We purchased an old, 1989 built Locust in December. Lotus twin cam engine, Cortina 2000E gearbox, 5 link english axle rear end. Nice shabby old thing.

Trouble was, it was still perched on the original Tina Mk.1V front suspension.

Bought the Haynes bible and decided we needed tubular suspenders and adjustable coilovers.

Saw that Rally Design were offering "Locost" sets, so sent away for a kit at over £600. Including a complete set of Polyrace bushes.

Now, the Haynes book shows plans for fabricating wishbone mounts from 3mm plate with 3/8" mounting holes which we duly had made up. First off we find that the sleeve size in the Polybushes are 1/2".

Then we find that the lower wisbone shocker mounts are 3/8" !!

After trial tacking the mounts to our now cut away chassis we find that to maintain a reasonable amount of camber without the top adjustable balljoint being wound out over 80% of it's travel that we had to cut 2" out of the lower wishbones to get everything into reasonable start up alignment.

Did we simply fall into the trap of assuming that "Locost" would equate to "Locust"??

any pictures

Thanks, I'll try to post some, but my picture posting abilities are even worse than my wishbone selections.

The Locost and the Locust are completely different cars so yes, you may have fallen into that trap.

And also, I think most manufacturers use 1/2" or 12mm wishbone suspension even though the book originally states 3/8".
I'm sure you can carefully drill out the bracket holes though.

I'm sure you can get something drivable out of it just by modifying your wishbones to suit.

HTH,
James

James. Thanks. Yes, but how come "The Book" states 3/8" when wishbones are 1/2", and then Rally Design give you lower wishbones drilled for 3/8" for lower shock mounting?

TBH always suspected that this "Locost" solution may not be exactly the simple fix as first thought.

Oh, think I've managed to put some photos on my archive bitty

No problem now, we;ve got it fixed, but what a bloody lot of hassle

Oh. what are your thoughts on drilling out 3/8"mounts in 3mm plate to 1/2 ? Quite reduces the available material supporting the bolt.

[Edited on 2/3/08 by hemibum]

Pretty sure that what you chopped the front of is/was a Robin Hood, they used to use the Cortina front suspension complete. Cheers Ray

As did ye olde plywood locUst.

side panels look like ply to me.

from those pictures, it looks more like a locust than a robin hood.
tom

Thanks all, yes it's registered as a Locust.