Zetec tb'd Luego Locost rebuild

[duncan]

Well thought it was time to start a project thread on my locost which i have recently bought.
My aim for the car is to make it trackday ready over this winter.
The to do list is growing as i am stripping it down
1. fit new nosecone/bonnet/scuttle (GTS panther kit to suit taller zetec engine)
2. make new dash panel
3. fit new cycle wings with new wing stay brackets to suit my wheels
4. move battery from footwell to engine bay
5. maybe upgrade brakes depending on funds

Spec of the car is
2.0 zetec silver top
GSXR throttle bodies
running on mega squirt
5 speed type 9 gearbox and english rear axle (open diff)

forgot to take some pics of the cra before it went into the garage but here is a few as the strip down of the bodywork begins in preperation for fitting of the gts panther kit.
all bodywork will be resprayed black with a gold stripe (jps colour scheme) wheels will be painted gold too.











Sourcing new wheel studs as the old ones are too short for my new wheels and the extra long studs i had are just too long (63mm) the wheelnut fouls on the stud shoulder just before it would be tight i did manage to get 6 x 40mm studs today which are perfect but thats all they had so need to hunt down some more.
correct studs fitted below, pic above shows the 3 lengths of studs with the short ones being the originals.



cheers
duncan

[raymondmarble]

Looking good Duncan!
I understand these are kinda DIY cars, but the wishbones etc are bought off the shelf? Well, what upright do you use? Looks like an Escort hub maybe, but I cant identify the upright.
Cheers!

[duncan]

hi raymond
the wishbones are custom made to suit the locost design but the uprights and hubs are cortina, some kits also use same design but using sierra hubs/uprights
ball joints ect all ford stuff as well so easy/cheap to replace think the top ball joint is from transit.
cheers
duncan

[alladdin]

nice project more pics of the t/b's please

[duncan]

will do alladin anything specific you need to see on the bodies?

[alladdin]

ive just got a bike t/b fettish what manifold did you use ?

[duncan]

no idea previous owner actually done the conversion i am just in the process of making it pretty and capable of surviving some trackday abuse

thinking about adding a swirl pot to help with surge but first i need to finish the bodywork side of things, also sortin ga more reliable fuel guage had been added to the list it has a digital dash and the fuel guage currently reads on that but its a bit unreliable about the real level of fuel, so as i am re making the dash panel i will put in a normal fuel guage.

its been so long since i have had a proper project i forgot how fun all the planning is

[UncleFista]

It looks to be well made, at least the welding looks better than mine

I've managed to get a Zetec under the standard sized bodywork "just", the sump's quite low though and there's literally a couple of mil clearance for the bonnet.

I dunno if you've had dealing with GTS before, but if I were you I'd collect rather than pay and wait for items, have a look over on locostbuilders.

The standard cortina brakes are plenty good enough for road use but very wooden, and sometimes you need to pretty much stand on the pedal, but they will stop you, you just need to believe in 'em For track use I'd upgrade too.

I was out in mine last night for 2 hours from 11pm til 1am, I only went out for 20mins

Have fun...

[duncan]

i had a long back and forth chat with darren at gts about the bodywork and honestly in the end i had no problem and it turned up exactly as promised,
can't say how well it fits yet but will know more by next weekend when i will trail fit the scuttle and nosecone

I have managed to trackdown a few more parts tonight which will help. think the worst job is going to be the scuttle so will tackle that first.
not sure about the sump as its been modified by the previous owner, plenty of clearance does not hang down too far at all but my worry is surge on track so i may invest in a sump from either dunnell,raceline. the raceline one looks the prettiest but the dunnell sump looks like it will do the job perfectly and as you will never really even see the sump i may go for the dunnell plus its cheaper.

UncleFista
any pics of yours? surprised you managed to get the zetec under standard nosecone yours must be mounted very low, sadly thats not poss round my area as i do have to regularly go over speed humps so the gts body work seemed my only real choice.

oh added another few jobs on the to do list

6. find bigger Rad fan
7. Fit seat slider sub frame

[UncleFista]

Good news about the GTS stuff, from 2nd hand knowledge it can be a long drawn out task getting what you've asked for

I originally had a CVH sump cut and welded to fit, but it was never fully oil-tight, so when I changed to the Orion Si engine (from a boggo 1.8) I changed the sump to a proper Zetec ally one.

To get my Zetec low enough I had to (pay someone to) chop a fair few inches off, and it's still very low, not low enough to scrape on anything yet, but it's definitely lower than most people recommend.



