I'm a welder and would definitely buy the prebuilt chassis. Simply for the time and frustration of the set-up. A few grand is cheaper than a few weeks of my time and labor.
It is not hard at all to build the chassis. I have never welded before. I'm a machinist. I have picked up a Harbor Freight style mini mill and cut to final size all the tubes on it, specially the angles with a 3" cheap vise with an angle base. Used a $200 Vevor band saw with a miter base. Everything fits perfectly, no gaps.
@@19mati67 you're not quite grasping at what i was trying to say. My time is more expensive than the cost of that frame already put together. See I need, Time to clean area for project, Time to gather materials, Time to study plans, Time to build any jigs. There's 3 days minimum and i haven't even started welding....
Nice job! I'm a Locost builder (SN95 base Mustang donor, modified Haynes Roadster chassis) and I think you've done an excellent job of characterizing the movement and what motivates we folk participating in it.
My dad had a lotus 7 when i was a kid, he sold it to buy and restore a morgan 3 wheeler. He purchased the talked about book when i was in high school and i still have it somewhere. He has since passed. Makes me happy to see there are still people out there that enjoy the same kind of crazy as he.
Fellow builder here. Using a Chevy 4.3L V6 donor, I'm slowly working on getting my car cobbled together. Been wanting to build one for over a decade and finally pulled the trigger during COVID. It is AWESOME seeing these cars getting some love. Thanks for the awesome vid.
Mate... I think you're using the wrong engine. I built a locost years ago powered by a 2l Nissan turbo. It was way more power then the car needed, esp for a street car. A small lighter engine that you get to rev will make for more enjoyable car. They're really all about handling and not power.
@@andrewr7001 I didn't think there was a 'wrong engine' when you're building a car yourself. It isn't necessarily the 'best' engine, but I had a donor and the engine ran strong. The ethos of these cars is to keep things light which translates to fast, but I don't think this engine will detract from the level of fun I'm expecting.
I'm building one as well, Duratec 2.5($348 LKQ=49k miles 2016 Ford Fusion), MX-5 NC 6 speed($550 wrecking yard) and NC LSD($329 Ebay got lucky). Complete rear end from the same car. McSorley442E chassis.
@@19mati67 that's really cool! Was going to ask why you were using the 2.5 duratec not the 3.0 but if it matches the NC gearbox that's amazing I'm mid build on a 3.0 AJ30 mk2 mx5 at the moment and heard all over online those gearboxes don't quite line up to the 2.5 correctly! I'm hoping to get 275-300 out of my 3.0 though and the adaptor plate etc. really wasn't that much hassle so i'm really glad i went with the 3.0 was £350 with all the ancileries, loom etc. a complete steal!
@@MsArchitectschannelI wasn't even aware of the Jag/Mondeo= Fusion in US, engine would work. With this 2.5 and ITBS, danst performance engineering in stock form, gets around 200hp. I'm not looking for high performance machine, it will be street driven.
A fan of the Lotus 7 since I first saw one in 1963. My solution in 1985 while living in Germany was the Donkervoort S8. A completely finished automobile using updated 2 liter Ford engine & other components. Donkervoort has since moved more upscale using Audi engines & running gear.
I started my build based on the Chris Gibbs book (Ford Sierra donor) back in 2019. Unknowingly it becase my covid project and kept me busy in my spare time untill 2023 when I got it registered. I'm using a Volvo five cylinder engine and gearbox but otherwise the chassis is by the book. I dont really care for the glass fibre body so I made my own out of aluminium and because of that choice and I had to build my own english wheel aswell. Driving a car you built yourself is just such a special rewarding feeling but it does makes me hate the six months of winter even more.
I bought the book in the late 90's and since we don't have rear wheel drive Escorts in the U.S. I started looking for a Cortina or Pinto donor car. I recall that some people early on were successfully using the Chevy S-10 drivetrain. While researching everything Lotus 7 I decided to do what Colin Chapman did...use cheap available parts. I discovered the same parts he used in the early series were still available so I bought a pair of Ford 1.6 Kent Crossflow motors with 4-speeds attached for $100 ea., a Type-9 5-speed out of an XR4-ti, two Cortina GT rear axles, a GT intake and downdraft carb, and 2 spitfire front suspensions with all the useful bits still attached. I have rebuild kits for the carb, trans, brakes, front uprights, and some motor rebuild parts. No, the car never got built but it was a fun research project while it lasted.
if looking to go ford, you can always look at the ford contour which was a rwd. they were only made for a limited number of years but there was also a mercury version. if you want to go high performance it may be worth trying to get your hands on the Contour SVT parts.
I recommend the Discovery Channels program "A Racing Car is born" with Mark Evans. I got the double VHS of that show and watched it probably 30 times as a teenager. Still kept the VHS and VCR...
Built book chassis Locost for road use nearly 20 years ago, been modifying it ever since, now has a full cage and Ford ST170 engine and love every minute of it.
My build started with a Haynes chassis and deviated from that to accommodate a Ford 8.8 IRS setup. Mine is powered by a BMW 1.8L engine and transmission (M42). It was great fun to build and my kids love riding in it. Gas stops take forever because everyone asks about it and often want pictures with it. :)
Built mine (between 2002 - 2006) from scratch (chassis +4" wider and IRS rather than live axle), made all bodywork (both ally and fibregalss) and built twin turbo Rover V8 to go in it (fabricating exhaust manifolds for the turbos and used a pair of conjoined Renault 5 GT turbo intercoolers.
My car features in this 3 times. I race in the locost series for 750mc . We run around 85-89 bhp from a xflow 1300. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get into motorsport. Maximum fun minimum cost
@kaspeer sure, to buy a competitive car you are looking at £7000 upto £12000. Entry is £350 per weekend with additional £280 for test day on the Friday * optional. Tyres £380 per set that lasts for around half a season Inc testing on them. Fuel is around 25l per weekend.
