Hi all I am new to this site I am an expat living in Thailand
I am about to embark on a locost 7 project but as with all newbies i have many questions so here goes

1 I have found a 1994 sierra that was in the floods up to roof level and has not moved for 4 years prier to the floods a year ago he wants £600 for it which I am going to negotiate if it is any good so do you think the diff and gear box uprights etc will be of use ? or will they be stuffed i know i would need to change all the wheel bearings

2 If not what donor vehicle could I use as over here it is mostly Toyota fwd cars and rwd vigo trucks

3 what chassis size would I need if the sierra parts are usable ?

what motor can I use with the sierra box thinking of a 3000 straight six Toyota lump


thanks in advance

Is £600 the going price for a flood damaged 1994 car over there, I would be wanting a zero knocked off that price - if not two !!. My 1995 Volvo Estate is worth about £200 tops as scrap for comparison and it has a current MOT as well.

[Edited on 6/3/13 by Westy1994]

Car prices here are very high even clapped out second hand ones
any European cars are subject to upto 200% import duty
also If a Thai sees a white face the price goes up

Blimey, thats bad news then, as presumably spares will be as expensive.

Regarding your other questions, if the parts are usable then building a 'book' locost would be the best bet, I am assuming the car has the type 9 gearbox, so quite a few engines can be mated to that ( someone no doubt will post which ones, because I dont have a list)

The other car to watch for is the MX5 Mazda, again lots of folks here have used that donor car.

Welcome to the forum BTW.

Thanks for the reply I will look into the sierra I forgot to say its a sapphire can anyone tell me the difference apart from the shape

If the car has been up to the roof in water then there is a chance the gearbox is full of water anyway. Along with the diff if it has a breather possibly.

infact, the more you think about it, the more you would walk away from it for use as a donor, most of what you would need will be in quite a state. Unless you can get the price right down I would look elsewhere myself. As for the Sapphire shape, other than a few model facelifts they were the same as the normal hatchback model as far as I am aware.

you are probably right just getting rwd components here is not easy ok I can use fwd uprights just get the cv joint machined flush but as for a rear axle thats gonna be a pain to find I can get one off a toyota hilux 2wd easy but I think it would be too big and heavy

Having googled about car prices in Taiwan, its not going to be easy. I think Nissan/ Datsun would be an option if you can find any?.

Heres one ?....

Nissan

£900 for a 1988 Sunny ?........

The wages must be good over there thats all I can say..

I was thinking of building one in the Philippines where making your own car is quite common. Check out the legalities first. Mx5 or other old Jap real wheel drive I would have thought would have been easier than a Ford.

I am in Thailand which is even more expensive

I used a toyota Corolla as a donor, the front wheel drive engine can be used, the Toyota rwd transmission bolts to the 4age engine.
See if you can find a Locost site in Australia for more of what would be available to you. I had similar problems sourcing UK donors in Canada

Try looking at:

http://www.ozclubbies.com.au/

16 valve or 20 valve 4AGE engines, mated to a T50 gearbox from an AE86 Corolla would be the most common approach.

Otherwise try the Datsun / Nissan route with the A12 engine from a Datsun 1200 ute.

Nissan Silvias (180SX/200SX) give a CA18 or SR20 engine, both with a RWD gearbox - probably non turbo would be easiest. The Puma clubman in Australia uses those.

Ford Zetec and Duratecs from the Focus/Mondeo and Mazda 3/MX5 series could be usable if you find a suitable gearbox (such as the 5 speed from the Mk3 MX5 for the Duratec or the Sierra for the Zetec).

You could also look at this thread (somewhat old though) http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/62421-kit-car-manufacturer-in-thailand/


Good luck,
Nick

You probably won't find any of those cars in Thailand for a reasonable price.

I would avoid the sierra though, water damage would probably see you spending a fortune to get everything working again.

I'm in Vietnam where the choice of cars is limited and they are all expensive - we have lots of innovas and vios' around here but they would still sell for USD10k+ even after 10 years and with wrecked clutches and gearboxes from the awful way that people drive here. Even an old (I would guess 20+) Honda rebel 250cc could sell for USD2,000 - 5,000 here, its a completely different market to Europe or Australia - and wages are nowhere near as high.

I would guess your best option would be looking to bring one over from Cambodia - they're still expensive but not as bad as in Vietnam and I suspect not as bad as Thailand. Personally I would look to get a big (or average, say 600cc?) bike from Cambodia instead of looking to build a kit. With Bangkok (I assume that's where you are?) traffic you may as well get a tuk tuk instead of building a seven, and without aircon I wouldn't want to be anything that can't filter through. I ride a 125cc here, even with my weight (well over 100kg) I'll never get it up to top speed in the city, bike traffic moves (slightly) faster, and it's much easier to park a bike than a car!

Yeah I hear you I live about 40 mins from Bangkok I already have a 2012 Kawasaki ninja 250 and a nearly new Honda city car.
The main reason for building a 7 is for the project to build I have time and space on my hands to do it and always wanted to give it a go.
It is also in a way a bit of a tribute to my farther who worked at lotus cars in the very early days making the Lotus 7 he then went on to join the Lotus F1 team and became chief mechanic there helping Jimmy Clarke win the championship.

I guess its gonna just have to be a mix and match 7 there are plenty of places that sell engines I will just have to use what I can find.

The vast majority of our cars are mix and match, I wouldn't worry about that. And for me thats the beauty of building a car, you use whatever is available and ' make' it fit. Nice tribute as well BTW, in some ways thats why I have mine, my father built a Austin 7 special way back when...

Good luck with the build anyway.