That cost me £50 to be tigged, just so the engine could fit under the bonnet. The crossflow was a much easier fit, just slower

As you can see, there's not much room at all.



It just fits, with 2-3mm to spare.

Although TBH if I had the cash and a garage to work in instead of rolling about on the street in mud, I'd do the same as you're planning, I'm paranoid about hitting a speed bump and knacking the engine...



BTW if you check eBay for a fan, there's a bloke who sells brand new Rover fans every now and again, according to his ad they were removed from Rover 400's on the assembly line when they were fitted with AC, they're cheap and have had great reviews.
Also, my seats are sat on Rover Metro/100 runners, easy enough to remove and fit

[RETRO_AL]

About time you posted some pics,looks good m8 will look even better in my rear view mirror

[duncan]

UncleFista

your engine looks not much higher than mine any chance of a pic showing how much sump is hanging down? have to admit that speed hump paranoia i think will force me to get the proper dunnell one just for piece of mind, thanks for the tip on the fan i will have a look on ebay do you know the guys username that sells them?

AL

you know you will be the in your tin top

[UncleFista]

I don't have one at the mo', will take a pic when I next uncover it (it lives outside)

[duncan]

Few parts arrived today, new wing stays from rally design (pleased with them look strong and nice and light)
battery tray which i will fit at the weekend.
racetech rear view mirror and seat runners which will be fitted at a later date.
looking forward to the weekend so i get cracking on with the rebuild.

[duncan]

Had a power cut at work so got home early and decided to make good use of the light and do some more work on the locost.
first job was finish removing the old scuttle and clean it all up.




So with that done i decided to try fitting the new wing stays i got from rally design which involves removing top drag link which is no problem as i have new ones to fit there.




no problems just need to tap a thread into the cortina upright for one of the bolts and buy some 90mm M8 bolts, i really need to sort the tyres i will be running on the wheels before i bend the brackets to suit as i currently have 195/45/15 fitted but will change to a 50 profile

So far so good now start the problems it looks like the new nosecone is still going to be too low to clear the engine, but i really need to try it with the new bonnet and scuttle in place which i will rope a mate into helping me with at the weekend.




not dishearted i removed the headlight bowls so they are ready for paint, still trying to decide on which colour black to use might go for panther black (ford colour) as the bodywork is called panther too

cheers
duncan

[duncan]

little update on this its still on going these early dark nights are restricting working time so i have been taking parts to work to play with during lunch break



Underneath the added small cobra bonnet bulge which i have fibreglassed in



Top view ready for fitting and then a final coat of filler and painting.

[duncan]

spent the day installing my new tool cabinet which i promptly managed to fill with all my tools immediatley amazing how much i had really but i did not expect to fill it up so easy.
Anyway after a trip to the dump prompted by my tidy up i then started on the car and fitted the battery holder and fitted a new stronger stainless plate underneath which i made at work during the week, first time using the rivnut tool which was a ebay bargain and worked a treat.



After the drill battery ran flat on me i had to abandon mounting the scuttle and carried on with my radiator revamp. unfortunatley the wider polo rad i had won't fit under the nosecone (well it does just but will rub) so i will stick with the slightly smaller polo rad i all ready have and fit my new fan and adjust the mounting to sit nearer to upright to maximise the cooling which is now possible with the higher GTS panther nosecone.

so plans for the week are make new rad support brackets and a clamp bar for the battery so next weekend i hope to have the rad all back in and the scuttle and battery in place. Then it will be onto fitting the bonnet and nosecone in place finally.

[øystein]

Hello I did almost the same opgrade on my Locost last winter from a 1275 austin engine to a Duratec 2.3 and a seqential gear box! It is now a werry fun car to drive!!!!!!!!!!
Good luck whith your uppgrade!

[duncan]

heh very nice now thats a conversion i would love to do in the future
what gearbox are you using?

[øystein]

Hello I use the 5speed seqetial gearbox from Elite transmission The weight on the gearbox is 27kg so it saves some weight compare to the type 9?

[scutter]

Duncan, Top thread. I'm going to start the swap of my Blacktop in a Locost for a ST170 engine, you shown well i need to put lots of pictures up.

I'll start at the end of the month, might even start a tread on the site here.

ATB Dan.

