Just under 2 years and alot of blood sweat and tears later.
Discussion
Hi there,
So rewind to 12th September 2016 and I am stood outside Great British Sportscars near Newark with an empty transit van, a very empty wallet and this : -
Fast forward just under two years, not only is my wallet still empty so now is my bank account but finally shes on the road, and boy oh boy am I am happy chappy.
The car is a GBS Zero, having looked around at pretty much all the Lotus 7 replicas inc Caterham and Westfield I decided that GBS offered a far superior and would enable me to put a car on the road for around £28K (with an equivalent spec'd Caterham costing around £37k). She has been built with all new parts and was registered as a brand new GBS Zero in July 2018.
Engine is a new Ford Zetec 2.0 16V with Throttle Bodies and Emerald ECU, should be running around 180bhp with a weight of around 550kg.
I am currently running her in but once she has had her 500 mile checkover I will start hitting the track for some real fun.
Happy to share more photos of the build if you guys are interested ?
Regards
Tim
So rewind to 12th September 2016 and I am stood outside Great British Sportscars near Newark with an empty transit van, a very empty wallet and this : -
Fast forward just under two years, not only is my wallet still empty so now is my bank account but finally shes on the road, and boy oh boy am I am happy chappy.
The car is a GBS Zero, having looked around at pretty much all the Lotus 7 replicas inc Caterham and Westfield I decided that GBS offered a far superior and would enable me to put a car on the road for around £28K (with an equivalent spec'd Caterham costing around £37k). She has been built with all new parts and was registered as a brand new GBS Zero in July 2018.
Engine is a new Ford Zetec 2.0 16V with Throttle Bodies and Emerald ECU, should be running around 180bhp with a weight of around 550kg.
I am currently running her in but once she has had her 500 mile checkover I will start hitting the track for some real fun.
Happy to share more photos of the build if you guys are interested ?
Regards
Tim
Very interested in learning more. Having grown up just around the corner from the original Robin Hood factory and closely watched them morph into GBSC, following the disaster of the lightweight what wasn’t technically strong enough to pass IVA (despite selling plenty to folk) to the full sorted Zero, I’ve had them as number one on my list to buy from when the time is right for me to build.
As another has asked, any changes molajnts/ advice on the build process? Do you get plenty of info? What’s the kit itself like quality wise? Easy to bolt stuff on, or is there still some significant ‘home engineering’ required to finish one?
As another has asked, any changes molajnts/ advice on the build process? Do you get plenty of info? What’s the kit itself like quality wise? Easy to bolt stuff on, or is there still some significant ‘home engineering’ required to finish one?
Fair play for spending all that time on building something yourself, my hat goes off to ya!
Personally I can't think of anything worse but I'm not that handy with spanners. Out of curiosity, and this isn't a dig at all - but whats the reason you didn't just buy something like this already built?
http://uk.caterhamcars.com/pre-owned/2078-360r
Personally I can't think of anything worse but I'm not that handy with spanners. Out of curiosity, and this isn't a dig at all - but whats the reason you didn't just buy something like this already built?
http://uk.caterhamcars.com/pre-owned/2078-360r
shalmaneser said:
Julian Thompson said:
Looks great - are those roll hoops ok for track work?
Is it IRS and pushrod? Interested to hear what makes it superior to a Caterfield?
Not pushrod at the front as far as I can see!Is it IRS and pushrod? Interested to hear what makes it superior to a Caterfield?
Also interested to hear OPs reasoning behind the decision!
I love the rear splitter, looks fantastic!
GBS are making decent progress in making great cars now and catching the 'others' very quickly. I have just built a Westfield and can honestly say in terms of technical advances, from CNC's shocks to other parts , I may have considered a GBS if they were at this level when I went to buy mine. Looks a great car and seems quite pricey for a 7 , as built mine for 25k all in inc IVA etc.
Enjoy it and at 500 miles, you are nearly there. Emerald ecu is a great product too.
Enjoy it and at 500 miles, you are nearly there. Emerald ecu is a great product too.
Hi there,
Thanks for all the replies so far.
To answer some of the questions in turn : -
They are designed and made in house by GBS, honestly their engineering capability is superb.
As for the roll hoops, as far as I know they are fine. The factory offer the car with the normal hoop shape, or the cobra hoops (as per those on my car) as an option.
With regard to what makes it superior to a Caterfield, I guess this might be personal preference but I found that when looking at a Caterham I was largely paying for a name. If you look at a Caterham kit they are more or less built with only minimal amount of work needed to actually get it roadworthy. Building it from just a chassis was part of the challenge for me. Also the engineering on Caterham was a bit mass market for me. Although this can be a good thing it mean given the bespoke nature of my build I would have had to pay out a lot to alter parts that would have come from Caterham. I actually discounted Westfield really early on, just something about them I was not keen on and it would not surprise me if before long they are not actually producing there cars anymore as I know then are investing heavily in alternative fuelled transport etc. The GBS for me stayed true to the Lotus 7 design and allowed me to build something from the ground up without being to constrained.
