I have decided to build a Locost, which is a Lotus 7 type car. There are numerous forums and books about this home built sports car. Two very good books on the subject are: "How to build a cheap sports car" by Keith Tanner, and "Build your own sports car on a budget" by Chris Gibbs.
I guess I should say a little about my qualifications to undertake this rather daunting project. In a nut shell I don't have any.....lol. I am mechanically inclined, self taught welder, still have a lot of learning to do before I start the chassis. I have done a fair amount of wrenching on cars. I am reading everything I can get my hands on concerning chassis engineering and suspension set-up.
One of the most popular Donor cars is the Miata. Initially I was going to go this route, but I already own 2 Alfa Romeo Spiders. One is a '86 Quad that is in excellent shape, the other is a '79 Veloce which has an excellent drive train but a so-so body. I am going to use the '79 as a donor car.
This is going to present some challenges. I have not found anyone yet who has attempted to use this drive train. There are a few choices for chassis, the original "book" chassis was depicted in the original book by Ron Champion. There have since been numerous variations on this chassis. I think I am going to use the "book" chassis as this is the narrowest which I think I need because the rear axle in the Spider is pretty narrow. This presents a challenge because the oil pan on the Spider is quite wide 18", which may be a problem.
Here are some pics of the Donor dismantle.
This is a link to Keith Tanner's site.
http://www.cheapsportscar.net/
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