Group Build: WIP - Lotus-Super 2

Well, here's my thread, with a funny name. Why the funny name? Because it shortens to LS2... which is the same as the code for the engine I'm using!

Yes indeed, I'm using the Corvette C6's LS2 V-8 in the Lotus. So, where my model hasn't arrive yet, I still have some pictures to show you. First, some parts. You'll see the LS2 connected to the transaxle, seats from a Viper, valve covers (see close up), and the wheels from the C6 that I'll be using thus far. Nothing has been painted yet, but the wheels will be stripped and painted body color, which is gonna be [content deleted]. I'm thinking of maybe doing motorcycle fenders, which will need to be widened front and rear. I'll also be building a custom roll-bar for the rear of the car. I can't wait for my model to arrive... it's gonna rock!

Here are the pictures:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1202.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/PICT1446.jpg

I look forward to following along with this group build. Nice to get a sneak preview of your plans with this. I like where your ideas are heading.

Hi,

looks interesting, but you should wait until you get the Lotus Super 7 kit for test-fitting. I guess, the interior is too narrow for these seats. Even on the 1:1 car I have never seen some Sparco or Recaro seats because of space problems.

Ah, that's a point I didn't think of. I guess it's lucky that the seats and engine are 1/25, and the model is 1/24, no? Well, we'll see what kind of dance I'll have to play with the seats, as the transaxle is going to cause some problems itself, of where it'll sit in the car and such. Lots of scratching will be going on, I can promise that.

Caliper says you have about 15mm on each side of the driveshaft tunnel to fit seats. Putting the transaxle in there makes things even worse. The stock tunnel is barely wide enough to fit a driveshaft through.

With those seats, I'd hack off the side bolsters and replace them with sheet plastic to mimic an aluminum seat, or scratchbuild one. Building an "aluminum" seat is easy, all it takes is 3 sheets of plastic. I did a pair but I can't find pics of it.

You'll be in for a surprise when the kit comes in. It is tiny!

i don't think that V8 is gonna fit... the 7 is a tiny car, and the Cosworth 4 it used for many years barely fit. of course, you could fabricate a trick hood with open sides and cover it with carbon fiber... that'd look pretty sweet! :)

let the madness begin!

i don't think that V8 is gonna fit... the 7 is a tiny car, and the Cosworth 4 it used for many years barely fit. of course, you could fabricate a trick hood with open sides and cover it with carbon fiber... that'd look pretty sweet! :)

You mean like one of those '30s Rods that are cruising around with the bare minimum of a hood? I might do that, in fact... carbon on the inside, outside would have to be body color, since I'm going for a pretty subtle look on the car.

As far as the driveshaft tunnel, my current plan is to hack up the Corvette chassis and interior, and fit that tunnel. Or I just might throw the whole tub in, I dunno. We'll have to see when my model actually arrives. Until then, this is a whole lot of speculation. The interior will be, however, mostly tan with some black and silver detailing. That might be able to give you a few ideas of what color the car can be.

Cool, somebody's got to be first!

I like you're powertrain idea- but I worry you're going to be a bit surprised by the size of the 7. In 1/24, the cockpit is only 1.5" wide. Subtract 0.3" for the width of the transmission tunnel, and each seat can only be 0.6" wide. A typical Recaro is 0.8" wide (is usually put in a space 1.0" wide), and is 0.6" if you cut off all of the side bolsters.

Is that the gearbox attatched to the differential, instead of the back of the engine? Again this will present a bit of a challenge, as the transmission tunnel is only 0.3" wide (0.2 on the inside)- if you make it wider, your seat space will quickly disapear. There's a bit more room if the transmission is on the engine.

I'm totally not trying to be discouraging, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this one. The V8 would look awesome in the engine bay (who care's about a lid if you have a V8 to show off?), but I think you may be in for some plastic surgery. :wink:

Yes, that is the transaxle at the rear of the car. I believe Chevy put it there for better weight distrobution. And I know I'm gonna have some wicked scratch-building to do! I might just modify the Corvette interior tub to work in the Lotus, and drop that in instead. The seats are 1/25th and right out of a Viper, so they're gonna be a bit smaller than the Recaros you've all used in the past.

