My Locost Build

Now that's interesting and definately different but why? All HP and no TQ.

 

lightweight and sequential clutch

also, are you coolrex?

 

post one updated. Keeping a rolling tally of time spent (actual fabrication only, not including research time) and money spent so I can help keep track of things.

 

Cool to see another person building a super 7!

 

first post updated

worked on it for about 4 hours today, got all the main rails for the upper / lower frame angled and grinded so they're ready for welding. Still need to angle / grind the triangulation support pieces, but that should only take another hour or two. Next step will be to get an MDF sheet, start fabbing up a jig and get to tacking the pieces together.

 

Found this gem, allows you to see multiple angles for any paint job you want to give it. If you're bored, it's one hell of a way to waste 10 minutes

http://locost.lt/mach7_colour_final_1.0.swf

 

Got a couple ideas for you on the ecu and wiring side of things. Give me a ring if you want. It is basically the same route I am taking with the Subaru.

 

Awesome. Love the pic of you "sitting in it" haha.

 

Cool.

Almost done.

 

yeah...

practiced welding today, only the third time i've ever melted a hole through metal in less than 3 seconds. Did a quick search, but I'm not attending Chat Tech for 70 curriculum hours to learn how to MIG weld this turd together

Anybody know of any classes you can take? I'm looking for something small, maybe meet up weekends for a month or so, just something to get your toes in the water and learn proper techniques, fine voltage modulating, heating, spool speed, etc. I can play around with it at work all day long, but they don't have the highest expertise in this field, at least when it comes to teaching

 

Miller use to offer classes, call Tom Yost at the Marietta Praxair location. 653 Cobb Parkway North Marietta, GA 30062-3324
(770) 422-4934

 

if you find a good/cheap course, let me know when/where

 

it's all about the settings. I don't MIG, but setup and fit is 90% of welding. try to find settings for material, thickness, etc that will work with your machine

 

If I only knew how to halfway weld.

Good luck with the build man. There's a community college here that teaches welding but it's $700 and takes a few months. Wish I could find a crash course that is like a week long so I can learn the basics and then practice on my own.

 

just came back from the shop, practiced for the last 30 minutes or so. My tacking is really good, really strong. I have no hesitations tacking the entire frame together. The final welds still need some work.

Welding, to me, is super frustrating...not trying to sound conceited, but I HATE picking up something new and not being the best at it. Welding really is one of those things that requires repetition, repetition, repetition

 

Yeah I'm the same way. Tacked like a champ. But when I try to bead the line.....SUCKS! Getting too hot.

I truly respect a good welder's skills. Wish my uncle was alive....he was one of the best out there and lived next door to my mom. I could've been taught a lot.

 

bump...everybody loves pictures, lol



As you can see, straight line needs some work. I will say, though, each time i go out it gets easier and easier. I can't wait till I get a couple (hundred) hours under my belt to compare welds with these

 

Fail Drew....you can't link straight to your gmail.

 

yeah yeah yeah...my bad, lol

off topic, but is there a photobucket app or anything? It's annoying to take a picture, email it to myself, save it to my desktop, upload it to photobucket. I like how g+ auto uploads the pictures, but you can't link to the image url so they show up smaller (like the small pictures in the first post)

 

Not shabby Drew. You had one decent line going on that top on...it's spotty then you started blending it in together decently. Props.....my first ones look like chicken poop.

 

hehehe, not gonna lie, the top line was one of my better ones. then again, the bottom one was one of my worst. I'd say of the 30 or so lines i've run, they usually end up somewhere in the middle. My 1" lines or so are great, but you can see as I start going and the metal starts taking on all the heat, I'm having a harder time adjusting to the speed

edit - i'm running my lines right to left

 

I've watched people actually skip sections for that very reason. Anything bad about doing that? You know do 1", skip 3", do 1". When you get done if there was ample time to cool down go back and repeat till gaps are filled in?

