Locost: Build your own sports car in two and a half minutes

[jdmjunkie1020]

How would a 6'2 230 pound fit in there

[oetzi0000]

you, mister, are intelligent!

[TheCheesyProductions]

Nice. It is a low cost smaller caterham 500

[ho33es]

this video brings me a lot of joy, somehow. I sure hope one day soon to experience all that. Congratulations.

[oaney]

lol usually when you have a baby the wife makes you sell your toys, not let you build new ones. your a lucky guy!

[sasuke1191]

awesome baby, awesome song

[magna59]

Great vid.....what next .......twins & a light home build aircraft ?

[azuritet3]

So... your car is powered by babies?

[Ace011mm]

Excellent work! But,$5700?? This is not "locost"!!

[Drew7321]

@Ace011mm Lowcost compared to a manufactured vehicle of similar specs.

[lumker]

That's a pretty neat car! I was thinking about doing a Locost project in the near future, is it possible to use a Acura RSX motor and set it up as a RWD?

Also, what kind of metal tubing did you use for this? And would you recommend this for a beginning welder?

[gwellwood]

@lumker Thanks! I have not looked into the RSX motor, so I cannot answer that. I used mostly 1" 16ga square tube. Whether this project is good for a beginner or not depends on who the beginner is. Some folks take to welding really well, others - not so much. If you aren't a good welder now, you will be by the time you are done.

[mechanicalkid]

Well done!! Where did you buy the front shocks?

[gwellwood]

@mechanicalkid They are cheapie Monroe rears for a '75 'Vette. I welded a ring at the base to hold the AFCO coilover sleeves.

[Sgt671]

haha thats pretty cherry little car you build my man! =]

[GamseForPc]

Nice Job man < Love it

[SHTFzombies]

@gwellwood someone is sour since they cannot build a cool car ;)

[tornadostorm18]

:20 Did that come with a warranty? I hear they are expensive. lol

[gwellwood]

@tornadostorm18 Yeah, I'm finding that out. I'm getting a lot less done now, too. #2 came along a year and a half later. No returns, final sale.

[tornadostorm18]

@gwellwood I thought things in tool boxes made life easier?

[NorkiddExo]

How did it handle, what would you have changed to make it better?

[gwellwood]

@NorkiddExo It handled really well right out of the box. In the three years since this video, I added a 5/8" front sway bar, 1/2" rear sway bar, more compliant rear bushings, and a limited slip differential. In 2009 I converted to independent throttle bodies, distributorless ignition, and stand-alone fuel injection computer.

[motabikeboy]

i neally kept up with the video!

[connoronwheels]

lol 0:45 :)

[Punkkizzas]

Nice work.

[tamarod31]

you have some amazing building skills sir!...I've been wanting to do complete scratch build, but not sure how to go about getting the car legal after the fact, did you have any problems?

[gwellwood]

@tamarod31 Registration will depend where you are. The details of my registration process are on my web site (see video description for the link).

[needleonthevinyl]

Looks like you spent a lot of time with your baby. And your child too.

[heinamen]

Awesome build



[SchmittyFilms]

Where do you race it at?

[gwellwood]

@SchmittyFilms The pictures here were taken at the Grand 10 in Kelowna. We haven't raced there since they built the EnergyPlex and we lost our grid area.

[silsurfer]

NICE

[ajker]

awesome brother!

[jd02nr1]

Extremly nice ride!, my dream to build a car like that one day, but probably ill be a boring pencilpusher......

Yeah , and cute baby

[telemarkski2010]

Your Province is BC right? How challenging was it to register. Do you have any build recommendations to make the registration easier?

Love the Video by the Way!

[gwellwood]

Yes. Fairly. Lots. Thanks. Follow the link (in the description) to the build website....

[V8JOHNNY]

there are those who talk about it, and there are those who do it, well done son.

[allan2439]

coool and nice work...up for you man...