But, with all the difficulties I'm facing, I'm really looking forward to the build. Since there's no transmission on the front, I can mount the engine farther back in the bay, and perhaps use the stock Corvette airbox, which looks really cool. I've got about a 1/3rd of a sheet of SMS carbon fiber left, so I'll be seeing where that fits in, and where I decide to do it. And when all is said and done... it's gonna be kinda Foose-esk, that big diamond in the little black box, as he would say.

Oh, did I mention I have to get it mostly done before I go back to college on Aug 25th?

First entry, first crazy idee. But I agree with most here... you're going to have a verry hard time fitting it all into that tiny tiny car! Perhaps the easiets way is to enlarge the car? Make it a little bit wider and longer in the places you need it...Of course this is against the principle of colin chapman. He wanted the lightets possible car with a just strong enough engine. But then again, there are no limitations here!

edit:
I've posted it on the main group build threat, but I'm going to repeat myself. Why not switch the driver and the engine? You put the driver in the front of the car (his feets where the radiator would be) and the engine where the seats would be et voila: a singel seater, midengined, trackdaymonster. Not sure about crash safety.. ;-)

The pictures Nutsforcars posted in the other thread tell me a few things. 1) I will more than likely have to use the Corvette tub for the Lotus. 2) The V8 should easily fit in that nice, long nose. Remember, the Lotus had an I4, and I'm putting in a V8, which is just two I4's at an angle. The only modification is possibly shortening the driveshaft. And 3) The biggest challenge is going to be the transaxle. I can see that right out. I can always dump the Viper seats if I need to, but I don't think I will. But the rear axle is a little bit farther up than I had hoped, and so I'm gonna have to fuss with the transaxle a bit. Hopefully the Corvette tub might alleviate this, though. We'll have to see.

EDIT: I just did a test fitting of the Viper seats in the Corvette tub. Good news is that they fit, and nicely. However, I also decided to do some measurements... the seats, at their widest point, are about 5mm (3/4 inch) wide. And the transaxle, where it would extend outward from the little groove in the tunnel, is about 6mm (7/8 inch) long. So, I'll have to fix accordingly. The Corvette's tub is 2.5 inches wide at the widest point I'll include, however, that includes the bump-outs for the door panels, an area that will obviously be cut off, saving me a quarter inch of space. So, that makes it 2.25 inches wide. I need this model here, and soon, so I can start cutting!

the seats, at their widest point, are about 5mm (3/4 inch) wide. That's more like 20mm. The stock tub is 1.45" wide.

That's more like 20mm. The stock tub is 1.45" wide.

Well then, it's 5 whatever units of measurement are on the other side of my ruler. It's too small to be a centimeter, I know that. Stupid metal ruler with unlabled scales!

i'll be watching this, as i'll most likely have many spare Ferrari F40 parts lying around by the time i'm ready for the group build.

hmmm.... F40 powered S7... :eek:

Well, I just got home from my 9 day cruise. I should be getting the model back from the post office today or tomorrow!

hmmm I think the Viper seats and v8 are a bit optomistic, but you never know, but i barley got a jaguar v6 in, but i dont know how it compares for size, and the viper seats will probably not leave room for the drive shaft. I am going to feed my driveshaft under the cars chassis, and hope there is enough space, because i have made a single seater, there is no space for the drive, and under the car seems like a good idea, ad the bottom is almost entirely flat until the diff, where i fit the transaxle from a 612 scag.
Enjoy your build...
Euan

Well, I have my hands on my model now.

