FrankenMini Weblog

A new begining....A Locost....

An opportunity that I wasn't expecting has presented itself. It's not 100% for sure yet, but there is a chance FrankenMini might become a donor car. The recipient? A Locost aka Lotus/Caterham 7 clone. The picture you see at right is an example of just such a car. This particular unit is Yamaha R1 Powered Locost called "Project Seven" and built by Jeff. This car is my inspiration for what I would like to achieve. Paul from Breadbox racing is looking to start building Locost 7's.

FrankenMini has all the parts to be a great donor vehicle and with the recent setback with FrankenMini, having to extend the wheel base among other things, Paul and I started to talk about building a Locost. This isn't a small decision, I've got 3 years of my life in FrankenMini, and a great deal of $$$. That said, it's been 3 years and it's still not fully sorted. I think a clean slate might be the best way to proceed, a Lotus 7 has always been one of my "dream cars" and there is a chance here to have one of my dream cars, that's hard to pass up. I've indicated to Paul that I plan to proceed, we just need to work out the details. Just need to keep things on my tight budget. The other bonus is we can built the car with the prospect of registering it and making it street legal. Something that's much more complicated with FrankenMini without significant investment.

So what's up with the term "Locost?" The term Locost comes from Ron Champion, author of the book, "Build your own sports car for as little as £250". Ron called his creation a Locost and the term has stuck to represent the model for a "home built" Lotus/Caterham 7 clone.

The plan we're working on would be to build a frame large enough for my 6'3" 230lb body as well as large enough to stuff a small block chevy engine under the hood. To keep costs down the plan would be to use Frank's power train initially and get the SBC later down the road. A SBC would give the car around 3lbs per hp. That's a terrifying thought. However even with Frank's current drive train the car will weigh less than Frank and should be faster.

Anyone think I'm nuts?

FrankenMini will provide numerous donor parts, that's one way to keep the costs down.

Ford 2300cc Engine and transmission
Steering rack and steering wheel and bits
Brake calipers,master cylinders, pedals
Clutch master, slave and lines
Coil overs (may have to change the coils)
Seats and seat belts and window nets
Gauges
Battery and cables
Fuel cell, fuel lines, fuel pump and filter
And more...

The parts that I'll need would be as follows (click for pictures):

Chassis
Fiberglass
New A-Arms
New hubs, to go to a more common bolt pattern.
New radiator
Headlights/Taillights
Some other misc bits (Rod ends etc)

Published at 18:17:28, Saturday, 18.08.07

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