Hi Guys,

I thought I'd start a build diary, we'll see where this takes us! I've been a little reluctant to post a build diary but I'm motivated and have been all consumed by this project since I took the decision to build a locost back in October '22. I've been working towards starting this project for a few months now. I bought my donor back in Dec '22 and started to strip it down in Jan '23. While I was doing that I was researching chassis, tooling up and gathering bits in between some DIY for the house.

Privately I'm keeping a spreadsheet of costs and a build log detailing any time spent fabricating. I've already noticed I'm spending almost the same time again researching each step in front of me which I'm not documenting.

Steel arrived in Feb '23 and I made a start 2 weeks ago on the front end. The first week I hit it hard putting in 25 hours. The following week I put in about 10 hours but a flu has come over me stopping play and really frustrating me. I don't have a finish goal as yet. I think looking so far in front is just too daunting. Instead my goal is to average 10 hours of fabrication / assembly each week.

For this first post I have pictures of the front of the chassis fully welded. I know the advice is to tack all then weld however I felt the structure at the front was complete and wasn't going to change so decided to fully weld. This didn't induce any major warpage. Diagonals so far are measuring about 2mm difference. It means now I don't have to worry about breaking tacks when turning over etc.

Any constructive comments welcome. I'm not a mechanical guy and don't have much background with fabrication however over the years I've dabbled in various welding jobs and never had an issue so far.

One things for sure this is not going to be locost. Steel was about £450 including some extra in the order!


Description

Description

Description

Description

Description

Description

Description

Description

[Edited on 5/3/23 by quinnj3]

Your getting on really well and nice welds. Good to see a new build from scratch

Aye, definitely good to see at least one new build, it's been ages since I saw anything being welded up and it's great inspiration for those of us (me!) who's struggling to find garage time.

As for fully welding sections of the chassis, I did the same and I've not had any issues. As you say it makes it easier to move around without popping a tack.

It's only the second time I've seen a Vodou build, it definitely has some interesting variations. For example the standard chassis has the middle section as a complete tube from side to side, then the centre section is removed. Also I will have to look at why they went for a double thickness bar for the engine mounting, but then cut a couple of notches in it.

Ok, I thought it was time for a quick update.

I didn't get as many hours as I would have liked done in March however I had taken a mild flu and didn't feel up to working in the garage in sub zero temperatures for the first couple of weeks of the month. When I did eventually get back to it I haven't quite hit my target of 10 hours per week but I've been close. It's getting into gardening season so some time has to be dedicated to keeping the yard right.

Anyway progress pictures to follow. To date I've spent 57 hours on what you see in the pictures. The front 'tub' including trans' tunnel is fully welded and ground back. There has been a little 'banana-ing' of the chassis but its only a couple of mm either side of the centre after welding the tunnel up. I don't think there's much I could have done to avoid it. Chassis is still measuring within a couple of mm across diagonals. I've a feeling the rear end is going to take at least 20 hours on its own now. I'm happy enough with progress so far. Every time I spend a few hours I can see progression which encourages me to keep going.

I'm aiming to have a rolling chassis by end of may. I have all the suspension parts here now to make it happen. Engine may or may not be mounted at that point.


Chassis apr23 1


Chassis apr23 2


Chassis apr23 3


Chassis apr 23 4


Chassis apr 23 5

Well, another month is just about through so I thought it was time for another progress update. Looking back at March's update has really highlighted the progression so far. It helps to keep me motivated.

This month I completed hanging the differential and roll bar mounts. I've also started to install the engine & gearbox. I only got the offside engine mount complete. The engine mount alone has ate up about 8 hours of work.

This month's hour log so far totals 41 which I'm really happy with. I was feeling a tad burned out when I completed the rear end as I put in about 15 hours in back to back weeks (30 hrs in two weeks) all within a standard work week so I took it easy the past couple of weeks or so with an hour here and there. Just getting back into it again now. It felt like a real milestone to have a fully welded frame completed.


Completed frame


Completed frame 2


Roll bar base 2


Weld Nuts

Then it was time to trial fit the engine. There may or may not have been a few vroom vroom noises made!


Engine trial fit


Engine trial fit 2

Then onto the engine mount which I'm quite proud of. :Cool: This design allows for full positioning of the engine. I can move the engine left/right, forward/back, turn a couple of degrees and raise/lower with shims. The mount consisted of 3 parts; lower mount, upper mount and cheap £4 bush from ebay.


Engine mount 1


Engine mount 2


Engine mount 3

Lower engine mount which allows for forward/back positioning.


Lower engine mount


Lower engine mount 1

Total hours on building (excluding stripping of donor car) is 91.5.

Nice looking project. Will follow your excellent progress with interest!

I shall follow this with interest.

Are you just working from the Haynes book and the 19 page pdf that has turned up on here somewhere or have you found more info from Vodou?
Still early days for me but I am trying to visualise / work out the rear end framework. I think the info is probably all there in the pdf, but more detail is welcome.
Your pictures have helped me - like how the heck the diff is attached to the chassis. That crossmember with those 'cottonreels' now makes sense!

I'm just considering building a very basic Vodou VR5: no screen so no heater/blower or wipers, no weather protection, minimal bodywork with cycle wings, rollbar, lightweight seats, no interior trim, minimal instrumentation and lights etc. Essentially a 4 wheeled motorcycle to be driven wearing leather jacket, gloves and crash helmet!

I await your next instalment which hopefully might cover building the wishbones and fitting the suspension mounting brackets.

Hi Rob, Jonathan want to respond but can't login if you click the link below it's his post on face book.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/4euph3EaPHwacSqX/

I shall send a note to Luke, by reporting my own (this) post with the quote
"people are still having problems logging in, what can we recommend?"

Thanks.

I can't get facebook to work.

That's not a reflection on your links - just the general state of the world.
I guess if I knew what faceache was for it might help, but I've never understood it so I settle for having lots more free time than most people I know who use it.

Why do people put useful info on facebok rather than on a proper forum where it has a proper context, thread and organisation, where people can find it, and where it remains searchable and findable for years to come?
Fb is just a black hole where useful information goes to die.