Roll bars

One of the things to be sorted is the roll bar. Due to the rear aspect of the car, there is no bracing available like on the original locost. It could be fabricated, but then I'd lose boot space, possibly part of the bodywork, and overall I'm not convinced the strength would be there. I also can't extend forwards into the seating area, because I want to keep it open. 

This leaves me with a piece of metal that is bolted in place with a handful of bolts, and I'm not convinced it would work. The leverage alone on the car would tear the bar off or even destroy the mounting plates, even thinking about it makes me cringe!

However I think I can bring extension bars down between the bodywork and the chassis. This roll bar from MK shows the sort of thing that could be possible;

The highlighted section looks like it would drop down from the rear overhead bar, it could then be mounted directly to the bottom of the chassis. As long as it mounted reasonably high enough it could be both decorative and functional, without losing much/any cabin space. I suspect I'll need to remove the parts of the bodywork that sweep down towards the body, but to be honest they don't fit very well, it's going to take a lot of work to get them in the right place, and I was 80% sure I'd just remove them anyway! 

The next steps for this particular job, in parallel to the seat trimming and the outriggers welding and gluing, will be to fashion an example out of drainpipe. It's an old trick used to route exhausts but it should work to show this as well. The CDS used for roll cages is 44.45mm OD, whereas waste pipe is 40mm OD. As long as I maintain a 2mm gap where required I should be able to replicate a roll bar. So I need a couple lengths of pipe and a roll of gaffer tape!

Just as a quick note, the fixings needed to attach the tubes together are known as saddle clamps. Here is an example; https://www.tomcatwebshop.co.uk/set-of-six-45mm175-roll-cage-saddle-clamps-3012-6-571-p.asp

This is how they're used;

In this example that are at right angles, but I suspect for my roll bar they will need to be at an angle. It is possible to get a hinged joint but I need to make sure they're strong enough and do the job. 

(Update). Here's a quick scribble based on some pointers from the great people over at LCB;

Interesting observation

 I've just been going back over this blog, to where the bodywork was first trial fitted. On that occasion it was the front panel that I fitted and took pictures. Here's where it get interesting;

This is a pair of pictures, one taken 'back then' for the front, and the other showing the current body panel. The assumption has always been that there would be a gap between the two panels, based on the wheelbase suggested by the creator of the bodywork. However this suggests that while the bonnet comes up to just short of the steering wheel frame, the body actually extends a fair bit underneath. 

This means that instead of having to add bits, I might actually have to trim the bonnet down! This is fantastic if it's true, as it's so much easier to take things off than it is to put things on (ask any barber!). 

So my mission for this weekend (if weather and wife allows) is to get the bonnet out of the shed and get it on to the chassis again. Or it might be to get the body outriggers sorted, then at least I have a known predictable base for the body.

Update: It's actually clearer with the 'straight on' picture;

You can see the bottom edge finishes halfway up the rail, but the bodywork actually ends up further along. So it's definitely an overlap, which is good.

More bodywork notes

 Since the weather has been absolutely shocking here, it's forced me to do some more theory instead of practical. Here's a few notes.

For outriggers, the main bar will be bonded to the bodywork, in general the view is that it's more than strong enough as long as it's done according to the instructions. I could use rivets or screws as well, but the way the bodywork works I think they would be visible. 

The outriggers will need some sort of bolt mechanism for easy removal. I did think about this initially, but it does seem to be a good idea for lots of reasons. A quick discussion on LCB suggests 6mm bolts will be fine. The plan will be to weld the triangulated sections on to the chassis, then bolt the beam/bodywork on the end. I've still not decided on the best option, I suspect something in double shear will be the most sensible. 

Behind the seats there will be a filler panel. I did think about wood for this one, and it turns out the Tiger GTA also uses a wood panel. The only thing will be water absorption, so if I do go for wood it'll need a fair bit of sealing. But I also need it to be securely fixed to the chassis, so at the very least it'll need to be skinned with metal to provide a solid fixing. 

The boot is looking quite promising, this should also be skinned to make a usable area. More aluminium, rivets and bolts as required (I'll make the entire boot removable). 

