Locost GSXR Hillclimb car

[Adam]

Story starts about 7 years ago (2003) when my dad sold his Elise and we decided we wanted to build a dedicated hillclimb Locost. We bought a kit of parts including a chassis, some parts of a stuart taylor IRS rear end and a GSXR1100 bike engine, not really realising how much work the chassis needed. Due to my dad's work commitments and my school commitments/lack of experience it didnt really work out so sat in the garage for 4 years. I got distracted by building this in '06/07:



However we decided we still wanted to hillclimb so over the summer of yr 11 (...2007?) I built this:



You can read a pretty in depth diary of the build and development here: http://www.roland-garros.co.uk if you're interested!

After 2 seasons we decided the seven boys were having way too much fun and we wanted in on it, however the only way we were going to get it finished in an acceptable time period was to buy a chassis and start again. The experience gained from building and hillclimbing the 205 meant that I had in my mind exactly what I wanted to build. This is where Steve at Aries come in, as he was able to build us a chassis that would accept the majority of the parts we already had including the IRS parts (as the aries chassis is what was Stuart Taylor). So at the end of october we collected this:



And that's the lead up to the build really. I'll be back with the build story so for soon

['The Gaffer']

Nice story, look forward to the updates

[Adam]

In the period running upto collecting the chassis I starting prepping a lot of the parts to be fitted. First of all stripped down the old chassis ready to go to a new home:



Gaz coilies and Ral Des quick rack:



Wishbones:



Rear hubs/uprights:



Engine / diff:



Painted front hubs/uprights and trial fitted ali 205 front calipers:



Turned down rear hubs to fit 240mm Escort mk4 discs:





Refurbed all the calipers with new seals etc:



Finished cutting away the sprocket cover on the engine to allow the prop to pass through:



Refitted the sump:



Then we collected the chassis:

[Adam]

First job was to position the engine and make the cradle:











Coat of paint:



Then we wanted to start it up to make sure it works:



After a fair amount of fiddling with the carbs etc:

Engine back out:

[Adam]

Fuel and brake lines to the rear:



Then the transmission tunnel and bulkhead panels could go on:



Then the floor and side panels:







Then the rest of the brake lines, front suspension and brakes last weekend. Ran out of suspension bolts so could do the rear.







And that's where it is so far. Progress is quick (been spending a good 15 hours a weekend on it!) so should be an interesting thread hopefully....

['The Gaffer']

Nice work, shame your not planning to take it on the road

Loved the engine start vid, that must have been loud in there

[Richard]

Great write up Adam !!

['Mendip Wurzel']

Adam, A daft question for you... How were you intend to cool the engine as presumably some of the cooling comes from the fins on the engine and being side mounted they will not benefit from the same airflow. Kevin

['The Gaffer']

Adam, A daft question for you... How were you intend to cool the engine as presumably some of cooling comes from the fins on the engine and being side mounted they will not benefit from the same airflow. Kevin

I would like to think he was going to use a 93' on water cooled engine rather than an older air/ oil cooled one?

[Adam]

It's a 1991 oil cooled one. The later GSXR engines actually use very little air cooling, they rely on oil cooling and a massive oil cooler. Unlike air cooled engines they have a seperate high volume low pressure oil system which is entirely for cooling as well as high pressure low volume system for lubricating. Bandit 1200 engines have been done before with no cooling issues to i cant see us having too much of a problem, especially with the massive mocal oil cooler i have lined up for it 

['The Gaffer']

You have obviously done your research Adam, but I can't help thinking how an oil cooled engine with no real air cooling is going to survive relative high stress, lower speed hillclimbs even with the massive mocal oil cooler.

However, "I stand to be corrected" said the man in the orthopedic shoes

[Adam]

We'll have to wait and see i suppose! I pretty confident as you can probably tell. Some of the hillclimb mallocks/single seaters that run oil cooled gixer engines actually run without an oil cooler, as the car is only running for around a minute at a time.

['The Gaffer']

I am sure that if others have used the same setup then you will be just fine. Just not sure it would work that well as a road car, but as that is not your intention it wont make any difference.

