notakit

Thanks for the advice Mike! I looked over my frame thinking where all that engine heat was going to go and as you already know, the answer is the rear wheel wells via the trans tunnel. We have more cold weather in central Oregon than warm, much less hot so other than wrapping the header I'm planing on using the heat source to my advantage. This may change. I DO like your idea of insulating the tunnel! At the risk of sounding vain, the main reason I want to skin the underside is not as much for aerodynamics but because it looks sexy! Especially below the fuel tank. The early series have an upward curvature behind the rear axle and when left unskinned, exposes the tank. I'll post some pictures soon. Mike

Greetings 7's people! "75TwinCam" suggested I share what I'm building with USA7s so I just signed up and thought I'd leave a post. My project started a year ago while I while looking for a Bug-eye Sprite. Even the worst rust-buckets were out of my budget so I picked up Ron Champion's "How to Build a Sports Car" book. At first I was inspired to build a "Locost 7" but the more I researched the original Lotus 7 the more I realized the Locosts and the "kits" have eliminated the original 7's curves. I felt the straight lines make them look well, low cost so I gave up on the whole Locost idea and decided to build something closer to Colin Chapman's original design. I found several sets of old "blue prints" floating around the internet and after entering them into my cad program came up with what I consider a frame that is 95% of a 1960 series II frame. No two Lotus' I've ever seen are the same so I'm not too concerned about the few changes on my car. The bottom line is I'm keeping it simple; no macho engine, no big tires. I don't even plan on installing a heater, wipers or fuel gauge although they could be added later. What I'm hoping to complete by this July 4th ( I cut the first five tubes last July 4th) is basically a 1960 Lotus 7, Series 2A. My "donor" car was a wrecked 1971 MG Midget which came with the later, larger 1275 BMC A motor. That motor was first produced in 1964 but wasn't used in any Lotus until 1966. Although I am using an original front anti-roll bar I will build my upper arms to accommodate the MG's front hubs to minimize the "frankencar" factor. Other than that, My car is very close to 1960 specs; 13" wheels, 5 link rear suspension fiberglass nose. I plan on "skinning" the entire underside of the car like the Series 1 unless there is an overheating issue around the engine compartment. If my transmission tunnel acts like a radiant heater I'll remove the skin under the engine compartment. Other 'Minor" changes include a removable spare tire mount, stronger mounting points for the rear radius arms and a slight radius in the dashboard's lower crossbar. I thought this looked nice and tied the 1" crossbar into the stronger 1" risers on each side. The gearshift clearance remains the same as original. My current challenge is the rear fenders. The series 2 came with fiberglass rear fenders with a flat profile. I really like the round profile from the series 1 fenders but at $1200 each in aluminum, I am going to build my own from modified steel motorcycle rear fenders or use said motorcycle fenders to build fiberglass bucks, and build my own series 1 fenders out of fiberglass. I just prefer the humble look and classic curves of the '57-59 Lotus 7. The only thing that resembles a seven here in Central Oregon is a 240hp supercharged Brunton that in my opinion, resembles a squashed T-bucket more than a Lotus 7 and the competitive part of me is hoping my project will be on the road before his! I'd like to keep in touch and compare notes with more 7's people! I'll post some progress pictures once I figure out how. Thanks again 75TwinCam for contacting me and passing along the usa7's link! -Mike