Haven't posted these pictures yet, so here they are.  Car is effectively complete minus some paint and some tweaks to things like the air intake.

 

Went to the MTO today with everything I needed to get my VIN.  The first step in getting my car legal for the road.  This isn't going to be as easy as I had hoped.

Everything I've done is based on this:  http://www.canadianrodder.com/features/fyi/registering.htm

Today started off with a trip to the lawyer to get my Affidavit/Declaration done.  This was pretty painless.  Wrote everything up, I signed it, they stamped it. Done.

I then directly to the MTO (Square One location in Mississauga) to get my VIN.  First issue.  The person helping me has never done this but he knows it can be done, just not sure how.  Other person in the office said she hasn't had anyone in 3 years ask her to register a "Kit Car" and she can't remember what the process is.  Fan-freaking-tastic.

They call Kingston, where MTO main office is, they talk for a while and agree to fax over everything I've brought in so Kingston can look at it.  I have a seat and wait for 30 minutes while they do this.  They come back asking for a Declaration of Origin on my engine.  Not something, according to the URL above, that I need.  They don't know where I can get such a declaration, they simply want it.  Considering I bought the '94 Camaro engine from a scrap yard that thought it was a '96, I don't think the scrap yard will be any help whatsoever.  They seem to think the engine is new, even though I keep telling them it is used and from a scrap yard in Michigan. 

I talked to them a little longer trying to explain that the engine is used, and I don't believe I need such a declaration.  All I get is a "Kingston said" response.  After talking to the more senior official at the local office it was agreed they would take copies of my paper work, and look into it and call me.  It's currently 6pm and they haven't called me.

That's where things sit now.  I'm sure that if I had an MTO official that has dealt with kit cars before, I wouldn't have to go through this bureaucratic hell, but that's where I am.  If anyone knows of someone at the MTO with more experience in such things I'd love a contact name and number.

Argh.  This is going to take much longer than I imagined.  *sigh*

Lokar's "Midnight Series" floor mount emergency brake handle, the last thing needed on the "let's get this street legal list."  Also ordered the cable set and the boot.  Got this locally at Horton HotRod Parts. First time dealing with them and so far they're great.  Cost was similar to ordering from the US when you take into account shipping etc.  Will deal with them again.

 Finally I've started to think about how to cover some of the interior aluminum.  I think I'm going to get either a carbon fiber or leather looking pleather vinyl to apply to the trans tunnel and dash.  At a minimum.  Might consider a little more but I doubt it.

Still need to find somewhere that I can get this sucker weighed up near Meaford. *sigh* 

 

I posted about this a few months ago now.  Various ideas for a grill floating around in my head, then I saw the picture below.

My grill is now done, and this is what it looks like, something still needs to be figured out for the air intake.

 

Starts with no problems at all. 11 Months to get to this point. 

What remains to get the beast mobile:

• VIN From MOT
• Emergency Brake Handle and Cable
• Tires that will pass saftey
• Saftey
• Insurance
  

That's about it to get it rolling on the street.  Much more work to be done to get the beast looking good, starting with a hood scoop for the big air intake.

 

I've started to shop for insurance, let me tell you, this isn't easy.  Ontario seems to be a particularly nasty province when it comes to insurance.  The insurance company that insures my Ford Edge won't have anything to do with a "kit" car.  Poking around on the net has so far only sent me to State Farm.  I happen to be insured with State Farm for home insurance, so I was thinking this was going to be painless, I was wrong.  They will insure the Locost but at a very high premium.  It will require moving my Ford Edge to State Farm, that alone has a premium of $2000/year over my current insurance.  The Locost is then insurable at a rate that makes the Ford look cheap.  When all is said and done insuring the Locost for 6 months of the year will cost me $4156, that price takes into account the premium involved for the Edge. Considering I'll only drive it 20 or so times per year, on "Sunny Sundays", that becomes an expensive proposition.

My State Farm agent at first had no idea about kit cars, said it's never been asked before and that they don't do it.  I had to press that I've read that State Farm does do it, please ask.  Turns out that, as with everything, each agency has their speciality and specific knowledge, mine doesn't know kits, even though they got me a price.  Some poking at Google I learned that each State Farm is independantly owned.  Some more digging and I just so happen to have stumbled across an agent that's done work with Kit Cars in the past.  However the problem I'm now facing is that agent can't talk to me without talking to my current State Farm agent first.  I won't reveal the agents name until that hurdle is crossed, hopefully that will be today.

