Hi all,

I'm about to take my first venture in to kit cars and have found a Locost 7 that is 90% complete. I know there are a raft of risks associated with purchasing someone else's work. But assuming the build is good I have a couple of questions regarding the IVA;

I've been told there are no comprehensive pictures of the build process and that there are no receipts for the engine and gearbox. The donor vehicle is also not around so doubt there is a V5.

Will the above cause me any pain when trying to register the car / pass the IVA? I'm happy with a Q plate.

Any help appreciated.

Nothings ever 90% and even then the last 10% always take 90% of the time anyway!!!

You'll probably end up stripping it down and starting again as many seem to do. So take loads of pictures when you rebuild it. You can make your own receipts for things on your computer, so that's easy.

Then you'll get a Q plate.

Photo's are only required to helpshow it's built by you (easy enough to stage) and at IVA to save striping down for the inspectors to see hidden stuff (like seat belt anchorages).
Reciepts are only required for major items and Word should help with that and even then I think onlyrealy if you're going for a new plate/reg..
If you're happy with a Q then the V5 isn't required. It's only use would be to proove engine age if it's pre95 and get the easier non-cat emmision test. There'sways around that, like if it's a Ford and you have the engine you can write to Ford for proof of age.

Thanks for the responses,

I bought the car in question, towed her back this Saturday from Birmingham to Darwen.

Looking forward to getting her on the road, will start a new thread covering progress!

quote:

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Originally posted by adamswifty
Thanks for the responses,

I bought the car in question, towed her back this Saturday from Birmingham to Darwen.

Looking forward to getting her on the road, will start a new thread covering progress!

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Now that you have it home and it is now yours...what about a pic or two....

She's a bit of a hybrid, locost 7 chassis with haynes roadster IRS. 2.0 zetec with megasquirt ecu, lotus 7 exhaust.

As you can see the hard work has been done, though there are lots of small jobs to complete, currently compiling a list.

When I picked her up, the green bonnet is from the protective film;



Back at my garage;

Looks good. How much was it if you don't mind sharing?

Apologies for the size of the pictures!

The gentleman the built the car and my dad helping me load onto the trailer in the first pic.

Regarding price, it was reasonably low, but then I guess it needs to be to provide a buffer for the unexpected, etc?

I think you have the makings of a good fun car there.....well done....

Its been a long time since my last post, and i'm struggling to justify progress given the current state of the car. However over the last 5 months i've

Completed outstanding chassis welding
Refurbed the front calipers and fitted new disks
Spayed front suspension wishbones
Replaced fuel pump and hoses
Fitted rear lights
Re-wired all, made new looms, etc

Sooo its probably 75% there, I managed to get coolant and the fuel tank back in this weekend with a view to starting. She starts, though I would describe it as being lumpy. I did historically have an issues with not being able to rev about 1500, though this was resolved by swapping the vr wires around. I've used a number of 2.0 zetec maps with differing fuel and spark settings, no real difference, the engine is lumpy and you can see it physically vibrating, probably more than I would expect.

I logged the trigger wheel at dinner, the signal looks good (36-1 setting), I do have one question, I understand the engine was originally out of an automatic mondeo. I'm assuming the crank sensor housing must have been updated for trigger wheel signals to be correct or is there something I should be checking with regard to the timing setup given it was an automatic?

Any help appreciated!

I will update the pictures soon.

Stick your location on it may help if you need to pop around to have a look at others near you or a insperational ride out by other members

I'm in a very similar position and have been rebuilding it over the last year and taking photos!

I remember on the paperwork for the IVA there being an option to tick saying someone else has built the car would you recommend being honest or claiming you built it?

This can't be an uncommon situation as many cars must be sold before they are finished?

Move the air filter, sucking hot air straight from behind the radiator is a very bad idea.

Looks like a lot of effort went into it.

If there is an option to declare it was part built by someone else I'd be tempted to take that approach. I've taken lots of pictures of the tweaks I've performed, so hoping it will be obvious that this is an amateur build. Hoping to be gearing up for the IVA in the next 3 months, so will update nearer the time.

The air intake is behind the radiator though there is a channel behind the nose that is under the radiator that's around 2" high, in principle this should ensure the filter does receive cold air, guess we will see what happens in practise!

I'm also thinking of swapping to throttle bodies once the thing actually moves, which refrained me from worrying too much.

It wouldn't even start with the automatic cps housing. So yes it must have been swapped.

you are not alone,others have 7 style cars ,myself phil Accrington, Adrian Blackburn,2 more in Accrington...