For the sides, the initial thought was to 'sweep' up from the edges of the chassis up to the bodywork. But thinking about it, that makes things very claustrophobic. It would be better to go for a 'side pod' arrangement, basically a shelf from the chassis out to the bodywork. This is a great example from a Sylva Fury;

(I think I've taken photos of this car before, I remember feeling that the aluminium corner trim looks really nice). 

This should be fairly simple to do, although it will need more aluminium. The original panels were from the Metal Store, although I have no idea how expensive it might be now!! I might need to raid my existing stock for leftovers, which will inevitably mean steel rather than aluminium. 

The support for the bulkhead will need to be curved steel, something like an inch wide and maybe 2mm thick. This will be supported from underneath and welded to the car, then I'll figure out some other fixing to attach it to the bodywork. 

In the meantime, I have some runners and some leatherette to fix to my seats. 

Seats and bodywork

 Well, that was definitely the biggest gap there's been for working on the car. I guess that's what happens when you buy a second house and spend every bit of money and time getting it ready to be lived in!! Still, I got a nice office out of it and both kids got a room upgrade. 

Anyway, on to the car. I have been working on the seats on and off, but that'll be a separate post. This is going to be related to this;

This is the rear bodywork as it will sit on the car. It took a fair bit of fettling but to be honest I'm happy with how it sits. I have had trouble with the dimensions though. Setting things up with a centreline shows that the two sides are not in parallel. This could be how it's been stored (for MANY years) or it could just be the mould. Either way it took a lot of moving, positioning, clamping etc. 

The main task for this is to build the outriggers. There will be one each side and one at the back. The ones at the side will fit inside the body, and I need to fix the body to the bottom of them (more on that later). Here is a diagram showing a small steel section running in the right location;

As you can see there is a gap from the chassis to the outrigger. This is fine and actually desired, because I'm hoping to squeeze an exhaust in there!!

That will be either side, running the full length of the body. Using many clamps and braces I could see how it would be when it was fully installed, and it feels really stable. Well, at least in the Y and Z directions, the X direction at the top needs more work!!

The rear outrigger will be similar to the book;

This is just for measurement, there will be a decent amount of triangulation here. 

Along with this rear outrigger, I wanted to trial fit the tank;

This is where the book suggests it should go, right behind the diff. It looked 'ok' but I wasn't overly convinced. It seemed to intrude into the rear compartment, and the distance to the filler cap was excessive. I think it's only here on the Locost cars because it's the rear most 'thing' and they want to preserve the space above it for luggage. The Healey bodywork has a different setup so it doesn't need to be set so low.

In any case, there was a far more pressing matter;

The swirl pot actually ends up being the lowest point of the car!! you can see from the picture that even when I mount it as high as possible, the swirl pot is still in line with the bottom of the chassis, But because the Healey back end sweeps upwards, that means that if somehow I hit the ground then the swirl pot would be first to strike. 

Of course, I think I'd be in more trouble than simply losing a tank full of fuel (the wheel itself would need to come off and various other things break as well), but together with it not making best use of the boot I decided to move it;

Having it above the diff makes so much more sense. First the filler is a lot shorter. The tank itself is on some pretty substantial metal (it's the diff cage after all!!). The swirl pot is safely away from being vulnerable, the diff is easily accessible, and lastly the boot space is much better utilised. I doubt the proximity to the occupants will matter, after all one of the Toyota's has their tank running down the middle of the car!

So I have the measurements and the metal cut for the side and back outriggers, they'll get welded up soon (along with suitable triangulation). I now need to figure out how to fix the bodywork. My first thought was rivets, but they'll pull through the bodywork. Even using rivets with  washers will be challenging due to the thickness that they'll have to go through.

But then I thought back to my original plan which was Sikaflex/Tiger Seal. Bonding the body to the bottom of the braces would be easier, I just need to make sure it's strong enough. 

Well, that's it for now, this was a really productive day and it meant I could get a lot done. At some point I need to get the front out of the shed and do a similar bracing exercise, as well as understand the gap between the front and rear. I know from earlier discussions that the wheelbase of the original bodywork is shorter than the car I've built, which will mean an extra section in the middle. Oh, and while I'm talking about sizes, the wheels are very likely to stick out the sides of the body. I don't mind, I was torn between the narrow body Healey and the wider example from the likes of Sebring etc.