@@TrackPace Well this is getting expensive really fast, do you advise going directly in the Catheram Academy with this kind of costs ? You have to buy the car but if I'm not mistaken everything else is assumed by Catheram like tires and stuff ?
@kaspeer I think the caterham ac isn't a bad shout. I believe it's around £40,000 (Inc the car) a season with them. Tyres are definitely more expensive with the caterham and also the parts if you was to bang one. Once you've spent £8000 on buying the locost you budget will be around £8,000 a season Inc tyres, traveling, entries, fuel and damages etc
@@TrackPace well, this is Motorsport so there's no perfect solution but what you're depicting here with the low-cost versio sounds interesting. Any trusted dealer or website to buy this kind of car ? Appreciate your honesty and your advices 🙏🏼
Hey, surprise to randomly see myself in a video! For reference the car at 0:46 costed me somewhere between 15-20k to build (total cost of all tools, waste, everything) based on the most premium parts that were feasible. The immature version of myself (the one that started the car 10 years ago) wanted a v8 in a book frame, and it ended up being extremely impractical although it drove at normal speeds just fine. Extremely loud, extremely powerful (to the point of not being able to put the power down to the road easily), and required glasses to drive due to rocks.
I built a Miata based Exocet which is based on a British kit car similar to a front engine Ariel Atom. I think it is much safer than 7 builds even if it is a little heavier. It uses all Miata parts and is easy to build with zero welding needed. Mine had ABS brakes and was a joy on track and off.
Having owned a 964 for some years and driven a few Caterhams at speed, I can say the open wheeled concept is very exciting but probably not going to score many points with the missus. Forget distance touring (and golf sticks)! I would love to build one of these for myself (and my son) one day. It will be some time before he can afford a Porsche but being driving fanatics and reasonably handy builders, this would be a wonderful project for us. Thank you for the story and cheers from (over-regulated) Australia - Dave
@@HSVR383SC Well done and thanks for the good advice. Not sure if NSW regulations are tougher than SA, but it's certainly something I've been considering for a while. How long did the build take? More importantly, did you have to sell the concept to the missus, and if so - how did you do that? Engineering will be a breeze compared to that challenge in my case I suspect! Cheers - Dave
A lot of the video was flipped left to right, these are nearly entirely British right hand drive cars. The 1970s Lotus 7 weighed well under 600kG, so with the often used 1600 Ford engine with the tuning parts of the time they had a better power to weight than a 1970 Corvette that weighed 3 times as much. I have been out in a genuine Lotus 7 as well as some clones, so much fun, fantastic dynamics. Not great for top speed due to gearing and aerodynamics, modern builds tend to have more modern drive trains. A stock MX5/Miata engine transplanted into a car of half the weight will fly along and be reliable. Anyone who says they are comfortable on long journeys is lying though.
Literally anyone can learn to weld. Seriously a skill worth learning, and not nearly as expensive as a lot of people think it is. If you're reading this and have ever considered it, you owe it to yourself to learn.
@@stefanheinz2524The professional part is designing it. A halfway decent welder should be able to get good penetration and strong welds. Do some destructive testing on samples first. Or buy a frame and trust someone else's halfway decent welds. . . 🤷🏻♂️
I've got Ron Champion's Locost construction book, a birthday gift from my brother. It's surprisingly intricate and explanatory, a truly brilliant book. I'll build one, one day...with my own round-section tubular steel chassis and skeletonised like an Ariel to show it off.
That book by Ron Champion was my introduction to cars. Long before I ever owned one, the book caught my eye at a local library. My first read through I didn't understand enough to be able to see a build through but it certainly fascinated me and drove me to try to understand the world around me as much as possible. Those lessons follow me today.
I remember getting the book from the libray for doing the Locost 2 seater Caterham type thing and looking into the cost of the box section for making the chassis. That was a long time back when the donor car, mk2 Escort was cheap as chips at that time.
Shoutout to Sylva Autokits - definately filling the middle ground between locost and more complete kits like Caterham or Westfield. You could buy nothing more than a chassis and suspension if you wanted - or a complete knock down kit. I personally owned two of their cars (one which I built) and they were just as fun as they look.
I've had 4 of this style of kit car; 2 built by me from scratch including a chassis Ron Champion welded up for me with a few mods. My advice if you want to keep the cost down is a) fit an engine that's already high powered as tuning costs too much b) buy one from someone else who's lost their shirt on it as they cost far more to build than you might imagine. Do I regret it? no but the fun they gave me was actually quite expensive overall.
I've helped build 3 of them. 1 with a rotary, another a BMW 1.8, and 1 with a 1.8 VW. They are a blast to drive. I've seen guys build them as fast as a year and some guys take 5 years.
Love you make a couple builds today, one LS and one motorcycle just for the gas mileage. The LS for the track and the classic motorcycle powered car for gas mileage.
My favorite car that I only had for two months 😔 was a 76' super beetle with an 84' rx7 rotary in the back. Back bumper had a sewer pipe welded below it. Popped wheelies and ground the pipe on the e-way up to 70 going into 4th. Couldn't see 💩 scary as hell. Sold it back to the guy because I'm dumb.
Another excellent vid sir! Well covered and an interesting topic I have loosely followed for years- Mother Earth News used to feature a bit from the Lo-cost culture.
Fairly sure Westfield were making "sevens" long before Locost was a thing... certainly before the Ron book was published! visited their sales centre in the early 90s with a friend!
I marshalled at 750 Club meetings from the first season Locosts were on the race card until a few years later. The early years were chaos, with several red flags each practice and race. Gradually the cars and drivers improved into a very good championship.
