Building an R1 Powered Seven


A few years ago I got it in my head to build a kit car. After months of searching I came across the Locost concept. In short, quite a few amateur hobbiests around the world have built their own Lotus 7 inspired cars from scratch, following plans available on a variety of Internet sites and published in a book by Ron Champion.

I started gathering parts and finally began building the chassis in July '05. In August '10 the car was titled, licensed and is now street legal. The following blog captures the progress of the build and driving experiences after completion.

Blog Posts

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Sunday, March 18, 2007

Steering Rack Modification

The steering rack I bought is 24" between pivots. Based on my suspension geometry this distance needs to be 19" to minimize bump steer. After thinking about the best way to do this for some time, I decided to cut a section out of the middle of the rack and weld it back together.

I started this weekend. Here's a pic of the steering rack shaft and housing. The housing is already cut into three pcs.


Next I cut a 5" section out of the rack, then squared and beveled the ends using a 12" disc sander:

Next step will be to fixture the pieces so they are aligned, weld together and grind smooth. I'll use the same method to shorten the housing.

Posted by r1.se7en at 6:17 AM

Slideshow of Build Progress