Project Domes Locost Kit car-Now Sold :(

[3VOM]

I suspect the handling has been "optimised" for drifting. It's set up pretty stiff but it's all adjustable.

Hasn't something been cut and welded back in those suspension pictures?

[Dave_Q]

Hasn't something been cut and welded back in those suspension pictures?

Looks like the welded bit is a wheelarch mount to me so nothing critical.

 

But remember almost all of these have been migged together by a keen amateur so i wouldn't be mega surprised to see something like that on a suspension arm.

[dome]

Yeah I spotted that too and worried for a minute. It'll be getting a thorough going over in the next month or two.

 

Thought about taking it to work today. Thought against it.

 

 

 

[cort16]

Does it have any kind of heater? Could you fit a wood burning stove in the passenger seat?

[Tickman]

I have been in a car with one of these fitted:

 

http://www.t7design.co.uk/index.php/heating/heaters/3-5kw-lightweight-heater-side-vents-12v.html

 

It was rather toasty and not too expensive.

 

Edit:

 

This is cheaper but very similar:

 

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/cockpit-ventilation/demon-tweeks-lightweight-heater

[dome]

Does it have any kind of heater? Could you fit a wood burning stove in the passenger seat?

I actually have a wood burning stove in the garage I need to sell...

[dome]

I have been in a car with one of these fitted:

 

http://www.t7design.co.uk/index.php/heating/heaters/3-5kw-lightweight-heater-side-vents-12v.html

 

It was rather toasty and not too expensive.

 

Edit:

 

This is cheaper but very similar:

 

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/cockpit-ventilation/demon-tweeks-lightweight-heater

It doesn't have a heater- I like the idea of those compact ones though, I'll look into that.

[Richard]

I have been in a car with one of these fitted:

 

http://www.t7design.co.uk/index.php/heating/heaters/3-5kw-lightweight-heater-side-vents-12v.html

 

It was rather toasty and not too expensive.

 

Edit:

 

This is cheaper but very similar:

 

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/cockpit-ventilation/demon-tweeks-lightweight-heater

 

 

Even cheaper http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8651293.htm

It's a solution I've used in the past, not so good on the way home though.

[Pete-M]

I like that.

[dome]

How can such a small car have SO MANY WIRES! Comedy electrics abound...

 

Also:previous owner should stick to his day job. Everything he touched needs touched again. Trying to get working brake lights so I can drive the thing!

[dome]

Well progress has been slow but steady and a trend has been set of undoing much of the previous owners bodgery. Further investigation seems to confirm initial suspicions-built well with a Zetec originally. Had the redtop thrown in with some rather haphazard bodgery-I shall find someone more knowledgable of Vauxhalls than me to have a prod around it. Finally the last boy made an arse of the lights and brakes and fuck knows what else..

 

I can see why garbaldys mate hated it-the brake bias is set massively to the rear so it locks the back brakes under heavy load-slightly disturbing to say the least. This isn't helped by leaky front brake hoses which I've discovered. Can anyone help identify these calipers?

 

Old

 

 

New

 

 

 

The sticker has qm 39538 on it. Google gives me nothing, although I'm told it may be Mk2 Escort?

 

The pedal box seems like it should be bias adjustable but it doesn't have a spherical bearing in the middle which it should-I'm looking into this and will strip it down to check.

 

 

In retrospect this helps explain why the brakelights weren't working-the hydraulic pressure switch is plumbed into the front brakes and they're not getting enough pressure to work the switch. Through a scrappy mission I got some switches/brackets and made up an electric switch on the pedal box. Not pretty but it works-you can just see it in this picture.

 

 

In other news, fuck me it's quick! The throttle cable wasn't set up to give full throttle but it is now. Replaced the coolant sensor and it starts better from cold, still need to go through the rest of the sensors and particularly the throttle pot as I'm not convinced it's working correct-coming off idle it gives a a cough and nearly dies. The exhaust is loud and it pops and crackles like a good un with the occasional flame on the overrun for good measure. Things like this make all the hard work worthwhile...

[fordperv]

The calipers look like m16 as fitted to cortina, capri, escort

[Anglevan]

The joys of kit cars. I have a mini based kit car and the build is terrible. I've ended up stripping it right back to the frame and restarted the rebuild including a brand new loom from autosparkes. I suppose some would say that's the fun ! Will keep an eye on how you get on.

[billyboy406v6]

Yeah I spotted that too and worried for a minute. It'll be getting a thorough going over in the next month or two.

 

Thought about taking it to work today. Thought against it.

 

2016-02-17 08.13.28.jpg

Is that the cockpit cover ?

[dome]

Is that the cockpit cover ?

 

 

It was, I now have one of these though which works well

 

[mat_the_cat]

The calipers look like m16 as fitted to cortina, capri, escort

 

Not forgetting early Stellars! I'd agree with M16 too.

[fordperv]

Can't believe I left the transvestite cortina's out

[oldcars]

Smart wee thing. Finally something that's colder than my Reliant in winter.

[Craig the Princess]

I really like these Lotus 7 based things.

 

Don't have the skills to make one and can't afford a built one so I'll watch your experiences at home, in the warm. Good luck with it.

