Minor update

I weighted the entire chassis today, came out to 105 lbs it's a little heavy due to the heavier 14 gauge steel I used. The plans called for 16 gauge but I felt I could work better with something a little thicker...

Chassis Complete!

Yea yea, sorry I knows its been nearly a week since I've posted any progress. This one won't be much to read either....

To be fair it hasn't been anything too exciting. Today was kind of a big day, the frame is finished as far as I can go until I can get acquire a donor car. Here's a few pictures of the completed frame.

This is the rear bulkhead and the "trunk" this is the area where the rear differential, fuel cell and maybe the battery.

Final welding and grinding still needs to be done but I won't deal with that until I after the car is built and torn back down for paint.

As far as the donor car is concerned... I contacted someone yesterday about one for sale on craiglist. We texted back and forth all day and when it came time for me to meet the guy he tells me his wife sold it earlier in the day. damn lame.

Chassis, day 2

Got a good 5 hours in today, feeling every minute of it now. I completed more of the frame but ran into a minor issue with the front end I fabricated yesterday. Seems my math was just a bit off and it was 3/4 of an inch too tall. When I added in the side rails it just didn't line up. Two hours later it was fixed. I was worried about my welds but when I cut off the tubes I checked and yea, I think they're stronger than the rest of the metal. I did complete the rear bulkhead which began to close off the driver and passenger area.

Rear Bulkhead:

Cockpit side rail (aka arm rest) Anyone other than me impressed it's level?

Where I am at the end of today:

Chassis Construction

Welp folks today was a big day! Yesterday started with me heading to my favorite toy store Harbor Freight and bought myself some new tools, angle grinder, cutoff saw, misc clamps. The day ended with me strapping 120 feet of steel to the rook rack of me little Saab, much easier than I was expecting.

So for those curious what I did today... I started on my frame following McSorleys beautiful plans!

Here's the plans I pulled down from McSorley's site

Beginning stage of lower chassis

Most of the lowest part of the frame completed!

Biggest Pain in the arse yet! Suppose it would have been much easier with a compound miter cutoff saw... oh well

At least it bolted up okay though

Build table done!

This past weekend I started and completed my build table, this will be the basis for the chassis construction that will begin soon. The table is by far stronger than any table I've built before, with 200 lbs on top, it doesn't even flex an 1/8 of an inch!

Open:

Closed up:

Welcome

Me:

For those of you unaware of what a Locost is.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locost 

Now that you know a little about the project, here's a little about me. I'm an IT Consultant who works with small and medium sized businesses in the Dallas area. I have a wonderful wife, 3 dogs, 2 evil little birds (oh okay maybe not evil, they just hate me). This will not be my first attempt to build a car, in 2002 a few buddies and I got together and built a sand rail dune buggy from a VW Bug. The project was fun but we never really knew what the hell we were doing.

I have dreamed of building this car ever since I learned of Ron Champion's book Build your own sports car for as little as £250 about 7 years ago.

Anyway, my build will be based on the standard book designed frame, the power plant will likely be supplied from an 80s Mazda RX7 with an independent rear suspension.