Mid-engine roadster using Xb parts
 

Eventually I plan on getting a new car, some kind of toyota or lexus suv but I've had this idea of building my own car for a very long time. Awhile ago I realized I could use the suped up parts in my xb to make a mid engine open wheel roadster, a locost. There a couple programs online you can use for free to design a cars suspension, Vsusp and Racingasperations are two I used.
It will be around 65" track width and 99" wheelbase. I know this project will take a long time so I decided to make a model of my car from dowels and parts I will eventually use so I can sit in and feel where I'd like things or whatever.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sci...07b7459884.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sci...c7b5d73988.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sci...f2be22469a.jpg

Pretty cool! Which programs are you using?

Those lateral boxes should be triangulated trusses

Yeah there are still a few pieces like that I want to add, I had run out of wood when I took this pic lol. The program everyone seems to use is Vsusp.com and thats the main one I have been using. Here is a screenshot what i've been doing. The website is weird and every time I use it changes sometimes dont save or I think anyone can use make changes or I would paste the link to my car.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sci...128ae5775c.png

That's awesome!

I was looking at some tube-frame race-car kits. Just have to weld it together and install your own drivetrain. Dan Gurney's Celica GTO cars are my inspiration and dream. :)

If you can find the space you should try and start building your dream car! I remember kind of begging my parents about getting a kit from factory 5. I think the cobra replica is so cool and if I had a rwd car that's probably something I'd make.

as someone whos played with this stuff....
while most of it is easy theres a few things you truely should have in hand to build around
steering rack, brakes, hubs, and as much of the planned suspension components as possible, engine, trans and OFF THE SHELF axles....plan for breaking/wearing out parts so always build using as much "off the shelf" as you can IE balljoints, axles, brakes etc...and DO NOT do anything brand loyal as it will make your life MUCH simpler

as far as making your own A arms, id actualy reccomend not...if you do some digging you can get pre made A arms with joints and bushings for less than you can make them at pretty much any length you could want..making them essentialy an "off the shelf" part

a long term dream of mine has always been to do a "replica" 1960s F1 car, so i keep tabs on alot of whats availible out there for parts...i also do engine/chassis/suspension swap so this kinda stuff is pretty normal to me

I know what you mean about keeping things off the shelf. I had to ream bigger holes in the front spindles for new lower ball joints but that wasn't much modification it was kind of annoying but I want to retain the factory wiring, that means keeping the speed sensors on the cv stub so its a compromise. Another major modification i'll need to do is shorten the steering rack I have, I got another xb rack to take apart and look at. The program im using says the inner ball joint pivots need to be 17.2 inches apart.

I know the front lower control will be made by me but the all the uppers might just be circle track parts, the swedged tubes look pretty cool. The rear lower might have a box section front arm, to support the coilover, and then a swedged tube for the back arm.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sci...84ac9cdeac.jpg

if you manage to make a functioning narrowed rack i will be seriously impressed, as this was the HUGE hangup for me when i was looking at putting a dodge daytona 2.5 as a mid/rear into a 58 lloyd wagon.....i was on a HUGE hunt for any form of off the shelf front end and a narrowed rack was going to cost silly coin, i was looking at 5k for a front suspension...i ended up going in a different direction and simply grafted most of a 87 milano platinum under the 58 lloyd instead after ALOT of widening, shortening, sectioning etc etc etc

as far as the engine goes...i would make a solid recomendation for you, "if" you switch to either an echo brain and harness or a early yaris brain harness and throttlebody, you can then use the speed sensor off the trans instead

for that matter it also opens up your options for different engine mounts should you not like the layout..also the early yaris and echos are non ABS so you might get an extra bonus there

I didn't know about the non abs yaris'. I'll be getting rid of the booster and master cylinder and use tandem masters so its not really an abs thing but my manual transmission doesn't have a speed sensor, or at least im 99% sure it doesn't, only the reverse switch. I hotrodded my xb awhile back and it works really good so superstition or whatever has got me wanting to keep all its sensors things working like normal. Like the yaw sensor for the abs and all that stuff... maybe its tied into the system or not but im just gonna leave it or at least thats my plan now.

I came across several smaller racks, like ones in side-by-sides, that would work size wise but a coworker who owns a gator, i was looking at polaris racks, and he said it too much free play for a car. I did see some info from some other project builders about shortening racks though and from what they've posted an actual fabrication shop shouldn't have any problem

oh hell look at the rack out of a smart, the early ones specificly

i mention this because lloyds are TINY as in parking on a 4x8 sheet of plywood tiny...i now own 3 and would like to mod a second one, and came across a smart at a local wrecker and it got to eyeballing things..to which i was like hey..this is all narrow enough to fit as is!!!!!..yeah its only 990cc but hey in a 1200lb car thats nothing to sneeze at when stock they had 25hp

but the rack might be your EXACT part you need

and yeah sideby sides have way too much slop due to offroad tollerances...i looked into that too

my first lloyd i too went with the dual master setup...do me a favor and tell me your using the ALL ALUMINUM body ones and not the plastic cup....a friend lost his street/race car due to the cups getting hot, expanding and leaking brake fluid onto the headers which..set the car ablaze

aside from the smart youd have to look at the "KEI" cars of japan for anything else "small" enough to consider usefull......i think the smart is the smallest thing stateside/mainstream enough to potentialyt be usefull