The story continues and I'll update this blog post once I know more...

Update:  The State Farm agent I mentioned above, talked to my actual agent to educate them on kit cars.  This helped which saw State Farm's rates drop, slightly.  Unfortunately due to internal State Farm policies the other State Farm agent couldn't bid on the business.  If you're looking for insurance for your kit car in Ontario, do yourself a favour and give Laura Mather of State Farm Waterloo a call, you can reach her via her website at www.lauramather.com.  She's very knowledgable on insurance for kit cars and truely offers some of the best customer service I've seen in the insurance industry.  Unfortunately if you're already a State Farm customer you'll be forced to use whatever agent you currently are using.  As I discovered, they're not all as knowledgable on the kit car side of things as Laura is.

While all the above was playing out with State Farm, I was recommended a broker by the name of Dalton Timmis Insurance Group.  They've come back with what looks like my best option. One year policy with fire/theft available in the "off season" and full collision durring the summer.  This would work out to a little more than $200/month.  Not exactly cheap but far less than what State Farm's revised quote was.  The killer with State Farm was the need to move ALL my insurance to them.  They were still $2000/year more for my "daily driver" than I currently pay.  Dalton Timmis has come back with a facility insurer that has no such restrictions.  I can insure just the Locost with them, and that's it. 

The only unknown with the above, which I'm waiting for clarification on, is if I can start the insurance now and cancel the full coverage in October.  Initially it was 6 month minimum, with no fire/theft in the "off season" but this now seems to have changed.  What I don't know is if 6 months for full coverage is the minimum.  Ideally I'd like to get the car insured in the next couple of weeks so I can drive it on the street before the short summer slips away.  That might not be a possibility, and may have to wait until next year. Will find out shortly.

I still find $200/month to drive a car 15-20 times per year crazy, but what can I do?   Not driving it isn't exactly an option.  I have one more facility insurer that's looking into this for me.  We'll see how that pans out.

On the home stretch now.  I suspect we'll have the car running in the next 3 weeks.  I actually bought spark plugs today!  That's how close things are.  Was up visiting the car on the weekend.  Paul (not me but my friend Paul who I mention in the "about" page of my blog) has made some amazing progress.  The electrics are 99% done.  Lights work, turn signals, brake lights, all work.  The Koso gauge boots up and does it's tach check and I can cycle through the menus.  Few things here need to be done still, speed sensor needs to be installed and the oil pressure gauge senders aren't going to work with the engine so I'll have to source somethin. Fuel lines are plumbed and the drive shaft is installed.  Paul saved me a bunch of money on that drive shaft, manged to put together parts, saving a $500 custom drive shaft.  I bought O2 sensors, IAT sensor, the plug wires and plugs.  New optispark is in the mail.  So with any luck when I get back from vacation in a couple weeks I'll be heading straight up north to plug my laptop into the engine and help Paul get it running.  I can't wait!

Don't let this progress fool you though.  We're FAR from actually being done.  Once the car can roll under its own power it means all the suspension, brakes and steering get their first real work out.  As is typical with a custom built car, things might change.  Spring rates, shocks, brake pads, bias, are all easy, but if the suspension geometry needs tweaking that means more work.  Fun work, because it means the car needs to be driven to find the flaws.  Once everything is dialed in, then the actually finishing progress can start.  That means cleaning up the over all look of the car.  I've got a few ideas, but I'll leave that for another blog post.

Some pictures to show off below.  Sorry for the quality, forgot my camera, so had to make do with the 1MP camera on my Blackberry.

 

 

Various progress.  As you can see in the picture the switches are all wired, and the headlights are done.  You'll notice I just ended up using toggle type switches in place of the fancy waterproof ones I wanted.  I simply couldn't find a supplier that could get me the switches I wanted.  So just recycled the switches from FrankenMini which is a more affordable option too.  The gauges also have been partially hooked up, the speed and fuel sender will prove to be a little more difficult, but nothing too complicated.

 

 

I've bought a new clutch for the engine, the old one was toast.  Surprising considering the engine only had 60k miles on it.  I think this engine has been quite abused. Guess that's what you get for buying from a junk yard. Nothing that can't be fixed. 