The limiting factor of this kind of build is simply the space, tools, fabrication, and knowledge. Even with prewelded frames, theres still a lot of customization required. I wanted to do something similar, but lacking most of the above requirements and figuring id make mistakes that cost me more money, ive just decided to save money and go fast on readily available motorcycles instead. Bikes are easier and faster and you can still do a locost bike build for a fraction of the money if your able.
the mention of Tiger brings me huge nostalgia, as I used to live near a Tiger 'dealership' (I'm not exactly sure what purpose it served but it was there).
I built mine in AZ in 2004. It cost about $8k, but I used a zetec crate motor, pro rebuilt t5, some actual Caterham bits, a pro built frame, an Isuzu Impulse by Lotus limited-slip rear axle. There were other pricey bits from Wilwood, Painless, OZ, and Autometer. It was titled and licensed as a 1964 Lotus Seven because AZ allowed, at the time, for titling by appearance - not sure what they do now. Anyway, that made it exempt from emissions. It was the most fun I've ever had; both building and driving, and it was the result of a cosmic convergence of timing, money, parts availability, and clean living. Sadly, I lost it due to a divorce and subsequent bankruptcy, but there's a lucky someone out there who owns it. I miss it and would not have done anything different, except for letting it be a victim of the divorce.
It would honestly be super fun to build one of these, just for the sake of a summer car to cruise around in at the least... I might just do that! This looks super cool, and rather affordable. There is someone in my current town that cruises around in some buggy like thing. This would be something like that to me. Would be a super fun challenge to put together too. Thanks for the video!
The McSorrell chassis design was less about gain room for more engine than it is about gaining more room for larger North American Drivers. Those two extra inches are in the hip room and the leg room.
I have a Czech Kaipan 57 Roadster fitted with the VAG 1.8 20V turbo engine and it is brilliant. Just the pure basic experience is the reward with zero aids, very lightweight and very quick!
this makes me wanna do a Locost build, and bring it on track in our area, since parking in public area's would guarantee scratches from people sitting on it.
We built our street legal Miata/McSorley for about $7k over five years. It was a drivable chassis after the first year of 250-ish work hours. Welding is a skill to learn like any other and MIGing mild steel tube is not aerospace-level tech. The biggest hurdle these days might be finding a cheap small donor car that is RWD. Our parts Miata was in rough shape and $600 - a steal even then. There have been some successful builds that adapt a motorcycle or FWD engine into a RWD mid-engine beast ala Formula SAE. I always thought that would be fun.
Twenty-odd years ago, I had this same bug and lamented between doing a space frame or snagging a pre-welded chassis from Champion themselves, or even shoehorning something wild into a manx-buggy frame and seeing what craziness I could invoke with a carbon body. At the time, Champion also had a 'low drag' body option to mimic a Eleven racer body that looked dynamite and wasn't much more cost-wise than doing my own. Then I got married and scrapped the whole idea, but still have the itch. Yep, one day an engine is going to fall into my lap and come what may!
My uncle is an ambulance driver. He says he loves cars like these, and stuff like Caterhams. When he goes to an accident site that involves one of these they just have the firedepartment weld on a roof and put the whole thing in the ground as a convenient casket.
Similar low cost cars with exo-tube frames are safer, but more expensive. Your roll cage is on the outside of body panels and offers great crash protection. Doing it yourself is great way to save money and learn about fabrication.
I'm in the process right now. Warmed over '87 Corvette engine, around 325 hp. Was going to use the B/W T10 I have, but the shifter and linkage are much too intrusive to make for a fun ride. Accepted the fact that I will need to drop some coin on a Tremec TKX and keep moving forward. Suspension is all C4 Corvette. And for those bitching about "Low Cost" and how they really aren't, what does a new Challenger, Mustang GT or Camaro cost? $60k+? All told I figure I'll have about $15k in the car.
We had a few around here, with a great vareity of engines, one builder built around a stock SAAB Turbo engine, but at the same time he had built multiple 500+hp SAAB engines.... I imagine the stock engine was used for mockup and inspection only....
Every time I think about building one of these I have a close look at what I want out of one and realize that I’d be better off buying an NA Miata. That doesn’t take away from these amazing backyard engineering go-fast machines, more that my personal wants have changed over the years because I can’t imagine going on an eight hour long mountain run without having the option of shade and air conditioning in the middle of the day when the sun is at it’s most intense.
@@matiasfpm I have a 2.0 BUL special edition I'm breaking. I could deliver engine box and rear assembly if needed for right price. It would be crazy in a frame car.
You're best bet is to go to a salvage auction and get a car that was rear ended. If you do some research you can make a list of cars to look for, also talking to your local junk yards would help you out as well.
Having owned crotch rockets as teenager (rd350lc, cbr600 etc) and now being older and wiser I see the Seven build as as close as I dare to be to ride a sports bike again...so in a sense it is safer
Give up, i'm 62 now and still ride a Busa with moto x bars on it for 80mph wheelies, have a 500hp '68 roadrunner I bought when I was 22..act young 🤣... I did a track day at Blyton and one of these things was there with a turbo Busa engine in it and loads of carbon fibre...lowcost was prob £30+K LOL.
I saw on the Vinwiki channel that if you get your custom homebuilt car registered in 1 state all remaining states will recognize it should you end up moving.
True but California revoked hundreds of Cobra replica registrations from Georgia years ago. It was super easy to register your $150K Kirkham Cobra replica as a "1964 Ford Convertible" via fucking mail order and value the car at $5,000. Cobra builders in California would get their Georgia license plates in the mail, put them on their 427 side oiler replicas and head to the DMV. They would swap the Georgia plates for California plates and the car would be titled as a 1964 Ford. That also exempted it from all California smog checks. The California Attorney General put an end to it.
