Looks fantastic man.
Looks fantastic man.
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This is great. I am preparing to start my own. I have a donor ‘98 Ranger. Next is a welder. How is your welder working out? Do you wish you had got a more expensive one?
Yeah what ever happened with this? OP sold his RX8 per plan, does that mean this thing is all done?
He did attend auto x with it at least once this season.
Whoops, yeah, I did finish it and started to shake it down at a couple events. Unfortunately I also got pretty busy and couldn't put in as much time as I wanted. So basically now I'm going to be spending the winter working on all the things I didn't like or didn't get around to finishing.
First, I really hate the roll bar and am going to completely redo it. I'm trying to get my hands on a tubing bender so I can do some custom fitting in my garage. You can see in the attached pics that it's really too high for my seating position. Originally I wanted it that way and put some reflective tape along the top for visibility in traffic, but I was never completely happy with it.
Next, I found the clutch was realllllly touchy and felt nothing like a regular car's clutch. I upgraded the clutch before installing the motor, but it's still moving like 3x the weight it was meant to. Since I converted it from a cable to hydraulic, I am thinking about going to a smaller size master cylinder so I have a bit more travel and (hopefully) more control.
Third, I had to get the front driveshaft modified and unfortunately that wasn't ready in time to make the final couple of events of the season. Basically my U-joint angle was just a bit over the recommended max and I could feel some vibration at about 120. So I decided to take it out and replace with another custom built piece, this time with double cardans front and rear. Spent a lot of time planning it out with my driveshaft builder and I'm confident it'll work really well.
Aside from those, off the top of my head there was nothing else too major to do over the winter. Clean up the wiring a little, go over the stitching on the rear cover once more, etc. The thing drives great and I can tell it's going to be fast once dialed in.
I'm off work this week, in theory at least, so I should have time to add more progress pictures and such. For now, couple pics from a SASC event in Red Deer:
dv/dt
Cool. You'll have to share your build too, and let me know if you have questions along the way.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
As for my welder, it's a Lincoln Pak 180 and I think it was a great bang for my buck. I do wish it had slightly finer power settings but it's nothing you can't get around with some practice. The only real regret I have is not getting one that can tig, but that would be $$$. The good news is I could technically still do aluminum if I got a spool gun.
So, sorry in advance for the quality of some of these pics, my phone camera kind of sucks, especially in low light.
Painting the frame after sandblasting. POR 15 brushed/rolled on, with topcoat sprayed over. This made it easy to go back and weld a little tab here and there as needed.
Test fitting suspension parts
I tried to make my own header. I really did. I did the math, I tried to mock it up, but those fucking tubes are so hard to weld, and the slightest misalignment is amplified at the end. So I caved and bought a header.
Some of the side panels are removable for service, and attached with exposed screws going into rivnuts.
Other panels are just straight riveted with a sealant for good measure.
dv/dt
Here's the header I bought. Actually ordered it from the UK, and it's meant for the Westfield kits that used to be available with this engine. I guess my engine sits slightly lower in my car because the bottom of the header sits like 1/2" below the floor pan. Yikes.
Tall one is the shifter, short one is reverse. The sensor on the visible linkage is for a quickshifter. For those of you not familiar, the sensor detects force on the shift linkage and very briefly interrupts the engine's spark to unload the drivetrain. The result is you don't even have to take your foot off the gas to shift gears, let alone use the clutch.
Rebuilt the entire rear end and installed a posi. The yellow grease you see on the gear teeth is from shimming the pinion to get the correct gear mesh. I had to buy a hydraulic press just to press new bearing races into the pumpkin and to get the bearing off the pinion shaft.
Rear cover. Took measurements, drew it in CAD, printed a 1:1 scale template, cut some vinyl and sewed it all myself.
dv/dt
Awesome build. I have one as well, but I am using an RX8 drivetrain including subframes for easy replacement suspension parts.
You’re definitely looks further along than last time I saw it!This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
A buddy of mine in Airdrie is building one from scratch including all fiberglass work. I had no idea Locost was even a thing until he started his now I see them quite a bit. Left Foot Locost build videos
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteOriginally Posted by SugarphreakThis quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteThis quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Mine is still possibly the slowest build ever! But yeah, switching to a single donar sped up the build considerably (most progress has been in the last year alone). I dropped the 302, T5 combo for a high reving rotary, but I'm building for the possibility of a K20 swap once the renesis inevitabley blows up. I don't want to jack his thread though so let's keep this about this Awesome bike engine build. I would like to go that route if I do this endeavor again.
Lookin' good Ryan, I need you to give me a ride in this at an event next year.