Locost Overview
History
Early 2007 an alumni of my fraternity donated his 1984 Toyota Celica GTS to the fraternity house. Around this time I had begun reading automotive design books, and going through the publication list on the kimini blog. Unknowingly, I already had a donor car as I read How to Build A Sportscar for $250. I decided to go for the project.
I began prepping the work area on the side of the fraternity house in April ‘07, where we had/have a metal working lot for homecoming uses (the ‘wreck lot’). I built the majority of the car in this 15′x30′ outdoor area. I had a shed for tool storage and work was done outside. I rigged up 5 500watt worklights on the buildings and surrounding trees. By June the frame building process had begun, as I took summer classes. I spent that winter building the A-arms in the shed- welding was essential to stay warm. Work continued at a fast rate, usually putting 5-7 hours a day into the car. Working on the car was my job during the summer of 2008. A year after starting the project, I had a rolling chassis with engine, suspension, working steering, and an e-brake. The rolling chassis took 2nd place in the Race/Experimental class of the Gatech auto show. July 2008 I drove the car for the first time.
That was an interesting moment. The car moved under it’s own power and backed out of the wreck lot. I remember accelerating full throttle down the alley way behind the house before thinking to check that the brakes worked (they worked fine). A van of friends followed me to the MRDC parking lot on campus and the car drove great. No body work, firewall, transmission tunnel panels, or floor.
August I moved into a new townhouse off campus with a two car garage. I completed the body work finished the major parts of the car. January 2009 I got my registration and tag, and the car became street legal. The car was towed back from its first drive as a fully street legal car, due to cooling system problems. The cooling system was fixed (added an expansion tank and flushed the system), and the fiberglass body panels were painted. There was a sub-freezing temperature 1am run to taco bell somewhere in there too. February 17, 2009 I took the car to it’s first drifting event. This was my debut to drifting, the car’s first stress test, my first time really pushing a RWD car, and a lot of fun. The rest of 2009 was spent drifting and tweaking the car. I did a rainy drifting event that was fun, went to a lot of car meets at The Varsity, and won 2nd in my class and the Engineering Award at the 2009 Gatech Auto Show. I hit a puddle and spun the car into a curb on the street- bent up the right rear suspension. At the rainy drift event I fatigue snapped a front suspension mount. Mid year I decided to upgrade the engine, and planned on doing a turbo, ITB setup on the 22re. I began building the ITB setup, and I later realized that it would make more sense to swap in a newer 2RZ engine due to the low upgrade potential of the 22re.