[varoman28]

increible tu trabajo.felicitaciones desde chile

[pin3appel]

what is this song?

nice video by the way

[gwellwood]

Randy Dzielak "Stay the night"

[Garglemesh91]

Babies, always a must have in anybody's workspace

[Mcintyre5000]

Very nice!!!!!!

[jonholmes52]

Live rear axle? what a shame

[breekbaard]

@jonholmes52

hi, i looked up what live axle means but is it better to use independent rear suspension? Then would you have to get some kind of power splitter or whatever.

[gwellwood]

@breekbaard IRS has many advantages. I built with what I had to keep the costs down.

[Rikiru]

Sweet project, but I'm not liking the headlights. I recommend a set of Hella Micro Xenon DE's! Ebay them!! you will be more than amazed at how it will make the car look "new" and exotic. Those headlight make me think 60s/70s. Sorry for the small criticism, but just wanted to point it out :P

thanx for posting the vid

oh, and the sandwich photo made me hungry, you bastad..

[gwellwood]

Considering it's a replica of a 1957-1969 Lotus, I think the headlights look fine. Anything else looks out of place.

The cool thing about building your own car, is you can build it the way YOU want. Cool eh?

It's been a long time since I've been called a bastad.  (grin)

[Rikiru]

It is an amazing build up.. I wouldn't even know how to do HALF the major work that you put into it. All I'm saying is I recommend you looking at the Hella Micro DEs and imagine how it would look. All the same, thanks for sharing your sweet-ass buildup with us!

[gwellwood]

I looked. The don't float my boat (grin).

[Rikiru]

good stuff, most people wouldn't be open minded enough to check. kudos! I've never seen them on an old lotus, so I can't say for certain how they would look.

5 stars, video favorite'd, and subscribed

[jsnsykes]

Is that a Roast beef with Provolone on Rosemary Chibatta with Tomato and Onion at :53 ? that is one of my favorites!! Nice car too.

[deelakerox]

hey whats the size of the engine your dropping into it this year during the remake of the lethal locost

[gwellwood]

2.0L Duratec. I bought me a TIG to build the next chassis - gotta learn how to use it first.

[deelakerox]

are you pulling it out of an original car or is it a crate engine

[gwellwood]

Yoinked out of a wrecked Focus at my local Pick-N-Pull. $150CDN.

[dogsaremykids]

what did you regester it as?

[gwellwood]

In accordance with the laws in my province: 2006 UBILT SUPE7.

[dogsaremykids]

i meen, is it regestered as the toyota you used the engine from

[gwellwood]

The vehicle is registered as a Ubilt, in accordance with the laws in my province. Registering it as the Toyota I cut up is illegal.

[hobbst14]

wat was the song called it was awesome

[gwellwood]

The current song or the previous one?

The song is currently "Erasmus" by The Juice To Make It Happen.

[hobbst14]

No the old one

[gwellwood]

Flatt & Scruggs "Foggy Mountain Breakdown."

*sigh* I miss it too.

[saib717]

god bless you and your family great video

[shananagans5]

You better be very greatfull to Pam for letting you have your toy with a new baby in the house. Coming from a womans perspective. :) Very nice car by the way.

[gwellwood]

You bet! In fact, every time I drive the car I am thankful for her support in this project - letting her know that makes her feel appreciated too! We were expecting our second as the car was completed.

[shananagans5]

I must say it does sadden me to see ads for cars ect for sale that says "baby on the way, car must go." In the early 70s my dad had a little Fiat that was his "toy" car. My first memories are of that car and helping dad work on it. In HS he helped me build an off road buggy. LOL I was the only girl in auto shop class. Fact is, if everyone is involved at some level a project car can bring a family closer.

[G60EXTREM]

funny video ;)))))

best: baby on workbench and biiiiiig sandwich ;)))

great work man ! have fun with it !!!

[rockinhippie]

Ha ha loved it..... I have a garage full of junk and I have just felt inspired !!!!! What am I waiting for...

[chrssgreen]

Great....brings back memories of building a robin hood s7 in a lock up...mid winter.....skinned knuckles n all...

