Right here goes, First of all, Hello, I had a visit from a very old friend on sunday in his kit car, he said it is a Stuart Taylor chassis with a Fireblade engine, after driving it for an hour or so i have decided i must have one and now the mrs agrees, result, i would like to build it but am tempted to buy an unfinished project, i know nowt about building cars so i warn you i will be posting a lot of HELP messages when i get one, i am just really looking for some advise on what is what really, i do know it must be Caterham shape with a bike engine, basically i dont want to buy a dog or a chassis that is no good.
Will any chassis except a bike engine or does it have to be built for it?
I cant believe how much fun i had driving this sort of car, i have had fast, sporty, modded cars before but this was just as much fun as my bike and more fun than a "normal" car.
Hope this is not to long winded and i aint bored you all, i just need one of these cars in my life.

Welcome, yes, go for it!
A real friend if he let you drive it!
There is probably very little less, if not potentially more work in an unfinished project as a virgin one. He said "virgin"
Yes it was a bit boring
Just joking.
GET YOURSELF TO NEWARK THIS WEEKEND, IT WILL ALL BECOME CLEAR
All the best
Colin

[Edited on 16/6/05 by ReMan]

Newark is the place to be this weekend. Excellent opportunity to see most of the different kits first hand and talk to the various manufacturers. Most importantly talk to people who have built them for their opinion.

I am well into the build of an MK Indy and would definitely recommend a close look at them. MNR also produce an excellent kit with some very neat ideas. Both cater for all the popular bike engines. There is also ST, Mac1, Luego, Tiger and others but don't know so much about these.

When it comes to engine choice and sourcing, a chat with colibriman on this forum should prove useful

I know what my engine choice will be, looking at either Busa(1st Choice) or Blade.
Wish i could get to Newark this weekend but unfortunatly its a bit short notice.
Is there any other events happening soon?

Next main shows are Harrogate in August and Donington in September. Busa is a great engine but a lot of money to buy. Might be worth considering the R1 as an alternative, pretty much the same price as a Blade but with performance mid-way between the Blade and the Busa. Added benefit is that you can just drop it in and run it slightly overfull of oil.
The Mini in my avatar is what I rally in with a mate of mine and that runs an R1 and embarrasses any number of Imprezas and Cosworths on tarmac rallies. Runs totally standard apart from a Barnett clutch plate.

I had never built a kit car before but found building my MK Indy quite easy and straight forward although i had a pinto engined jobby.

I would reccomend buying a kit as you will then know every nut & bolt on the car and have much more satisfaction when it's finished. You will be saying to yourself "i built this thing and it's great" which is better than saying "I built some of this"

Look at:
MK Indy
Stuart Taylor
GTs
Luego
MNR

From what i have heard they are all good companies........especially MK & Luego

Good Luck

welcome ,i agree with the above comments and i would say start from scratch and you can custom build it as you like, it was my first build and there is always loads of helpful people with vast knowledge if you get stuck and all willing to help.

Ask yourself why is it an unfinished project!! It also may not be built to your standards so you end up doing it all again anyway. so why not start from the begining at least you know what all the bits are.

Why not go ZX12R power? Quicker than a Busa and cheaper too...........

good move that man, welcome to the world of no free time and bankrupsy, but the greatest fun, both building and driving.
as for the "part-built kit" option, i would suggest it depends how part built it is, and as always what you get for your money. i managed to pick up basically a collection of brand new parts sold as a part-built, which had basically not been touched. this included a chassis, brand new shocks, refurb axle, all steering bits, part-refurb brakes, and an ok engine. i think the bloke got a bit scared of the mountain of parts and how much they aere costing him (thet were all top of the range), so sold the lot and bought a ready finished robin-hood. if you can find something like that (and they are out there), advertised as a part-built, then i say go for it. the above comments about workmanship etc do come into play though, as soon as someone starts tinkering.
there is also a certain satisfaction in sourcing all the parts yourself, and getting exactly what you want, wich you invariably loose when buying part-built.
not sure if this is going anywhere but basically dont discount part-built straight away, though dont get a "nearly completed" because it wont be.
good luck; enjoy!

I agree with everything above mate. Welcome by the way. Definately go for a new kit rather than a part built unless its a pile of untouched bits or basic rolling chassis.


Luego do some very good "starter kits" for good money.

Well all i can say is a big thank you to all that have replied, i think i have decided that i am going to start from scratch with a Luego, unless i get advised against it after posting this, but that is the one that i like, It has to be a Busa engine really as i am a total Suzuki GSXR nut and not questioning the power of other engines i would get ribbed hard about not having a Suzuki engine.
Again thank you all and i will let you know how it all goes when i have saved my pennies and got it started.

Hey Chris,

If you ever have any questions about bike engined Seven styled cars Marc at MNR is a very knowledgeable and ultimately helpful bloke. I was massively impressed with his ability to want to help!

Yeah, I'd agree with others that the Suzuki route is the most expensive with both the Thou and the Busa requiring dry sumping, which adds an extra £1500 to your engine cost... It's all upto you though bud!

The Luego is a good kit if not the most cost effective but again it's all about personal preference!

The one thing I would advise is to fully read as many build diaries as possible as they allow you to make the most informed decision.

Chris.

yup. having a luego, i would probably go for MNR next time. cheers