Not many updates since the discovery of the engine's condition, that's about to change. Dropped the engine off today at Wright Engines to start the rebuild. Bill Wright was kind enough to meet me on a weekend which was nice and convenient. Current thinking, but this may change due to budget: Bore 30 over (355) Good set of rings and Hypereutectic pistons Balance the bottom end Port & Polish the heads Cam Shaft (raise the power band very slightly) From what I've been reading, and some good advice from the boys over at www.ls1lt1.com and LT1 with these mods is good for around ~400hp, which in my 1600lbs car is bordering on lunacy. But it's fun! More to come when I hear back from Bill on the engine.

 

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.