@@larrysmith6797 I didn't think an Attorney General could make law, but could only enforce them. Oh well, California seems to beat to a different drum.
I am guessing you would have to modify the chassis design to fit. They tend to be a bit narrow, and you may run into clearance issues with the total engine width. Even length could surprise you, given that you can slide the inline engines between the foot boxes. Cooling may also be harder, but anything is possible if you throw enough thought & money at it.
A well built Locost which can be under 1600lb (including fluids and a driver) with a ~200bhp engine is going to smoke say a 2024 Mustang GT. However you need balls of steel. The first one I drove in the early 2000s was based off a Sierra 2 litre carb Pinto so about 100 horsepower. It was built by 18 year old students and it was terrifying, just the knowledge of that fact alone before you drove it was pant soiling. The other one I drove had a bit of attention paid to chassis weight minimisation and the Zetec ST170 engine (I think it is called the SVT Focus in the U.S) which is not a light engine but pretty tough so took bolt ons and tuning to around 200bhp. Ended up about 300bhp per tonne, which is plenty let me tell you when your ass is on the floor, it's damp, you have no ABS and nobody can see you in mild traffic....
If you don't think it's possible i give you the Arial Atom. How do you think they got the idea? Their choice of honda motors was brilliant because on the track they're monsters! If you can drive one, do it. Or just build your own. I saw one with a GSXR 1300 (BUSA) and one with a GSXR 1000. The cats are so light that motors with trans got top ends north of 185 but the 0-100 was 3.5 so you can destroy most on the track just getting up to speed.
I would love to do this some day. I live close to a circit race track too. I once saw a Lotus 7 in Pennsylvania. I'm sure James May would approve. Thank you.
I wish it was feasible to build one of these where i live. Self made cars are taxed ludicrously high and making it super expensive to get one registered.
Dude i love your videos! I watch all your videos. You're doing great job. Thumbs up for you🙂👍🏻 keep making these videos and may you've million of subscribers. Stay blessed.
It would be great though just to make the chassis, that would be an achievement. I have done quite a bit of diy mig welding on thin stuff so I reckon I could cope with thicker box section tubing.
Ford 2.5l N.A. engines from fusion etc are compatible with Mazda gear box and more powerful throughout the band than Mazda 2.0. Also can be had at junk yards for $300.
![[TH] 2024 PMGC League | Survival Stage วันที่ 1 | PUBG MOBILE Global Championship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FVFT-PFwU80/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm a welder and would definitely buy the prebuilt chassis. Simply for the time and frustration of the set-up. A few grand is cheaper than a few weeks of my time and labor.
It is not hard at all to build the chassis. I have never welded before. I'm a machinist. I have picked up a Harbor Freight style mini mill and cut to final size all the tubes on it, specially the angles with a 3" cheap vise with an angle base. Used a $200 Vevor band saw with a miter base. Everything fits perfectly, no gaps.
@@19mati67 you're not quite grasping at what i was trying to say. My time is more expensive than the cost of that frame already put together. See I need, Time to clean area for project, Time to gather materials, Time to study plans, Time to build any jigs. There's 3 days minimum and i haven't even started welding....
Мне пришлось делать реплику поскольку у нас не делают такие автомобили в Казахстане.😢😅
Check out the quality welds on a factory five car and ask yourself how fast should I go ?
Haha, not really the spirit of locost mate. The hole point is that you have time and not a lot of money. You might as well just buy a normal car.
Nice job! I'm a Locost builder (SN95 base Mustang donor, modified Haynes Roadster chassis) and I think you've done an excellent job of characterizing the movement and what motivates we folk participating in it.
Lonnie from the forum? It's Tibor from the forum as well.
@@19mati67 Hi Tibor. Yes, it's the same fellow. Cheers.
@lonnies3960 what's this forum yall speak of? I'm intrigued. And I have a 98 mustang and 5.3 so I'm already part of the way there I guess.
@@aaadamt964 Locostusa
Hey Lonnie! Looks like this is a good spot for seeing forum members 😂
My dad had a lotus 7 when i was a kid, he sold it to buy and restore a morgan 3 wheeler. He purchased the talked about book when i was in high school and i still have it somewhere. He has since passed. Makes me happy to see there are still people out there that enjoy the same kind of crazy as he.
Built mine from the book. Took me 8 years!. Not everyone can say they built a car from scratch.
lol did you cast the engine as well?
Fellow builder here. Using a Chevy 4.3L V6 donor, I'm slowly working on getting my car cobbled together. Been wanting to build one for over a decade and finally pulled the trigger during COVID. It is AWESOME seeing these cars getting some love. Thanks for the awesome vid.
Mate... I think you're using the wrong engine. I built a locost years ago powered by a 2l Nissan turbo. It was way more power then the car needed, esp for a street car. A small lighter engine that you get to rev will make for more enjoyable car. They're really all about handling and not power.
@@andrewr7001 I didn't think there was a 'wrong engine' when you're building a car yourself. It isn't necessarily the 'best' engine, but I had a donor and the engine ran strong. The ethos of these cars is to keep things light which translates to fast, but I don't think this engine will detract from the level of fun I'm expecting.
I'm building one as well, Duratec 2.5($348 LKQ=49k miles 2016 Ford Fusion), MX-5 NC 6 speed($550 wrecking yard) and NC LSD($329 Ebay got lucky). Complete rear end from the same car. McSorley442E chassis.
What are you doing to adapt the Duratec to the NC 6 speed?
@@cdjhyoung Nothing, it bolts up perfectly. MX5 and Duratec engine blocks are the same. Most of both engines are the same.
