Bike Engine Vs Car Engine 7's
Discussion
Hi all
I've been musing for a while now about getting rid of my Defender "toy" and swapping it for a 7-esque kit car. I've been mainly looking at Westfield, Robin Hood and GKD. I will have around £8k to spend. It has to be a 7 style car, as I've always wanted one. I would like to aquire one, self-maintain it and use this as a learning excercise to get the gist of how they screw together, with a view to one day selling it and building my own (always wanted the build challenge, but not right now).
The GKD uses the BMW 6-pot which I have always wanted to own, but sadly £8k seems out of my price range. Does anyone know of hidden places to look for these? Usual places have none!
With the RH's and the Westfield, there are a mix of Crossflow's, Pinto's, Zetec's and then obviously the Westfield MegaBusa and RV8 powered cars. So, my question is, which is best for me? Are the bike engine one's highly strung, unreliable and difficult to maintain? I know NOTHING of bikes, so I'm up for an education.
I'm guessing bike engines are used because of their weight? For these, what about reverse? Are they mainly sorted? If so, how?
My requirements from the kit are:-
I've been musing for a while now about getting rid of my Defender "toy" and swapping it for a 7-esque kit car. I've been mainly looking at Westfield, Robin Hood and GKD. I will have around £8k to spend. It has to be a 7 style car, as I've always wanted one. I would like to aquire one, self-maintain it and use this as a learning excercise to get the gist of how they screw together, with a view to one day selling it and building my own (always wanted the build challenge, but not right now).
The GKD uses the BMW 6-pot which I have always wanted to own, but sadly £8k seems out of my price range. Does anyone know of hidden places to look for these? Usual places have none!
With the RH's and the Westfield, there are a mix of Crossflow's, Pinto's, Zetec's and then obviously the Westfield MegaBusa and RV8 powered cars. So, my question is, which is best for me? Are the bike engine one's highly strung, unreliable and difficult to maintain? I know NOTHING of bikes, so I'm up for an education.
I'm guessing bike engines are used because of their weight? For these, what about reverse? Are they mainly sorted? If so, how?My requirements from the kit are:-
- Enough power to be a fun weekend car (I know you don't need mega figures in these cars)
- Self Maintainability
- Reliability (So not as much of the above is needed)
Not an owner but I'll throw in my 2 pence.
Buy the best car you can find within your budget! All 7esque cars are far from equal. I'd suggest asking some of the friendly folk on here for a look round their cars or attend some of the kit shows. Some cars I've seen have been very well put together, others not so.
I've had a passenger ride in a Westie Megabusa - very manic and very track orientated. Some will say that a car engine is much easier 90% of the time and at face value, I'd agree. Grin factor was off the scale though and my immediate thought was 'must get me one of these!'
As much as I didn't like the look of it and after seeing one on the flesh a couple of days ago, have a look at the MEV Exocet - very well regarded kit by some on here and seems you could do a new build for very little ££. I'd be looking at one of those anyday over the low end 7 market.
Buy the best car you can find within your budget! All 7esque cars are far from equal. I'd suggest asking some of the friendly folk on here for a look round their cars or attend some of the kit shows. Some cars I've seen have been very well put together, others not so.
I've had a passenger ride in a Westie Megabusa - very manic and very track orientated. Some will say that a car engine is much easier 90% of the time and at face value, I'd agree. Grin factor was off the scale though and my immediate thought was 'must get me one of these!'
As much as I didn't like the look of it and after seeing one on the flesh a couple of days ago, have a look at the MEV Exocet - very well regarded kit by some on here and seems you could do a new build for very little ££. I'd be looking at one of those anyday over the low end 7 market.
With that budget you are going to be quite limited on a good seven. The GKD is very good, as is the Westfield. I'd avoid Robin Hood's as they were not well made.
Having said that, the company that evolved from the demise of Robin Hood is Great British Sports Cars (GBS) and these are rather good now.
If it was me I'd take a serious look at the MEV Exocet as for £8k you will be able to build ALOT of car for your money. My race car is running throttle bodies and is the MEV Lightweight chassis. The retail build cost for that car (without IVA Etc) would be about £6,000 and It's as quick as a 911 GT3 (as proven on Friday). Of course I am biased though
Having said that, the company that evolved from the demise of Robin Hood is Great British Sports Cars (GBS) and these are rather good now.
