Heya there

Am Paul from huddersfield, was given this site as a link by a mate of mine on the Interford.co.uk forums - anyone who browses them will know me

anyways, thought i had best join as i have embarked on buiulding a Locost using my XR4x4 as the donor car.


i'll be no doubt lookin daft and asking questions which appear silly but which will help me i have a large engineering background which includes nvq's c&g and also used to be a psv/hgv mechanic so i'm no stranger to a difficult chalange

may aswell start the ball rolling aswell with a question

I've seen the Dax Rush 4x4 cars and impressive they are. i have also seen the locost builds from various people using the sierra front hubs. but what i'd like to know is how does the X-fer box on the sierra MT75 gearbox affect the drivers footwell and lower cabin area? as it sticks out a good 10" from the side of the gearbox, would it affect the pedal box area?

Also, have seen very few pictures of the front diff mounting and driveshaft arangement, as on the sierra the front diff bolts direct to the sump and then an intermediate shaft goes thru the sump to the output shaft on the passanger side of the car. How is this compensated for in the locost/rush quadra?

sorry for going on in my first post but knowlege is needed on some lil subjects.

cheers

paul

Can't help with the 4x4 stuff but welcome to the site Paul. Most people just use the 4x4 rear diff, I think ChrisW is using the engine but not 4wd. Someone may be doing it but it's complicated enough with standard Sierra IRS anyway without bringing the front end into the equation as well.

yours, Pete.

Cheers for the reply pete

reason being, when the MOT runs out on my XR4x4 i'll be using it as a donor car - i've done a lot of work to this already and it's runnin a MK5 escort RS2000 16V I4 engine which i have turbocharged - should be intereting, some pictures at www.paulsimon8.freeserve.co.uk/rs2000

if it comes to it, i'll be able to get a rwd mt75 gearbox for pennies from the local yard, just trying to look into what i have and the useability of it at the moment while i make the chassis up

cheers

paul

Hi Paul.

If you want a coffee and a chat one night through the week then please feel free to give me a call. 07736 202101.

I'm in Morley and am about 1/2 way through my project. You can come and have a gander if you like.

1/2 way? Chassis is rolling, engine and gearbox, back axle, brake lines, fuel lines, all in.... busy making the exhausts at the moment.

I live a few miles from the Dax factory. From what I can tell the trans tunnel on the Dax is much bigger than that of the average Locost chassis, or any other "7" chassis I have seen. I suspect this is to allow the Rover V8 gearbox for be fitted, and I suspect to help with their 4X4 design. I am not convinced that this type of car is suited to a 4X4 setup. Firstly I would think you would need to push the gearbox/engine forward to allow room for the transfer box, and this along with the extra weight of the front diff and drive shafts will upset the 50/50 weight distribution most seek. I would try and get a 2WD MT75 or Type 9 gearbox and follow the "keep it light" design.

Just my opinion, good luck with whatever you decide.

HIya Vince

I'd love to pop round sometime would really appreciate having a good look at what others are upto regarding builds and it's nice to have someone local aswell to call upon, morely is only down the road from me, about 25 mins to tingly roundabout then widelane and turn left

so will bell you midweek - probs wednesday or thursday


Zetec - this is what i was thinking, unless i use the mcsorley longer chassis or lengthen my engine bay by 6" to clear the X-fer case on the box from the pedal box area - will have to see what brings once i have stripped the donor in a couple of weeks time

Paul

I've obviously mentioned popping round before then paul...;-)

Urm.... couple of weeks to strip the donor.... Mine was wheeled into the garage one bright Sunday morning.... then lifted out at about 4.00 pm. Everything needed removed.

Don't mess about man. Gerronwit't job.

http://www.geocities.com/ewanspence/index_main.html. Try This site Graceland. He built pretty much the same thing as you want to, i think. Best of luck. the site is very good as far as I can see. lots of useful info for locost 4x4s. welcome to the site.

Vince - lol, i know that side of dewsbury/leeds pretty well as have mates who live there and the A653 from tingly roundabout to the white rose center is part of a bus route i do regular

reason i aint doin it for a couple of weeks is i'm still driving it and want to wait untill the mot has expired before i strip it, even tho it would fly thru another mot. umm

Will - cheers for the site link, will have a browse thru that while i wait on another steel delivery

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the madhouse.

Good Luck with your build- the engine certainly sounds cool.

The drive-shaft issue is sorted by removing the though-sump shaft and welding up the holes. The front diff' shaft is then replaced by a much longer one so placing the front diff in line with the front wheels with the engine behind.

Research any deviations you make from the book thoroughly before making them as the more changes you make the harder (and perhaps more importantly longer) everything becomes/takes.

HTH,

James

Hi Paul,

I live at Lindley and have just started building an MK Indy. Give me a ring on 01484 318777 if you want a natter.

David

this is quality - so many people locally who are into the kitcar scene

i'll defo give you a bell David i'm fair chuffed that there is someone local to get good advice from

Hi and welcome, just thought I'd like to say that there's another 2 builders local to you, me and my brother. Bradford based but we're building a bog standard locost.