I checked out what the smart cars were using, it was really surprising to see such a small rack. I almost emailed a seller on ebay but I looked a bit further and noticed the smart fourtwo has front steering if I was using miata spindles, also front steer, I think the little smart fourtwo rack would be a really good choice.

and thankfully the miata has a massive following of aftermarket swaps so you could go bigger brakes in any manner of scale...bonus points...the early miatas run the same 4x100 as the scion/yaris so your not running into a missmatch of wheels
only reason i know that on the miata is ive been trying to find a disc brake swap for my yaris(also to be done to my freshly aquired xb1)..specificly REAR discs that can run a 14inch wheel, what i came up with was miata rotors rolla calipers on a custom caliper plate

of you need measurements on the smart rack let me know..i think theres still 3 localy in the wreckers....if i could id snag both front and rear suspension clips for one of my lloyds..cash is too tight

I'm too into the toyota parts to change the spindles now. I was thinking about miata running gear in the beginning because of all the aftermarket... but its not toyota lol and a lot of this stuff I have already.

For the calipers I was thinking what is the cheapest 2 piston, or more, that will fit in a 15" wheel and will fit the rotor. One example I might buy to try out is this one from an older jeep cherokee. The jeep's rotor is 12" vs our 10" and is maybe 4mm wider.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sci...1768555cdd.png

as much as i HATE autozone....their website typiclay has the dimensional specs for 90% of al rotors..so it opens up your ability to kinda cross referance useable part
you should be able to use a larger miata rotor over the OE hub and just change your caliper bracket...both front and rear

....something else you can consider..that has been PROVEN on yaris, is that the XB2 5x114 hubs for the rear swingarm are a direct swap, up front you can actualy press out the hub and bearings and swap in the 5lug hub..this keeps you toyota but opens up your brake options considerably

what are you using for front spindles anyway?..id guess mr2?

I didn't know about autozone listing rotor specs along with the photos, I was using the raybestos site but AZ is faster. I looked up a list of other cars that use 4x100 and there aren't loads but the lotus exige and elise have the biggest out of the few I looked up and closest fitting ones, to the jeep caliper I posted. Same thickness where the pads touch, 26mm, Not as big around, Jeep 308mm and lotus 288mm. Im using xb spindles, part of the whole keeping the sensors in place idea.

I never considered the 5 lug hub. I see the 08 and up scion XD they sell the hub without the bearing ,so those or XB2 ones are have the same size wheel bearing and CV shaft hole? I have 17" 5 lug wheels but they are 5x4.75.... the lugs on the hubs can be changed though. Thanks for that idea!

i would NOT advise running the XB spindles "unloaded" for the front, unless your going to use the CV shaft stub, the issue here is that "most" CV designed hubs will "split" without a stub bolted thru them.. once you start putting cornering forces on them...i have had this happen both on a full time 4wd as well as a fwd, the stubs are your spindle nut and the only thing that keeps the bearings from pressing themselves out

correct the xb2 front hub uses the same bearing dia size just like the xa xd yaris and echo, giving you the options of 4x100 5x100 5x114.3...the BIG bonus of going to the XB hub is actualy the brake jump, since the xb uses the same as rolla, and then you can start getting into crazy big brakes if you want as 5x114 is the norm...for that matter a few guys have done rolla 4x100 swaps on the "early" yairs, which forces you into 15's due to the rotor and calip sizes. and since the xb1 stuff is the same stuff(struts n springs aside" it may be another place to look for big upgrades

i ment to ask, what are you doing for rear brakes, i assume your going to again run front spindles in the back , but then you run into a brake caliper e-brake issue, youve got 3 options
1-hyd lock, not advised due to it keeping the calipers under full load and fails on fluid loss
2 ignore it
3 get an "addon" caliper, which is a small single piston and pad specificly designed for this...

you WILL NOT find a thick enough "factory" caliper to do it as an "all in one" due to rotor thickness..trust me ive explored this road allready..by the time you get to the "thick" calipers your in rotor size requireing 17+inch wheels to clear and youll be looking at MB, bmw, porsche calipers at that point

im not sure how this forum handles links..but this info could benefit you as well as anyone who wanted big 4x100 toyota bolt on brakes
https://www.yarisworld.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=63182

Yep, I will reuse the stub also on the end of it is the speed sensor pickup ring. I wasn't planning on having an emergency brake. Just a valve on the front tires and I always leave it in gear just a parking and burnout brake really