We started the Locost this
morning. We rolled the car out into the sun, hooked up the battery, and with video rolling we pulled
out the choke and turned the key. The engine fired right up, or close enough, and just like that, we
brought to a semi-successful conclusion the longest and most technically challenging phase of this
entire building-a-car-from-scratch project.
The Locost ready for its first start
There wasn't much doubt the car would start, or at least no more than usual. We'd already tested
the starter, the fuel pump, and the ignition system. The only thing that would have kept it from
lighting up was a timing or carburetor problem, and we were pretty sure we'd already worked those out
last year with the donor. Still pretty exciting to have the engine running in the Locost. It sounded
great, too. Not really loud, but not so quiet that you won't be able to hear it a few blocks
away. We let the engine warm up for a bit, revved it a few times, and then shut it down.
Cooling down after its first run
In preparation for this momentous event we spent the last two days getting the choke and
throttle working, and also hooking up our temporary fuel tank. All of the parts from Moss Motors
arrived, so we were able to connect the fuel lines, which turned out to be both good and bad. The
good was, the pump delivered fuel to the carbs as soon as you turned the key. The
bad was, the carbs leaked. They leaked in the donor, too, but we thought we'd fixed
it with new O-rings. Possibly the O-rings don't take well to sitting on a shelf for a year.
To install the choke cable we had to drill a couple of holes, which wasn't too difficult except for
deciding where the choke would go. In the MGB the choke handle sits high up on the right, where it's
hard to get much leverage on it. Then, once you manage to get the choke out, you have to lock it in
place by twisting it, which jams the offset shaft against the housing. However, as the choke ages the
jam mechanism gets less effective, as for instance in the donor where the choke wouldn't stay out at
all. So you had to hold it out, and then somehow turn the key.
Properly located choke handle
To do this with the choke on the right, you had to make a crossover move with your left hand, pull
the choke out, then turn the key with your right. Awkward, and potentially embarrassing. Not a
problem for the British. They get to sit on the right, so the choke is on the left. We wanted
to do that, too—it's our car, after all—so even though we have a brand new choke cable
that locks easily in any position, we put it on the left, above the brake warning
light. That also worked well for the cable routing, avoiding the steering column and most of the
wiring under the dash.
The engine was a little out of tune when we first started it up, which was kind of a surprise since
last we knew it was running fine in the donor. We had to adjust the timing a little and the carbs a
lot, and I'm still not sure the carbs won't need overhauling again, or at least a good scrubbing with
a gallon or two of carburetor cleaner. The good thing is, they're adjusted well enough for now, and the car starts
immediately every time you turn the key, and we know this because we've been doing it a lot.
Locost idling with operating gauges semi-installed
Later in the day we managed to get the tach and temperature gauges working. The amazing thing is, the
problem turned out to be electrical, something we actually had to troubleshoot with an MGB wiring diagram
in one hand and a 12V test light in the other. Of all the many technical difficulties we've had to
overcome to get the engine running in the Locost, nothing quite compares to that one brilliant discovery of an
unplugged connector below the dash. We're happy the Locost is running, but we're most proud of figuring
out how electricty works in a car.
We need a few more parts before we can drive the car, but we also want to get the dashboard
finished up, and maybe start on the bodywork. The interior needs a few things, too. Sometime in the
next couple of days we'll figure out what we're going to do and get back to you.
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