If it was me I'd take a serious look at the MEV Exocet as for £8k you will be able to build ALOT of car for your money. My race car is running throttle bodies and is the MEV Lightweight chassis. The retail build cost for that car (without IVA Etc) would be about £6,000 and It's as quick as a 911 GT3 (as proven on Friday). Of course I am biased though
t storm in five... four...Yawn, you'll find the answer here:
http://tinyurl.com/c85d4mm
(About once a month for years actually.)
http://tinyurl.com/c85d4mm
(About once a month for years actually.)
mikeveal said:
Yawn, you'll find the answer here:
http://tinyurl.com/c85d4mm
(About once a month for years actually.)
Sorry. I will have a search.http://tinyurl.com/c85d4mm
(About once a month for years actually.)
The latest Robin Hoods aka Great British Sports cars model the Zero is a good car using similar chassis to all the other 7's
Build quality differs on all kits, depends who built it.
You need to get a ride, join a local kit car club and sit in several types,
Bike engines can get wearing after a while and you just can't go balls out all the time
And don't under estimate the value of torque over bhp figures
Build quality differs on all kits, depends who built it.
You need to get a ride, join a local kit car club and sit in several types,
Bike engines can get wearing after a while and you just can't go balls out all the time
And don't under estimate the value of torque over bhp figures
[/pedantmode]PaulKemp said:
The latest Robin Hoods aka Great British Sports cars model the Zero is a good car using similar chassis to all the other 7's
Build quality differs on all kits, depends who built it.
You need to get a ride, join a local kit car club and sit in several types,
Bike engines can get wearing after a while and you just can't go balls out all the time
And don't under estimate the value of torque over bhp figures
I'm going to take a more serious look at these cars. The 2b was the car that first got me looking at 7's. I grew up 4 miles from the first factory and I know one or two people who work near the new one.Build quality differs on all kits, depends who built it.
You need to get a ride, join a local kit car club and sit in several types,
Bike engines can get wearing after a while and you just can't go balls out all the time
And don't under estimate the value of torque over bhp figures
I know the zero starts at quite a low price. Having just had my first born, I just don't have time to fulfill my dream of building one yet, so I'm thinking I will acquire and spanner one and build when the kids have grown up.
Any idea ball park figures GBSC will charge to build a zero with a zetec from scratch for a customer?
VHPD said:
And don't under estimate the value of a light weight car.
How much does a GKD with a BMW 6 cylinder weigh?
IMHO 130/150 ft/lbs and 150/200 bhp 500/550 kgs makes for a great road package.
Anywhere from 550kg to 725kg, depending on the exact engine/box/diff/chassis+cage spec. Thats a measured fully wet weight not what some cars are sold as weighing.How much does a GKD with a BMW 6 cylinder weigh?
IMHO 130/150 ft/lbs and 150/200 bhp 500/550 kgs makes for a great road package.
PaulKemp said:
Bike engines can get wearing after a while and you just can't go balls out all the time
And don't under estimate the value of torque over bhp figures
Bike engines aren't all highstrung 4 cyl; there are lots of big torquey cruiser V twins.And don't under estimate the value of torque over bhp figures
Also the very interesting Triumph Thunderbird 1600/1700 cc parallel twins, which some reviews say is better at being a V twin than the real ones, though I imagine it will be quite awhile before there are reasonably priced donors.
I think factory built Zeros cost around the £14K, if you're looking for a sorted Zero then there is this one in the classified section:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3820395.htm
ST170 with proper controlled VVT. Looks well built and rather nice in the green/black.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3820395.htm
ST170 with proper controlled VVT. Looks well built and rather nice in the green/black.
Rob52 said:
I think factory built Zeros cost around the £14K, if you're looking for a sorted Zero then there is this one in the classified section:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3820395.htm
ST170 with proper controlled VVT. Looks well built and rather nice in the green/black.
That does look really nice. I think I may have to get the 90 in the classified sooner rather than later...http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3820395.htm
ST170 with proper controlled VVT. Looks well built and rather nice in the green/black.
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