[duncan]

Still making progress on this.

new scuttle is all mounted and new panels made and fitted, battery now mounted. Ecu will be moved to underneath the scuttle just making a extension loom for the wiring atm.
bonnet is almost finished i may add a few vents yet.
Front wings now mounted, worst job so far they never look right to me
now on to mounting the nosecone and finish making scuttle panel and new dash panel then mounting aero screens.

hopefully will have it back together and on the road next month for a shakedown then paint

[duncan]

now with fitted hinged nosecone

currently repainting headlights and making new dash/firewall panels

[alladdin]

keep at it .

[duncan]

can't find a scoop anywhere to fit over the airfilter (fibreglass)
may have a go at making my own

[duncan]

started stripping down the rear end in preperation for a fibreglass rear panel to tidy it all up.
also managed to fit my other aero screen and finially fit longer wheel studs on the back.
got to remake new light brackets as they were too close to suspension for my liking, but its coming along nicely

Next week will concentrate on getting dash panel and firewall panel made so i have plenty to do over easter break

[duncan]

playing with colour schemes sadly the silver don't come out great but you get the idea what you guys think?


have a go yourself here >> http://www.mcgregormotorsport.co.nz/...colour-schemer

[RETRO_AL]

Colour looks great,much better than the usual yellows and greens

[duncan]

Been making some more progress on my locost
new firewall panel going in



Megasquirt ecu moved to the much safer location of under the scuttle



Then today i have finally finished mounting everything back onto the firewall and adding a oil breather tank.
just got to give the header tank a good clean (any suggestions?)



Jobs left to do

1. • Finish drilling holes in bonnet and cutout for air filter
   • Maybe add a sccop/vent in bonnet
   • repaint floor
   • fit seat adjustable runners plus find where i put the runners
   • fit headlight brackets and head lights
   • fit front indicators
   • fit rear view and side mirrors
   • buy fibre glass rear panel and fit
   • make new dash and finish of wiring, add new fuel guage
   • fit new fuel pump and poss get a sump added to the tank
   • find out why the sump is leaking oil for no reason it was fine before

getting there

[RETRO_AL]

Looking good dunc,paint that bloody cam cover aswell lol

[duncan]

heh yeah i was thinking about that today

want to get it back on the road first really stuff like that can wait until i strip it ready for panels to be painted after a shakedown period.

but its dash panel and bonnet day tomorrow followed by a repaint on the floor, still can't find where i put them bloody seat runners

[UncleFista]

just got to give the header tank a good clean (any suggestions?)

Hot water, your choice of detergent, a handful of sharp sand and shakey-shakey

[duncan]

Dash panel finished pretty much just need to add trim on the bottom all electrics now fully working
the alloy was too shiny so i gave it a brushed effect think it will be ok with regard to reflections, its also got a coat of clear laquer.
added proper light switch and fuel guage just need to adjust fuel sendor so it reads correctly not sure if i need a voltage reg on it though? any ideas? seems to read ok atm



bulkhead finished just need to tidy a few wires and make a clamp for the battery wires, refilled coolent and it fired up first try and ran great

so jobs left to do and the list is getting shorter

• fit seats with runners
• Finish drilling holes in bonnet and cutout for air filter
• Maybe add a sccop/vent in bonnet
• fit new fuel pump and poss get a sump added to the tank
• fit mirrors and front indictors
• find out why the sump is leaking oil for no reason it was fine before
• Buy and fit new rear panel
• just to keep AL quiet repaint cam cover

checked laptop connects to ecu ok lucky thats all fine so i can upload a new map to try after some adjustments to suit my setup and lots of advice from MS people

[duncan]

oh just remembered counted the steering rack turns and its 3.5 is that standard? might go for a quickrack down the line think its a escort rack

[alladdin]

yes, 3.5 is std

[duncan]

Another good day thats two in a row

mirrors fitted, bonnet almost completley finished and have added a vent on the side just needs a rub down and tidy up in prep for paint.

had a look at the runners which will need modding to fit the seat so will do that at work during the week, buts its coming along nicely.

on the look out for a dunnel lowline sump and bidding on a rear panel atm.

[RETRO_AL]

Sack of shit


















get it weighed in lol will look great as a dot in my rear view mirror

[alladdin]

drop trig a pm regarding sump, maybe his welderman can sort you something.

[duncan]

AL like yours will ever be on the road


Alladdin

think i will prob lump for a fancy one from dunnell or raceline as all the others i have seen just leak or give probs and as this will see some track action i want best i can get or keep a stock of zetecs ready

[duncan]

few more jobs of the list

indicators fitted
cooling fan now sucking and not blowing
fitting seat runners tomorrow then just need to finish off a few bits on the bonnet and it should actually be capable of moving under its own steam

hoping to have it painted and done in time for classicford show