... is it okay to cry? Because this build is gonna suck :(

Here are initial observations. I'll be running sans hood because there's no other way. The engine will end up behind the front suspension, but the back clutch and flywheel are gonna end up in the passenger compartment. The transaxle is going to do the same, as it's a long sucker. I have no idea where a seat is gonna go. Other than the massive hacking I'm going to have to do to the body, for example widening the front and rear axle holes, and bending and rebuilding the transmission tunnel to fit around the driveshaft and back of the transaxle, I guess the rear fenders might also have to go, because the Corvette wheels are too wide, and too big >_<

Alright, I've begun surgery! Here are some pictures of the final results of FrankenLotus. I have no idea where a seat is gonna go, I can tell you that much!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1563.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1564.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1565.jpg

I am very open to seating suggestions. I also will be shortening the rear track to fit the rear wheels slightly better.

I'm not sure how low the seats have to be, but what if you made a bench seat that goes from one side to the other that would just clear the top of the shaft? With some belts it might just look good.

I'm not sure how low the seats have to be, but what if you made a bench seat that goes from one side to the other that would just clear the top of the shaft? With some belts it might just look good.

Yeah, I was thinking of that. I could even use the Viper seatbacks (I'm bound and determined!).

But I think I got most of the hard work done, fitting that bloody engine. So foo on you, all of those who said it couldn't be done! (joke, I mean no ill will toward anybody). Hopefully my fit will inspire others.

Is it me, or does that driveshaft look really thick, could you replace it so the seats dont have to be so high, just use a piece of sprue.
Just an idea, cos i'd love to see the viper bucket seats fitted.
Euan

or you can lose the drifshaft, place you're engine further back and put a seat in front of the engine;-)

Get a rearend and tranny from an F-body and that would help a lot.

The driveshaft looks thick because it's wrapped in masking tape. It's still rather thick, though, as it's a Corvette motor with 400 horsepower. To rear engine the car would be difficult as it's an engine and then a transaxle, and it would destroy my weight distrobution. Same with an F-body, because the reason I can fit the engine up front is because there is no tranny attached. The rear end would be fine, but my transmission would be halfway into the passenger compartment. I'm gonna keep it as is, as my modeling skills aren't good enough to widen (IMHO). So it's a bench seat soon!

UPDATE (no pictures, sorry)

I have no fenders! I'm gonna prime it soon, and also start painting the suspension for mockup of wheels. I can't wait.

.
I was going to suggest cutting and kicking out the sides of the tub starting right after the engine and tapering it back to about 3/16+- on each side total in the end, Or if that is too much work you could simply cut a line down the middle of the car and add a piece of styrene strip. that should give you enough space to squeeze in some viper seats, plus you get a nice armrest :lol: you would also be able to hide the monster width of the vette tire a little better with out having to have huge fenders lol

But i think you could manage to do some type of 1 piece seat if you think your not up to that, just as long as your not sitting way up in the sky hehe. Maybe look into trying to lower the engine some? maybe cutting some of the floorboard down n replacing it, if you have the ground clearence from the big wheels its worh a shot... Idk its hard to tell
This build is helping with my own inspirations and scale realizations for my build
ill be watching this one, keep up the good work :bigthumb:

You could possibly offset the rear tranny to one side a small amount. The car would then become a one seater (you only need room for the driver) and the viper seat would fit. The weight of the driver would help to balance the car and compensate for the offset rear tranny. There are several ways you could fit the driveshaft. Or you could just not worry as it will be hidden, and you can build the tunnel however you want.

Well, I've been working a lot lately (at a job) and it's winding down. Here's a bit of progress. I hope to be done on Friday, because on Saturday, I leave for college. If I'm not totally done by then, all painting will be, and I'll assemble at college.

Pics!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1606.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1605.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1604.jpg

The front wheels are just floating, and will sport Corvette brakes, as will the rears. Rear track isn't set yet, as I need to cut down the metal rod that the wheels glue to. Exhaust will probably exit under the car and at the rear, using the Corvette-quad-pipes. Also, there will be a nose... just no hood.

and where are you going place the seats to?

I'll be using the original bench seat, modified. This won't exactly be the most comfortable car in the world, I'm afraid, but at least the transaxle will act as an armrest, as I'm going to further the craziness of the car by saying "screw it" to a transmission tunnel and leaving the engine exposed in the tub. I'll just glue on a shifter.

