6 December 2000. Lots more now done. All fibre glass now received after several false starts. Bonnet made, rear panel made, rear wings fitted, lights to be fitted weekend of the 8 December, dash made. It seems that just when you have sorted out one challenge another two appear!! My original estimate of completion by June of this year was premature due to the problems I had getting the fibre glass parts. Latest estimate for a car which moves under its own power is mid January 2001. I will then need to find somewhere I can shake it down before the SVA is booked. Unfortunately no disused airfields locally, unless someone knows differently.
11 February 2001. Didn't move under its own power in January!! Oh well, the best laid plans etc. During the week beginning 18 February the plumbing should be done. Brake pipes, petrol pipes, cooling etc. Then I may be able to fire it up. Should be interesting as the 1300 crossflow has been completely re-built and has not been run yet. More pictures to come shortly. Next stage is to sort out registration / VIN number. I hope that my local DVLO is understanding.
24 March 2001. All plumbing now completed. Contacted the DVLO and now have the forms to fill in. (See page regarding registering). Now awaiting receipts from supplier of the fibre glass, as I think this will help to make getting the VIN number a bit easier. Jobs left to do. Fit rollbar, seats, seat belts, bonnet fasteners, touch in all the scratched paintwork and cover all sharp bits to avoid damaging pedestrians!! Fired the engine up today. Couldn't believe it. Checked the timing statically with a bulb, put a drop of petrol in the carb, pulled out the choke, turned the key and VROOM>>>>, it started. Sounds very sweet. I'm a very happy bunny. All of the last two years problems (challenges) seemed to have been worth it. No new pics yet, but hopefully next weekend. I will be adding a page shortly with costs of the build. Many new parts have been bought (some at exhorbitant prices from Ford dealers).
28 April 2001. Seats fitted. I had a pair of seats from a Fiat X-19, but they were too wide sooo I dismantled them with the idea of narrowing the backs and bases. If I had made them narrow enough to fit and tried to retain the seat adjusters the seat would have been to narrow. In the end I made ply bases and backs to fit the car and used the upholstery from the original seats to cover them. Basically the same idea as in the book, but individual backs. I think these will eventually be replaced.
Roll bar fitted. Seat belts fitted. I have used the roll bar to fit the upper mounting for the inertia belts. Hopefully these will be high enough to satisfy SVA requirements. Bonnet fasteners fitted. I have used quarter turn fasteners rather than Dzus or over centre latches. Slight bit of belt and braces as I have three down either side and two at the scuttle end on top of the bonnet. Still waiting for receipts for the fibre glass. Odds and ends to finish off. Fuel filler from a 105E Anglia, Perspex for the dashboard and possibly fly screens, cover to go over petrol tank, radiator grill which I am making from aluminium. The to do list doesn't seem to get any shorter. As I cross things off I think of other jobs that need doing. More photos next weekend.
26 May 2001. Rear compartment cover fitted. Locking fuel cap borrowed from John (ace welder) until I can locate one. All receipts now in hand. I ended up using acrylic sheet for the instrument panel as when I enquired about the the price of Lexan I was horrified. Rad grill finished. VIN number now received from the local DVLA office. They do not want to inspect the car until after the SVA and I have sent them the certificate along with £25 registration fee, insurance certificate, donor logbook and the money for the road fund licence. I presume that after they have inspected it they will issue a registration mark. They did tell me verbally that it would be an age related plate, but we shall see. New photos finally added to Pictures 5. Car is now booked in for an MOT on 31 May. I decided to have an MOT before the SVA test as I felt this would pick up any major problems. I don't know about other builders, but there is always the niggling feeling in the back of my mind I have forgotten something. Hopefully if it passes the MOT and I can get an SVA test fairly quickly (and it passes!!) and the registration number is forthcomimg I will be driving it to the Newark show. There isn't a great deal of time between now and then so it may not happen. Watch this space.
31 May 2001. MOT test booked for 10am. Left home at 9:15. What a blast!! I couldn't believe how quick it was with a bog standard 1300 crossflow and standard carb. Arrived at the MOT test station and luckily he was able to start the test straight away. Up on to the four post lift with me in the car. Steering checked, suspension checked, handbrake checked etc etc. The tester was very thorough. Off the lift and onto the rollers. Front brakes amazingly well balanced and well within the MOT. Rear brakes not so well balanced, but still within the MOT. New shoes need to bed in. Handbrake fine. I got them to check the tracking which I had guesstimated. It was within 5 minutes, which apparently is about .5mm out, so we left it as it was. At the end of the test (which is passed) he was very complimentary and found it amazing that anyone could build a car from a book including the chassis. Fortunately he is an enthusiast and is currently restoring a TR4, so did show a lot of interest. He did have a problem with issuing an MOT certificate as he wasn't sure if it could be issued if the car hadn't been SVA'd. Currently he is waiting for confirmation from the powers that be as to whether he can issue one. The bad news is I phoned the test centre in Gillingham and they have a waiting list until August, so I don't think I will be driving it to the Newark show. Application has now been sent off, so I hope they have a cancellation. Just can't wait to get on the road.