The engine is really the last thing that needs worked on and a drive shaft needs to be measured and ordered.  Aside from that, nothing much is needed.  I can taste the first drive.

 

Quick update, headers are done.  Notice in the second picture that the header goes up and over the steering shaft.  This makes it easier to work on things, don't have to pull the steering out to get the headers out.

I've finally got the front turn signals, and the fuel pump.  More to come.

 

 

 

 

I've been trying to think of an idea for the grill on the front of the car.  Traditional 7's have a number 7, like the picture at left.  That's fine and traditional, but Brutus is anything but traditional.  So my original thoughts was a "V8" but that just seemed too simple.  Then yesterday a post on Autoblog gave me a great idea. 

You see I've always had this thing for spiders.  I've got a tattoo of a spider in a web, when I was in my teens I use to wear an earring that was a spider, the shift knob for my new 2002 MINI Cooper S (since sold), was a engraved with a spider web.  At one point even the MINI itself was covered with spider webs.  That was a little much though.  That's a longer story, but the jist goes like this. 

I was once on a TV show called "Tuner Transformation" where they take your car and "tune" it but without the owner knowing what it is they're doing.  If you saw the episode, well, you'll remember me.  Long story short, they saw the spider web engraved Whalen Shift Machine I had made and made the obvious conclusion that I had a thing for spiders and webs.  So they "tuned" the car, AND covered it in a big web-like decal on the sides, roof, everywhere.  It did look cool, and if I was 16 I would have kept it in a heart beat, but I was 31 at the time! So I had it removed.

As for the shift knob, custom piece called a Whalen Shift Machine. I intend to make an adaptor for this knob to fit to the T56 transmission of Brutus.

So I have a thing for spiders and an idea for a grill, doesn't really take a genius to figure out what I'm up to. A grill that looks like a spider web.  Like the picture at right.  I would use the BrutusV8 logo you see at the top of this website in the center, in place of the Harley emblem you see here.  I've already found a place to make such a logo in acrylic covered vinyl.  All in all it should look very slick. Start with a frame that fit inside the opening at the front of the car and then made the webbing from 1/8 or 3/16 steel rod with the webs bent over a fixture to get a uniform arc. I'll place some screen material behind it to keep smaller stones/rocks out of the radiator, but this fits and sort of adds to the uniqueness of the car.  Bonus is, the entire car isn't covered in webs.

 

 

 

Haven't updated in a while, things are progressing. Down to the point that we're starting to make lists and cross off what remains. Effectively what remains at this point is engine and electrics. Some of the wiring has been roughed in, but for the most part much remains to be done in that regard.

Since my last update the brakes were finished. Using Wilwood 4 piston calipers in front with a 11.75 rotor, single piston Outlaw in the back also with a 11.75 (non vented) rotor. Willwood pedal assembly with balance bar. Emergency brakes are Wilwood spot calipers. Just need to get them cabled up to the handle, some to think of it I need to order the handle.

So the next step is the electrics. Trying to find switches I actually like. Was going to us Carling Switches, toggles with legends, but no one stocks the ones I want. So I'm going to go with similar toggles from www.wiringproducts.com - They're cheap,

 

but I've never dealt with this company. They have sealed rockers, with LEDs, which I'm going with. Once I double check they've got the throws/poles I need. 5 switches total plus key switch for starting.

Headers are being fabricated right now, which will take some time. I'm just going to use a cheap set of Magnaflow mufflers, 2.5" inlet/outlet with a 3" glass packed can. It will be loud, I'll add a second on each side if needed.

Something I'm still waiting for is the fuel pump I ordered. 8 Weeks ago! Warning: www.expressfuelpumps.com are unreliable. They told me last week it was shipping and my tracking number still shows that no package has actually left. ARGH!

Here's some pictures of the brakes, etc:

 

Nice shot of the red caliper peeking out from under the black wheels.   

Front calipers and rotors and machined brackets: 

 Rear-end with brakes, and spot calipers:

 

Haven't updated the blog in a while, another post will follow this one with an update on current progress. 