If it were me, I'd stick a turbo'd Busa in there

[Adam]

Couple of big milestones reached this weekend, not without set backs though.

Before the car could go on its wheels for the first time I had to finish fitting the suspension and the pedal box.

The pedal box require a bit of fiddling with the MCs, cutting down the pushrods slightly on the brakes and drilling the clutch pedal for the clevis but it all went in quite easily:




The clutch MC can be moved backwards and forwards which, mixed with a bit of pushrod cutting, should allow me to get the bite point exactly where I want it.

Then, down on its wheels:




To show just how light it is, even with all the brakes, suspension and wheels on we managed to lift it off the trestles!

Back in the garage to put the engine in place in order to try the prop:




Unfortunately it would appear that the prop centre bearing housing is wrong and places the prop too high up in the transmission tunnel, giving insufficient space for a gear linkage :-/ so we need to chat to Steve at Aries again to find out either what we're doing wrong or what the centre bearing housing should look like and get it changed. Annoying as we've already had to swap the prop once due the the flanges beign on the wrong ends!

['The Gaffer']

Great progress Adam

If you havent driven one already, you will find the bike engine clutch in a car takes a little getting used to (Very on or off over a very small amount of pedal travel) Easy when you get used to it though.. although I still stall mine on the odd occasion

[Adam]

Well the correct centre bearing arrived so today I set about changing it. Weather was, erm, slightly chilly!



New centre bearing:



Can see the difference with the old one:



Following Steve's instructions I undid the bolt and smacked the living daylights out of it with little success, so it looks like it's going to have to go back to Bailey Morris for them to sort out. For the second time.....

I also made up a bracket to hold the speedo sensor. Decided to mount it on the diff output flange as it spins at a 3rd of the speed of the propshaft and therefore is more likely to work.





Then drilled and tapped the flange to take the magnet:



Also had a look at oil cooler positioning:



Can anyone see any reason why it cant be mounted upside down? If I can then I can use the oil pipes that came with the cooler saving a fair amount of money!

['The Gaffer']

Excellent work Adam. Cant help on the oil cooler but I cant really see a problem in mounting it upside down? Anybody confirm?

Where did you get the threaded magnet? I used to have one in my diff flange for one of my gauges but because of centrifugal force it flew out.

[Adam]

The magnet came with the Acewell dash

Set about mounting the oil cooler today. After some advice from LocostBuilders I decided against my original plan in favour of the more conventional radiator mounting position.

Made a couple of brackets for the top:



A Jigsaw with metal cutting blade will cut 3mm steel plate quite nicely!

Try it on the car:





Make up some brackets for the bottom:





Tomorrow I'll drill and rivnut the chassis

Also finished assembling the diff. I had to change the allen head bolts for some slimmer hex head stainless bolts on the nose of the diff to allow it to fit in the transmission tunnel. My dad picked up some 75W90 GL5 gear oil for the diff too so i'll change that tomorrow before sticking the diff in perminantly

[Adam]

Went to change the oil in the diff today.... found that there wasn't actually any oil in it! :O Good job I checked! Filled it up with halfords 75W90 GL5 and was then able to get in mounted in the chassis:





Got the rivnuts in the chassis to mount the oil cooler:



Then started looking at the gear linkage. You can just about see the pivot in this picture, held on by the wonder that is gaffa tape:



Checked the positioning and marked where the holes need drilling.





Before dissembling the lot ready for a coat of primer:



Probably the last update of 2009! The bodywork is due to arrive on the 5th January and the propshaft should hopefully be back with us around the same time.

Merry Christmas!

['The Gaffer']

Excellent work again Adam.

I bet you will be sciving off onto the Garage for a while over Christmas

Look forward to your updates.

[Adam]

Got a fair chunk done today! Started by removing the engine again in a rare dry spell:



Then started assembling the gear linkage. Drilled the holes for the lever, which is in line with the steering wheel so I can extend it up next to the wheel rally styleeee, and bolted that in place:



Drilled the holes for the pivot and bolted that in place, then put the engine back in so I could look at the last link:





I found I had to bend the bottom lever on the pivot down slightly to allow the rosejoint to pivot in the right plane.

