I keep telling people it's a kit car but that's not really true. Most kit cars you buy the frame and bolt things onto it. In the case of the Locost, you buy a book that contains the plans and other information to build the chassis. Then you ignore most of what it says about the suspension and design your own.
I've been fascinated by these things after riding in them at local autox events, and decided to build one over the winter. Many people take years to complete these things, but I'm being very aggressive and want mine done by the spring so I can race it and sell my RX8.
So, step one is usually plan. Found a 3d model of the chassis already made, then started modeling the suspension components. I wanted to use a live axle for the simplicity (Could go IRS later on) and I really wanted the same wheel bolt pattern on all four corners. So many people have mixed patterns because they use different donor cars for the front and rear. I also wanted front and rear disc brakes that were at least meant to work together at some point. So what does a guy do? Get creative. Sourced a 7.5" rear end out of a Ford Ranger, then narrowed it by having the long side cut down and grabbing another passenger side axle (the short side) to use on the now-shortened driver side axle. This gives me the correct track width and puts the pinion flange in essentially the center of the car. For the front spindles, I went SN95 Mustang. Why? Same bolt pattern, center bore, and SN95 Mustang rear disc brakes can be adapted to the Ranger axle with little fuss. But the SN95 uses a mcpherson strut! How TF do you plan to adapt that to work with a double wishbone suspension? Easy. Upper balljoint adapters!
Okay, great. What about the engine? I really want a bike engine. Driving the RX8 has me loving high RPM engines, and a sequential transmission would be super cool. So the obvious choice is a Hayabusa engine, until you realize how much they cost and the fact that you need a dry sump system if you plan to put it in a car. Pass. Next best choice? Yamaha R1. They can be had cheap, are reliable, and all you need to do for oiling is add some oil pan baffles and install an accusump. So I bought the whole bike, parted it out, kept the engine and all electronics and indeed it did end up being reasonably cheap.
Kind of funny buying a bike when you don't have your license, have never been within 5 feet of a bike before, and immediately proceed to tear it down.
Okay, time to start building the frame. The first thing I had to do was make a very sturdy, flat, build table. 2 sheets of 3/4 MDF, steel studs in between to make a ghetto torsion box, everything glued and screwed, complete with leveling feet and topped off with a skin of 16ga sheet metal for a good welding ground and the ability to tack things down. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing after this project is done, it must weigh nearly 300 lbs.
Limit of 5 attachments? Damnit!