28 July 2001. The bad news is the car failed the SVA at the Edmonton test centre, (See Results of 1st SVA Test). Nothing too major, but work tends to get in the way of Locost building. Many of the jobs that were required are now done, the two that will be a pain are the seatbelts and the speedo inaccuracy. Having driven it for over 160 miles, I must say that it performs beyond my expectations, handles well even though the suspension was not set up in a scientific manner and I am using cheap (Zeemeride) coilovers. It does have a tendency to lock the front wheels in the wet, but as I will probably only use it on dry days it shouldn't be a problem. As far as the test was concerned the brakes, emissions, noise, weight distribution etc were fine. I think I should have waited and gone to a test centre other than Edmonton. Anyone else thinking of using this centre be warned.
14 September 2001. Welding of the rollbar completed at the weekend with the seatbelt mountings fitted centrally. All other jobs now done, apart from the mirrors. Once they are done I will book a re-test. Biggest problem is how do I pick a day when it won't rain? No hood and no windscreen ;-) The next hurdle is sorting out the registration. I was told verbally that the car would get an age related plate as I could prove that most of the major components came from the same donor. Watch this space
18 October 2001. Car re-tested at Edmonton test centre. PASSED!! Nice dry day to drive there. In the next couple of weeks I will send all the relevant documents to the local DVLO and tax the car from the 1st of November. What a great time of the year to be driving a Locost :-). Will report back on the age related plate and any problems I have when the DVLO come to inspect my car. I haven't finished yet, as I don't think you ever finish. Thoughts are a different dash with some nice instruments, better seats, a screen ................ Continue watching this space.
5 November 2001. Telephoned the DVLO to arrange an appointment and to check on what paperwork they needed me to send them. Appointment arranged for 23 October. The paperwork they required was receipts for the donor car, steel and ali, body components and suspension components plus the registration fee and the duty for the tax. I also sent a covering letter to say my understanding of the regulations was that if more than two major components were used from the donor vehicle, and age related plate would be issued. I also listed the components used. Went for the inspection at the arranged time. Guess what? It rained. Not too badly though. All I had to do was lift the bonnet so that they could verify the chassis number was correctly stamped on and that was it. The young lady told me that the tax disc and my documents would be returned in a few days along with my registration number.
Tax disc and documents received along with an age related reg number. V5 would be about 3 to 5 weeks. The thing I was suprised about was the also returned my SVA certificate. Number plates fitted and first major drive was an 80 mile round trip to show my brother the car and take him out for a run. No problems and it drives like a dream. Took our neighbours son for a short drive and burst a hose. Bound it up with a pair of knickers and managed to get some water from a very helpful couple who were out in their garden. The knickers got us home. I hasten to add the knickers were not removed from the nearest female, but I just happened to have them in the car as a piece of rag. A likely story I hear you say!!
28 April 2002
Not a lot of news. Covered just over 900 mile since the car first went on the road and no major problems apart from losing water out of the overflow pipe. I have to check to see whether I have a head gasket leak. John the welder has the kit to do it and hopefully it will be this week. The other possibility is that I will need to fit a header tank as there is a possibility of an airlock in the system. Went to the European kit car show at Detling. Saw one other Locost there, loads of clubmans and Cobras. Bought a Mountey steering wheel and a pair of stoneguards from Rory at Lolocost. I can't believe the difference in driving with a small wheel compared with the Sierra wheel that was fitted. People have said the feel would be transformed and they were right. Also made up a pair of fly screens from an old perspex computer printer stand. Again the difference from having no screen is amazing. They seem to work well at deflecting the wind. Pictures to follow soon.
12 July 2002
Solved the overheating problem by fitting a header tank from a Triumph TR7. Mounted near the bulkhead and plumbed in between the water pump and the manifold. Now maintains a steady temperature even in traffic. I have been remiss in putting any more photos up, but will do so after the motor show at Bentley Wildfowl next weekend. I have have a few problems with my ISP, so the pics did disappear for a while. Hopefully things will now remain OK.
15 March 2003
A long time with no changes. The car has covered nearly 1800 miles and no real problems. It sailed through its first MOT last year. I have now fitted a Weber 28/36 carb. The kick in the back when you hit the second choke is amazing. For a 1300 standard, it goes well. Over Easter I will hopefully be fitting the 4 branch manifold I bought about two years ago and re-making the dash with new instruments from ISSPRO. I will post some before and after photos when the job is done.
18 May 2003
Finally some progress. Didn't make the dash over Easter. Other things took priority. But today have now completed the dash with the new gauges. Speedo and rev counter I believe came from an early MGB. Both bought on eBay at good prices. Three of my ISSPRO gauges also came from eBay and the other two were bought back from the States by a collegue of my wife. I am pleased with the look of the dash, although it isn't fitted yet (hopefully by the weekend). I will have to calibrate the speedo and have bought an electronic bike speedo to help me. I have also fitted an electronic ignition module, again bought on eBay for £22. Seems to work well.
!4 June 2003
New dash now fitted. Speedo calibrated using the bike speedo. All gauges working OK, apart from the oil pressure. Weird. Correct sender, but goes off the scale before the engine is started. Checked resistance of the sender and it is low with no oil pressure and high with pressure. Not what I would have expected. Will have to investigate further. Other problem I had was with the Ford voltage regulator for the instruments. The gauges tended to flicker as it kicked in and out, so I made up a simple adjustable electronic voltage regulator and it's solved the problem. Went to Petworth last weekend to see the cars on the London to Brighton Kit and Sports car run. No Locosts while I was there, but a very interesting wooden bodied car. No idea what it was based on, but a lot of work had gone into it. See the pics.
Watch this space for further developments and more pictures.