****As you can tell I don't know a thing about welding

 

I'm in your boat, too. I don't know the official answer, but the engineering side in me says it would be fine assuming you get the proper heat in and get the puddle moving again. With cold steel like this, i don't think the minor heat cylcing is going to effect it unless you have to repeatedly soak the same area (at which point you blow a hold through the metal anyway)

 

Should be fine. I am no master welder (Andy is absolutely phenomenal with tig welding and is trying to teach me), but I do know that when doing sheet metal for body patch panels, you actually HAVE to do that in order to keep the heat from building up and warping the thin sheet metal.

 

post one updated - got the bottom half of the frame tacked together

still looking for motor / tranny. Unfortunately there's not much local and even with commercial freight accounts it's still $400+ in shipping from the northeast and closer to $800-1000 if it's coming from the west coast. Shit's retarded...

 

That sucks. You might consider getting a short block and then getting heads and misc parts to finish it. I was able to get a short block shipped from TX for 130. Biggest part is getting it shipped to a business with a fork lift available to unload it. You have to contact the shipping company direct though.

 

Ever since I got into cars I have wanted to do something like this. Just need to learn how to weld and I'll be on my way!

Good luck with the progress guys.

 

first post updated

 

almost there.

 

Hey just to throw this out there, run a wire wheel over the metal before you weld it. Your welds will be stronger and come out cleaner.

 

I am, I run it over the areas about to get tacked so they're cleaned off for the most part

 

then wash it off with brake cleaner right?

 

uh, left?

 

..don't actually do this

 

Any luck sourcing a motor?

 

not yet...getting hit with taxes last week didn't help the search either, as I just spent 2/3's of my drivetrain budget on uncle sam (my fault, filed 10 points on my W4). I'm trying to source this together without it having an impact on my bank account, so I'll probably have another month or so of saving before I start emailing offers out again, unless the right deal falls in my lap.

Still, people are really, really proud of their 150k+ mileage 98 cameros...i guess rapists need to eat, too

 

had a coworker tell me he could EASILY get $18-20K for his LS swapped '99 S10

i laughed in his face so hard, he wanted to fight

 

lol, but yeah, that's what i'm going through.

Some guy that keeps popping up when i'm looking around has an 87 RX-7 w/ an LS-1 / T56 combo that he's asking like $12-13k for...which I guess wouldn't be too bad, except it looks like shit, needs a ton of work and has no interior. He essentially wants 12k for a barely rolling RX-7 (the ugly body style years) and LS drivetrain.

Also, shipping is so damn expensive right now because of gas prices, fuel surcharges are through the roof. It's worth buying local for $4-500 more, as you'll pay at least that much if it's coming from 4+ hours away.

 

might be cheaper to get a japanese motor of some sort, international freight charges are cheaper than trucking stuff across the country. hence the reason for so many production jobs going abroad. cheaper to ship stuff from china than it is to ship it from atlanta to savannah

 

i've looked at many different options, but it still comes back to the LS motor SBC scene. The aftermarket, ease of everything and general over abundance of parts and support offset potential upfront savings.

It's really just waiting to find the right deal on the drivetrain i want. In the end, I think i'll be happier with the configuration i want than settling for something b/c it was 15% less up front.

 

My co-worker just bought a GTO engine/trans for $1300 from a local junk yard here.

 

see - that's what i'm looking for. However, every single one of those deals i've come across have been the too good to be true type. He get all peripherals / accessories with it? ECM, harness, fuel rails, intake / exhaust manifold, oil pan?

i've found piece together sets for that price, but by the time you include the clutch / pressure plate, peripherals and ECM it jacks it up over the $3k mark

 

He did get everything except for the Headers, alternator, and I think PS. Still a heck of a deal. He's doing a swap as well in some old school muscle car.

I sent email to get the junk yard's contact info as he did mention that they have several SS and TA's there.

 

nice. let me know if there's any leads

 

tell him i'll buy it off him for $1,600 and come pick it up this weekend if he's interested...

in all seriousness, though, I think this is going to be the route we need to take. I've only found three F-body salvage yards around here, one in Augusta, one in Huntsville, AL and one just north of us in Rome, GA. Unfortunately, these three vendors are very, very proud of their junk

 

Wow....um....yeah I'll just respond that he is not interested in making a profit. He was in the same boat as you....looked for months and this fell in his lap.

I see how he got it cheap.....it was a u pull yard.