forgive my ignorance but I donl;t think I have looked much or posted in the middy section.

Is there a book that does a book chassis?

I kinda like the idea of building a GD T70 but looking at prices, £ 20 K is the starting point.

So is there a book chassis or a cheap(?) kit car chassis that can be modified to then slap on a body? Can the standard chassis be shortened at the front and extened at the back to fit in a fwd engine (ok, not looking for originality but cheapness ).

Anyone done something like this?

Fisher do a car called the Menace, which is a middy BEC fury.

I was considering one at first, but they told me that it wasn't fully developed, so would really only be suitable for people who've built at least one car previously.

Price wise, it's about the same as a fury, so half the GD cost (ish)

I think that sort of things been done a few times, have a search through the middy section, I remeber a thread about one not so long ago...

Main problem is if you're intending to keep the simple flat panels/grp wings and nose style bodywork, it ends up looking a bit odd (open to debate). The proportions of a 7 somehow get away with it where middy's don't.

You may have issues with the steering lock available if you literally cut off a locost chassis at the footwell bulkhead and welded a front suspension 'box' onto the front - The chassis is a fair bit wider at that point than it would be at the front of a conventional chassis. Building a narrower chassis withou the transmission tunnel would make more sense unless you want to have an ultra wide track!

Better to design a simple chassis from scratch, maybe look to the Sylva Mojo & Riot for ideas.

I'll both agree and disagree with rav

I agree that a simple "cut-and-shut" on the book chassis design is not going to work. I started out trying to do that and gave up. My chassis design now has very little resemblance to a Locost.

I'll disagree that traditional clubman styling (flat panels etc) doesn't work on a middy although, as rav says, this is more of an aesthetic argument and very open to opinion. Here's a shot of my little styling model. I think the proportions work OK, but that's just my opinion.

Gecko model with silver sides
And in answer to the next expected question, no my chassis design isn't available for others yet. Once I've finished and tested the first one, I'll look at publishing it somehow. Here's a pic of a balsa model from a while back that shows the general flavour (the final design is a little different and the model isn't complete).
Balsa Chassis - Mar 2007

Hope this helps,

Dominic

it's not easy to do a simple trianulation round the motor, pick up the suspension-of-choice and still be "generic" as in "everyone can use it for their own choice of parts". But a std midi front end should be possible. Maybe just use the std locost one with your feet between the wheels.

Seriously, it's going to be faster to just start from scratch. And, may I recommend my book on mid-engine sports car design and construction. See sig for link.

Some resources and inspirations to consider

LOMID
Car Craft Cyclone
OX-7
Onyx Mongoose
Sylva Riot
http://www.sdrsportscars.co.uk/ (3seater!)

Just don't copy the "fold here" design of the Sylva chassis.



An interesting option that could be inexpensive is to get the body from on old VW Beetle based kit car and build your own chassis for it. Like http://www.6speed.org/bradley/frame.html or http://nova-international.net/data/chassis.htm

Another couple for inspiration
http://www.mistrale.blogspot.com/
http://www.mevltd.co.uk/