Right after reading up, and wanting a 7 esque car but using a rear engine, and with help from people on here the Midlana is going to be the style I choose

I am aiming to use a Saab B204 engine and gearbox, and hopefully use the subframe and the front suspension from the Saab as well as, and either make new wishbones or use the Saab ones depending on how it fits and looks etc


Biggest thing I want to ask is if anyone can tell my the cabin size?

As I said before I'm 6 foot 1 and heavily built (agricultural engineer and ex rugby forward)

So will need to make sure I actually fit 😂


I will be buying the Midlana book (when I have £70 spare) but if anyone on here has the book, could you send me the dimensions of the chassis? So I can work out size of seating and cabin please?

Sorry - Can't help you with dimensions but generally with a self made chassis if you can't fit in based on designed dimensions you can always lengthen and widen the cockpit slightly without much risk as long as you keep the triangulation. An inch or two this way or that won't make much difference.

TurboLocost.
Big_wasa, a member here has a Midlana Book for a bit less than 75.
Check out his posts on the For Sale section: http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/34/viewthread.php?tid=213594
Regards.
AA

Remember the midlana has a smaller (or no, I can’t quite remember) tunnel so you have a bit more hip and shoulder space than a standard seven.

Also worth checking the track on the Saab compare to the midlana spec as you may have to accommodate a few inches in width anyway.

From memory, kurt, the designer of the Midlana is of slim average height build. So it’s the same deal as the Locost. If your bigger than the average bear you have to make it fit with carfull selection of seats and pedals.

You would think being American it would be at least an XL

I have a first edition book for sale in the for sale section if you want to save some cash.

Also there is a chap on here that has had an unfortunate change of plans and has a Mazda donor package for sale

Yeah the Midlana has a smaller tunnel as it only needs to house coolant pipes, gear linkage and hand brake cables, not a full gearbox

Yeah I saw a picture of Kurt who designed it and he's much slimmer than me!

Just really need to know the width of the cockpit of the Midlana, so I can work out then if I need to widen the cockpit for me to actually fit

I did see you have a copy of the book for sale but haven't got the pennies spare just yet (joys of Christmas and kids....)
If you could just tell me the width of the cockpit (there is a bar under windscreen that's the width of cockpit I believe?)

I’ll measure mine for you later. When picking seats, I found it was very similar to the width of the wide body Westfield overall, but with a much narrower tunnel. I got a pair of JK seats which are a nice fit and very comfortable. I’m a bit of a lard-ass so didn’t get the smallest seat they do

You’d be most welcome to try sitting in mine if you like.

Book tunnel is 2” wide, but I made mine a bit wider for various reasons. My car is very close to book overall, but 4” longer in the rear to make space for the Alfa V6 I used.

Ok thank you that would be great!

Did you use a channel/box section down the chassis spine?


Thank you for the offer to sit in yours but I'm down in Cornwall so a bit of a trek to do so!


Yeah I will be using the Saab 4 cylinder, but inline most cars the turbo is forward of the engine so I will probably stretch the engine bay a few inches as well so the turbo isn't confined, and I will keep engine bay a little more open as well

I've got the Saab intercooler but also a smaller but much thicker intercooler from a big Massey Ferguson tractor, which is what I aim to use (it's a high flow high efficiency intercooler designed for a big Borg Warner turbo producing 30psi boost at walking pace)
Thinking of mounting it with a small scoop just behind the roll bar

[Edited on 21/10/18 by TurboLocost]

quote:

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Originally posted by big_wasa
From memory, kurt, the designer of the Midlana is of slim average height build. So it’s the same deal as the Locost. If your bigger than the average bear you have to make it fit with carfull selection of seats and pedals.

You would think being American it would be at least an XL

I have a first edition book for sale in the for sale section if you want to save some cash.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by big_wasa
Also there is a chap on here that has had an unfortunate change of plans and has a Mazda donor package for sale

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Not you too Ian! Looks like I’m the only person currently building one in Brexitistan then.

An apology to the OP, I was so engrossed in what I was doing in the shed today, I totally forgot to get those measurements for you. Sorry, I’ll do it tomorrow.

quote:

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Originally posted by CorseChris

quote:

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Originally posted by big_wasa
From memory, kurt, the designer of the Midlana is of slim average height build. So it’s the same deal as the Locost. If your bigger than the average bear you have to make it fit with carfull selection of seats and pedals.

You would think being American it would be at least an XL

I have a first edition book for sale in the for sale section if you want to save some cash.

---

Sorry to see you're not going to be able to build one

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Don’t write the whole thing off mate, I clearly remember saying “no more kit cars”....and yet.....

OK, some measurements. These are -ish, not super accurate. All are internal dimensions.

Width at base of seat back area. 42 1/2"
Width at top of seat back area where top rails meet the B hoop. 44 3/4"
Width of top rails at dash rail. 36"
Width at front end of passenger compartment at floor level. 27 1/2"
Length of passenger compartment at floor level. 50"

It's a slightly complicated shape due to the way that the top and don't follow the same plan.

I used 50mm box for the spine, and as I mentioned had intended to follow book and have everything stacked vertically, but once I got to putting in the parts I had, particularly the gear shift mechanism & handbrake, it made much more sense to widen that area a bit and put the coolant pipes side by side. I added a U shaped channel that's now 80mm wide.

I'll be putting alloy panels on the sides of the tunnel to close it off and trim it, but I'll be keeping them as low as I can. I don't want to make the footwell too claustrophobic. There will be a vertical section at the very front end where the heater pipes, loom and hydraulic lines route up into the space above, but this will be as small as possible.

You could quite easily turn this into a 'centre console' type arrangement too, if you wanted, but bear in mind that the seats are very close together with such a narrow tunnel between them.

In case it helps, I'm 5' 10" but have short legs and a long back, so am more like 6' 2" when sat down, IYSWIM There is good legroom in the car so you should be OK I think.

I used JK N3946 seats with the built-in bases - these fit a 'book' sized car really well. Snug, but not too tight to work round. You could go a bit wider in the shoulders & hips if needed, but you'd need to double check sizing. You could also consider offsetting the tunnel to the left and having a bigger drivers seat with a smaller passenger one. I almost went that way myself, as the missus is petite. And I'm not.

I made sure I had the seats to hand before putting in the upper seatbelt mount cross tube to make sure I got the height right.

I think the book is pretty good value actually. There is a lot more to it than just a few drawings and dimensions. I've built a few cars before and have been messing with production cars for almost 50 years now, so have got some 'previous', but there are still some useful nuggets in there. If one wasn't so experienced, it would be an exceptionally useful book I think.

HTH

I have the later midlana book - it has standard dimensions on it, but makes the point that you can widen or lengthen the cabin from standard, basically as long as you don't alter the suspension locations much - it also says to get the seats first (and there is a list of other bits to get in advance to avoid later alterations), then you can actually make sure everything will fit ok!
Regards
Hugh