Discussion
My impressions from the Ron Champion book , apart from finding various contradictions in dimensioning , is that the proportions are not quite right.
Can anyone confirm or deny this ?
A while back I was looking at buying a set of plans from a firm called Formula 27 , they seem to sell only kits now , are there any other firms selling plans for a seven type car ?
Thanks in advance
Can anyone confirm or deny this ?
A while back I was looking at buying a set of plans from a firm called Formula 27 , they seem to sell only kits now , are there any other firms selling plans for a seven type car ?
Thanks in advance
z1000 said:Do you mean that the proportions aren't quite right aesthetically or that the measurements are wrong? Can't comment on the former but some of the measurements are apparently wrong. You can download pdfs of chassis diagrams and a cutting list from here...
My impressions from the Ron Champion book , apart from finding various contradictions in dimensioning , is that the proportions are not quite right.
Can anyone confirm or deny this ?
www.mcsorley.net/locost/
...where you can also get oversize versions of the chassis as well as the corrected book chassis. Bear in mind that you *may* have problems getting grp bodywork for the oversized versions but a look around on...
www.locostbuilders.co.uk/
...will shed more light.
I haven't seen the avon plans but have heard plenty of bad things about their car. Again, a search on locostbuilders will give you an idea of people's experiences.
I've built my chassis using McSorley's book plans but my advice is not to do all your cutting first but cut/build/cut/build because errors will creep in as you build which don't matter that much but if you've pre-cut all your chassis rails then you'll be a bit p*ssed off if you can't use half of them because they are a mil or two too short.
All the best,
Mark
grandadboats said:Depends what you count as the chassis I guess. Does it include a full cage, floors, wide panels etc? I don't know what mine weighs but it has no panels, is missing some of the triangulation but has the roll bar tack welded on and I can pick it up.
What should a locost chassis weigh? One on e-bay(£16.00)apparently weighs 150 kgs!!!Can this be right?
As for aesthetics, the book cover car...
...is admitedly a bit clunky but it's the same proportions as my old westfield which I thinks looks a lot nicer...
...and is the sort of thing I'm going for. You can make it look different by changing the nose, using different body fixings (lights, indicators, etc), using a fibreglass scuttle and bonnet instead of making your own aluminium ones. Basically you can do what you like to it but I'm told the chassis is very (
) similar to the original. Mark
Try a search on
www.locostbuilders.co.uk
Quite a lot of the members are fabricating thier own chasis and are always willing to answer questions and give information.
www.locostbuilders.co.uk
Quite a lot of the members are fabricating thier own chasis and are always willing to answer questions and give information.
You are right that the proportions are incorrect if you are looking to build a Lotus or Caterham replica.
My own car (see profile pick) is exactly correct to the Lotus. I can't remeber the exact dimensional differences with out checking my drawings but the chassis of the locost is about 100mm too wide and the dash area is far too far forwards.
As for the weight my chassis came out at just under 50kg and the finished car at 510kg full of fuel etc.
I hope this helps
My own car (see profile pick) is exactly correct to the Lotus. I can't remeber the exact dimensional differences with out checking my drawings but the chassis of the locost is about 100mm too wide and the dash area is far too far forwards.
As for the weight my chassis came out at just under 50kg and the finished car at 510kg full of fuel etc.
I hope this helps
I drew my own chassis with reference to the Locost book and a copy of the Lotus Seven S3 original drawings (a copy acquired from a friend many years ago)
The design combines the best of both with a bit of Caterham. But the suspension pickups are all Locost. The geometry of the front wish bones has altered for more feel and to get rid of bump steer.
The std locost chassis design can be adapted to the correct dimensions fairly easily just beware that Lotus / Caterham sevens are very small. I had to do some re-arranging of the footwells to fit (I am 6'1" and 12 stone)
The design combines the best of both with a bit of Caterham. But the suspension pickups are all Locost. The geometry of the front wish bones has altered for more feel and to get rid of bump steer.
The std locost chassis design can be adapted to the correct dimensions fairly easily just beware that Lotus / Caterham sevens are very small. I had to do some re-arranging of the footwells to fit (I am 6'1" and 12 stone)
How easy to copy the S3 drawings? (At my expense of course)
The trouble with adapting the Locost chassis is really the crux of my original post , a sense of proportion is a hard thing to quantify , ie , which bits need amending to make it "look right"
Did you amalgamate the the 2 sets of of drawings into a working set that you then followed , or did you sort of make it up as you went along ?
The trouble with adapting the Locost chassis is really the crux of my original post , a sense of proportion is a hard thing to quantify , ie , which bits need amending to make it "look right"
Did you amalgamate the the 2 sets of of drawings into a working set that you then followed , or did you sort of make it up as you went along ?
Unfortunatly the Lotus drawings are a dyeline print and very feint I don't think they will copy successfully. The Lotus seven gold portfolio reprint book has a number of contemporary magazine articals with dimensioned drawings in. They are pretty helpfull, I refered to them a lot of the time.
My chassis drawings are complete but pretty basic. They need to be read in conjunction with "the book".
My chassis drawings are complete but pretty basic. They need to be read in conjunction with "the book".
z1000 said:
My impressions from the Ron Champion book , apart from finding various contradictions in dimensioning , is that the proportions are not quite right.
Someone also needs to tell Rory Perrett who wrote the Locost Handeling piece that fitting wider tyres does not increase the area of tyre on the road, assuming weight and tyre pressures stay the same fitting wider tyres will make NO difference to contact patch.
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