@@19mati67 that's really cool! Was going to ask why you were using the 2.5 duratec not the 3.0 but if it matches the NC gearbox that's amazing
I'm mid build on a 3.0 AJ30 mk2 mx5 at the moment and heard all over online those gearboxes don't quite line up to the 2.5 correctly!
I'm hoping to get 275-300 out of my 3.0 though and the adaptor plate etc. really wasn't that much hassle so i'm really glad i went with the 3.0
was £350 with all the ancileries, loom etc. a complete steal!
@@MsArchitectschannelI wasn't even aware of the Jag/Mondeo= Fusion in US, engine would work. With this 2.5 and ITBS, danst performance engineering in stock form, gets around 200hp. I'm not looking for high performance machine, it will be street driven.
@@19mati67the 2.5 is a 4 pot still, not a V6 like jags/Mondeo. We just didn't get it in the UK
A fan of the Lotus 7 since I first saw one in 1963. My solution in 1985 while living in Germany was the Donkervoort S8. A completely finished automobile using updated 2 liter Ford engine & other components. Donkervoort has since moved more upscale using Audi engines & running gear.
I started my build based on the Chris Gibbs book (Ford Sierra donor) back in 2019. Unknowingly it becase my covid project and kept me busy in my spare time untill 2023 when I got it registered. I'm using a Volvo five cylinder engine and gearbox but otherwise the chassis is by the book. I dont really care for the glass fibre body so I made my own out of aluminium and because of that choice and I had to build my own english wheel aswell. Driving a car you built yourself is just such a special rewarding feeling but it does makes me hate the six months of winter even more.
I bought the book in the late 90's and since we don't have rear wheel drive Escorts in the U.S. I started looking for a Cortina or Pinto donor car. I recall that some people early on were successfully using the Chevy S-10 drivetrain. While researching everything Lotus 7 I decided to do what Colin Chapman did...use cheap available parts. I discovered the same parts he used in the early series were still available so I bought a pair of Ford 1.6 Kent Crossflow motors with 4-speeds attached for $100 ea., a Type-9 5-speed out of an XR4-ti, two Cortina GT rear axles, a GT intake and downdraft carb, and 2 spitfire front suspensions with all the useful bits still attached. I have rebuild kits for the carb, trans, brakes, front uprights, and some motor rebuild parts. No, the car never got built but it was a fun research project while it lasted.
if looking to go ford, you can always look at the ford contour which was a rwd. they were only made for a limited number of years but there was also a mercury version. if you want to go high performance it may be worth trying to get your hands on the Contour SVT parts.
I recommend the Discovery Channels program "A Racing Car is born" with Mark Evans. I got the double VHS of that show and watched it probably 30 times as a teenager. Still kept the VHS and VCR...
Built book chassis Locost for road use nearly 20 years ago, been modifying it ever since, now has a full cage and Ford ST170 engine and love every minute of it.
My build started with a Haynes chassis and deviated from that to accommodate a Ford 8.8 IRS setup. Mine is powered by a BMW 1.8L engine and transmission (M42). It was great fun to build and my kids love riding in it. Gas stops take forever because everyone asks about it and often want pictures with it. :)
Built mine (between 2002 - 2006) from scratch (chassis +4" wider and IRS rather than live axle), made all bodywork (both ally and fibregalss) and built twin turbo Rover V8 to go in it (fabricating exhaust manifolds for the turbos and used a pair of conjoined Renault 5 GT turbo intercoolers.
Twin turbo v8 would've been absolutely nuts
My car features in this 3 times. I race in the locost series for 750mc . We run around 85-89 bhp from a xflow 1300. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get into motorsport. Maximum fun minimum cost
Could you detail a bit costs and budget that is needed please ?
@kaspeer sure, to buy a competitive car you are looking at £7000 upto £12000. Entry is £350 per weekend with additional £280 for test day on the Friday * optional. Tyres £380 per set that lasts for around half a season Inc testing on them. Fuel is around 25l per weekend.
@@TrackPace Well this is getting expensive really fast, do you advise going directly in the Catheram Academy with this kind of costs ? You have to buy the car but if I'm not mistaken everything else is assumed by Catheram like tires and stuff ?
@kaspeer I think the caterham ac isn't a bad shout. I believe it's around £40,000 (Inc the car) a season with them. Tyres are definitely more expensive with the caterham and also the parts if you was to bang one. Once you've spent £8000 on buying the locost you budget will be around £8,000 a season Inc tyres, traveling, entries, fuel and damages etc
@@TrackPace well, this is Motorsport so there's no perfect solution but what you're depicting here with the low-cost versio sounds interesting. Any trusted dealer or website to buy this kind of car ? Appreciate your honesty and your advices 🙏🏼
Hey, surprise to randomly see myself in a video! For reference the car at 0:46 costed me somewhere between 15-20k to build (total cost of all tools, waste, everything) based on the most premium parts that were feasible. The immature version of myself (the one that started the car 10 years ago) wanted a v8 in a book frame, and it ended up being extremely impractical although it drove at normal speeds just fine. Extremely loud, extremely powerful (to the point of not being able to put the power down to the road easily), and required glasses to drive due to rocks.
stunning build!
I built a Miata based Exocet which is based on a British kit car similar to a front engine Ariel Atom. I think it is much safer than 7 builds even if it is a little heavier. It uses all Miata parts and is easy to build with zero welding needed. Mine had ABS brakes and was a joy on track and off.
I hadn't heard of that one before. Looks awesome! About how would you say it ended up costing overall?
It’s based off the MEV Exocet and is bigger than most 7s, maybe a little shorter. Edit - you said safer not smaller.
Nice!! I'm always kicking around the idea of an Exocet Offroad build-- glad to hear it worked out for you!
Miata's are carrying better values than Exocets nowadays. It was a cool concept at the time though.
Hey, I am, about to purchase a donor car after Christmas. Mind if I pick your brain some?
