Hi,

My name is John Dickens and I'm the Technical Editor of Complete Kitcar Magazine.

Along with Ian Stent the editor I am putting together a book to replace the older Monty Watkins 'How To Build A Kitcar' edition.

As part of the rewrite there will be a section on the more modern donor cars in use currently so I am looking for information and advice from actual builders.

The donors I am particularly interested in are the

Mazda MX5;

BMW 3 Series;

Ford Sierra.

I would appreciate any advice on choosing a particular model, engine spec, braking system or whatever and also any points to check before purchase, known faults or weak areas.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

John Dickens

Hi your going to get stick for the avatar size, even though I like the Fugitives

The Sierra IMHO is too old to be considered a viable modern donor, there are not many left these days

I think the future of kits cars is FWD converted to mid engined layouts anyway

1st tip.

avatar is a bit big and don't leave much room to write! lol

sierra's a great but getting rare now.

kits are being made for both BMW and Mazda now so guess it's kinda take your pick really

sure someone else will explain in detail in a bit

I think I've cured the avatar (I hope). Sorry about that.

BMW 3 series and Mazda MX-5 have to be the choice now, Sierra's are just not readily available any more. Spotted an article on Piston Heads last night announcing the 900,000th MX-5 being built and there must be as many if not more 3 series built as well.

Will the book focus on 7-a-likes or on kit cars more generally?

The book will be a guide and working document for builders of all types and marque of kit car.

For the MK1 the post 94 1.8 is best bet - after 94 the gearbox bearings were beefed up, the diffs are bigger and stronger, brakes are bigger and engines make a bit more power. also more super/turbo kits for a 1.8. T'internet says they don't respond to ITBs too well but I know Jenvey have just released a kit for the MX5 as there's a chap who building a race car with them.

they are easy to get spares for and they are also easy to sell bits on - there's a strong demand out there as there are a lot of DIYers.

and they are mega easy to work on and the loom isn't that much more complicated than a kit really.

when I broke my BMW before I changed direction, that was a different kettle of fish - immobilisers into ECU on later models and the wiring is unbelievable. there is so much of it. I found it was hard to shift on bits I didn't want as not many people tend to do diy on them. also 6 pot engines and gearboxes are massive although franky on here is doing ok with his M3 Legend !!

at the end of the day though both donors are the same - an engine, a box, a prop, diff and drive shafts - simple layout



ETA - with an MX5 you can basically lift the body off the car and then take it all apart later, just make sure you undo the hubnuts first lol ask me how I know !!

[Edited on 14/2/11 by pdm]

I have to agree, the sierra should not be considered Modern.... Some are older than me!

I have gone down the FWD route using a powerful Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo donor car in a mid engined arrangement.

Disappointingly there are not a lot of books showing you the details of how to build a MEC (mid engined car), I really would like to see more of this as it opens up more options than the MX5 and 3 series. Plus I personally think for the cash – a greater level of performance could be achieved.

Rob

There is also the consideration that many kit cars nowadays won't have a 'main' donor car and just have choise picks of parts from many.

Also Bike Engined Cars (BEC) are becoming more popular and so the motorbike will be the main donor vehicle. My car for example uses Bike Engine and Wriring but with MK2 Escort Steering Rack, Cortina Front Uprights, Sierra Rear Hubs and Freelander Diff. So although it does use a few car parts there is no real donor car.

The other problem with the Sierra is that scrappy's no know they are rare and are starting to charge strong money for kit car bits like the hubs, steering and driveshafts.