January 11, 2012

  Instant Locost Frame -- just add welding

We're starting to get a little bit frustrated with our limited work space. Welding should be underway by now, since all of the tubes are cut and ready to go, but we have to dismantle the donor first, and we don't actually have the donor yet, in part because we don't have room in the garage for it. Which means we have a bunch of clean-up work to do before we can get back to working on the Locost. Bummer. We do love those online build logs where the Locost is sitting in the middle of a huge barn or a giant warehouse, tons of space everywhere around it. It all looks so easy.

Most of the junk in the garage is brand new stuff we haven't even taken out of the cardboard boxes yet. There's also some track gear, plus a collection of Miata parts. The rest is tires. Not too long ago we had eight sets of tires, a total of 32 mounted on wheels, all stacked in the garage. We're now down to 3 sets, which is better but not great. We bought a wall-mounted rack that'll hold one of those sets, but the rack is still in its cardboard box.

Locost Goes Here  

The corner of the garage designated for the yet-to-be-assembled work bench and welding table is crammed full of stuff that has to be moved into one of the spare bedrooms. First, though, we have to make room in the spare bedroom. Once the garage is cleared out, we have to assemble everything, then hang the new tire rack to get some of the tires off the floor. Then we have to stick the wood frame somewhere, I'm thinking on the ceiling, then find some additional corners for dismantled donor parts, including wheels and tires. It's a challenge.

Not that the Locost project is confined strictly to the garage. I have a small office in the house where I sometimes work from home, and this has now become a good place to store parts, spare metal, nuts and bolts, and completed Locost assemblies where they're safe from the elements and possibly less likely to get lost. Although not guaranteed.

We're still working on the rear suspension brackets and a few other steel pieces, but that's just stalling. We have to start moving stuff out of the garage this weekend. We won't count the time we spend on this in our build hours, but it's bound to have an impact on the schedule. We can't start the frame, or even construct a build table, as long as the donor's in the garage. So welding could be a month away. Bummer.

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