There is very little info with the kit and certainly not anything like that you would usually call a set of instructions. When I enquried about this originally I was told it was because everyone builds them differently (to their own spec) and some people prefer to fit parts in a different order so a manual would be tricky. I guess the other issue is the cost of putting a manual together. I built mine in the order the factory build their cars, I did get impatient at one point and fit the seats (out of sequence) only to have to remove them as I needed access to the interior for a step I had jumped. There are lots of blogs on the net and I found these invaluable along with the excellent technical knowledge the guys at the factory have who are always at the end of the phone.
In terms of why I didn't take the money and go and buy a Caterham, simply really. I am crap at saving and buy building the GBS it allowed me to order parts in stages as my salary/bonus from work allowed in order for me to progress the build. I don't think I would ever have succeeded in saving up £34K to go and walk into a dealer to buy a Caterham. Plus that car you mentioned doesn't have the digital dash and steering wheel switches (around £1500) and is over a year old. So buy building the GBS I have a car of a similar spec ad have save myself a few £'s
Hope this helps a little. I will post some more pics shortly.
Please do post any more questions and I will answer them as best I can.
Regards
Tim
Thanks for all the replies so far.
To answer some of the questions in turn : -
Julian Thompson said:
Looks great - are those roll hoops ok for track work?
Is it IRS and pushrod? Interested to hear what makes it superior to a Caterfield?
Yes its independent rear suspension but not pushrod. This car is actually running ATR shocks all round, these shocks are made by GBS (under their brand name ATR) and are superb. They are the same company that supply all the suspension bits to Brisca for their stock cars.Is it IRS and pushrod? Interested to hear what makes it superior to a Caterfield?
They are designed and made in house by GBS, honestly their engineering capability is superb.
As for the roll hoops, as far as I know they are fine. The factory offer the car with the normal hoop shape, or the cobra hoops (as per those on my car) as an option.
With regard to what makes it superior to a Caterfield, I guess this might be personal preference but I found that when looking at a Caterham I was largely paying for a name. If you look at a Caterham kit they are more or less built with only minimal amount of work needed to actually get it roadworthy. Building it from just a chassis was part of the challenge for me. Also the engineering on Caterham was a bit mass market for me. Although this can be a good thing it mean given the bespoke nature of my build I would have had to pay out a lot to alter parts that would have come from Caterham. I actually discounted Westfield really early on, just something about them I was not keen on and it would not surprise me if before long they are not actually producing there cars anymore as I know then are investing heavily in alternative fuelled transport etc. The GBS for me stayed true to the Lotus 7 design and allowed me to build something from the ground up without being to constrained.
Krikkit said:
Fantastic work - I'd followed your posts in the kitcar subforum. 
Any complaints about the GBS build process?
Thanks, I built the car, GBS merely checked it over and resprayed it before prepping it for IVA.Any complaints about the GBS build process?
eltax91 said:
Very interested in learning more. Having grown up just around the corner from the original Robin Hood factory and closely watched them morph into GBS, following the disaster of the lightweight what wasn’t technically strong enough to pass IVA (despite selling plenty to folk) to the full sorted Zero, I’ve had them as number one on my list to buy from when the time is right for me to build.
As another has asked, any changes molajnts/ advice on the build process? Do you get plenty of info? What’s the kit itself like quality wise? Easy to bolt stuff on, or is there still some significant ‘home engineering’ required to finish one?
The factory have come a huge way from the Robin Hood days, I have recently seen a Robin Hood that the factory are finishing it for a guy who has had it 15 years and the two cars are light years apart. As another has asked, any changes molajnts/ advice on the build process? Do you get plenty of info? What’s the kit itself like quality wise? Easy to bolt stuff on, or is there still some significant ‘home engineering’ required to finish one?
There is very little info with the kit and certainly not anything like that you would usually call a set of instructions. When I enquried about this originally I was told it was because everyone builds them differently (to their own spec) and some people prefer to fit parts in a different order so a manual would be tricky. I guess the other issue is the cost of putting a manual together. I built mine in the order the factory build their cars, I did get impatient at one point and fit the seats (out of sequence) only to have to remove them as I needed access to the interior for a step I had jumped. There are lots of blogs on the net and I found these invaluable along with the excellent technical knowledge the guys at the factory have who are always at the end of the phone.
Vladikar said:
Fair play for spending all that time on building something yourself, my hat goes off to ya!
Personally I can't think of anything worse but I'm not that handy with spanners. Out of curiosity, and this isn't a dig at all - but whats the reason you didn't just buy something like this already built?
http://uk.caterhamcars.com/pre-owned/2078-360r
Thanks for the kind words, let me make it clear I am in no way a mechanic. I have built lots of Tamiya RC cars in the past and to be honest this is just like a giant Tamiya kit. The build was challenging and things like fitting the engine, clutch and gearbox was something that frightened the life out of me but by taking my time (and with a little assistance from my son, dad and brother in law at various points of the build) all the parts went together.Personally I can't think of anything worse but I'm not that handy with spanners. Out of curiosity, and this isn't a dig at all - but whats the reason you didn't just buy something like this already built?
http://uk.caterhamcars.com/pre-owned/2078-360r
In terms of why I didn't take the money and go and buy a Caterham, simply really. I am crap at saving and buy building the GBS it allowed me to order parts in stages as my salary/bonus from work allowed in order for me to progress the build. I don't think I would ever have succeeded in saving up £34K to go and walk into a dealer to buy a Caterham. Plus that car you mentioned doesn't have the digital dash and steering wheel switches (around £1500) and is over a year old. So buy building the GBS I have a car of a similar spec ad have save myself a few £'s
Hope this helps a little. I will post some more pics shortly.
Please do post any more questions and I will answer them as best I can.
Regards
Tim
Edited by autofocus on Wednesday 22 August 21:49
Hi there,
As I guess you can appreciate I have hundreds of photos of the build from start to finish.
I will post them in some sort of order, here is the first batch.
Car out of the van and positioned in its new home
Factory build checklist, this is the order I would try and follow. Note Step 38 :-)
Drivers side rear suspension
Rear end mostly completed with diff in position
Fuel tank being bonded in place
Hand brake going in
Rear brakes
Master cylinder and brake pipes going in
Interior taking shape
Wiring being routed
Progressing nicely
Fuel pump in position
Time for some carpets - loose fitting first
and glued into place
Front end starting to come together
Original panels all painted in Matt Grey Plastidip (this was ditched in the end as just not of a good enough durability)
Side panels being fitted
Will post some more pics over the coming days
Regards
Tim
As I guess you can appreciate I have hundreds of photos of the build from start to finish.
I will post them in some sort of order, here is the first batch.
Car out of the van and positioned in its new home
Factory build checklist, this is the order I would try and follow. Note Step 38 :-)
Drivers side rear suspension
Rear end mostly completed with diff in position
Fuel tank being bonded in place
Hand brake going in
Rear brakes
Master cylinder and brake pipes going in
Interior taking shape
Wiring being routed
Progressing nicely
Fuel pump in position
Time for some carpets - loose fitting first
and glued into place
Front end starting to come together
Original panels all painted in Matt Grey Plastidip (this was ditched in the end as just not of a good enough durability)
Side panels being fitted
Will post some more pics over the coming days
Regards
Tim
Hi there,
Next batch of photos
Boot inner panels fitted into place
Swirl pot being fitted and plumbed in
One of the toughest parts of the build, the rear panel goes on
Boot area is carpeted
Fan and radiator is fitted
Rear wheel arches going on
Steering column in position
Rear lights all fitted
Steering wheel and boss fitted
Engine arrives
New lightweight flywheel fitted
Clutch in
Seats and seatbelts in
Wheels go on
Engine meets gearbox
Will post another batch soon
Regards
Tim
Next batch of photos
Boot inner panels fitted into place
Swirl pot being fitted and plumbed in
One of the toughest parts of the build, the rear panel goes on
Boot area is carpeted
Fan and radiator is fitted
Rear wheel arches going on
Steering column in position
Rear lights all fitted
Steering wheel and boss fitted
Engine arrives
New lightweight flywheel fitted
Clutch in
Seats and seatbelts in
Wheels go on
Engine meets gearbox
Will post another batch soon
Regards
Tim
Great looking car, interesting build... look forward to further updates.
At the risk of straying slightly off topic, can we have a few pictures and details about the Rover parked next to it. I used to get taken to school on a Saturday morning by a neighbour who owned a dark red version and have been a big fan ever since.
At the risk of straying slightly off topic, can we have a few pictures and details about the Rover parked next to it. I used to get taken to school on a Saturday morning by a neighbour who owned a dark red version and have been a big fan ever since.
rsmithinfo said:
Looking great. The series of pictures are making it look easy(!). Why was the rear one of the hardest bits - fiddly?
Hi there,Yes fiddly, you have to essentially get the rear panel to fit in many different places (underneath, top and both sides) all at the same time and as its quite thin metal you cannot risk bending it out of shape.
Photos might make it look easy, some of it was but the majority required you be quite methodical and you need loads of concentration.
Regards
Tim
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