Howdy,

I'm a quiet sortof a lister that doesn't post much, but I've been hanging about for a while. Though unlike some I do more work to the car than sit online ().

I've finally got a digital camera, so I'm sticking a few photos in the gallery. Any comments, slagging, or other mumblings would be appreciated. Just incase anyone is interested it's a:
1300xflow mated to a Type 9 gearbag, Escort axle,
Homemade tuned exhaust,
Adjustable brake bias bar,
Luke Harnesses,
Aeroquip Flexible brake pipes,
Ford 14" Alloys (With spacers and longer studs),
Chassis is bronze welded (Brazed),
Flyoff vertical handbrake.

I'm only 17 (Started it when I was 16) so money's tight, but have the use of a decent workshop so tend to make things rather than waste money. So far it's cost about £500, and it won't cost too much more to complete. Then just the £250 or so for SVA in N.Ireland

Willie

[Edited on 23/2/03 by Willie]

Willie,

Nice job by any standard.

The fact that you have spent little and you are still young (yep I'm an old git!!!) is even more creditable...well done

Looks good Willie!

Interesting scuttle design, looks very solid

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Though unlike some I do more work to the car than sit online .

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Nice!

But you're not going to makke friends by doing a great job, making good progress and being 17 you know!!

Seriously - Keep up the good work.

Phil

Thanks for the kind words. It's not my fault I'm young...I'm really an old grump at heart tho, pah to all these big thump thump systems and neon lights on 'screen washers. Gimmie ali and a wein of rivets.

Err, that scuttle tube was origanly a knee roll bar style of thing. However after running a line from the engine to the proper roll bar it didn't actually touch, hence I didn't bother to triangulate away from it. Suppose it would help if I landed on a barrier upside down. The actual scuttle is a real Locost thing. MDF spokeshaved (Told you I was old) to get the right shapes, then ali formed over it. I've attached a pic. The "dashboard" ali sheet is the interior of my grannie's old freezer anealed and beat with holes cut out to make it look like I spent money on individual guages (They're from a Mk1 Twincam I think).

The most annoying thing is, although an old sod at heart...I'm snookered for insurance. Got a quote for £5600 on a 1256cc Chevette, and no company at all will even quote me for the Locost. Guess I'll just have to buy a 309 Deisel, tartan rug and a flat cap...

Willie
p.s.Green look on gauges is protective cover on perspex
Rescued attachment Scuttle.JPG

Hi it looks like you are making a good job of the car, I would be very interested to know some more details of how you made the exhaust manifold, did you use pre bent tubes or did you manage to bend them somehow?.I am presently trying to make a bonnet exit system of a similiar design but have not had much sucess at bending the tubing yet.
Paul.
[quote


I'm a quiet sortof a lister that doesn't post much, but I've been hanging about for a while. Though unlike some I do more work to the car than sit online ().


Homemade tuned exhaust,





I'm only 17 (Started it when I was 16) so money's tight, but have the use of a decent workshop so tend to make things rather than waste money. So far it's cost about £500, and it won't cost too much more to complete. Then just the £250 or so for SVA in N.Ireland

Willie

[Edited on 23/2/03 by Willie]

Very impressive stuff, on the insurance side, try the specialist brokers, you might be surprised.

Ring NIG in Birmingham, they underight most of the specialists, it may be cheaper

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your reply/interest. I tend to be a long winded boyo, so bare with me.

The main problem I faced when making the exhaust was because I wanted it tuned. That's to do with pulse timing that I'll not start yabbering on about. But I had to make the primaries (First pipes, from head to the first join) 16" I think it was. So, in order to join the pipes together, with all equalling 16", I had to bend them all over the show to have them ending in the same place, but 16" in length. Hense the crazy bends.

The tube is mild steel, gas welded together. Bends were made on a large radius pipe bender. I dunno if you'll be able to get your hands on one, but it's an extremely useful item. Plumbers will have pipe benders etc, but you'll need a big one in order to have madrels for the diametre of tubing you're using.

If you can't get a pipe bender, you could try nipping the tube in the vice, bending a little, moving it down a bit, bending another bit etc. Time consuming etc, but can be done.

Hope this helps.

Willie

That's the quare job there young Willie, with your "wein of rivets".
When I was your age, I was tooling around with cars and bikes too. There's nothing quite like it for a young cub from Norn Iron! I'm from Dungannon BTW.
I can afford to sit in front of the puter all day, as I've built more bikes and cars in my time than you've ever seen on the roads of Norn Iron....asuming you live in a remote area, and you don't get out much!

Oh,

Should've said that if you're making the pipes to a length, it helps to mark distances on them. For example, I marked every 2 iinches along the straight pipe. Any cuts I made I did on a mark, so at the end I was able to count the marks and make sure the length was 16".

Rorty, family used to live up in Dungannon, and Moygashel. Some cracker wee roads up thonder.

Willie

A couple of Q's mate....

How did you arrive at your tuned lengths/pipe sizes for your manifold?

Why 4/2/1?

Has anything else been done to the engine or has the exhaust been designed for future upgrades?

I only ask because IMO trying to take advantage of pulse tuning is affected by so many factors, i.e. head breathing capabilitys, cam design, silencer design/flow, cam timing, carburation etc etc, and final design is usually down to experimentation as much as experience.

P.s. A real tidy job there mate!
Cheers, Stu.

Ah, it was a boy like you I was hoping not to arise. You're entirely right. The engine is bog standard 1300xflow (For insurance reasons). So really there's not much point in the tuned exhaust. It comes into play when you start throwing in a nicer cam, better induction etc as you rightly said. But I just fancied the challange of doing it, and someone on TOL ran through a calculation they had for the max bhp at 4000rpm.

Erm, what else did you ask? Oh, aye. Well, the different ways of joining the pipes all give different things obviously, but after hoking about, talking to a few mates that build race cars etc, the general thing was 4-1 = Top End Power, 4-2-1 = Bigger spread/midrange power. That was for the Xflow, so that's what I did.

I intend to throw in a faster cam at some stage, and a better form of induction. But really I'm in total agreement that to get the full benefit of pulse timing you need to have a dyno and play about to get it spot on. But it's only worth it with a hot engine. Mine's not, I just fancied it (Beats usual boy racer upgrades like stickers and LEDs).

In respect to the upgrades. While I have the car on the road I'll need something to tinker at, have a Chevette to play with, but quite fancy making a new engine to drop into the Locost at a later stage. Something like a hot Duratec would be nice

Willie

Nice one. It's good to see you making the effort to do something like that, when most folk in a similar position would only worry about making a system that doesnt leak. It's definately going to perform a lot better that a cast iron jobbie!
You seem to have the theorys wrapped up anyway. It's surprising how much extra power can be released with a little thought and effort.

Cheers, Stu.

Better than the cast iron "lump" is not difficult. When I took the old manifold off the gasket was covering about a 6th or so of No4 exhaust port. So I think my bunch of bannanas might help out alittle.

A tip for anyone reading, if you've got the use of a lathe you can make good gaskets by touching the face of the mounting plates (That mount up to head) with a small rounded tool (A rounded parting off tool could be used) to put a "ring" in the plate. Then strip single core copper wire, press it in and bolt it up. Cheap effective gasket. That's what I did and it seems to work fine.

Another handy thing is to weld on a short piece of tube to the plate, with a counter bore in the plate. So you can push the exhaust pipe up short tube and counter bore, which keeps internal diameter the same, but holds the tubes for shifting about, measuring etc while making the system. If you look at the pics you'll see that's what I've done aswell. I'll stick on a diagram if anyone wants and can't understand my waffling.

All the best,

Willie