20 June 2000 – Took a day off work, as the chassis has arrived from Queensland, but is at the back of the container, and won’t be unpacked until late at night – but I ended up with plenty to do, as my father cut his thumb of with a circular saw, so much of the day was taken up traveling back and forth between Perth and Mandurah – the micro surgeon took some digi-pics during the op … watch this space. Last night of welding course, spent all night on shortened sump.....

21 June 2000 – 6am (they said the truck depot opens this early, and I held them to it!) collected the chassis from Malaga 70km round trip, it fitted on my 6x4 trailer (just) – of course the guys there asked ‘what is it?’, I had described in the Aussie Vanlines as ‘metal frame’, and Kevin had labels all over it saying ‘danger electrical goods’. (Pictures to follow when film developed).

July 2000 - myself and Perry still trying to arrange trip to Jamie Guard to discuss chassis, and our Locost projects, started 'trial fitting' items to chassis, see pics:

I then checked how well the Cortina wheels fitted, as there is an opinion that the offset might cause a problem, and that 'Escort' wheels are required.

Luckily it appears that these Delta Chrome 13 inch wheels fit, although with only 25 mm clearance to the trailing arms, but the bolt heads don't foul the tyres. The tyres in the pictures are 185/75, it looks like the 205/60s I was hoping to use may be too wide.

I also tried out the rear axle for fit, check out the entry to the tunnel, plenty of room here:

The tank was such a perfect fit, you can see the relationship between 'Locost' and Westfield.

By 'perfect' I mean tight…the VL Commodore fuel pump, came with a nice bracket that also holds the pressure dampner and rubber insulated mountings etc, but trying to cram it in here was going to mean ditching much of the bracketry.

Heres the Toyota handbrake in the bracket Kevin fitted into the tunnel, it even takes the plastic grommet.

The seats are stronger and more comfortable than they look. Although they are used on the road in Queensland, I may have some probs with ADR 3 over here. I think if I bolt the seat 'back' to the chassis behind the seats it should be deemed to comply with ADR 3.

Then went on to trial fit the shock absorbers, to determine the best location for the top bracket, Kevin supplied these loose. In these views the shock absorber is partly dismantled, with the spring sitting loose.

The top shock mount will be held in place with pop-rivets, much easier than welding, and almost as strong….. just joking, these will hold the bracket in place until I weld them. Some engineers ask for additional bracing at this location. I also pop riveted the brake line brackets. Some of the other Locost builders in Perth have offered to do some welding, or it can wait 'til next semester of my welding course (1 August).

17 July 2000 Liam and myself took chassis to Engineer (Jamie Guard Replicars) and met up with Perry Lucas - in WA chassis has to pass 4000 Nm/degree on torsion bending test, unfortunately my chassis was designed to pass around 2600Nm as would apply in QLD. Jamie had a copy of Ron Champion's Book and is developing a set of plans to modify the chassis to pass the test. The plans cost $250, I suppose you balance the price against a series of 'inspections' @$70/hour, and possibly failing the test. Perry Liam and myself ordered a set of plans - looks like some serious welding will be required before assembly. Chatted with Perry and Liam for ages outside Replicars, tried Perry's 'wide' nosecone on the chassis - perfect fit...

24 July 2000 The carport is in chaos...... Locost parts everywhere - domestic harmony is a bit stretched. Perry offered me the use of his workshop, the original plan to just paint the chassis and assemble everything in the carport has been delayed after the first engineering inspection, because more chassis/structural welding will be required, it will be a while to the 'rolling chassis' stage. Trailered the chassis and some bits to Perry's workshop.

13 August 2000 - not much progress while the chassis is at Perry's, only been over twice, used the magna-fold at TAFE to make some Ali side panels,the front side panels (Fig 12.9 in the book) need modification so that the circular holes match your own suspension setup. Found a Triumph steering Uni-joint, cost $10, was from a '2000', which is probably the same as a '2500', the splines match the Escort rack, and lower column (apparently the same uni-joint is on TR6s). Cut the front 'third' collapsable bracket off Toyota column, it's not neccesary, and would probably be in the way - painted the bracket and steering uni-joint orange....

