Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Acquiring components for my cockpit mockup

At 5'8" and 225 lbs., I'm not exactly a small guy. With a 44" overall width (42" inside the gunwales of the car), the locost isn't exactly a big car. If at all possible, I hope to avoid the tragedy of building a car I don't fit into.

In the product design world (my day job), we build a prototype to check fit and functionality before committing to manufacturing. I don't see any reason why I shouldn't do the same for this project.

To that end I've been collecting the various components I'll need to construct a plywood mockup of my cockpit (a list of what I need is located in my Specification Sheet). The idea is to simulate the seating position, controls and critical panels so that I can get an idea of how comfortable my finished car will be.

These goodies were delivered yesterday. Those are the brake and clutch pedal assemblies and the clutch master cylinder! These Wilwood parts are quite beefy and light! Perfect. The single master cylinder clutch assembly and the dual cylinder brake assembly are both pretty standard components used in Locost builds.

The dual cylinder brake will allow me to fine-tune the bias between the front and rear brakes. For the record, I matched the Miata clutch master cylinder size by using a 5/8" Wilwood master. I'll figure out the brake master cylinder sizes when I'm farther along in the design.

No comments: