Thailoz build diary
 

I have made a start on my build and have started a web blog

here is the link

http://thailoz.wordpress.com/

build table part 2
 

Got the legs on the build table today ......been a delay due to work and also it is Thai new year and my gas supplier was closed until today. It looks and feels real solid and nice and flat and level
tomorrow I hope to get a couple of coats of paint on it and start marking it out.

Cant wait I have 2 weeks holiday at the beginning of may so that will be my official first cut and tack :D

Well an update but not much

I decided I didn't want the hassle of cleaning mill scale of the square tubing I get here so decided to try to get some cold rolled steel after a few promises that it can be got I have ended up drawing a blank so jut about wasted my 2 weeks holiday.

So feeling peed of tomorrow I will go and get a few lenths of 25 x 25 x 2mm black sh1t steel .

On a good note I made a stand for my Tig touch ,

Bought a 14 " chop saw (made in china as everything is here)

Word of warning if you buy a cheap Chinese chop saw first thing to do is take of the disc and bin it as on the second cut through 19mm steel tube it shattered no warning no vibrations or kick back just BANG scared the crap out of me .
went and bought a new Hitachi disc (still made in china) but seems to be fine.

maybe tomorrow I can get at least the bottom rails done.

Update
 

well today I actually made a real start .

last week I marked out the Table but since then I've been trying to get some cold rolled inch square and waiting on false promises only to be told yesterday "No have ..........." god damn Thais lol

anyways I had no choice to go for the black steel of death which is between 22.5mm and 24 mm.I bought 3 x 6m lengths just to see how it worked out. I got it home in 2m lengths (I thought that was the longest I could get in my car but reckon I can get 3m at a push)cleaned it with thinners and that was it for yesterday went for a beer .

This morning I set to got every thing ready I decided to allow for the tube size difference but using the outside measurements .
I cut BR5 BR6 and BR12 measured it up something was off so went ahead and cut BR11 it was 5mm too long wtf !!!! so checked and double checked with them clamped and squared the were fine got the right check measurement but was way of on my table markings .
after a while of checking I found out the steel rule I was using was not bloody straight nipped out bought another one and now I have had to redraw most of the table grrrr. anyways ended up cutting BR4 and all is well.:D

ha ha ...prepare yourself for a lot of "Gggrrrrrs" Lawrence.....whether you are a trained mot mechanic or not ....you will come a cross a lot of scratchy head and
you stupid effin tw*t you....moments, all part and parcel of building your own sports car :D :D

Yeah for sure but to be honest I am looking forward to challenging the old gray matter (not been working on cars for about 15 years now as a professional so a lot has changed )and thanks for your tips I am sure I will be asking many things along the way.



progress so far .

Welcome to the world of 3D steel "Jigsaws"....:)
If any point you get stuck or loose motivation somebody on here is always at hand to help out...
Keep us informed all the way with photos and don't be afraid to ask any question.
I've never changed a set of brake pads and now I'm building a sports car from scratch......:eek: :eek:

Fantastic to see another build underway!

Well the front frame is complete

see my build diary for pics etc

Looks like you have the bit between the teeth there Laurence:) . have you made a decision on the running gear yet?

Bob

Hi Rob yeah getting into it now just time is a problem as work and heat during the week and I only get Saturdays as Sundays is family day .

Tho the wife is going back to study again soon :D

Running gear I am looking at sierra so building it to that I have got a sierra in mind the one that was in the floods for the diff and front and rear hubs etc and gear box but the engine I am thinking a Toyota 4age or similar tho I did come across a Volvo v8 that was fairly new but £800 I want an engine that can tune to around the 200hp mark

No one bettered the crate price to Thailand for £530 door to door. Are you going for a mainland donor?

Bob

Yeah a Thai friend managed to get that flood damage car down from £600 to £200 so I am going for that and do a full refurb on the required parts just waiting to get the car here.

then I will be on the hunt for a an engine

done a little more check my blog for details

Good progress this week check out my blog

hit a wall
 

Hi all sorry no update for a while the chassis is no further forward as yet due to two things

1. I put my back out so bending over was out of the question.

2 The most annoying part of all I went with my Thai friend to pic up the donor and it was gone no sign of anybody to talk to.

My friend phoned the woman up who was selling it as she said her husband had died ,when he asked where was the car she replied the owner came and took it away. So in essence the lying old bag was trying to sell a car that was not hers to sell :x :x

So I am back to the drawing board as to where to get a front and rear hubs diff and drive shafts from.

I have managed to find someone selling a rear diff from a merc 220 with drive shafts but no hubs

so at this point apart from the diagonals and other top rails. I cant start on the rear part of the chassis .

I may have to look at a hybrid between the Haynes chassis and the Ron champions chassis as a solid rear axle is easier to obtain.

Desision Made
 

Well after lots of research I have made a decision on what to go for donor wise.
I read that some of the locost boys in the US and Australia are using Toyota Hiace van front uprights which I an get easily here.
Also read that some of the mk2 escort racers are using the rear axle from Toyota hilux 2wd or toyota Hiace vans as they are about the same size :o

So my intentions are to use
1. Toyota Hiace front uprights brakes etc.
2. graft a Ron champion style rear end on a Haynes chassis with a Toyota Van live axle and brakes .

My only concern is what ratio to use as most of the hiace here are diesel.

any comments welcome .

Bike engine with a diesel rear end?

that had crossed my mind but here in the los big bike engines are more expensive than a good toyota 4ge lump and box

Plus the sodding about with reverse gear setups

Work resumed
 

Well after a long time of doing nothing to the car due to work and other every day things I have started on the car again.

My parents came over to visit at the end of September until Yesterday As I may have mentioned before My farther Is a ex chief mechanic of Team lotus F1 but he started working for lotus when they were based in Cheshunt making what was then a kit car the lotus 7 .

So after long chats and looking at original 7 plans as well as the Haynes and Chapman books he helped me re design the rear of the Haynes chassis to accommodate a live rear axle. I basically removed SB1 and replaced it with a single piece of 25mm box and re set D9 to 90 degrees (as in Ron's book).`We also decided to add some fillets to the top and bottom of D9 to add some strength.

I have sourced a Toyota van axle which should be here soon but it coming through a friend of a friend (Thais ) so who knows what I will end up with :shock: .
I will yous a 5 link axle set up. with rose joints on one end of the trailing arms for accurate adjustment.
same with the Panhard rod.I have also added D5 U7 and U8 .

I am now in the process of fully welding the chassis thus far except for U7 an U8 and the 2 SB4s as I still have to get the gearbox and axle.

I will be going on a hunt for some Hiace 5 stud or corolla uprights then I will be able to start on my wishbones. I will update my blog as soon as I get some pics.

Back at it again after a delay an work etc .
 

Well guys I am back at the build again this past week so check out my blog :)

Hi!

Good to see you're back at your build mate.

Hope you are safe from the events in Bangkok.

No Thailand for me this year (and no diving :( ) too much work here. Otherwise I would have travelled a bit more to come to meet you and see your car. Perhaps next year?

Good luck :)

my brother has just spent 3 weeks there (jealous as fook) :rolleyes:

I am about 40 km from Bangkok so no problems If you do make it out would be happy to meet you tho its bloody cold here at the mo 18 C :eek:

#### off lucky git would have given my back teeth for that temp at work on sunday instead i had 2 C heavy rain with wind followed by snow thunder and lightning then only after i had finished work i got sunshine

so to sum up i was cold wet and bloody miserable then blinded on my way home :rolleyes:

True but its all relative I moved here to get away from sub 20 weather so for me a drop in 20 degrees is a hell of a lot .

I dont envy you guys and I am gonna have a lot of driving time if i get this thing finished.:D

That's what you get for living in Smog Central.:p

Donor parts arrived
 

Ok got my donor parts from a 1978/79 Toyota corolla KE30 2 door coupe for more details check the blog.

Ps hope all you guys in the south west of England have not been affected buy the floods I have seen on the news.

take care all be safe and happy building.:D

holiday time
 

Well Schools out for about six weeks so I have time to work on the car starting this week. First thing I did this week was to make a small electrolysis tank (2gallon bucket) may have to make a bigger one as it works really well.

I also got all my transmission tunnel tacked in place including making the hand brake lever.

Next is CP11 I have the already laser cut from 2mm steel just need to bend the 25mm X 2 mm strip round them.
After that fit the front diagonals and now I can also fit the seat back diagonals with those dreaded compound angles.
Then weld up all the tacked rear and transmission tunnel.

check out the blog for details and pics :D :D :D :D

Weldathon complete
 

Well got there in the end welded up all the chassis upto now and given it a coat of red oxide paint as it was going rusty fast.



more details in my blog :)

Great to hear you've found yourself a donor, just reading your blog now.:)

Yeah been a struggle but at least I can get on with the build albeit a modified haynes roadster.

I have also followed your build and very impressed with your work.

I am pretty sure I will be changing the engine but I have to go with this to get it regesterd here .

Cheers. Your frame looks really food btw.:)

Thanks Its suprising what a litle paint does :)

Long time no update
 

well got a good bit done when I was able to get to yhe workshop and also get the parts required check the blg out guys

Just caught up with your build blog Laurence. You have made a nice job of that 4 link rear end, its very much the same sort of set up that went into the early Westfields. I have actually driven one with a solid axle and they still handle well. IRS is not the be all and end all just a nicety.

Bob

If you make the link that steadies the axle a z shape with a pivot in the middle of the diff case it makes them handle nicer.

It alter,s the roll center.

Thanks for the comments rob

I have seen that set up fly but wanted to keep it simple:D

I have got a lot done since
 

as the title says I have made cosiderable progress albeit slow check out the blog for an update.
comments will be appriciated.

I hit a milestone today smiling like a dog with two tails
 

Well I am so happy today I finally got a rolling chassis,As some of you who have been following my build I have had to do considerable design changes along the way.
One of which was the front suspension, I am using corolla uprights (cut down mc pherson struts)also using rose joints and toyota hiace drag links.

I have drawn and redrawn the design in Cad even made a cardboard wishbone (see my blog).
anyways my father(ex Lotus F1 mechanic) came to Thailand for a visit in September and we went over my design which he duly gave the thumbs up on he made a wood mock up of my designe and we worked out the geometry.
I got the parts laser cut and bushes made for drag link and rose joints and this week I finally finished welding them up and fitting so now have a rolling chassis.



I have fitted some sq tube as temp shock to get the road height correct. I will be updating the blog later so check it out for more pics.:D :D :D