Mikes Locost Clubman

Hi, my name is Mike Kelly and I am located at Kirrawee, near Sydney, Australia.  I work in IT and am very comfortable with electronics and tinkered with cars a bit in my youth – I expect to be made redundant from my job by the end of the year and plan to retire if that happens. Originally I was planning to build an EV (electric vehicle) but have now been bitten by the locost bug and currently planning my first build as a retirement project. It may still turn out to be an EV but the cost of Lithium Ion Phosphate batteries would need to drop substantially from the current AU$11,000.

It will be a fairly standard +50 (or maybe +100) build:

Engine: 2ZZGE
Gearbox: MX-5
Rear End: Live axle – more research required on which type (suggestions welcome)
Front End: probably Cortina uprights.

I was about to rush out and buy a damaged ‘05 Corolla Sportivo from Pickles and then I thought maybe I was jumping the gun. I rethought things and this is the revised order of proceedings I came up with:

- Learn to weld (already taken first lesson at tech)
- Clear 20 years of rubbish out of shed (6m square garage)
- Acquire a decent work bench
- Buy a MIG or Stick welder (probably MIG)
- Make the build table (welding practice)
- Buy the gearbox/live axle/rear suspension bits
- Build as much as the chassis and rear suspension as I can
- Buy front suspension bits and build front suspension
- Complete as much of the chassis as I can without the donor vehicle (I hope Dave King will let me pop over to get measurements etc.)
- THEN I buy the donor vehicle, strip it and sell unwanted stuff on EBay
- Transplant engine, electronics, instruments and anything else I need from the donor vehicle.
- Continue with the rest of the build (Dave has already warned me the last 20% of the build will consume 80% of the time)

I guess the idea is to delay expenditure as long as possible and not have stuff lying around in the garage for years before I need to use it. I’m sure this plan will change as I become more knowledgeable about the locost scene, but its a starting point.

Any comments / suggestions welcome.