbo
- Rebuilt Engine
- Gearbox
- Spare manifold and turbo (Standard)
- Spare manifold and turbo (unknown)
- Huge box of spares...

When completed and working the engine will be running Stage 2 which will consist of uprated fuel pump (255 litres per hour), more boost (14psi), 3" downpipe, hard induction pipes, FMIC and a stage 2 chip. It should hopefully produce around 250-270bhp which should take me to around 450bhp/ton (or the same as an MP12C).


The engines:


The engine with the red camcover was the dead one, so that needed stripping so I can take the working bits off it and re-claim some space in the garage.









Think there is something missing?


This is the bigger turbo compared to the normal T25 that 'should' be on a CA18DET


The dead engine had a nearly new 6-plate paddle clutch on, but the flywheel has obviously taken some hammer and could do with a skim, or replacement.


...and that's where I'm up to at the moment. I know this should be a Winter project but I'm itching to get this lot thrown in and working so I aim to collect parts quickly over the next few weeks with the aim being to fit the engine and box early September.





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daveb666

posted on 9/9/14 at 09:08 AM Reply With Quote
I've spent the last few weeks amassing a pile of parts and doing a minor rebuild on the new engine.

255 litre per hour fuel pump


Tim Boost gauge


Gearbox jetwashed and de-greased


6 plate paddle clutch


Flywheel skimmed


My spares pile is growing rapidly!


Engine block all painted up


Old vs New Alternator


HKS Mushroom Filter


New Intercooler, 2.75" Outlets


..it just fits inside the nose-cone


New alloy radiator - from a civic!


Turbo Blanket to keep under-bonnet temps down


Engine taken over to my mates house to get cleaned up inside (work horse VW Golf LOL)


Rebuild time


Before and After (eewww)


New alternator brackets made up, and alternator side swapped for more clearance


All timed up!


My current engine and gearbox is coming out this weekend and all the new bits are going in from Monday onwards, I'm just a little bit excited now!

I've had a busy couple of weeks -

So I took the engine out:






New engine ready for it's new home


Cut some bits off


Fitted the new alloy racing radiator


Fitted the intercooler


Engine Mounts mocked up


First Test Fit



Modifying some chassis rails


Back in For the Last Time


Plenty of Room (sort of)


Ummm, not as subtle as I first hoped! haha


Then brought the car back home and began with the joyous task of hose fitting.

First trial fit -


Had to trim the nose-cone abit


Then started on a test-run of the wiring


That's where I'm up to, I've written a big job list today so know what's left to do.

My boost controller also arrived yesterday so once it's working I can get that thrown on and get a map put it that should take it to a safe 260-270bhp, as, when I opened my ECU I found this inside


HUGE HUGE thanks to Steve Bell for all the work getting the new lump in





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daveb666

posted on 22/9/14 at 08:41 AM Reply With Quote
Hello ? Not sure if anyone reads this anymore, I'll stop the updates if not LOL

Hello

Made lots of progress. Whilst I have tried to do the job properly first time there are a number of improvements I already know I want to make - notably in relation to the way the coolant pipes run - these will be getting sorted once I know there are no issues that I've yet to discover!

Does everyone hate wiring or is it just me?


Did some final hose fitting


Even though at this stage the car wasn't running yet, I decided to take it to get an exhaust made. Yep it's short and yes it will be incredibly loud. I will be having a silencer that I can put on as and when necessary but I've always wanted a turbo car with no silencer so now I have the chance I'm not missing out on the opportunity!










All done, just needed to tidy the engine bay wiring up at this stage




I then needed to chop my bonnet up to allow it to fit properly. I know this looks a tw@. The inlet is being shortened so that no cut is needed and the bonnet will be replaced next month.




Test drive this evening!





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ctwv50

posted on 22/9/14 at 09:01 AM Reply With Quote
I'm keeping an eye on this project as it's a pretty mental re-build. Be good to see how it turns out.
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big_wasa

posted on 22/9/14 at 11:44 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by daveb666
Hello ? Not sure if anyone reads this anymore, I'll stop the updates if not LOL


Bugger of, I dont really use face book.

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wylliezx9r

posted on 22/9/14 at 11:59 AM Reply With Quote
I'm watching too. Good work !





I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.
George Best

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daveb666

posted on 23/9/14 at 09:24 AM Reply With Quote
Well, it works.

It is nothing short of epic, I can't believe it's only on standard boost

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JudRbZVQak

[Edited on 23/9/14 by daveb666]





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daveb666

posted on 29/9/14 at 10:21 AM Reply With Quote
Sorry, I've let you down - couldn't deal with the noise of just the 'downpipe'. It wasn't the sheer volume of the thing, it was how awful it sounded on idle; almost tractor like and echoy.

