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Sorry, I rant, if you don't want to ingest a rant just go on by and have a nice day.*****
A brave man once said. "I'd rather Die in Front of my Drive Wheels than Live Behind them!" (Or something like that!) What has happened to cars?? They used to be fun, in all forms, now, not so much. Especially under 40KThe Polaris Sling Shot and Ariel Atom have similar sources. The same parts but assembled in different ways.
Viva Le Revolution! Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!(rant off)
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(I'm not building a race car, this is a road toy.)
Inspired by having worked on Mangusta's/Pantera's and having seen first hand the 1966 Lamborghini Miura, with it's transverse mid engined/trans layout; I felt like I was certainly on the right path! I'm still toying with the G6 2 door hard top but first I must build at least one car that runs!
In 2021 I saw a kit car called the DF Goblin. Using the Chevy Cobalt as it's donor and being completed as a mid engine car meant they had done much of the science work to make my RWD Cobalt a reality! They built a stationary replacement for the steering rack called a Toe link Bar. They had also done my work on how to run the manual shifter backwards, with bell cranks and boat shifter cables. Every little bit helps! If you find we are on the same road reach out, I'll gladly share my research.
More power to you on building what you want, but for crying out loud, at least wait until you are affronted before railing against your naysayers.
I *think* the folks behind the Goblin drop in here from time to time. If you cease yelling at everyone for telling you you can't do it, they'll probably help you figure out how you can.
I couldn't make it through the wall of text.
The 'return' button is your friend.
In reply to myf16n :
Woah! This thing does paragraphs? I've never been on a forum whose systems were so advanced! I shall edit for comfort. Also, please be aware I traffic in the absurd as a form of humor.
Thank You for your valuable input! Sincerely,
Mr. Bell
In reply to Jesse Ransom
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J R, Thank you for your input, I have taken it to heart. I have edited to hopefully appear more or less sane. Although, in my defense, I believe I was generally berating the actions of others, as YELLING in text is usually all caps.
Anyhow, 
I'm actually a generally happy guy, I guess too much stand up and child rearing has lead me to extreme "outrageous" to hold my audience. It seems any audience will listen to a crazy old man rant for 5 min or so before trying to escape. I hope your Ultima is treating you right.
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Tangential to my original rant is the changes in transportation looming in our proposed future. I do not decry the coming of electric and autonomous vehicles! I don't think the powers that be can eradicate the fuel automobile/personal automobile any more than they can force the Amish to quit using horse and buggy!(or do anything useful, like finding Big Foot.)
Anyhow, unless the powers that be can eradicate the portion of US Laws where new laws cannot retroactively effect pre-existing products, fuel burners are safe. IE: Seat Belt laws did not eradicate all cars built before 1963. If we become like Japan/Europe though, our hot rods, race cars, old cars and such are doomed to be the playthings only of the super rich.
I believe that ultimately Banks will have something to say about all this as any reductions in personal car loans will negatively effect the Banks bottom line and usually Banks don't allow such nonsense and will quickly show the lawmakers who is boss.(Please remember, big banks are too big to fail.)
OK! a little "Editor's Talk". Background: There once was a band called "the Kinks", Compatriots of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, (from before Auto-Tune fixed everbodys' singing voices). They had a hit called "Lola" about a young man's encounter, with a Lady(?),in a Loud, Dark, Questionable, Smoky dive of a bar in London circa 1966. An encounter that most certainly left him dented.
When I asked her her name she said "Lola, LO-LA, LOLA"
She was in a word, a Witch, totally bewitching and I was under her spell. What was she wearing?, who remembers such trivialities? Imbued with Mystery, Voodoo Spirits and Dark Magic; probably Toxic as well. The most alluring creature I had ever encountered. She was Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch, Marilyn Monroe and Ursula Andress all rolled into one. We were about the same age in 2006. Attending the Walter Mitty Challenge at Road Atlanta, I made her acquaintance. She was the Bardahl Special Lola Roadster. On her sides were names like Foyt, Unser and TraCo. Right hand drive, Left shift, Mid engine V-8 with a forest of chrome velocity stacks sprouting up behind the driver's compartment.
A friend of mine was wrenching on her for her current man. My friend had badly twisted his "lucky left ankle", a body part he was "lucky to still have" after a motorcycle Flat Track encounter in his earlier days. Thus She was in need of a driver. Her Guardian approached me and asked me to consider driving that day, but just damn!, the stars were Not Aligned. I had no practice time available, I had no safety gear/equipment, no extraction practice time, I had not driven The New Road Atlanta and it had been a decade since I had driven the old course. Plus, I had my son along that day with no other guardian. Should I Borrow a fire suit and helmet and head out onto an unfamiliar track in a veritable museum piece that has the "stones" to effortlessly do 140(MPH) in the straightaways? I must say I was terribly tempted in spite of all of that!
