GTM Libra - Buying Advice
Discussion
The 'standard' Libra is pretty good for road use with very few design issues. Most problems develop from the build quality - as ever with kit cars! The main area of build problems seems to be electrics. not the quality of the GTM looms, but the quality and installation of the connectors.
Some of the early cars were built/delivered whilst GTM were changing the spring/damper specifications, and there have been mutterings about the GAZ dampers not lasting that long.
The rear suspension underwent a major design modification a couple of years ago. Original cars had fully plated rear wishbones and ball joint fixings to the tub. Later suspension arms are partially plated and with horizontal transverse bushes mounting to the tub.
The earlier type will rattle at the joints as they wear, and there have been some instances of them failing.
Later cars have all been fitted with cable gear changes - a nice improvement over the original rod change mechanism, but not a difficult retro-fit.
If you only do road use, then the only thing I'd recommend as a must, is the fitting of Metro / MGF vented discs to the front if the car has a 1.8 engine or more.
If you are going to put it on the track, then the metro rad will not cope with over 130Bhp, and you might need more brakes. I've got a VVC and GTi brakes - with 1144 pads and SRF fluid they do fine for me, although the pedal pressure is quite high.
As Rich says; join Team GTM, look at the build sites.
www.drawmer.net/libra/librabuild.h
Some of the early cars were built/delivered whilst GTM were changing the spring/damper specifications, and there have been mutterings about the GAZ dampers not lasting that long.
The rear suspension underwent a major design modification a couple of years ago. Original cars had fully plated rear wishbones and ball joint fixings to the tub. Later suspension arms are partially plated and with horizontal transverse bushes mounting to the tub.
The earlier type will rattle at the joints as they wear, and there have been some instances of them failing.
Later cars have all been fitted with cable gear changes - a nice improvement over the original rod change mechanism, but not a difficult retro-fit.
If you only do road use, then the only thing I'd recommend as a must, is the fitting of Metro / MGF vented discs to the front if the car has a 1.8 engine or more.
If you are going to put it on the track, then the metro rad will not cope with over 130Bhp, and you might need more brakes. I've got a VVC and GTi brakes - with 1144 pads and SRF fluid they do fine for me, although the pedal pressure is quite high.
As Rich says; join Team GTM, look at the build sites.
www.drawmer.net/libra/librabuild.h
Edited by Paul Drawmer on Thursday 8th March 13:46
As Paul says, they are fine road cars. If you want to do more than the odd gentle trackday and you know how to drive properly, then when you buy a used one look for Anti-roll bars (not all cars have them) and not essential but a plus point is the MGTF/Trophy brake upgrade. You will want these two in no time at all if you regularly take the car on track. We can answer all you questions properly on TGTM.
Furyblade_Lee said:
As Paul says, they are fine road cars. If you want to do more than the odd gentle trackday and you know how to drive properly, then when you buy a used one look for Anti-roll bars (not all cars have them) and not essential but a plus point is the MGTF/Trophy brake upgrade. You will want these two in no time at all if you regularly take the car on track. We can answer all you questions properly on TGTM.
i agree these are worth having.
my car which is for sale in the classified has all of them ;-)
Ok, reading this has made me think as mileage has been mentioned….
I have a 2003 factory built 1.6 Libra, standard spec as it’s a road car not a track toy. I use this as daily ride and I have done 73,000 miles on it to date.
How much do you think this would affect the re-sale price or would you not be fussed?
If the engine was swapped out for a low mileage 1.8 would this mean you would be happy to ignore the previous engines mileage?
Not selling, (yet) but one day I will have to
Cheers
I have a 2003 factory built 1.6 Libra, standard spec as it’s a road car not a track toy. I use this as daily ride and I have done 73,000 miles on it to date.
How much do you think this would affect the re-sale price or would you not be fussed?
If the engine was swapped out for a low mileage 1.8 would this mean you would be happy to ignore the previous engines mileage?
Not selling, (yet) but one day I will have to
Cheers
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