It's been MONTHS since my last post!

Caleb is now nearly 8 months old, and whilst the purchases continue, progress does not!

I nearly have everything I require to finish the build, just some recent purchases include:

Savage switches
Luke Harnesses

In fact I'm pretty sure I have almost everything, except time.

This is why I am getting the build to a certain point and then handing it over to a very experienced builder to finish it off for me.

It's not what I wanted to do, and I won't get the level of satisfaction I would have got had I done it all myself, but at least I'll be able to use the car!

I will using the car for track days only for probably the first year, then in the winter of 08-09 I will try and get it road registered.

The jobs I want to get done prior to handing it over are as follows:

Seats in
Harnesses in
Dash in
Switches in dash
Clocks in dash
Lights mounted
Rear arches mounted
and diff changed over - I'm not sure if I have mentioend this before, but I received the car with a broken diff, and I have been waiting for AGES to get it fixed, but knowing NOTHING about car axles has limited me.

I purchased the replacement diff, and I was told "you undo some bolts, the diff drops out, you bolt the new one in - DONE"... though it isn;t that easy. At first I couldn;t get at the bolts I mentioned due to some spacers that were fitted, and with no brakes etc I couldn;t undo them... I finally used a breaker bar as something to lever against. Once this was taken off I found the brake back plate which I couldn't figure out how to get past without damaging - it seems I require a Slide Hammer, which pops the half shafts out the axel, which then means the front plate can be taken off and the new diff popped in.

The slide hammer has JUST arrived, and sods law I don't have enough room to use it in the garage, so I'm going to have to lift the car and move it to one side of the garage, use the slide hammer on one side, then move the whole car to the other side and remove the other half shaft! What a cuffufall!

This is just one of the enthusiasm and time sapping issues I have found whilst working through the jobs on this car.

The reason I wanted to post today though, was GOOD NEWS!

The drivers seat is IN! WOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!

I sat in it for the first time, and BOY it's snug, but I really got a feel for how the car will be when its finished! I CAN'T WAIT!

I was on track to buy a part built trailer chassis to trasnport my car on, but unfortunatly this didn;t work out due to how wide my car is :( never mind! I'll have to find another car transporter/trailer ready to get the car over to Steve's (the car builder).

I'll try not to take so long between updates next time.

Small update

Not really done much on the car for a while. Been very busy with work and our 9 week old baby!

However i have managed to puchase my engine!! its a CBR900rr Fireblade engine from 1994.

Also got some carbs lined up for it, along with an air box, so just a clock set and lock set along with a fuel pump and i'm sorted for all things honda! need to fit a new clutch, and some barnett springs to have it ready to run.

should kick out about 120bhp - which will equate to a 0-60 of 4.54 seconds. WOW! and all at rock bottom prices! Brilliant!

Power to Weight...

With the engine out I decided it would be a good time to weigh my rolling chassis, so I loaded it full of everything I have for the car which will be fitted - loom, seats, bodywork, rad etc.

I then nipped to Tesco and bought 4 cheap scales (£12 for 4) and checked they worked correctly by weighing myself on all 4.

Now I know Locosts can weigh anything from 450kgs to 800kgs+, now 800kgs might not sound much, but when you think that the "magic" power to weight ratio for a car is 500bhp per tonne it becomes obvious that for every kg you add in weight you have to add more bhp to compensate, and as its cheaper to build light, than it is to build powerful - light is my approach.

Lightweight also adds to improved handling - so I was eager to fnd out the scores on the doors!

with mine not having an engine in at the time, along with a number of ancilleries which will all together will weigh approx 100kgs, I know I have to add that to my figure.

So I crossed my fingers, grabbed my trolly jack and went to work!!

it came out at 334kg's!! which is flippin ACE! considering I have a full integral roll bar and largish 15" alloys!!

In case you are wondering how accurate my scales could have been - I weight approx 15 stone, so I figured as long as none of the wheel weights were much higher than that, then they could be trusted to be relitivly accurate. The heaviest wheel weight was 16 stone, so I am happy that my figures are pretty spot on!

