My Locust kit car reuild

[Dave]

Hi all, I decided that this would be a good place to have a forum dedicated to our project Locust kit car rebuild. Regular updates can be found here: www.cossie.davenewell.co.uk . Well there will be semi regular updates once I get round the FTP problems we're currently experiencing.

If any other users have an interest in kit cars, or any kind of specialist cars then feel free to open a new thread in this section.

Cheers, D.

[Dave]

A brief resume: I bought the Locust from my local breakers yard back in May/June (I think) for the princely sum of £150 minus engine gearbox and steering rack plus lots of other detail stuff. Then I thought "what engine shall I put in it?" and quickly decided it needed to be something a bit out of the ordinary, a few days nosing round the interweb gave me the solution............. a 2.9 litre, 24 valve, Cosworth V6! Why not?

So I perused Ebay (which is rapidly turning into my parts department) for a few days and finally got a 1990 Cosworth Granada with 8 months MOT and a knackered slushbox for £361 and it drove back from Preston to Telford at 70MPH giving 32MPG to boot! 60K miles genuine and with a full service history in the glove box. This car was so good that my father ran it for a couple of weeks until his new car was ready for him to collect mid June.

Over the next four months the Granny got stripped down and finally the shell went to the crusher in October. I spent hundreds of hours grinding the workshop floor flat (a century old foundry concrete floor so it was bloody rough) and repainting it with pale grey epoxy floor paint so that we have a pleasant and clean working environment. Then about a month ago I had a huge sort out and dug the Locust out of its corner and got it up onto trestles so we could work on it. We had a great Sunday taking it all apart down to the bare chassis ready for the rebuild.

If anyone has any comments on this project then please feel free to post them in here.

D.

The Locust, pretty much as bought.

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[nowtelse2do]

Hi Dave.
Thanks for the directions of the MMM forum. I thought the project had gone on the back burner, must have missed your website, anyway glad to see it is still in progress. When are you hoping for a finishing date (or trying for a finishing date) It looks as though it's coming on well. Didn't know you had named it, I was going to suggest 'The Tweat' or something close to that, because i bet that is what it's been called a few times eh!! Anyway good luck and looking forward to the end result.

Dave

[Dave]

Hi Dave and welcome to our little corner of the web. I'd love to have it done for this summer but very doubtful and probably not at all realistic, probably better to aim for Summer 2011. Its coming on quite well now, this afternoon I've been working on the front lower wishbones. I'm using the Haynes book "Build your own sports car on a budget" for guidance although while that uses Sierra donor parts mine is obviously Granada.

D.

[Dave]

Minor update:

Over the last couple of weeks I've made up all the wishbones for both the front and rear suspension. over the last week I've got the nearside front suspension assembled and fitted and this afternoon I've managed to get the offside fitted up as well. Planning to do a couple of hours tomorrow to get the front end finished (all bar fitting the coil over shocks) and maybe even get the steering connected. Then I'll have a rolling chassis

Update to follow this week on www.cossie.davenewell.co.uk including photos.

D.

[nowtelse2do]

Hello Dave.
Still working hard on the Dragon eh! Son in law blew his Sierra 4x4 up a couple of weeks ago, he had a cossie engine that he had hiding in his garage, so he dropped it into the Sierra. Its now RWD talk about drifting it, it reminds me of Woodcote Corner in the 60's, brings a on to my face. Brings back lots of memories.
Dave

[Dave]

Hi Dave, sadly I haven't had time to work on the Dragon recently and probably won't get a chance till late August. your son's Sierra sounds like fun.

D.