"How about doing Parade Laps?" With only a helmet I would have been "allowed" to follow a "pace car" around Road A, a few laps, top speed limited to 50mph. I just couldn't, I do not possess that level of self control! I'd have passed the pace car in the first turn, bad form, I know! (Either way I would have been leaving there under flashing lights and sirens, In the back of a Cop car or in an Ambulance.) Her custodian said he understood. He told me, smiling, he felt my concerns made me an excellent choice as a driver, maybe another day, but not Today; they let me pilot her into the carrier.
Yes, I am a fool. Any driver worth his salt knows this about himself.
She has since haunted my dreams lo these 15 years, my sleeping and the wakeful type.
She was beautiful,
She was a car;
Her name was Lola, LO-LA, LOLA.
In reply to bobzilla :
It's ok, ya dosen't has ta like it.(don't be afraid, I'm not contagious.) Mebbe more beer and another decade and it'll seem only a little "AhBNormal"? Anyhow, thanks for reading!
Now. You're probably thinking, "Hey!, what about the Car?" I had just thought a little snort of my past 40 years in cars might aid in others' perception of my mania.
THE CAR:
I am building a Rear Wheel Drive Chevy Cobalt. It is a 2006 Coupe crossed with a DF Goblin kit car. So far there is not much to look at, it just looks like a used car. (Actually that is part of my evil plan: virtual invisibility due to viewer comfort. HINT: When the Magician says, "watch the Coin", watch his other hand.) On a side note there is something called Polar Moment of Inertia and I don't claim to understand it but to me it boils down to making this driver's nervous system happy by placing the driver's behind In Front Of the drive wheels.(short version: I dislike front wheel drive.)
As to photos: I have pix of several of my cadavers/donors in various states of disassembly and mock up. Some pointless photos of junk being sawed into transportable bits. The Car in Question up on jack stands, the rear floor missing and then the subframe initally mounted in the rear of the chassis. It rolls again! There is structure and welding still to be done, permanantly mounting the strut tops in the chassis. Step one is complete, it rolls again.
Other pix? I have pix of all of the wiring from a donor laid across a table(caution, not a pretty sight!) being modified to relocate the ECM to the rear by the engine. Again, not much to look at, the remainder of the electrical system will stay roughly stock and in it's original location.
As an unintended but happy side effect, I am hoping to show others how to take "cast off" front wheel drive cars, whose appearance the builder may find comely or even, dare I say, "attractive"?, then relocate their driveline to the rear! Just because someone else did it before doesn't mean you won't enjoy yours!
Yeah, I'm gonna need a cliffs notes version of this at some point.
In reply to bobzilla :
Dude, I'm certainly not worried. Take your time. Remember, they claim you can eat an elephant, but you've got to take it one bite at a time.
I'm digging on your C-10! I have a 74 and a 2001. I currently drive a 40' Motorhome, we live on the road about 10 months out of the year. I only get garage time in the spring. I miss my trucks!
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Until next time, keep tinkering and keep dreaming!
TL DR, I need the ten words and less version
camopaint0707 said:TL DR, I need the ten words and less version
I couldn't get through it.
Maybe a picture could replace 1,000 words?
In reply to AhBNormal :
Somewhere in that prose there is a message. I THINK that message is "I don't like FWD"?
I don't like FWD for my fun cars either, so I don't buy them. I have been a part of your revolution for 50 years. Are we winning?
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:camopaint0707 said:TL DR, I need the ten words and less version
I couldn't get through it.
Ditto. There might be something in there but I'll never know.
As for FWD, I've run FWD, RWD and played with AWD track cars. I drive FWD better than all of them even though I grew up with RWD. Just comes more naturally to me.
If somebody doesn't weld something to something else and post a freaking picture of it in this thread I'm going to lose it
- The ENTIRE GRM community
I'll admit, I read enough of the text to want photos.
Is this the new Amy thread?
Anything can be the new Amy thread if the OP is brave enough.
I like turtles.
Tom Suddard said:Anything can be the new Amy thread if the OP is brave enough.
"Come out to the coast, raise your kids in a small business, teach 'em family values and the importance of hard work..."
Margie
Well OK then. Guess I'll stop buying FWD trucks...
In reply to NOHOME :
Well Bubba, we're both here so I'm guessin' we're not losing yet! Keep The Faith Brother!
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