The way it looks you could just put a saddle on the tranny's back - that would make a serious ride ;-)

I'll be using the original bench seat, modified. This won't exactly be the most comfortable car in the world, I'm afraid, but at least the transaxle will act as an armrest, as I'm going to further the craziness of the car by saying "screw it" to a transmission tunnel and leaving the engine exposed in the tub. I'll just glue on a shifter.

That seems like it would get mighty hot in that interior. Better bulk up on heat sheilding to the max! Looking awsome so far.

Thanks for all the compliments. I'm afraid there won't be too much work done on this kit; I'm at college and very far away from my work bench. Expect a fair amount of work to be done at Thanksgiving and over Winter Break

Too bad bout the progress. im goin to be streched for time too with college, but we will await your return. :D

looks excellent, Im about to get back to work on mine.
Euan

Just remembered I had this thread, and wanted to write down some ideas I have for when I go home in a few weeks.

Current progress that isn't pictured is as follows: the rear track is finally set, and there is hack-job Corvette suspension wedged under the car. No color is laid down yet, as I need to finish the body mods (meaning I have to set the interior up) and reprime the entire car. Exterior will be from Cobra Colors, and the interior will be tan with MAYBE some black accents. I'll be running no-hood, so the carbon fiber valve covers will always be on display. Exhaust will be there, but I'm not sure where it's gonna exit; probably the rear and I'll use the center-quad Corvette exhaust. Interior will probably be a mash-up of Lotus, Corvette, and Dodge Viper parts. A roll-hoop/cage is still in the plans, but not entirely sure if I'll get around to it. Brakes and wheels are Corvette sourced, also.

So those are my plans. And they give me hope for a life after midterms :(

Well, I'm back now and I didn't waste much time working on my model. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. And to answer the innevitable question, I tried to use a lighter to warm up the exhaust to bend it. Not the best idea...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1150.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1151.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1152.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1153.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1154.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1155.jpg

Looks really cool so far! You should've bent the exhaust piping with a candle rather than with a lighter, because using a candle means you have both hands free. A lot easier that way :2cents:

Thanks for the advice. I'm probably gonna rebend my exhaust anyway; the old ones looked like rubbish! But... the bad news is that I have to get rid of the hood. It doesn't fit anymore. But the good news is that the ENGINE is COMPLETE! Here are pictures! Stance is about right, but the front wheels are just floating. You can see what they'll be connected to in one of the pictures. But that engine looks amazing, in my opinion. All glued together and looking American and powerful!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1163.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1164.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1165.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1166.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1167.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/100_1168.jpg

that's gotta be one insane car to drive if it were real

Cool! Why don't you line up the transmission right behind the engine? Would save you a lot of interior space :p But then again, the weight distribution might not be ideal when you do so...

Thanks for the comments, and yes, I can only imagine how much of a beast this would be to drive for real! The transmission isn't lined up because it's a transaxle, and this is how it came straight out of the Corvette box. Before I left, I set the car up on it's newly-attached front brakes, and I just love the way this is coming out! Once again, thanks for the comments. It's great to see people interesting in this... it gives me moditvation when I'm frustrated.

Oh yeah... Now thats what i called chrome rims ... :eek:

Oh yeah... Now thats what i called chrome rims ... :eek:

Would you believe that's the stock chrome from Revell?

Well, I'm back home and progress is FLYING by. I have a drivers set all done up, the console has been kitbashed and is drying, and a roll cage has been started. Pictures later tonight!

EDIT: Here's some pictures to whet your appetite... I'll post more when I get some feedback/replies.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1998.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT1999.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT2000.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT2001.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT2002.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/deltableh/Car%20Models/Lotus-Super%202/PICT2003.jpg

Rollcage is done, all exterior parts have been hit with flat black in anticipation of color later tonight. Suspension bits have been hand painted... lots of chrome. I'll add the few remaining colors later tonight, as well as painting the seat tan. Exterior color will take a little while, I'm afraid, as I'm gonna build up the color little by little to get the deepest effect that I can.

This will be finished tonight. The clear is curing.

Completed thread here: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=655030