There's a yorkshire meet that happens, I think it's the 2nd Weds of the month, not been myself but may do one day

Hiya

it's great to have found a site with like minded people and a wealth of instant advice and to have gotten in touch with local builders aswell is even better.

cheers peoples

paul

i know the feeling, before i found this site i was floundering, trying to get the hubs to fit and running out of motivation. soon got that sorted!!

Welcome Paul

Just thought I'd stick this photo in to give you an idea of the layout of the 4x4 bits in the front (or rather one possible layout).

Engine and box are shoved as far back as possible (like in a dax) to give plenty of room in the front (my shocks will be inboard too).

LIam
Rescued attachment front.jpg

And here's where the gearbox lands. The bulge sits under your knee and isn't in the way at all. My chassis is 1" wider and taller than standard, but the scuttle area is 3" further back giving more room in the engine bay and less in the cabin (and more Caterham-like proportions). The footwell will bulge in towards the gearbox to give plenty of pedal room.

Liam
Rescued attachment tunnel.jpg

The advantage of moving the engine back is that the gear lever ends up in the right place.

Anyway, you've probably already decided on RWD (and nearly finished too) - this is just FYI.

Good luck

Liam

bloody hell fire that is amazing!

take it that is the V6 4x4 mt75 with the larger bell housing - only guessing since it's sat there lookin pretty on what looks like a rover V8 wish i had seen these pictures 4 days ago, then i'd have made some modifications to use the 4x4 box

still tho, rwd mt75 for freee tomorrow and as many sierra bits i can fit in the back of me dads car (takin that to sunderland as 230 mile round trip in the donor car - xr4x4 with turbocharged rs2000 lump, would cost about 40 quid in fuel as opposed to 20 in the deezil monster estate) hehe - cant wait, should be a laff

I thiiiiiiiink my 4x4 MT75 is a 2 litre one originally intended for an escort cossie. I say that cos I picked it up brand new from a guy I met who works at Ricardo. They developed the box into the 7-speed rally version for the Escort and this guy had an unused original 'lying around' in his garage! Plastic sleeve still over input shaft. Quite a rare find and it cost me less than a reconditioned old one.

[roy walker] It's a great guess, but it's not right! [/roy walker]. The engine is a 2.7 Honda V6 out of a Rover 827. Light, powerful, and bloody tricky to fit to a ford box. That's why there's so much room in front of it.

Turbo RS2000 eh? Sounds interesting. Do you know what turbo it uses? And how many ponies are you looking at?

Yo

Liam

[Edited on 16/1/04 by Liam]

I thought id made my car way complicated, but that blows my mods away.

nice work liam - looks like you got the big honda in there too!

atb

steve

cool - only thought it wer the V8 from the rocker covers hehe

all the MT75 boxes share the same internals you know it;s only the bell housing patterns that differ from the V6, YB cossie (essentially pinto) and the twincam I4 lump

i know about the rs2000 turbo engine - i fitted it and then turbocharged it meself, theres laods of theads on it on www.interford.co.uk/forums took me a week to fit it taking it steady as i needed to make new inlet manifold and exhaust manifold - the inlet is a 2wd cossie plenumn turned upside down and welded to the rs2000 manidold, and the exhaust is a bodge at the moment and limiting the flow of gases, but that should be sorted out as i'll have a bit more room in the locost enginebay to play with the exhaust manifold - i've got a 2wd cossie one sat in the shed ready for modifying hehe.

it throws out about 200 ponies and a similar torque figure to boot, thats running 7psi on me own management and fueling not bad methinks

all will be revealed once it's in the locost - the rate i'm going at, i should have the 4be stripped in 2 weeks as opposed to a months time, which is nice

Nice one Liam! Looks good!

Probably dumb question but what's the story with the orange 'spiders web' above the chassis in the first picture?

Cheers,

James

orange spiders web? you lost me now. lol

might be the extension cable as thats the only orangy thing in there, even tho its' red

Errrr, question was aimed at Liam!

James

i was wondering about that too, is it a combined brace and support for an engine mount? i think the honda v6 was transverse so the mounts would be oddly place...

oooooo. sorry, lol

yeh, what are them things that look like a crane holding the engine up?

He'll be able to tell you more, but I know that there's a mounting point on top of the engine, so the 'spider web' provides extra stiffness for the front of the chassis and is an extra support for the engine.

All unboltable, so quite a nice feature if a bonnet will fit alright...

Right you are.

With my big wide engine (90 degree V with 4-valve heads) shoved right back I cant fit even one of the normal engine bay diagonals in, doubtlessly resulting in a chassis as torsionally stiff as jelly. So I have this removable cradle that ties the structural scuttle with the front suspension box to beef up stiffness in this area. The convergence of tubes also holds the front engine mount (the other two are at the back of the engine on either side - stradling engine/bellhousing split in the Rover but part of the adaptor plate in my car).

I'm gonna put a load more pictures on the website I've just started fiddling with, and maybe even some writing.

Liam

P.S. The site will be HERE. So far I've mastered changing the backround colour, a picture, a menu that works, and even a thumbnailed picture! Needless to say I wouldn't bother going there yet if I were you.

[Edited on 21/1/04 by Liam]

Liam, 10/10 nice pics.