Discussion
I went to Stoneleigh at the weekend and it was the first time I've been able to make it to a kit car show in some time (last one was Exeter the year the Aeon debuted). I'm toying with the idea of building my first kit car some time this year and wanted your opinions on MX5 based cars.
Originally I was looking at the GKD Legend but being BMW based I think it's going to be out of my price range and having seen the car on their stand I didn't like the look of it as much as some of the others (that paint scheme doesn't do it any favours in my opinion).
The first car that caught my eye was the MX5 based RoadRunner Racing SR2. I just about squeezed into it (too many pies), was impressed by the amount of space there appears to be in the engine bay compared to some others, I was impressed by the ease of adjusting the ride height seeing as I live in the town of a thousand speed humps and most of all I was impressed by the finish and subtle styling changes of the bodywork (I'm a shallow creature).
I had a look around the MK stand but they were swamped for quite a while so didn't get the chance to speak to anyone about them. The Indy R seems a fraction cheaper than the SR2 but I'm not overly sold on the big gap in the bodywork between the side panel and the nose cone, looks a bit unfinished to me.
It seems the MX5 base is a relatively new one compared to the tried and tested Ford formula so what are the pros and cons? The only thing I've found out so far is that the 1.6 is less powerful but lighter than the 1.8, it's going to be a road car so I suspect that either of these is going to be powerful enough.
What are your thoughts on the kits mentioned?
Obviously both of these are towards the budget end of the car market and given how things might change in the coming months my budget might have to shrink some more. If so, what are people's opinions of buying an older car and fixing it up? How hard is it to change things like bodywork and interior?
Cheers,
Kev
Originally I was looking at the GKD Legend but being BMW based I think it's going to be out of my price range and having seen the car on their stand I didn't like the look of it as much as some of the others (that paint scheme doesn't do it any favours in my opinion).
The first car that caught my eye was the MX5 based RoadRunner Racing SR2. I just about squeezed into it (too many pies), was impressed by the amount of space there appears to be in the engine bay compared to some others, I was impressed by the ease of adjusting the ride height seeing as I live in the town of a thousand speed humps and most of all I was impressed by the finish and subtle styling changes of the bodywork (I'm a shallow creature).
I had a look around the MK stand but they were swamped for quite a while so didn't get the chance to speak to anyone about them. The Indy R seems a fraction cheaper than the SR2 but I'm not overly sold on the big gap in the bodywork between the side panel and the nose cone, looks a bit unfinished to me.
It seems the MX5 base is a relatively new one compared to the tried and tested Ford formula so what are the pros and cons? The only thing I've found out so far is that the 1.6 is less powerful but lighter than the 1.8, it's going to be a road car so I suspect that either of these is going to be powerful enough.
What are your thoughts on the kits mentioned?
Obviously both of these are towards the budget end of the car market and given how things might change in the coming months my budget might have to shrink some more. If so, what are people's opinions of buying an older car and fixing it up? How hard is it to change things like bodywork and interior?
Cheers,
Kev
I have to admit, I don't see the point in breaking one sprts car to make another. Surely spend the money on fixing the MX5?
Out of all the kits, I thought the 3 series kits made more sense. You can get 100-140 bhp out of an early 3 series which would only cost about £300 for an MOT failure on body work. On top of that, the BMW engine is bullet proof so no extra work would be needed on that.
Out of all the kits, I thought the 3 series kits made more sense. You can get 100-140 bhp out of an early 3 series which would only cost about £300 for an MOT failure on body work. On top of that, the BMW engine is bullet proof so no extra work would be needed on that.
Laughingman21 said:
I have to admit, I don't see the point in breaking one sprts car to make another. Surely spend the money on fixing the MX5?
Out of all the kits, I thought the 3 series kits made more sense. You can get 100-140 bhp out of an early 3 series which would only cost about £300 for an MOT failure on body work. On top of that, the BMW engine is bullet proof so no extra work would be needed on that.
Dont get me wrong I love my MX5, but seeing as over the next year or so I would be looking at selling it to buy a kit car (already completed, this option would enable me to create a car (something I have always wanted to do) and i know the engine and running gear is solid having recently re built the engine. Out of all the kits, I thought the 3 series kits made more sense. You can get 100-140 bhp out of an early 3 series which would only cost about £300 for an MOT failure on body work. On top of that, the BMW engine is bullet proof so no extra work would be needed on that.
Laughingman21 said:
I have to admit, I don't see the point in breaking one sprts car to make another. Surely spend the money on fixing the MX5?
I disagree.What better use of a rusty old MX5? The parts are designed for a lightweight sportscar. There are loads of upgrades about, turbo's, superchargers etc. A MK1 can be picked up easily for less than a grand and lots of bits sold on. Lots of imported cars have LSD as standard and a six speed box can be picked up for less than £500. Sounds perfect to me
Kev M said:
Unfortunately I didn't go to their stand on Monday but I've had a look at their website and think an MNR would be more expensive than either an MK or a RoadRunner.
Be very careful when making that kind of assessment. There will be LOTS of expense when building a car, the cost of the original kit will be far less significant by the time the project is complete than it appears to be at this point. Don't make a decision based on price alone.Kev M said:
I went to Stoneleigh at the weekend and it was the first time I've been able to make it to a kit car show in some time (last one was Exeter the year the Aeon debuted). I'm toying with the idea of building my first kit car some time this year and wanted your opinions on MX5 based cars.
