A tiny (398kg) car that'll leave a 600 super bike behind...

Hi guys,

How are you all doing?

Not much of an update yet, but I'm going back home for a couple of days at the beginning of December to visit friends, family and of course my little 'loony-pod' car, which 'should' be drivable by then...! :D:D:D

Won't be put back on the road until spring but wow, if it's drivable even that's such a HUGE leap forward!

Will keep you updated and fingers crossed be posting good news in a couple of weeks...
 
How do you know the weight of the car? I hoped to keep my Elan below 600kg, revised this to 650kg and now just hope to keep it below 700kg.
 
Very happy to report that whilst the car isn't finished yet I have now seen significant progress when I visited the engineer yesterday...

Engine is in
LSD is in
Wheels refurbished and powder coated
New R888R tyres on
Trailing arms cut, lengthened and strengthened
Exhaust cans mocked up

As you can see from this video:

And here are a couple of pics...
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Still not running yet ☹️ but won't be long now I hope...

Next visit I'll be able to drive it (private road) and will post more updates soon. Slow progress but progress all the same.

The engineer is a keen driver/petrol head himself and he too is getting excited about seeing in finished and being able to drive it and hear it etc
 
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How do you know the weight of the car? I hoped to keep my Elan below 600kg, revised this to 650kg and now just hope to keep it below 700kg.
Hi OG,

Sorry for the delay in answering, hadn't seen your most recent post until just now.

Weight of the standard car is published on manufacturer's website beyond that it's guesswork for now, but I do intend to weigh it properly when it's finished.

Local scrapyards usually have a drive on scales for trailers etc

Sure they would be happy to oblige with weight (with/without me) print out.
 
With that much power, I recommend that you get it corner weighted in order to get the most out of it. You will also get an accurate weight, rather than an approximation from a scrap weighbridge.
 
That's a good shout!

Rear coilover shocks are going to be replaced with fully adjustable units too so it can be properly set up on a track come spring time
 
Ideally, get it set up on a flat and level surface away from the track, with you, or the equivalent weight, in the driver's seat and half a tank of fuel. This gives you your baseline. With a car this light, corner weight balance is crucial. Fine race tuning can then be done at the track, as you now have a base line that you can return to at any time. Without a baseline, it is easy to get confused once you start to make changes to suit different tracks and conditions.
 
Hi all, and a big Thank You to PeterPan for keeping everyone informed about this daring adventure! It seems it has been a while since the last update - any news yet?
 
Hi all, and a big Thank You to PeterPan for keeping everyone informed about this daring adventure! It seems it has been a while since the last update - any news yet?

Painfully slow progress it feels like at times but 15days to go until I go home next and visit the 'LoonyPod' in the car hospital....

It 'should' be ready for first drive by then! :D:D:D

Progress on other little details in the mean time, any day now I'll take delivery of a bespoke version of a Prism tacho made by Smiths just for my little car! (((Goes up to 11))) :rofl:

Found some lovely little telltale dash lights too that I'm going to use, all about little details for now.

New Smiths gauges are going to mounted onto a black plastic panel...
But, it'll actually be a sandwich of 1mm clear and 2x 3mm black so that I can seemlessly integrate the display unit from an 'io play2' (which I took to pieces) so that it disappears when the display is switched off and then magically appears through the black when illuminated...

Ah, the silly ideas you can come up with when you let your mind wander...
 
Thank you again, PeterPan!
I am actually the proud owner of a QT myself, and just like you I have been looking for ways to allow it to get the power it deserves! With your approval I would be very interested to copy some of your ideas.
Looking forward to see the story continued!
 
Thank you again, PeterPan!
I am actually the proud owner of a QT myself, and just like you I have been looking for ways to allow it to get the power it deserves! With your approval I would be very interested to copy some of your ideas.
Looking forward to see the story continued!

Fantastic news!
Are you aware of the Facebook owners club group?

Also, you might be interested in attending the first ever owners club rally in the Northwest!
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Whereabouts in the country are you?
 
I found the Facebook group, thanks again.
The rally would be fun, but it seems that I will have problems with the timing. I'll see what can be done. In the meantime I wish you all the best with your project.
 
Can somebody please reassure me that I've lost all of my marbles...
I've just totted up what my new dash has cost to put together and I'm given to wonder...

Hoping that somebody else who's seen a project of personal value through to the end and spared no expense to do so with a view to creating something really unique and special...

(Somebody, please tell me they've done the same and it was worth it please)
 
How many of my T-shirts do you want? :)
If it is what you wanted then it is worth it.
I stopped adding up the costs years ago. No point, it just scares you! :)
 
Kind of have to, it's going to be insured with an 'agreed value' so need to calculate what's been poured into it to ascertain a true replacement cost to insure the car for.

But I'd wager that once done I can blot it out with sufficient consumption of thinking juice...
 
I can't do that. I have done so many things more than once, some 4 times! so the actual spend is far more than a rebuild would be.
 
I am so bloody happy for you! :lol:

After all that you have been through with this project, to finally hear that engine start up... You must be on cloud 9 right about now. Huge congratulations to you |B
 
So... update.

Car failed it's MOT, but I've since found out that this was done deliverately.

Engineer out the car in knowing it would fail on a couple of little jobs still to do (like no front number plate, or washer bottle fitted) just to make sure that there was nothing major it would fail on.

And VERY happy to say that it only failed on the little bits that had yet to be finished (no front number plate as I'm going with stick on number plate along leading edge of the bonnet, which was just repainted yesterday).

Final tidy up jobs to be done, for LED rear lights, and new dash instruments/telltales and re-MOT

And I can collect it Friday morning!!!!!!!
 
Not sure on the logic here. If you had fitted the number plate and finished the little jobs the car would be MOT'd and you would have saved £40.
 
I may be speaking out of turn but I believe that Free are-Test (within ten days) is written in law.

No thank just something garages offer.
But engineer had paid for the MOT anyway
 

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