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bulding a locost as per series one lotus seven
seriesoneboy - 15/9/15 at 06:01 PM

hi all, i wondered has anyone here built a locost using morris minor/mg midget running gear, even down to using mg hubs with trunnions not ball joints and low spec a series engine and 4 speed box and morris axle to take either wire wheels or morris 1000 steel wheels. i am looking to build an authentic recreation of a series one lotus seven and have studied pics from the net and would like some advice, also i have for sale a 2004 built westfield megabusa that is unregistered and needs an engine,good spec. please contact through here . thanks

britishtrident - 15/9/15 at 08:41 PM

You have just described an early Westfield

spiderman - 16/9/15 at 01:23 AM

was it MG hubs they used? I thought they were Triumph ones or was that later on?

britishtrident - 16/9/15 at 06:24 AM

Early Westie was single donor Sprite/Midget.

Very early Series 1 Lotus used Hillman Minx front uprights, later Series 1switched to Triumph suspension and rack..

Early Series 1 Lotus used a Standard 10 axle. (similar to Triumph Toledo) later series 1 used a Nash Metropolitan axle (similar to Austin A40 and Sprite).

seriesoneboy - 16/9/15 at 12:37 PM

as i thought i wasnt sure if it were mg hubs,but the triumph herald front end rings a bell and also a standard axle also rings true. i want to start collecting parts this year with a veiw to starting the buld in early 2016. i have some ideas of how to modify the haynes roadster chassis to appear more like the series one chassis and some othe ideas on a frames rather than trailng arms to the back axle etc. please any info is great;y appreciated. i was at goodwood rvival on sunday and it has occured to me for some time i dont need breaknech speed for enjoyment but a close recreation of a series one will be plenty of fun.

britishtrident - 16/9/15 at 01:29 PM

A frames are a bit problematic they tend to crack axles if you want an A frame rear end consider building a de Dion which was an option on the S1 and Lotus Eleven.

cs3tcr - 16/9/15 at 02:28 PM 

code:
Very early Series 1 Lotus used Hillman Minx front uprights, later Series 1switched to Triumph suspension and rack..  

 

Early Series 1 Lotus used a Standard 10 axle. (similar to Triumph Toledo) later series 1 used a Nash Metropolitan axle (similar to Austin A40 and
Sprite).


Not true. All Series 1 Lotus Sevens used the Nash axle as it was a carry over from the Eleven, though there were a small number of de dion built cars that left the factory. The Series 2 cars saw the change to the Standard 10 axle. And all Lotus Sevens from day 1 used Triumph uprights, there was a change to the more "modern" Herald ones during the production of the Series 1 cars. The first of the "wishbone front suspension" Lotus' used Standard 10 ones (Lotus 12, 11, 7, etc). A friend of mine was working at Lotus when the first production Seven was built, and lent me a few pics of the car. It started life with wire wheels on the front and steel wheels on the rear as I'm guessing they hadn't sorted the bolt pattern yet on the front hubs (going to a 4" PCD rather than the Triumph 3 3/4" PCD)

In regards to the rear suspension, the Series 1 cars never had any issue with the rear axle cracking, it was the later cars, Series 2 onwards, that had issues. The Series 1 car had 3 trailing links along with a triangulated trailing link on the drivers side. It works well, as it acts like a very short panhard rod, but being short it does push the axle back and forth through suspension movement.

Mike Wood - 28/10/23 at 08:17 PM

Any update on this interesting project please?