Hi All,

Had a customer bring his recently purchased kit car in for an MOT.

When I drove it up the road I nearly got out and walked back

Home build special using cortina front end, but all the pick up points are in the wrong place. To say that the handling is unpredictable is an under statement

Any Ideas to inprove geometery without cutting the front end off and starting again?
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/photos.php?action=showphoto&photo=Midge%20front%20suspension.jpg
Thanks

David

[Edited on 1/10/06 by davidwag]

oh man you're making me worry about if i did put mine in correctly!

whoa i take that back!

that looks so odd doesnt it? the nosecone is way to high, the wishbones look like they were taken entirely from the cortina...
Rescued attachment Midge front suspension.jpg

Hi,

Yes wishbones are from cortina,

How do i get the images to attach?

David

Thge springs are too strong, they're lifting no weight so it will ride like a romping dog. Put a couple of bags of sand in the nosecone to weigh the front down and pull the wheels in at the top. Put some lights in the shed as well
Rescued attachment Midge front suspension.jpg

Try this
Rescued attachment Midge lower ball joint.jpg

Its an old Robinhood, even RH owners don't like these ones!

Hi,

Yes if it was my car I WOULD cut it up and build a locost.

But as it belongs to a Customer I have to try and persuade him to part with his money after i tell him his new purchase is a death trap!

David

Ps On the log book its called a Ford Midge 2 seater sports.

Some more photos in my archive for your ammusment

[Edited on 1/10/06 by davidwag]

THat looks horrible!!

Look at the angle of that lower ball joint.

If theyr standard springs off the cortina theyl be way to heavy for it.

Hi,

I now done a bit of searching on the web and think what it is is a kit called a locust.

Box tube chassis and wooden tub body.

There is a report on the owners club web site about converting to tube wishbones.

Would like to run the design through some software before i decide to advise my customer to go down this route as the original chassis designer didn't have a clue so is this going to be any better?

Does anyone have any links to some software?

Thanks

David

[Edited on 1/10/06 by davidwag]

Remember, a std cortina front end runs with 1°30' of castor

I think the best advise you can give your customer is to go to Stuart Taylor, GTS et al, and buy a basic locost starter pack and transfer all the relevant bits across, and then throw the reat away

Cortina front suspension is attached to a bolt-on subframe - easy to bolt on to a new chassis.
But it will be heavy and the springs will be too stiff for a 7.

We had a guy come out on a blat into Scotland once with a similar car. We met up in Tesco's car park and when he did a u- turn the wheels nearly fell over and the tyres were squealing at 5mph! He spent most of the day spinning it!

Mike

That car should never have been allowed on the road, it is a deathtrap with suspension like that.
Regds
Ian

Hi,

Now you can see the reason for the SVA !!!

This was build pre Sva

Its got about 6 previous MOTs with it, I think the tester must have looked at it and didn't know what to fail it for

David

looks like a friggin lotus seven monster truck.

my advice would be set it on fire and push it off a cliff

quote:

---

Originally posted by scotty g
Its an old Robinhood, even RH owners don't like these ones!

---

Are steering componenst allowed to be welded for the mot? Since that track rod end has a welded extension, which I though was a bit naughty? Otherwise, tell him to bin it and get a proper car!

If it is a Locust (both Midge and Locost made by J.C. original and appear to have simmilar chassis), then perhaps you can find some more information at the Locust Enthusiasts website

http://www.locustenthusiastsclub.fsnet.co.uk/about/about.htm

just a thought from looking at the photo, i think the uprights have been fitted upside down, isn't the steering rack sposed to be fitted so that the it attaches to the uprights at the top behind the shocks. i had been told that this will meen that the wheels will want to run straight when not beeing steered.

The uprights are on the right way up. The cortinas steering arms are ahead of the stub axle, not behind it!

to locust.org .

Spartan used a similar setup -- complete Cortina front and rear truly awful to drive.
Many Locust were changed to 5 link.

Actually not a lot wrong with the suspension although the camber and other angles are all wrong there is nothing unsafe about provided the standard Cortina bump stops stop the suspension movement before the lower ball joint binds up. But a whole Cortina suspension is just not suitable for a lightweight sports car.