Build 2

Radiator and Cooling

The radiator is from my Lite Ace donor and fits my 50 + chassis perfectly as I am using an autotrans a cooler is necessary and the one I am using was rescued from the scrap metal bin at my local tip. The fan is one of two than came with my engine donor

The fan only just fits the space but it certainly moves some air when the current is on

My design requires the hot air to exit each side of the body between the front suspension arms.

The alloy bulk head diverts the hot air from the radiator out each side .On the right you will notice a panel ,held in place with self tapping screws ,This is to allow the fitting of the steering shaft and to allow the pre-load adjuster for the front shock to be fitted . On the left-hand side there is another opening to allow fitting of the other pre-load adjuster and the coolant feed to the bottom of the radiator will go through here as well there will be a cover that will fill the hole fixed with self tapping screws. I tend to think that the idea of forcing cooling air through the engine bay and down the transmission tunnel is a bad practice, especially in a hot place like Australia .
Nose cone

There are a couple of people in my part of he world who make nose-cones for Locost builders but I wanted to style my care more after the S1 Lotus seven with a “droop snout”. The only way to have that was to do it myself . I Have had some experience working with fibre glass and well understand the principles of pattern making .It took me many hours of tedious work to make the buck shown in the first two photos here . It was made from MDF and car bog. The rounded upper corners were very difficult to get right .

After all that work when the mould was cured the buck had to be destroyed to remove it .

The finished mould had a few minor imperfections that were easily fixed .

I purchased guards front and back from a local maker but found I had to modify the rears as they were just a bit too wide for my car .

The Guards from the P3-7 are wider at the body side I was able to draft a line 25 mm from the body of the car and then when I cut off the section I glued it back inside the guards with “maxbond” building adhesive There is a section that remains uncut so that the guard sits over the cockpit side to meet a curved piece of 1.6 mm steel welded to the space frame .

To make the bonnet I decided to use a sacrificial female mould as this would save the expense of the mould making. This was however complicated by the need to have a fairly chunky bulge to clear the cam box and and intake Plenum

Seats

The seven style of car does not have very much room for seats . the book suggests that a builder should make a seat in three pieces with a plywood back and plywood bases for the seat squabs .Here in Australia it is required that the drivers seat be adjustable . I did not want to use fibreglass seats and as the angle of the seat back does not need to be adjustable I made frames from 25 x 25 rhs and fitted part of the seats from my engine donor which held the headrest . Despite a general belief that seats would have to be tested , at great expense my engineer is happy with my seats

Small pieces of 1.6mm steel added to the corners so that the skin of 1mm steel will be accurately shaped

The loop at the front is lifted to allow the drivers seat to slide