September to November 2000 

Liam (another Locost builder offered me the use of his excellent workshop, and to do some of the difficult welding - an offer to good to refuse. First of all I trial fitted some parts in the carport at home: I had tack welded some of the brackets on, like the radiator:
Here is a shot of my own design headlamp brackets:
.... and my own design 'rear bumper/spare wheel holder', a 32mm galvanised pipe (bent at welding class), with two bits of exhaust pipe tacked to the chassis for mountings: another job I had to get done, was having the floor swaged, the engineer asked for this to stop the floor 'drumming' - make sure the workshop you go to has the gear to swage 'thick' (1.6mm steel), the one I used didn't and had to re-do each groove, took ages, and cost $200 (ouch).

Then in early September, I packed the lot up and trailered it to Liam's house in Hillary's (about 60 km north of Kelmscott). and we got to work: I was on holidays, and didn't have the company car, so i had a long bus and train trip each day for a couple of weeks.... The fun really started when we put the engine in: First it had to be trailered up to Liam's:
, then we used his block and tackle to do a 'trial fit':
. ...And believe it or not, the 4A-GE does fit:.... but it was a tight fit around the throttle body and master cylinder, we removed a few of the 10(!) or so brass vaccuum-type tubes. The workshop manual refers to the important ones, the others will be discretely 'plugged'.
Next we welded in the gearbox mount, using the original Toyota pressed steel part as a basis: .
Then we boxed it in with some strip steel - it ain't goin nowhere:.
As the local engineer has his own modifications, I had to cut out some of Mick's magnificent TIG welding, and weld in new bracing to satisfy 'the powers that be': This is my crappy tack done with my 130 amp MIG, Liam finished this welding for me, using his big 190amp unit. As our engineer wants the inside and outside to be panelled in Ali, the wiring, brakes and fuel must go thru' the tunnel - he has asked for a false floor tunnel, to use his design would have meant a heap of changes, so I 'emulated' his design with extra 20mm tubes on the tunnel top: . As well the floor, and seat back were welded in, extra tubes to hold the fuel tank, the folded 1.6mm sheet steel 'box' the engineer required to support the steering rack, and engine mounts - as usual this all took longer than expected, and more welding wire, gas (and even contact tips) than expected (i.e. over budget... again!). Here are the engine mounts, one is a standard toyota item, modified to allow the oil cooler to be used. Here is the 20mm RHS used in the front of the chassis to replace the round tubes: Eventually it was time to trailer the chassis home:
Around this time, I started a small business as the W.A. agent for Leitch kit cars, with all the time and research I've put into this 'hobby', I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get a return. If this all this Locost stuff looks too hard, have a look at the Leitch cars.
Next step was to get the chassis sandblasted, to get rid of the rust, provide a good surface to paint, and to remove welding dags; Here is the Locost chassis at Kelmscott Sandblasting, in fine company (XP Falcon Hardtop, Falcon Coupe and Holden One-tonner, for the 'for-rayners'). Note the colour of the chassis - matt grey, I thought it would be shiny, like steel, but the blasting 'roughens' the surface.
Here I am 'cold-galvanising' the chassis ... but it was about 40 degrees Celcius, nothing cold about it. Also note the high level of personal protective safety equipment required for this process. Cold galvanising is just a form of Zinc rich (93%Zn) paint, it is very heavy & goes on quite thick, used again to prevent rust, and to disguise some of my ugly welds.
After the Cold galv, I applied etch primer, then hammer finish grey paint. Hammer finish covers up scratches and lumpy welds. This painting continued through Xmas and New Year, I kept finding bits that I missed!
I January, I started fitting the aluminium. I used some old posters from work to make templates - here is the top of the tunnel: and a trial fit of the the side panels: . On 27 January 2001, nine local Locost builders/schemers had a meeting at McDonalds South Perth - we didn't get a hot breakfast, but decided to form a club - watch this space.

LAST ENTRY: 6 February 2001 - needed a full day off work to rivet, fold and bond the ali side panels on. Engineer requires inside AND outside to be ali skin, for strength. I used Avdel steel aviation rivets (Liam said don't use hardware shop rivets - they will break and leave 'heads' rolling up and down the inside of the frame tubes), also Sikaflex to bond the ali to the frame. Sikaflex is the mother of all 'no-more-nails' (actually it's nothing like it, but does a similar job). Decided to paint the front steel panel to 'look' like ali - the panel is mostly hidden so should look OK (paint is Galmet Duragal - used to prime stuff while welding, dries in 6 minutes). Pics to follow