[helloSIRjeremy]

haha, loved the randomness of the pictures.

[turnip2001]

Nice sandwich!

[hifivnmutha]

lol.  that's exactly what I was thinking. Where the hell can I get one like that?!?

[WillP999]

Lmao around 0:43.

And i laughed at all the random pics of you and your family too! :D

[TGforlyf]

lol 0:45

[maxio098ui]

shame it used a GT-S classic car but atleast you didnt mess it up :)

[jbre44]

FABULOUS WORK

[Elexceed]

Great Vid mate ... 5 stars

[MREAPE93]

loks alot like a caterham kit car

[LitterboxDiorama]

LOL Bonnie & Clyde theme........ "We rob banks!"

[gwellwood]

Music was changed 2009 due to copyright. Epic sadness.

[just1ofgod]

2 and a half mins you can see his kid growing up in the pics lol

[musashi1865]

i think i would take longer than 2:24 to make that

[qclotusracer]

You are an inspiration to the rest of us builders.

[moscadesigns]

Amazing job mate,,, keep them coming

[xxkhaozblack]

ugh but dont u have to work? god! lol

[paraflyb0y]

Just about to get on with mine, wish me luck! Oh and a nice job you've done mate.

Regards, Steve

[jerome02021989]

nice video:)

[MADDMANNIE04]

woooow thats nice

[Tubbster89]

nice car mate!

[gpommer]

congrats!! nice job. Looks like you had to redo A arms and steering rack. I will do have to do the same cause of lots of bump steer.

[gwellwood]

The shop would not inspect the car with shortened struts and de-powered shortened rack. This required changing to Chevette spindles and front-steer rack. Hard to do ~after~ the completion....

[SpunkyRabbit]

any idea how much does this car weigh?

[gwellwood]

1275lbs, wet.

[kazzineaux01]

It must have been hard to concentrate on the build with that bluegrass band in the background...

[gwellwood]

Music to get stuff done by; the sooner you're done, the sooner it stops.

[eap13]

my favorite pic was the good looking sandwhich now im hungry lol

[dspautocrosser]

Cool video - love the random baby pictures and the music.

[thunderphd]

how long did the build take you?

pls don't say two and a half minutes, haha

[gwellwood]

Two and a half years - February 2004 to August 2006 (check video at 00:04) (grin)

[danielligocenzo]

is the engine from the 86 corolla aswell?

[gwellwood]

Yes. Simple bluetop bigport with a lightened flywheel. It screams to redline pretty good (grin).

[donkeyrapist]

i thought yeah i'd love a cheap way into racing but theres so much work involved did you have to assemble the entire frame or did it come already welded ?

[gwellwood]

I made the frame - I forgot to take pics, because it only took about 10 hours to get frame done as you ~first~ see it.  How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

[leanuyy]

hi i'm in uruguay , you can tell me who to buy the manual to build my car

[gwellwood]

There is a new book by Chris Gibbs called "Build your own sports car: on a budget." Check Amazon.

[jmanz6]

Great vid. Makes me want to get back to work on mine.

[Jcashrulez]

nice nice i would love to try to build a car, but to costly for a man of my el-cheap-o-ness

[jmanz6]

It's not as expensive as you might think. I am building a Locost similar to this one and I have my build budget set at $3200 for everything. Check out locostUSA(dot)com for more info.

[MMApolish]

where did u get speedometer? from which car?

[gwellwood]

Almost everything came from a 1986 Toyota Corolla GTS. Front spindles and rack are Chevette, with Datsun 210 hubs and rotors.

[MMApolish]

thx. nice car. I will build like yours one soon I hope!

[k2k4]

looks so pretty

[822207502]

great stuff...inspirational..wish mine was coming along that fast

[zeolite2]

You put the steering wheel on the wrong side!:D Nice job and is that a home made inlet manifold?

[gwellwood]

The manifold was made from 1/2" steel plate, and exhaust tubing. I did away with the TVIS completely. Factory ECU seems to have handled it fine.

[SentientWolf]

That is just beautiful!