Best line ever. "The only limit is how tight you can grip the steering wheel."
Send it or Bend it!
Having owned a 964 for some years and driven a few Caterhams at speed, I can say the open wheeled concept is very exciting but probably not going to score many points with the missus. Forget distance touring (and golf sticks)!
I would love to build one of these for myself (and my son) one day. It will be some time before he can afford a Porsche but being driving fanatics and reasonably handy builders, this would be a wonderful project for us. Thank you for the story and cheers from (over-regulated) Australia - Dave
I have one in South Australia mate. Can be done! Just involve an automotive engineer from the start of the build if you want to register it.
@@HSVR383SC Well done and thanks for the good advice. Not sure if NSW regulations are tougher than SA, but it's certainly something I've been considering for a while. How long did the build take? More importantly, did you have to sell the concept to the missus, and if so - how did you do that? Engineering will be a breeze compared to that challenge in my case I suspect! Cheers - Dave
A lot of the video was flipped left to right, these are nearly entirely British right hand drive cars. The 1970s Lotus 7 weighed well under 600kG, so with the often used 1600 Ford engine with the tuning parts of the time they had a better power to weight than a 1970 Corvette that weighed 3 times as much. I have been out in a genuine Lotus 7 as well as some clones, so much fun, fantastic dynamics. Not great for top speed due to gearing and aerodynamics, modern builds tend to have more modern drive trains. A stock MX5/Miata engine transplanted into a car of half the weight will fly along and be reliable. Anyone who says they are comfortable on long journeys is lying though.
Literally anyone can learn to weld. Seriously a skill worth learning, and not nearly as expensive as a lot of people think it is. If you're reading this and have ever considered it, you owe it to yourself to learn.
...and anyone can drive a car. Biut like a Hamilton or Colin? Nope.... I'd want to have a professional frame under my bottom in such a car!
@@stefanheinz2524The professional part is designing it. A halfway decent welder should be able to get good penetration and strong welds. Do some destructive testing on samples first. Or buy a frame and trust someone else's halfway decent welds. . . 🤷🏻♂️
I've got Ron Champion's Locost construction book, a birthday gift from my brother.
It's surprisingly intricate and explanatory, a truly brilliant book.
I'll build one, one day...with my own round-section tubular steel chassis and skeletonised like an Ariel to show it off.
I built one when the book came out in 97. Chopped up a 1.3 Escort Mot failure that I bough for £50.
Still got it use it on dry days great fun!!
legend!
That book by Ron Champion was my introduction to cars. Long before I ever owned one, the book caught my eye at a local library. My first read through I didn't understand enough to be able to see a build through but it certainly fascinated me and drove me to try to understand the world around me as much as possible. Those lessons follow me today.
I remember getting the book from the libray for doing the Locost 2 seater Caterham type thing and looking into the cost of the box section for making the chassis. That was a long time back when the donor car, mk2 Escort was cheap as chips at that time.
Shoutout to Sylva Autokits - definately filling the middle ground between locost and more complete kits like Caterham or Westfield. You could buy nothing more than a chassis and suspension if you wanted - or a complete knock down kit. I personally owned two of their cars (one which I built) and they were just as fun as they look.
I've had 4 of this style of kit car; 2 built by me from scratch including a chassis Ron Champion welded up for me with a few mods. My advice if you want to keep the cost down is a) fit an engine that's already high powered as tuning costs too much b) buy one from someone else who's lost their shirt on it as they cost far more to build than you might imagine. Do I regret it? no but the fun they gave me was actually quite expensive overall.
And don't get too hung up power. A cheep engine with the right feel will result in a nice car.
I've helped build 3 of them. 1 with a rotary, another a BMW 1.8, and 1 with a 1.8 VW. They are a blast to drive. I've seen guys build them as fast as a year and some guys take 5 years.
Bought a LOCOST cause my soul NEEDED it , still enjoying it .
Just finishing one u for a customer now, the build started over thirty years ago!
Should be loads of fun for them :)
Love you make a couple builds today, one LS and one motorcycle just for the gas mileage. The LS for the track and the classic motorcycle powered car for gas mileage.
My favorite car that I only had for two months 😔 was a 76' super beetle with an 84' rx7 rotary in the back. Back bumper had a sewer pipe welded below it. Popped wheelies and ground the pipe on the e-way up to 70 going into 4th. Couldn't see 💩 scary as hell.
Sold it back to the guy because I'm dumb.
Not so dumb. You're alive today, and getting rid of that car was a huge contributor to that fact.
The Caterham 620 is my dream car. Ever since I watched the EX-Driver anime, I've been in love.
I have one ! Lot's of fun - easy to maintain.
Another excellent vid sir! Well covered and an interesting topic I have loosely followed for years- Mother Earth News used to feature a bit from the Lo-cost culture.
Fairly sure Westfield were making "sevens" long before Locost was a thing... certainly before the Ron book was published!
visited their sales centre in the early 90s with a friend!
1:35 My mate had that book at uni in 2001. He was aware of the optimistic build price and welding skill assumptions. Still an informative book though.
I marshalled at 750 Club meetings from the first season Locosts were on the race card until a few years later. The early years were chaos, with several red flags each practice and race. Gradually the cars and drivers improved into a very good championship.
"anything with four wheels and a turn signal....", Love It!
The limiting factor of this kind of build is simply the space, tools, fabrication, and knowledge. Even with prewelded frames, theres still a lot of customization required.
I wanted to do something similar, but lacking most of the above requirements and figuring id make mistakes that cost me more money, ive just decided to save money and go fast on readily available motorcycles instead. Bikes are easier and faster and you can still do a locost bike build for a fraction of the money if your able.
the mention of Tiger brings me huge nostalgia, as I used to live near a Tiger 'dealership' (I'm not exactly sure what purpose it served but it was there).