First let me start with a problem I'm dealing with.  I ordered a Walbro fuel pump from www.ExpressFuelPumps.com  on March 25th.  I've yet to received the pump, that's over 7 weeks.  I order stuff from the US all the time.  This can happen, it gets delayed or whatever.  But that's usually 4-5 weeks, not 7!  I emailed them back on May 7th, to get some info on my order.  They never emailed me back.  I tried their phone number today but it rang and then went fast busy.  I've emailed them again today and started a PayPal dispute process, to see if I can get my pump, or my money refunded.  Hopefully www.expressfuelpumps.com will see this blog post and do the right thing.  This level of customer service is apalling.

Something else that is concerning.  Express Fuel Pumps has 14% negative feedback on Ebay and 11% neutral in the last 12 months.  That's pretty bad from my experience of vendors on Ebay.  Most of the complaints stem from long shipping delays.  I wish I had looked into that before making my purchase.

Until this is resolved I've got to recommend that people stay away from Express Fuel Pumps (www.expressfuelpumps.com).  There are many other vendors out there. 

I'll update this post if they fix the situation.

[update May 19th, 2008] The folks at Express Fuel Pumps called me.  They've send me a shipping confirmation.  Apparently there was an ownership change with the company.  They also threw in the installation kit.  Good on them.  Let's hope everything arrives this week. 

[update June 15th, 2008] The fuel pump finally arrived.  I can't say that service was great, obviously but I did eventually get what I ordered, it took 2.5 months though.

 

I get asked "What exactly is a Locost/Lotus 7 anyway?" all the time when talking to people about this project.  So what exactly is a Lotus Seven or Locost?  People know Lotus through their range of modern supercars, Esprit, Exige, Elise, etc.  When they think Lotus they think supercar.  They also then take a double take when you explain you're building a "Lotus 7."  People hear "Lotus" and think supercar and one couldn't possibly build such a thing in their garage.  So to explain what a Locost is one must start with the history of the Lotus Seven.

The Lotus Seven was build by Lotus between 1957 and 1972 and was designed by Colin Chapman.  Lotus pioneered various engineering techniques, and the designs of Chapman were known for their light weight.  Lotus philosophy is one of performance through low weight and simplicity.  Effectively if you take weight away from the car you won't need as much power for the same performance.  The Lotus 7 is the embodiment of that philosophy.  At the end of the Lotus Seven production run Caterham Cars bought the rights to the Seven design.  Today Caterham Cars is still building Sevens that can trace their roots back to the original car that Capman built.  Obviously the design has evolved, using modern materials, but the overal design is still unmistakable.

Ok, so we now know what a Lotus Seven or Caterham Seven is.  So what is a Locost?  Simple.  A Locost is simply a home-build clone of the original Seven.  Typically a Locost is build using a doner car, the Miata being the most common in North America, with the Sierra being the typical doner in the UK.  The original designs for a Locost can trace themselves back to Ron Champion's book Build your own sports car for as little as £250.  Since that book many others have been written, but the original Ron Champion book is still in high demand, even though it's been out of print for years.  

Surrounding home builders has been a cottage industry of vendors making various parts and in many cases entire kits.  In the case of Brutus, the design is based on a combination of Champion, Tiger and McSorley as a basis for ideas.  At the end of the day however Brutus is a unique vehicle, much like all Locosts.  These are the ultimate cars for self expression, you can build them on a serious budget, £250 back in the day, or spend much much more on full turn-key premanufactured kits.

So there you have it, the definition of a Locost.  At the end of the day I can't really say that Brutus is truely representative of Chapman's "add lightness"  philisophy.  Current weight in puts Brutus at 1900lbs, without driver.  That's VERY heavy for a car like this.  Some reason are simple, we used 1.5" tubing where the "book" design calls for 1" and we used thicker wall aluminum panels, as well the car has a full roll cage.  The biggest contributor out of this will also be the size of the car itself.  Being that I'm 6'3" and 220lbs there is no way my body would fit in a traditional Locost.  As well the extra size was needed to fit the V8 engine.  Much of this extra weight has a great side benefit, the chasis won't "tire" as easily with a high torque V8 under the hood.  At the end of the day 300hp and 2000lbs is still a damn scary fast car, and nothing is stopping me from tuning the stock engine to make well over 400hp!   Sometimes "Adding lightess" just doesn't make sense, sorry Colin, I know you're rolling in your grave.

Here are some of the most recent pictures:

Yes, my hands can touch the ground when I'm sitting in the car.

 Headlights, after all this beast is going to be street legal.  The turn signal indicators will go directly under the lights.