Locost 7 - Duratec 2.5 - SOLD

FPG · July 24

Located in Lincoln, Nebraska

Asking $8,000

armen.badeer@gmail.com

Street legal - Nebraska state-assigned VIN, insured with Hagerty

Divorce is forcing sale, motivated seller
Built from scratch, not a kit car
About 1,800 miles. Not a typo. That’s the total on the chassis since construction.
Believed to be on a McSorely 442-dimension frame, maybe even a bit more elongated in the front
Chassis and body built by Bob Snow in KC, MO
I purchased it in 2015(?), got it running better with the 2.3 8v Lima engine, added seats, rollbar, belts, gauges, etc to make it roadworthy, and went through the title and registration process in Nebraska in 2017 as an “Assembled Vehicle”. After this I did the Duratec 2.5 conversion and converted it to fuel injection. This saved almost 200lbs of weight off the front of car and roughly tripled the horsepower.

Engine & exhaust

2.5l Ford Duratec engine from Ford Escape Hybrid (Had ~130k on it if memory serves)
Crower Stage 2 Camshafts
Crower valve springs
GSXR1000 ITBs
Custom ITB-Duratec adapter & 2.3-2.5 Duratec intake adapter
12.3:1 compression ratio from
Megasquirt 2 standalone fuel injection
EDIS4 electronic ignition system - triggered by MS2 for full fuel and ignition timing control via MS2.
Customized Honda S2000 exhaust header
Catalytic converter (not a typo!) and wideband O2 sensor
Large Magnaflow muffler and 90 degree tip (actually very quiet given what the car is)
Raceline wet sump low-profile oil pan from Caterham race cars in UK
Remote-mount small-block-Chevy oil filter
Front Air-oil oil cooler
550cc Bosch fuel injectors
Small Suzuki alternator custom mounted with 6-rib belt drive
191RWHP Dyno tuned (~230 FWHP)
Runs on E85 or 91 octane or any mix thereof (flex fuel sensor automatically adjusts timing and fueling based on ethanol content)

Cooling & oiling system

Large custom all-aluminum radiator
Custom coolant crossover pipe to route from back of engine
Electric puller fan on manual cockpit switch
Coolant routing is reverse flow - flows up through radiator. On E85, still runs 170 degrees on the track in 90+ ambient temperature. The harder you drive on E85, the cooler the engine gets

Driveline

Quad4Rods Duratec-T5 conversion bellhousing
Custom Hydraulic clutch slave cylinder in bellhousing
Stock Ford Ranger clutch and flywheel (very smooth and light pedal)
T5 world-class 5-speed transmission (rebuilt)
7.5” 1988 Ford Mustang (Fox body) live rear axle (open)

Suspension

Custom 4-link rear suspension with coilover shocks and panhard bar
Custom upper and lower front A-arms with coilover shocks
Ford Pinto front spindles
Every joint in the suspension is a Heim joint. There are essentially no bushings. You probably know people with a modern MINI Cooper or a Miata who say things like “my car drives like a go-cart”. This car will make you laugh uncontrollably when you hear people make statements like this, because you will realize that these people have no idea what a street-legal go-cart is actually like. But you do.
I softened the rear suspension from 150lb springs to 110 and radically improved the ride quality and the available traction (now that it will actually do some weight transfer). It will bottom out sometimes with a passenger and a full fuel load now.

Brakes

Ford Pinto front discs with Carbotech XP8 race pads
Rear ‘88 Fox Body Mustang rear drums with stock shoes
Wilwood racing master cylinders (2)
Wilwood racing brake pedal with adjustable balance bar
NO PARKING BRAKE. There are cables ziptied up on the rear axle but no handle. The previous system was a non-functional disaster so I deleted it and put it on the ‘someday’ list.

Wheels and tires

Ford 4x108mm bolt pattern
Rota 15x7 (Minilite/Panasport replica) wheels
Toyo Proxes R888R tires (good tread, but older, always stored indoors)

Steering

Ford Pinto front spindles and disc brakes
Custom upper and lower A-arms
Fox Body Ford Mustang steering wheel, column, rack

Interior

Kirkey 15-inch aluminum “Drag” seats with covers
Driver’s seat on a slider, passenger seat fixed
Both seats can have rake adjusted by removing and re-mounting brackets
Raw available width between the frame is 18” for driver and passenger
Lots of legroom and the rollbar is built very tall - most drivers up to 6’2”+ have fit fine, as long as they are relatively thin - more than a ~36” waist, or large thighs are a problem in the Kirkey buckets.
5-point racing harnesses. Dated December 2022.
VDO gauges - fuel level gauge not working consistently - E85 seems to dissolve the Speedway fuel level senders. Voltmeter is flaky as well.
Vintage Air compact heater assembly under scuttle with heater controls. This is really quite pointless, and I regret spending the money, effort, and weight on it. If it’s cold, you don’t want to drive this car. If it’s not cold, you’ll have plenty of heat from the engine, exhaust, and everything else. But it is there and works!
Glovebox with 2 CUPHOLDERS. Yep, it has 2 cupholders. Basically a luxury car.
Cell phone holder (because my cell phone is also my lap timer). See, luxury car!

Body

Hand-rolled aluminum and fiberglass (nose, scuttle, rear fenders)
Rear deck and center console are hardwood with spar urethane finish
Fresh paint June of 2024 - “Massey-Ferguson Red” from Tractor Supply. Single-stage catalyzed paint, does have some orange peel to be sure, could be wet sanded and buffed out if you’re into that sort of thing.
It’s a “good from 15 feet” car, hopefully you’ll be running it hard enough that no one will have time to get much of a look at it anyway! It gets a LOT of attention on the street - it did before in the dark green and it REALLY does now in red.

Youtube Videos with more build details - on “Flawless Plan Garage” YT channel

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP3aitxrtwH3S006CzW6HRPIm9QKDoeun&feature=shared

More photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sEbEiwuhxk9pbRjx8