I built mine in AZ in 2004. It cost about $8k, but I used a zetec crate motor, pro rebuilt t5, some actual Caterham bits, a pro built frame, an Isuzu Impulse by Lotus limited-slip rear axle. There were other pricey bits from Wilwood, Painless, OZ, and Autometer. It was titled and licensed as a 1964 Lotus Seven because AZ allowed, at the time, for titling by appearance - not sure what they do now. Anyway, that made it exempt from emissions. It was the most fun I've ever had; both building and driving, and it was the result of a cosmic convergence of timing, money, parts availability, and clean living. Sadly, I lost it due to a divorce and subsequent bankruptcy, but there's a lucky someone out there who owns it. I miss it and would not have done anything different, except for letting it be a victim of the divorce.
I bet a Ford NA 3.7 engine would be a blast in one of these things.
It would honestly be super fun to build one of these, just for the sake of a summer car to cruise around in at the least... I might just do that! This looks super cool, and rather affordable. There is someone in my current town that cruises around in some buggy like thing. This would be something like that to me. Would be a super fun challenge to put together too. Thanks for the video!
For a brief period, years ago, Ron Champion sold a Lotus Eleven body that could be used w/ one of his Locost chassis.
It will cost more but the final prodigy of this kind of car is the ariel atom. It blows away every supercar on the nurburgring.
The McSorrell chassis design was less about gain room for more engine than it is about gaining more room for larger North American Drivers. Those two extra inches are in the hip room and the leg room.
I have a Czech Kaipan 57 Roadster fitted with the VAG 1.8 20V turbo engine and it is brilliant. Just the pure basic experience is the reward with zero aids, very lightweight and very quick!
this makes me wanna do a Locost build, and bring it on track in our area, since parking in public area's would guarantee scratches from people sitting on it.
I would love to build something like this but with a Volvo T5 engine. that inline 5 screaming around a track would be an eargasmic experience.
I built mine with the Volvo 2,5 NA five, its awsome even at 170 hp.
I've had one of these books for more than 20 years!
These days chopping up and mutilating a mk2 escort is a mortal sin.
We built our street legal Miata/McSorley for about $7k over five years. It was a drivable chassis after the first year of 250-ish work hours. Welding is a skill to learn like any other and MIGing mild steel tube is not aerospace-level tech.
The biggest hurdle these days might be finding a cheap small donor car that is RWD. Our parts Miata was in rough shape and $600 - a steal even then. There have been some successful builds that adapt a motorcycle or FWD engine into a RWD mid-engine beast ala Formula SAE. I always thought that would be fun.
Hey I’m in this video! Can’t wait until I can start building another one.
Twenty-odd years ago, I had this same bug and lamented between doing a space frame or snagging a pre-welded chassis from Champion themselves, or even shoehorning something wild into a manx-buggy frame and seeing what craziness I could invoke with a carbon body. At the time, Champion also had a 'low drag' body option to mimic a Eleven racer body that looked dynamite and wasn't much more cost-wise than doing my own.
Then I got married and scrapped the whole idea, but still have the itch. Yep, one day an engine is going to fall into my lap and come what may!
200 mph?! I really want to meet the guy crazy enough to build one of these capable of 200 and see him actually take it up to that speed.
Just saw a Super 7 drive by my Wawa last night on rt202. Talk about a rare car to see in traffic
if you keep up these quality videos your channel will blow this year guarantee
Great video! Makes me want to go out and get started. Especially the comment, its not about safety its about raw experience of driving it.
The lack of abs and all the bells and whistles is what really makes it for me.
My uncle is an ambulance driver. He says he loves cars like these, and stuff like Caterhams. When he goes to an accident site that involves one of these they just have the firedepartment weld on a roof and put the whole thing in the ground as a convenient casket.
Similar low cost cars with exo-tube frames are safer, but more expensive. Your roll cage is on the outside of body panels and offers great crash protection. Doing it yourself is great way to save money and learn about fabrication.
I just know someone somewhere has put a built small block chevy engine in there. God help that brave guy.
I'm in the process right now. Warmed over '87 Corvette engine, around 325 hp. Was going to use the B/W T10 I have, but the shifter and linkage are much too intrusive to make for a fun ride. Accepted the fact that I will need to drop some coin on a Tremec TKX and keep moving forward. Suspension is all C4 Corvette. And for those bitching about "Low Cost" and how they really aren't, what does a new Challenger, Mustang GT or Camaro cost? $60k+? All told I figure I'll have about $15k in the car.
The guy who does my tuning has an Exocet with an LS3 in it with Nitrous. The thing is an absolutely insane little street legal go-kart.
@@ericdolan2130 its low cost compared to the things it whips past anyways.
Good video. In the same vein of budget building, you should do one on the Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge. It's in Florida too.
6:50 Mentioning Florida and the "land of the free" in the same breath made me literally laugh out loud. LOL
Why? You can get away with damn near anything in Fla. The Nanny State will NOT save you from yourself; just as it should be.
That profile pic checks itself ☠️
@@matiasfpm It's sad how much fear controls your life.
@@therealgaragegirls Pretty sure anyone considering building a kit roadster is not naturally a very fearful person.
We had a few around here, with a great vareity of engines, one builder built around a stock SAAB Turbo engine, but at the same time he had built multiple 500+hp SAAB engines.... I imagine the stock engine was used for mockup and inspection only....
What a great little film - well done. (Neil)
Oh and we ship to the USA 🇺🇸
Every time I think about building one of these I have a close look at what I want out of one and realize that I’d be better off buying an NA Miata. That doesn’t take away from these amazing backyard engineering go-fast machines, more that my personal wants have changed over the years because I can’t imagine going on an eight hour long mountain run without having the option of shade and air conditioning in the middle of the day when the sun is at it’s most intense.