Now - this works out that my final car will weigh in the order of 450kgs, possibly 500kgs in case I have forgot anything heavy, with an engine power of 150bhp (from an r1 engine I am currently dreaming of!) It will provide the following performance:


Power at Flywheel (BHP) :
150
Weight without Driver (KG) :
450
Power to Weight Ratio (BHP Per Ton) :
338.68
0 - 60 (Secs) :
3.80
0 - 100 (Secs) :
10.27
60 - 100 (Secs) :
6.47
Quarter Mile (Secs) :
12.25
Terminal Speed (MPH) :
109.23
Drag Strip Quarter Mile (Secs) :
12.15
Drag Strip Terminal Speed (MPH) :
110.56

TO (using the 500kgs)


Power at Flywheel (BHP) :
150
Weight without Driver (KG) :
500
Power to Weight Ratio (BHP Per Ton) :
304.82
0 - 60 (Secs) :
4.04
0 - 100 (Secs) :
10.86
60 - 100 (Secs) :
6.82
Quarter Mile (Secs) :
12.49
Terminal Speed (MPH) :
107.26
Drag Strip Quarter Mile (Secs) :
12.39
Drag Strip Terminal Speed (MPH) :
108.56

These figures are from this stats calculator:

http://www.letstorquebhp.com/calculator.asp

now to put that in context, my car will do 0-60 somewhere either below or just a touch above 4s. That is nearly 1 and a half seconds faster than a porsche boxter, over 1 second faster than a 911, and only marginly slower (by 0.01 of a second) than a 911 GT2!

And before everyone moans, I know I would need ideal conditions to hit that figure, but do you think porsche tout figures that they got on a wet track with me driving?? It was meant to demonstrate that I will own a SERIOUSLY fast car. and i cant wait!

Bodywork Storage

Fibreglass bodywork isn't known for its abilty to withstand long periods in storage, and in my tiny garage this is even more true!

But what my garage lacks in width, it makes up for in height!

It has a lower floor level than my kitchen and so has lots of useless space up high, BUT IT IS USELESS NO MORE!

Its an ideal place to store my lightweight bodywork!

Net cost £10 off ebay delivered, big hooks cost £5 from B&Q (whose staff should wear strippy jumpers with their prices!!)

DONE!

Now you see it...

Sold the Zetec set up - to a nice lad called stuart who has a very old, heavy and problematic pinto engine. this will hopefully breath some new life into his sports car and more importantly to me, frees me up to buy a motorbike engine!!

Using a motorbike engine is pretty commen, with their incredibley low weight (60-70kg for an engine and gearbox) neat design and high power output, they are more than up to the job. Combine that with the 6 speed sequential box you get as standard and grin inducing 12,000 rev limiter, it makes for a heady mix of speed and acceleration.

The 2l zetec would have been very fast, but after having a test drive in a top bloke (Steve)'s bike engined car (BEC) my mind was made up. The power hits you like a switch controlling a battering ram - it is silly fast!

Considering I am hardly going to get the time to drive my car I want every second to count, so a loony machine is really the only option!

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Bodywork problems!

I figured out prior to buying the part built, that the first builder had designed the rear end of the car different to most commen designs - this doesn't effect the function of the car, but it does mean the rear panel of the bodywork wont fit!

So thats for sale! http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=74648

I am thinking at the moment I will probably just paint it black along with the currently white rear cycle wings - orange and black should look pretty neat.

It's arrived!

This is my car in the garage - it fits, but only just!

This is the 2l zetec engine in situ

note the custom exhaust manifold and the inlet manifold designed and fabricated by Bogg Brothers, it cost quite a lot, but is a work of art - their craftmenship can't be knocked! They have also perfectly spaced the R6 carbs.

You may be wondering how a 2.0l engine can be properly supplied by bike carbs, well a car engine revs to a max of 7k, whereas an r6 revs out to 15k, double the revs - so with proper jetting they are more than up to the job!