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, January 28, 2008

I started disassembling all the miscellaneous components that need painting. It's a good job for now because I can work in a warm basement instead of a cold garage.


Since I had all the suspension parts laid out, I decided to take some weights. Pretty close to 32 lbs per corner without wheel/tire.

All the bare steel parts have a nice coat of rust. They were doing well until we had a cold spell, followed by a warm rainy day. Condensation formed on everything in the garage and within a day there was rust everywhere...it'll be nice once everything is cleaned up and painted.

Since it's too cold to paint outside, and I'd rather not fill up the house with paint fumes, I'm going to see if I can find a place at work to paint the small stuff. Chassis will have to wait for a warm day...

Posted by r1.se7en at 8:22 PM

Slideshow of Build Progress