There's no cheap way to go about this. Even more difficult is finding a donor for cheap.
Want an Audi 2.0 tsfi with ECU? Have a Quattro box too.
Nothing is cheap since the 2000s, but some things are lower price than anothers m8s.
@@matiasfpm I have a 2.0 BUL special edition I'm breaking. I could deliver engine box and rear assembly if needed for right price. It would be crazy in a frame car.
You're best bet is to go to a salvage auction and get a car that was rear ended. If you do some research you can make a list of cars to look for, also talking to your local junk yards would help you out as well.
I'm building a K24 locost right now. This video got you a sub. I'm documenting it all on here @hicostlocost.
Having owned crotch rockets as teenager (rd350lc, cbr600 etc) and now being older and wiser I see the Seven build as as close as I dare to be to ride a sports bike again...so in a sense it is safer
Give up, i'm 62 now and still ride a Busa with moto x bars on it for 80mph wheelies, have a 500hp '68 roadrunner I bought when I was 22..act young 🤣... I did a track day at Blyton and one of these things was there with a turbo Busa engine in it and loads of carbon fibre...lowcost was prob £30+K LOL.
Thinking of this for a Ford 2.3 turbo from an 87 Turbo coupe or a 5L from fox mustang. Can’t decide which yet.
Wooooo Florida!!!!
I saw on the Vinwiki channel that if you get your custom homebuilt car registered in 1 state all remaining states will recognize it should you end up moving.
True but California revoked hundreds of Cobra replica registrations from Georgia years ago. It was super easy to register your $150K Kirkham Cobra replica as a "1964 Ford Convertible" via fucking mail order and value the car at $5,000.
Cobra builders in California would get their Georgia license plates in the mail, put them on
their 427 side oiler replicas and head to the DMV. They would swap the Georgia plates for California plates and the car would be titled as a 1964 Ford. That also exempted it from all California smog checks. The California Attorney General put an end to it.
@@larrysmith6797 I didn't think an Attorney General could make law, but could only enforce them. Oh well, California seems to beat to a different drum.
I wonder if a 3.0 flat 6 would fit in there. Having an air cooled version of this would be wild.
I am guessing you would have to modify the chassis design to fit. They tend to be a bit narrow, and you may run into clearance issues with the total engine width. Even length could surprise you, given that you can slide the inline engines between the foot boxes. Cooling may also be harder, but anything is possible if you throw enough thought & money at it.
@MidgetRacer8192 Yes, I was thinking that just maybe... if you turned it sideways, and put a big enough hole in the front.
Every time I see locost pop up my mind keeps thinking Locust
A well built Locost which can be under 1600lb (including fluids and a driver) with a ~200bhp engine is going to smoke say a 2024 Mustang GT. However you need balls of steel. The first one I drove in the early 2000s was based off a Sierra 2 litre carb Pinto so about 100 horsepower. It was built by 18 year old students and it was terrifying, just the knowledge of that fact alone before you drove it was pant soiling. The other one I drove had a bit of attention paid to chassis weight minimisation and the Zetec ST170 engine (I think it is called the SVT Focus in the U.S) which is not a light engine but pretty tough so took bolt ons and tuning to around 200bhp. Ended up about 300bhp per tonne, which is plenty let me tell you when your ass is on the floor, it's damp, you have no ABS and nobody can see you in mild traffic....
1:42 I think people today forget what junkyards were like in the era when this book was published.
If you don't think it's possible i give you the Arial Atom. How do you think they got the idea? Their choice of honda motors was brilliant because on the track they're monsters! If you can drive one, do it. Or just build your own. I saw one with a GSXR 1300 (BUSA) and one with a GSXR 1000. The cats are so light that motors with trans got top ends north of 185 but the 0-100 was 3.5 so you can destroy most on the track just getting up to speed.
LOW COST + LOTUS + LOCOS.
"Cater Ham" 🤣 I'm dying.
Nice video, One question: why the need to mirror the clip of Japan at 1'20"?
I would love to do this some day. I live close to a circit race track too. I once saw a Lotus 7 in Pennsylvania. I'm sure James May would approve. Thank you.
Look up chaos bros drag race Santa pod , my friend built that in his granny shed with his dad 😅
I hope you understand that with crash derbies already existing this is the final piece necessary before we start building mech suits
Junkyard escort is a great name for a band lol.
Still safer then a moter cycle especially with a 5 pint harness and they look beautiful
Daaaaaamn. Just had to take a shot at Lordstown.
But, Lordstown kind of deserved that.
Whelp, there goes my kids birthday money, I am building one of these now!
I wish it was feasible to build one of these where i live. Self made cars are taxed ludicrously high and making it super expensive to get one registered.
Dude i love your videos! I watch all your videos. You're doing great job. Thumbs up for you🙂👍🏻 keep making these videos and may you've million of subscribers. Stay blessed.
Funny......I still have a tube of the drawings bought decades ago.....
Lotus 7, yeah that was it.
Are the chasis' not caterhams?
Super 7s are insane rides
¡Que locos(T)!
i got a 13 VW tiguan with the 2.0 TSI, and i really wanna drop that motor into one of these
Looks fun!
Anyone have any info on the cover car (the thumb nail). That nose looks awesome. Would love to know more
Co sign
In Florida turn signals are not required, but brake lights are.
It would be great though just to make the chassis, that would be an achievement. I have done quite a bit of diy mig welding on thin stuff so I reckon I could cope with thicker box section tubing.
Ford 2.5l N.A. engines from fusion etc are compatible with Mazda gear box and more powerful throughout the band than Mazda 2.0. Also can be had at junk yards for $300.