Building an R1 Powered Seven: December 2007

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.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Disassembly and Body Work

I was planning to pick up some sheets of aluminum today, but at the suggestion of my wife I called ahead to make sure they have what I need. Turns out they didn't...I called another shop about 1hr away and they carry 0.040" 5052 sheets (and some 6061 sheets), but they would have been closed by the time I got there. So the aluminum will have to wait until Monday, which gave me a chance to get some work done on the car.

First I stripped everything off the chassis:

Then started working on the patterns:

Right side and rear are done, left side and interior panels to go. I should be able to finish them tomorrow and be ready to start on the aluminum when it arrives.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Holiday 'Brake'

Finished the first project for the holiday...fabricating a sheet metal brake. The brake should come in handy for the long bends on the sides of the seven, and for the sheet metal on the next project (http://nissan2hummer.blogspot.com/) if I decide to take it on ...

The design is based on plans I found online, with a few small modifications:(http://www.ch601.org/tools/bendbrake/brakeplans.pdf)

It took about 8 hrs total to fabricate, with most of the time spent drilling, riveting and preping the metal for paint. Tomorrow I'll pick up a few sheets of aluminum and give it a try. Here's a quick video demo:

As expected, time is flying by. I'll be happy if I can get the seat mounts in place and get started on the bodywork before heading back to work next Tuesday...