Cahill's Lotus Inspired Hot Rod

Stephen Cahill, being the odd fellow he is, came to us with an odd request. He wanted one of the craziest cars he could ever hope to drive, that could do just about anything. Of course though, it was on a budget. Always being up for a challenge, we started to lay out a plan. We needed a light car, with a gross amount of power, and real in your face attitude.

Stephen likes lil' european roadsters, and post war Hot Rods. Adding the two together, we came up with a Lotus 7 with more attitude then it chappman ever dreamed of. To power this car, Stephen supplied us with an engine, the trusty 3.4DOHC GM V6 (LQ1). Starting with a base power out put of over 200hp and large amount of torque stock was a good start for a car with a target weight of around 1400lbs. But, before you knew it. That just wasn't enough, and Stephen picked up a used HX40 Turbo off of ebay to incorporate into the build. Now, we're shooting for a goal of around 450hp, which in a car this size, should be pretty entertaining.

Starting off the build, DC came up with a birdcage design that could easily be modified and added to as the build progressed to be able to fit what ever crazy idea Stephen came up with the next day.

After the chassis was layed out, and all the components were mocked into place, layout and fabrication of the front suspension can begin. Careful planning, and care was taken to make the setup able to handle just as well on track, as it would terrorizing the local mountain roads.

After the suspension started getting under way, the exhaust layout was started, this is critical in such a small car since there's not much room in the engine bay.