Sprayed the passenger side bulkhead satin black to match the drivers side:



Bolted up the oil cooler:



And started cleaning the engine ready for final installation:



Unfortunately this cant happen until the propshaft is corrected, which cant happen until Bailey Morris reopen on the 4th January.

Next job is installing the fuel tank and pump!

['The Gaffer']

Looking great Adam, I'm sure I'm acting as a mouthpiece for those members that pop in briefly during this quiet period in saying that they would agree with me too.

Keep up the good work, and have a serious think about getting the car road legal. Be good to see you out and about on a club run during the summer

[Adam]

Looking great Adam, I'm sure I'm acting as a mouthpiece for those members that pop in briefly during this quiet period in saying that they would agree with me too.

Keep up the good work, and have a serious think about getting the car road legal. Be good to see you out and about on a club run during the summer

Thanks

The more I look into it the more I think it wouldn't be that difficult. Might have to purchase an IVA manual and have a flick through it....

['The Gaffer']

The more I look into it the more I think it wouldn't be that difficult. Might have to purchase an IVA manual and have a flick through it....

Go on, you know it makes sense, keep every reciept and a record of the build, like you have here. It all helps down the line for the IVA and registration etc.

[Adam]

The first update of 2010! Starting to realise just how little time there is to get things done....

Starting mounting the fuel tank yesterday. We decided that the best way to do it would be to put an ali plate over the original tank mounting plates and mount our tank and pump to that. So that's what I did....



As you can see, clearance is minimal:





But it does fit!

With the securing straps:



Then today I mounted the fuel pump (from a kawasaki ZX9R):



...and dismantled the lot to spray the plate. In etch primer:



Now nicely satin black to match the chassis It can all go back in permanently tomorrow.

[Bulldog Bri]

Looks like your making supurb progress there...

[Adam]

Fuel tank and pump in place:




Fan cable tied in place... will be getting the proper fitting kit shortly:



Also retrieved the seat from the attic and we're discussing different mounting methods for it:

['The Gaffer']

Fantastic progress - I didnt see a fuel sender on the tank though, now a good time to fit one?

I really missed not having one, I have my tank out right now and its going to have one fitted.

[Adam]

Fantastic progress - I didnt see a fuel sender on the tank though, now a good time to fit one?

I really missed not having one, I have my tank out right now and its going to have one fitted.

Fuel sender as in fuel lever sensor? Its got a little clear pipe on the side so you can see how much is in it. If it ever goes on the road it'll be having a much bigger tank fitted and its not really an issue for hillclimbs 

[Adam]

Got a couple of small jobs done today. Added some fuel hose:



There's a 50% chance the hoses are on the right way round Need some jubilees for them now.

Also knocked up a new transmission tunnel cover having decided the one we got from stuart taylor wasnt really a good enough fit.

Cut to size:



With gear lever hole cut and rivnutted down:



Will do the front part once I have the scuttle as i'm not 100% sure how it fits.

[Adam]

Got the driveshafts together. Took the CVs apart, cleaned them up and regreased them. One of them looked pretty worn but they're easy to change at a later date and far from cheap so it can stay for the moment....




Bodywork didnt arrive as promised... probably something to do with the horrendous weather at either end. Bailey Morris still havent been in touch about the propshaft despite being asked to contact us by Aries. So at the moment there's a bit of a hold up, which isnt what we wanted at all!

['The Gaffer']

You'll have it finished in a week at this rate

If you ever need good prop or driveshaft advice, just call Nigel at Chards of Feeder road Bristol.

He sorted these pups for me...

[Adam]

Not much has happened recently, been back at uni and in the exam season.

However... the bodywork arrived from AGM and the propshaft has gone back to Bailey Morris to be sorted Hopefully things will pick up again now.

[paintman]

Hang in there!   The Summers a long way off....plenty of time.