Board logo

S2 Chassis Plans
Hey-Guido! - 10/1/12 at 08:28 PM

Confused but excited. - 10/1/12 at 08:36 PM

Very interesting first post.
Welcome.

austin man - 10/1/12 at 08:43 PM

Would you like to embelish

scootz - 10/1/12 at 08:44 PM

I can't see it working...

Mark Allanson - 10/1/12 at 08:49 PM

These short posts always confuse me, I can never find the link, and everyone else seems to know what is going on except me!

daniel mason - 10/1/12 at 08:52 PM

you will be confused if your looking for a link. was just someones first post and i imagine it should have been put in wanted section!

mangogrooveworkshop - 10/1/12 at 08:56 PM

S2 plans are really S3 plans with even less tubes

scudderfish - 10/1/12 at 09:16 PM

Hey-Guido! - 10/1/12 at 10:26 PM

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
Forgot title and after adding it thought it might get linked to original message - which obviously it didn't. Lost 2nd effort in edit, so this is third try.

How Do,
Not really one for joining things or asking for help - but there's a first time for everything, I suppose.
Many moons ago I got Ron's book and got quite excited at the thought of building a seven-type. Got steel for the chassis and a few other parts and sometime later got a welder. I then thought that if I wars going to build a Locost than what I really wanted to do was build a Prisoner S2 replica. I had no idea how Ron's chassis compared and without a computor and internet access, things came to a halt.
Still no computor but internet access on mobile I can now see. Numerous links to S2 chassis but have only found the Pat Prince & George Cushing drawings that give actual dimensions. Some have built their chassis with them, but others say they are riddled with inaccuracies. Some also say a Locost chassis is ao ocean away from a Lotus. I'm just going round in circles.
Found a couple of references to drawings here from Mangogrooveworkshop ( Thanks) in response to Skydivepaul's posting of a really nice Seven back in Nov. 2010. Couldn't understand how anyone - Alan B. - could see it as " a piece of s--t". It's classic British engineering. The other mention was by Bare. Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.
Is there anytěng that matches an Escort axle? The only thing I've read of is a Lada Riva.
Thanks

DavidM - 10/1/12 at 11:16 PM

The locost chassis is based on the design of the widebody westfield. The S2 Lotus chassis is completely different. The S2 Lotus used in the Prisoner was a 1500 cosworth engined car, using a Standard (car company, not std.) axle. Suspension configuration was also different to a locost and it used Triumph steering.

David

designer - 10/1/12 at 11:31 PM

Just build a car and colour it as in the series.

Bare - 11/1/12 at 03:09 AM

Take the Prince drawings and the Cushing ones and ..Find.. the errors in the prince ones There's More than few.
This IS a skill testing exercise.
IF you cannot spot the problems .. perhaps building a chassis is not for you??

Several have built from the Cushing drawings.. they are directly derived from DSK's own Frame jig... as were Princes' but the drafter on the Prince drawings was either inept or genuinely dyslexic.. as a simple explanation, lots of transposed number's and pieces.
Ron's chassis is a bit of a joke IMO Having said that, hundreds have been successfully/happily built.
Problem is that the Locost versions just look 'wrong' .
Small children spot them as 'odd' from dozens of meters away.. usually smirk if not outright laugh.. true.

snapper - 11/1/12 at 05:52 AM

Question is..........
Do you want to build a kit car that looks like an old S2 Lotus or do you want to build a replica S2 Lotus.
Big difference.


quote:

Small children spot them as 'odd' from dozens of meters away.. usually smirk if not outright laugh.. true


That's strange, all the small children that see my car say "Wow nice car Mr" and have probably never seen a real Lotus 7, they may have seen the Caterham replica but can't tell the difference.

[Edited on 11/1/12 by snapper]

D Beddows - 11/1/12 at 09:17 AM

I take it you've come across - Lotus Plans Linky

I have a full size copy of the drawings in 'Blueprint.zip' halfway down the page. Last time I tried drawing them up in CAD I seem to recall everything worked (more or less) BUT there are no suspension details and I've never come across any on the internet so you're potentially going to have an interesting time with that unfortunately..........

As said above I'd build a 'book' Locost and change one or two things to make it resemble a Lotus (eg sloping the cockpit top side rails, Ford Popular pedal box etc etc) - it's been done pretty successfully several times in the past. Whatever you do you're not going to have a S2 Lotus 7 at the end of the day anyway and with a modified Locost you'll probably actualy end up with a better car when it's finished.

Alan B - 11/1/12 at 08:28 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Hey-Guido!..............( Thanks) in response to Skydivepaul's posting of a really nice Seven back in Nov. 2010. Couldn't understand how anyone - Alan B. - could see it as " a piece of s--t". It's classic British engineering.....................


Just to clarify, and without referring back to the post in question (due to CBA) , Skydivepaul and I are good mates...so when he posts something evidently gorgeous it's quite normal for a me as a mate to respond with " a piece of s--t"

Hope that clarifies things...

Alan

[Edited on 11/1/12 by Alan B]

Hey-Guido! - 11/1/12 at 09:57 PM

Thanks for the replies; the information about the Cushing & Prince drawings was interesting. At the moment all I can view them on are my Archos 605 media player with its 4.8 '' screen and which requires zooming the image a very small section at a time so its actually quite difficult to get an idea of what's what. Nevermind.
I can appreciate the difference between building something that looks like a S2 and building a S2 replica which, in an ideal world, is what I'd like. At the end of the day it all comes down to the practical considerations of cash, time and availability of parts. If I could get the chassis/body/interior right, I might be happy with that. But that still leaves the question of what drive-train to use. Bit surprised that MX5s are being used. Basically, is it not a modern-day Elan?
Alan B. - I take your point.

mangogrooveworkshop - 12/1/12 at 12:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by D Beddows
I take it you've come across - Lotus Plans Linky

I have a full size copy of the drawings in 'Blueprint.zip' halfway down the page. Last time I tried drawing them up in CAD I seem to recall everything worked (more or less) BUT there are no suspension details and I've never come across any on the internet so you're potentially going to have an interesting time with that unfortunately..........

As said above I'd build a 'book' Locost and change one or two things to make it resemble a Lotus (eg sloping the cockpit top side rails, Ford Popular pedal box etc etc) - it's been done pretty successfully several times in the past. Whatever you do you're not going to have a S2 Lotus 7 at the end of the day anyway and with a modified Locost you'll probably actualy end up with a better car when it's finished.



Ive got drawings with both but we would have to copy them on a plan copier

D Beddows - 12/1/12 at 08:35 AM

For what your trying to achieve the only option really is a decent Ford Crossflow on twin 40's with a 5 link English Axle at the back (rather than the rather unpleasant 'A' frame affair used by Lotus and early Caterhams). For extra authenticity I'd try to use Triumph Vitesse ( aka Alford & Adler) uprights at the front, add a set of Ford Anglia steel wheels and you'll be well on your way!

What you're doing is something I seriously considered for quite a while so I wish you the best of luck with it!