| The concept to build a Lotus 7 replica has been a dream of many. And yet few would have ever gotten the chance if it wasn't for Ron Champion and his very popular book. Ya that was a plug but it is well deserved. Then came the ultimate questions. My first choice was to build the car my self as per the book, but then I thought I would rather buy the whole thing from the shop. But after thinking it over I went back to the original idea and started from scratch. For those that don't know this isn't a kit, although it can be purchased in that form. This is a scratch built car using a donor or two. My donor car is a 1992 crownvic interceptor. It has a 4.6l engine and an AODE transmission. I have chosen to sell the AODE and buy a t-45 five speed, which would yield better performance and add to the fun factor. So one problem with this donor car is it has wide stance and very wide engine. The chassis dimensions will increase by six inches down the center. The 4.6l engine is 28 5/8 wide as where a 302 is a mere 18 inches wide. The plus about this car is, it has huge rotors and rear discs. I have been told by many people, that a v8 engine is not the choice of locost builders. As this may be true and I would have liked a Nissan z-24 engine, I did not have a donor vehicle. Besides I paid only 300 bucks for this car and I was already driving it. As the book says no two locosts are alike and mine will definitely be different. THE TOOLS: Lucky for me I already had a bunch of tools with the exception of a mig welder. I tried to go the cheapest route possible but after some thought and discussion with other people the cheap route was not the best way to go. So after searching from wal-mart to home depot to even harbor freight, I could not find a welder in my price range with adjustable wire feed speed and adjustable temp settings as I had been told to look for. My price was around 300.00 this was all I could afford to part with at this time. I had sworn off going to sears some time ago because I felt their prices where just to high, although all my tools are craftsman. Well reluctantly I stopped at sears and there it was, a mig that had both settings and the price was 299.00. It was just what I needed. For the next tool I felt I needed a chop saw to make quick cuts through the tubing. I have several air tools but the chop saw just seemed right for the job. Harbor freight had some on sale for 99.00 dollars so that was the one I went with. CHASSIS LAYOUT: The chassis layout is the same as the book with some modifications to dimensions and tubing size. I used 1&1/4 inch for the main and 1" on the rest. Now if I was using say a 350 or 302 then I would only have to widen the chassis 4 inches but do to the fact I am using the 4.6l ford it will have to be widened a full 6 inches. On another note some other calculations show that if the chassis was lengthened in the engine compartment area by 17 inches it would retain the stock nose cone per Rons' book. One problem that is forseen is the fact that the ford rearends right caliper is on the leading side of the axle. Which they stick out 5 inches from the back of the disc. I am hoping by just flipping the caliper it will cause it to be trailing at that point. Continue on to veiw my diary.. |
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