I went back to Clark Customs in Barnsley and we fitted a fairly small backbox and pipe. It's still a 3" system and can if needs be, come off for some loud holliganism if I ever feel the need.



Jason Clark, my mate that did the exhaust and downpipe is also a pro-drifter so I offered him the key to see how my car would perform. I think it's safe to say he was fairly happy with it

http://youtu.be/DpcPGQoOADk?list=UUo5IQ4lTmiEAVhrNUSlJf1g

I have got a few niggles with the car that I need to sort:

- Clutch biting point is too high and needs altering some-how
- Clutch pedal needs a 'clutch-stop' on the bulkhead
- Had a water leak (this is now sorted)
- Need my new inlet making so that I can get my new bonnet on
- Side panels need flairing to let out the heat - it was getting really warm yesterday
- Swirl pot needs some heatshield adding to it; it was that warm yesterday that it was actually boiling in the pot!!





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daveb666

posted on 6/11/14 at 10:14 AM Reply With Quote
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SWwhdPJUek[/youtube]

Now turned up to the boost to a bar, oh and then broke it again. haha





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daveb666

posted on 10/12/14 at 09:46 AM Reply With Quote
It's been a while since my last update - the car has probably spent more time off the road than on it unfortunately. I've had a very very bad run with alternators dying on me - I've been through 4 so far. The first couple of times were probably my own fault but the latter I'm blaming on part failure.

Just to prove it did actually get driven -


I've finally fitted a gizzmo boost controller to the car and it's running just over 1 bar of boost, so should equate to around 270-280bhp, or around 450bhp per ton.

The car was suffering from serious heat issues - this was down to me routing the coolant pipes on the rear of the block incorrectly This has now been resolved and the car really seems to manage the heat a lot better. I also wrapped the downpipe with exhaust wrap which make a huge difference to under-bonnet temperatures.


I've replaced my remote gear-shifter solution with an extended linkage straight from the box. The other one worked well but was a bit too tight for my driving style and kept causing me to miss gears. The new extended linkage is from a VW campervan and cost just £12 from eBay The tunnel panel and carpet will be getting changed over winter.


I still needed to resolve the issue of the inlet sticking out the top of the bonnet, so I went back to my fabricator (Clark Customs in Barnsley) to have the standard inlet shortened and adjusted accordingly.

Inlet Off


Before and After




Fitted to the car again


The new bonnet was fitted but the cambelt cover still sticks out, there's nothing I can do about this so bought a carbon scoop to sit over this. I intend to fully cut out the bonnet underneath the scoop - this will give additional air into the bonnet which will hit the coils and keep them cool. (CA18 coils on modified engines have a habit of over-heating)




Over Winter I've decided the car will be getting a colour change, most likely to green. I realised that 8 lights on the back of the car looked ridiculous so I'm changing that as well. The inner fog and reverse lights have been removed. The reverse has gone in the bin and won't be returning. The fog will be replaced by a tiny rain-light.
The 2 lights on each arch will be replaced by a 'hamburger' style clear LED light, thereby reducing the number of lights on the rear of the car from 8 to 5.






Whilst in the bodyshop the arches will be resprayed in a metallic black to tie in with the carbon-kevlar shimmer of the front arches.

A fairly boring update but there'll be lots of change over the Winter break.





2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire

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daveb666

posted on 18/2/15 at 11:42 AM Reply With Quote
Hello, back after a 2 month break.

I've slowly been putting the car back together, there should be hundreds of photos from the hours I've put in but alas, there are just a handful.

I finished the bonnet by cutting in some rear holes to allow hot air to escape at the rear to hopefully prevent future heat-soak issues.



I also smoothed the holes where my previous rear lights were


Then went grocery shopping


When I got home, I was stripping the car ready for the paint shop when I noted this. Not ideal obviously but thankfully just a reinforcing bracket and not the actual bracket itself (I had wondered why it was creaking abit when setting off). [This has since been re-welded by a good mate]


I stripped everything off the car ready for paint;


The car then went for paint and came back looking absolutely stunning VW Viper Green with a matt-lacquer

Since it came back I've started re-fitting some bits - new nose-cone scoop in CF, need rear arch guards in CF, new interior carpets.



I've now I've moved on to the new dashboard in of course, CF.







..and that takes me to current day. Still lots to do till it gets back on the road but I will get there ready for the nice weather

[Edited on 18/2/15 by daveb666]





2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire

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wilkingj

posted on 20/2/15 at 12:35 PM Reply With Quote
Its looking good... and YES... we are reading and following this.
Posting build pictures, not only lets people know what you are doing, it also gives them ideas, and enthuses others to get on with their builds or modifications.

So keep it coming.

Geoff
Ex Viento Owner, and still regretting it!
Even thinking of selling the Harley now!





1. The point of a journey is not to arrive.
2. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Best Regards
Geoff
http://www.v8viento.co.uk

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