[dome]

Some progress has been made-2 steps forward 1 step back. Ordered a set of braided Mk2  Escort brake lines which fitted the unions perfectly but... they're too short. The guy I got them from does custom made ones so I'll send them back with one of mine and get the correct ones made. I didn't want to drive it anyway

 

Also got a proper brake balance bar coming for it so I can adjust the bias front to rear. The pedal set up is perfect for this but it's just missing the spherical bearing inside the pedal to allow for this. I might as well go the whole hog and remove the hydraulic handbrake plumbing at the same time, it should just be teed into the rear brake lines. 

[rrsix]

Mind the R888s in the wet I've been advised they are fairly lethal by far more skilled pilots than me. I bought (while crying at the price) CR500s from a place in Brum. Do you know if you've got a slippery diff?  

 

Will follow with interest to see where you take it.  After having been in and around them for over a decade I finally cracked last year kicked the wedge out of bed and bought this

 

 

K series powered of course for extra shite points

 

 

 

 

[dome]

Mind the R888s in the wet I've been advised they are fairly lethal by far more skilled pilots than me.

 

 

Noted, thanks! Yours looks well but what's that glass thing in front of the driver? That'll never catch on...

[cort16]

Are you driving it with a crash helmet on do you don't get hit in the face with a blue bottle at 100mph?

Pity about the bodges, one thing you want on this is good brakes!

[michael1703]

Do you know what the master cylinder(s) bore size is?

 

The ratio could be a bit out, that type of master cylinder is fairly common, they are in imperial, might say 0.7 or 0.75 etc.

 

The lack of brake pedal rubber is an mot fail too

 

Get the clear sheathing for your lines if your guy does them, stops chafing and keeps the weather out of the braid

[rrsix]

Noted, thanks! Yours looks well but what's that glass thing in front of the driver? That'll never catch on...

 

Heated no less as well! It's slightly more civilised than an aeroscreen especially for the 2k+ worth of touring I'm already booked on this year. Although I do want one..

 

Are you planning to fettle the suspension more than just the current adjustment? Oh and a top tip is sailing/yachting gear for current weather conditions cheaper than "motorsport" stuff but water and windproof. 

[fordperv]

I'd love to see a picture of him driving this dressed as a pirate

[xtriple]

My Dutton (dressed up to look like a Caterham/Lotus 7 - plenty of mates in the boat world who could make ANYTHING in fibreglass... and weld new blades on props when you hit rocks coming out of the harbour!) with a Rover V8  was an absolute riot to drive - scary as all hell though if the temp dropped a bit as it just didn't grip at all. And if the temp went up tooooooo far, the bastard gripped okay but cut out in traffic!

[dome]

Do you know what the master cylinder(s) bore size is?

 

The ratio could be a bit out, that type of master cylinder is fairly common, they are in imperial, might say 0.7 or 0.75 etc.

 

The lack of brake pedal rubber is an mot fail too

 

Get the clear sheathing for your lines if your guy does them, stops chafing and keeps the weather out of the braid

I didn't take a note of the bore sizes-priority is fix the leak, fit a balance bar and then try it out-I can get my friendly local garage to stick it on their brake tester too. Noted re the clear sheathing and pedal rubber. Cloting wise I'm a Scottish cyclist so have plenty of warm stuff....

 

Are you driving it with a crash helmet on do you don't get hit in the face with a blue bottle at 100mph?

Pity about the bodges, one thing you want on this is good brakes!

 

I have an MTB full face helmet here for that very purpose, I haven't tried it out yet though but I will do. If I'm going to look like a fud in a noisy wee sportscar I might as well do it properly...

 

Heated no less as well! It's slightly more civilised than an aeroscreen especially for the 2k+ worth of touring I'm already booked on this year. Although I do want one..

 

Are you planning to fettle the suspension more than just the current adjustment? Oh and a top tip is sailing/yachting gear for current weather conditions cheaper than "motorsport" stuff but water and windproof.

I'll drive it for a bit and see how it feels once I get the brakes sorted-I live about 5 miles from Knockhill too so it'd be rude not to get it on there at some point.

[Fraz]

If I'm going to look like a fud in a noisy wee sprtscar I might as well do it properly...

 

Think you have that nailed already dome....

 

 

[dome]

Apologies for the lack of updates on this wee thing, progress has been made though.

 

The braided hoses which were too short were sent back along with one of my old ones to copy, however due to Parcelforce being fucking useless it took them a week to deliver which was a pain in the ass. As it was off the road anyway I thought I might as well crack on with other things.

 

A clearout of my garage was started and with a bit of tetris like skills this was acheived...

 

 

Being able to work indoors on a car is a revelation to me. Full of enthusiasm I turned my intention to the interior. This is how it was as collected.

 

 

The dash was pretty tired looking and neither the speedo nor revcounter worked. Also the engine ECU was just sitting on top of the transmission tunnel.

 

Removing the dash gave me this lovely view...

 

 

Meanwhile I had decided on what to use in place of the non functioning Smiths gauges. A new set of gauges was well over £200 and on these type of cars with limited dash space you end up with gauges all over the place. Digital Speedo/rev counter units similar to what a motorbike has are pretty popular, much tidier and canbe cheaper than a set of gauges. Oh and they look fricking awesome. One of these was duly purchased...

 

 

More to follow...