RHD to LHD in a kit car

[kubus01]

Hi,

Hello everyone... My first post over here and I'm going to start off with the question.

Is it easy to do a RHD to LHD swap in a kita car? I want to get a BEC, most likely the 7, but I need to register it in Poland. We cant register the RHD cars over here.

I chose to buy a second hand, ready built car.
So, just how difficult would that be to do a swap?

thanks,

Cuba

[jimmystratos]

If the kit manufacturer produces a LHD version, it should be possible. Otherwise very difficult I would think.

[Jon Ison]

I know MK have built several left hand drive cars for the Dutch market, a lhd BEC is difficult though as the engine sits exactly where you want the steering column to pass through the engine bay, I seem to recall they used the "pan european" ? engine on a few as it can be mounted well out of the way of the steering column ?

[kubus01]

Thanks for your replies.

What do you mean that the engine sits exactly where the steering column should be. I thought that engine was place centrally and therefore it didnt matter where the column was.

I was thinking of a westfield with a busa engine...

[singlecoil]

kubus01 said:

Thanks for your replies.

What do you mean that the engine sits exactly where the steering column should be. I thought that engine was place centrally and therefore it didnt matter where the column was.

I was thinking of a westfield with a busa engine...

You need to search for some pictures of BEC engine installations, and you will then see what the problem is.

[chriswhitlock]

Quite a few Westfields have been sold to europe. It might be worth having a look at somewhere like Germany where there may be some already in LHD

[BobM]

As has been stated the problem is that to get the bike gearbox output shaft pointing down the transmission tunnel you stick the engine on the left side of the engine bay. No room then for a pedal box, master cylinders etc.

What about a mid-engined kit though? No such problem there, just a matter of locating pedal box, steering column etc. on the left.

[kubus01]

You are right guys... Just minutes after I wrote the last post I looked at some pics. The damn engine is right there where the steering column should be

So, basically, I it was built from the scratch then you could account for that and have the engine and the box fitted different way, I suppose.

Do you think there will be the same problem with a car engine kit car? Say for example a westfield with a civic type r engine?

Thanks

[kubus01]

Hi,

Since it could work out with the BEC I decided to go for a car engined kit car. I guess it is more civilized anyway

Do you think its possible to buy an unfinished project and have it transformed to a LHD.
There is a Robin Hood on here:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/largepic.asp?i=...

Do you think its possible to do a RHD to LHD swap without too many troubles along the way?

The same goes for a complete kit car. Those of you who had build your own cars, should be able to answer, would it be doable to swap a ready kit car into a LHD?

Thanks again,

[Steve_D]

In kitcars the supporting structure for the column and pedals are a fundamental part of the chassis structure so the swap would require large amounts of the car taking off to get at and make the required structure changes.
I think the work involved would not be far short of building a LHD car from scratch.

Steve

[singlecoil]

Steve_D said:

In kitcars the supporting structure for the column and pedals are a fundamental part of the chassis structure so the swap would require large amounts of the car taking off to get at and make the required structure changes.
I think the work involved would not be far short of building a LHD car from scratch.

Steve

I agree that there would be a lot of work involved, but think it would be a LOT easier than building a car from scratch. It may also be that a correctly registered car would be easier to import/overcome the legalities in Poland than building a new one.

[kubus01]

thanks guys.

I am not afraid of having to put some work into the car. The truth is that in Poland we only have the Tiger dealership. The kits are expensive. The second hand market for kit cars is almost nonexistent.
There was a Tiger Cat on our Ebay recently that had a reserve of almost 10000 pounds. It was a simple pinto based car. Nothing extraordinary, I actually took it for a test drive. I made the guy an offer but he didn't bite it.

So tbh I am left with very little options.

I am decided that I want a seven based car, but how to go about it... its another case.

I thought that if I could by a decent UK car for about 5000 quid and then convert it to LHD at the cost of about 500 pounds, then add the registration fees, plus transport to Poland I would end up with a nice car for about 6-6.5k and this is acceptable, but if the RHD>LHD conversion proves to be more expensive, then the whole business is getting a bit pricey.

I have one more option....

I can find a car in UK which has documents and the reg date (or production date) of the donors car, prior to 1984. Basically if the car is over 25 yrs old I can register it as an antique (monument of history) . In that case the car can be registered with the steering wheel on the right, so no conversion required.
I saw a few ads where the car was on the A or B reg, or even on the black number plates prior to the white/yellow ones. So a car with such reg is ok for me.

Also, I am not quite sure on the Q reg system in the UK.
If its a Q reg, will it have a first reg date of the donor car, or when you comlete the car and notify the DVLA??

Guys, I really appreciate your help in advance. The more info I get the better...

Thanks
Cuba

[Happy Jim]

kubus01 said:

Also, I am not quite sure on the Q reg system in the UK.
If its a Q reg, will it have a first reg date of the donor car, or when you comlete the car and notify the DVLA??

Cuba

A Q reg car would have it's date of birth set when it was completed as a Kit and tested (Q means too many different donor parts to be able to give it a single Donor year of Birth).

Rgds

Jim

[Steve_D]

Another option would be centre steer or a single seater.
I know they exist but can't put a name to one right now.
Not quite the 7 style you mentioned but not far off and still open top driving.

Steve