I'm hope fully going to be making a start building my car in the new year. I want to build a slightly larger car than the book (I've sat in a couple of book cars & found them a touch tight, plus my donor is a Sierra).
When people talk about a Rorty, McSorley, GTS etc what excactly are they? I want to keep the traditional seven "look" which some cars have & others have lost. There seems to be so many variants & I'm not sure which are manufactured kits & which are only plans.
I intend to do all the fabrication & as much other work as possible myself.

i a m building mine based on the Mcsorley 442, but with the front width on the +4

my IRS is based on the rorty design for the sierra, although i now plan to use the rear wishbones and hubcarriers from MK

when i get some money toghether that is.

check my pics in my photo archive.

Made mine as book but +4" wide - so have a few others.

Seems to work quite nicely for comfort and proportions (and getting the R V8 in)

You'll have to sort you're own nose, bonnet and rear panel though!

ATB

Simon

Mcsorley are plans made by someone extending the book chassis. +4, 442 etc. I belive the faults in the book have been corrected here aswell. Free plans.


mcsorley


These are plans to build the GTS chassis. THeyr 10 quid. You may have fun trying to actually get them


gts


Im not sure of the rorty plans but IIRC they are for his own design IRS rear end.

Rorty plans i think

Hope this helps. I think alot of people go mcsorley as theyr easy to follow etc and FREE. The bigger bodywork seems to be becoming available now to fit but i may be wrong.

I built a Viento, plenty of width and can accept a large V8 if you need it.

I took the easy rout and bought the chassis, very good quality and strong.

The chap at SVA commented on its quality and strength.

You can fit almost any engine i you have the patients and it shares many common parts with its smaller version the velocity.

I can weld but not sure if I woul trust myself when it comes to wishbones and the like. To much depending on the weld quality and strength.

Good luck

The 442 plans are probably what I'll go for as I want more leg room (I've got fairly long legs) & width for my fat backside & the possibility of a silly engine.
The plans state the 442 has a book type front end though & I think I'd want to increase it slightly so mabye I'd be better of with the +4 & make it longer?
I'm probably going for a De Dion rear end but could go for an IRS setup, this will be mainly a road car & I'm led to belive the IRS isnt quite so predictable handling wise but it should give better ride quality (the roads around here aint great).
I like the idea of making my own nosecone etc but there comes a point where if you can buy something cheaper than you can make it for & better quality than you can make, it'd be stupid not to buy it in.

what you are thinking of doing is what basically i have done.


the442 but with the front width of the +4.

the nosecone you should be able to buy.

your problem will be the scuttle.

you can get them +4 inches wider, but be careful on the angle of the sides, ie , the taper inwards towards the front. this may not be the same as your chassis....and mine..lol

i will be making my own, probably.

Well it's good to know I have someone in front of me to show me where the problems & pitfalls are .
I dont suppose it matters too much about which rear suspension I go for till I have to fabricate the area behind the seat bulkhead.
The scuttle is single curveture so shouldnt be too hard to make.

i built my chassis with a +4 front on a 442 chassis .

tis true about the scuttle aswell , took me ages to settle on the angle i wanted it at .