Originally I was looking at the GKD Legend but being BMW based I think it's going to be out of my price range and having seen the car on their stand I didn't like the look of it as much as some of the others (that paint scheme doesn't do it any favours in my opinion).
The first car that caught my eye was the MX5 based RoadRunner Racing SR2. I just about squeezed into it (too many pies), was impressed by the amount of space there appears to be in the engine bay compared to some others, I was impressed by the ease of adjusting the ride height seeing as I live in the town of a thousand speed humps and most of all I was impressed by the finish and subtle styling changes of the bodywork (I'm a shallow creature).
I had a look around the MK stand but they were swamped for quite a while so didn't get the chance to speak to anyone about them. The Indy R seems a fraction cheaper than the SR2 but I'm not overly sold on the big gap in the bodywork between the side panel and the nose cone, looks a bit unfinished to me.
It seems the MX5 base is a relatively new one compared to the tried and tested Ford formula so what are the pros and cons? The only thing I've found out so far is that the 1.6 is less powerful but lighter than the 1.8, it's going to be a road car so I suspect that either of these is going to be powerful enough.
What are your thoughts on the kits mentioned?
Obviously both of these are towards the budget end of the car market and given how things might change in the coming months my budget might have to shrink some more. If so, what are people's opinions of buying an older car and fixing it up? How hard is it to change things like bodywork and interior?
Cheers,
Kev
A bmw based car is cheaper than buying a decent mx5 donor and you can have up to 340bhp as standard, the Gkd show car isn't the best colour combo in the world but you don't have to have it in that colour....Originally I was looking at the GKD Legend but being BMW based I think it's going to be out of my price range and having seen the car on their stand I didn't like the look of it as much as some of the others (that paint scheme doesn't do it any favours in my opinion).
The first car that caught my eye was the MX5 based RoadRunner Racing SR2. I just about squeezed into it (too many pies), was impressed by the amount of space there appears to be in the engine bay compared to some others, I was impressed by the ease of adjusting the ride height seeing as I live in the town of a thousand speed humps and most of all I was impressed by the finish and subtle styling changes of the bodywork (I'm a shallow creature).
I had a look around the MK stand but they were swamped for quite a while so didn't get the chance to speak to anyone about them. The Indy R seems a fraction cheaper than the SR2 but I'm not overly sold on the big gap in the bodywork between the side panel and the nose cone, looks a bit unfinished to me.
It seems the MX5 base is a relatively new one compared to the tried and tested Ford formula so what are the pros and cons? The only thing I've found out so far is that the 1.6 is less powerful but lighter than the 1.8, it's going to be a road car so I suspect that either of these is going to be powerful enough.
What are your thoughts on the kits mentioned?
Obviously both of these are towards the budget end of the car market and given how things might change in the coming months my budget might have to shrink some more. If so, what are people's opinions of buying an older car and fixing it up? How hard is it to change things like bodywork and interior?
Cheers,
Kev
This is mine that i'm building. Looks a bit better than the gkd demo car eh!?
I run a Mk1 MX5 which I turbo'd and I've also got a Westfield Zetec with 170bhp.
If I was to build a car from scratch I would be building the Westfield mx5 based car. The 5's engine, especially the 1.6 is so sweet and loves to rev, that coupled with reliability and the ability to very easily add a turbo or supercharger makes it a brilliant combo.
You could find a decent 1.6 (pre 94 or you end up with a 90 bhp rather than the 116bhp version) 5 or eunos with LSD for sale for around £500 ish. If you wanted power you can then spend another few hundred on a turbo. Good used kits come up for sale regularly on the MX5Nutz forum for under a grand including most stuff you need to get the engine running safely at around the 160-180 bhp mark.
Once you have the turbo it's relatively easy to add more an intercooler, fuelling with a set of injectors and either a replacement ecu or a cheaper piggyback ecu and you can be safely running easily 200+ bhp for peanuts.
Thats a seriously SERIOUSLY fast car for very little money.
Put it this way, my turbo'd mx5 that weighs about a tonne isnt much slower than my 600kg westfield! and the mx5 is only running 6 psi!
If I was to build a car from scratch I would be building the Westfield mx5 based car. The 5's engine, especially the 1.6 is so sweet and loves to rev, that coupled with reliability and the ability to very easily add a turbo or supercharger makes it a brilliant combo.
You could find a decent 1.6 (pre 94 or you end up with a 90 bhp rather than the 116bhp version) 5 or eunos with LSD for sale for around £500 ish. If you wanted power you can then spend another few hundred on a turbo. Good used kits come up for sale regularly on the MX5Nutz forum for under a grand including most stuff you need to get the engine running safely at around the 160-180 bhp mark.
Once you have the turbo it's relatively easy to add more an intercooler, fuelling with a set of injectors and either a replacement ecu or a cheaper piggyback ecu and you can be safely running easily 200+ bhp for peanuts.
Thats a seriously SERIOUSLY fast car for very little money.
Put it this way, my turbo'd mx5 that weighs about a tonne isnt much slower than my 600kg westfield! and the mx5 is only running 6 psi!
Mr2Mike said:
jason61c said:
A bmw based car is cheaper than buying a decent mx5 donor
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