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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Monday, September 3, 2007

End of Summer Update

Some more progress this weeked. I spent half a day Saturday and most of today working on the car. E-brake is mounted and cables connected. I still need to fasten the bracket holding the rear cables. Welding would be the easiest, but I may bolt on instead in case any changes are needed.




Updates from earlier this summer:

Brake pedal is mounted and I started laying out the brake lines. I should have all the components needed but I'll wait until final assembly to finish running all the lines. I plan on tacking tabs to the frame for the brake line clamps, rather than drilling into the frame rails.

Radiator is also mounted. I wasn't able to position it as high as I hoped due to limited clearance under the nose cone. I hope it doesn't give me any headaches later (trapped air bubbles, etc...)

The fuel cell and fuel pump arrived and some fittings are on the way. I still need to decide if I'm going to run hard line, braided line, or standard fuel injection line. I'm trying to minimize the number of fittings and adaptors because they are potential leaks, and aren't cheap.

Slideshow of Build Progress