I have three cars that need "getting rid of", a Rover 420GSI with the 2litre DOHC injected T engine, a Merc 380SEL (3.8 litre V8) and a BMW 320i (1987). I am a moderate mechanic with reasonable facilities (farmyard barn workshop).

All engines are OK, gearbox in the Rover need replacing and one of the Merc head gaskets has blown but other than that there are no other mechanical problems, just rust but the cars are not worth the repairs.

Any thoughts for a project or two before I put them to the crusher? (Love to put the Merc engine in a Robin Hood or similar!)

The 320i would make a good donor, with the rover (honda) engine.

Adam

Thanks Adam but I'm afraid I have absolutely no knowledge of what's available in the kit car market. Where could I research what I could use the 320i for? Are you suggesting BMW car parts with the Rover engine? Why not use the BMW engine?

I found a website that gave selections for a donor but it wasn't much help, nothing for the Merc and Rover and two choices for the 320: an Auto Forge 1930's/Morgan style sports and a Cobra replica. The Auto Forge looked attractive but I couldn't find any more about them on the web so I'm not filled with confidence that they are still in existance and if they are I don't know how to contact them!.

You could build one of these! http://www.marlinracing.co.uk/s_sport.htm

I take it that the BMW engine is a 6-pot, if so it would most likely be too long.

The rover engine is 4-pot and would fit. I think a couple of people have used a BMW as a donor, have a look through, or search, the running gear section.

Adam

might be better selling you fleet and getting a seirra based kit,plenty them around

I believe that different = good.

Use the Merc.

You shoud be able to squeeze it into one the chassis that have increased dimensions (McSorley ?)

The V8 would be nice. Is it manual or auto ?

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Glan: The Marlin looks good and may even take the Merc (even as an automatic it could be tremendous fun!). Thanks for the introduction.

Adam: You clearly have a car in mind, which one?

Conrod: They are not really sellable because of the rust, only crushable. Anyway give up a Merc V8 or a Beemer 6 for a 4 pot Ford!!!!

Trev: As said above, auto. But I think such an auto could be really good fun, so many people let auto's drive them rather than them drive the auto's by manually changing the gears. I agree with you that different = good (interesting, self). I've got an old Lambo Espada (series 1) they have not appreciated like a real classic but I have seen an artist's impression of a convertible conversion, now that was different and might be tempted one day! I've looked at the McSorely website (and others that are similar) but think I would take the view that I would prefer to do a kit first before attempting a complete build. But thanks for the introduction, I'm sure it will come in handy.

Again, thanks.

I was thinking Locost!

Sorry Adam, I'm obviously being very simple and I expect there is a simple answer.

I thought "locost" was a general term for any low-cost "7" type car but you seem to be referring to it as a manufacturer.

I am thinking of it as a 'standard book sized chassis'.

You could use the Rover as the donor for a 5EXi, from Marlin, or Koolcars. Looks better in real life than in photos IMHO.

5EXi Link

LOCOST refers to the car explained in a book by Ron Champion called - Build your own sportscar for £250. It is a Seven style vehicle and you make everything yourself. McSorley is a variant of this being 4 inches longer, 4 inches wide and 2 inches higher. (in the chassis) hence giving more space to play with engines and interiors.

You can't practically make a Locost with £250 but I reckon it's practical to say £1K will be enough for a basic car.

bmw will donate a nice gearbox , rear diff and IRS that you can modify , mate the gearbox to the rover engine , altho it is quite a big un (tall) and you can turbo em

in too many years of building i dont think anyone has done it for 1000 quid

2500 is likely nearer.....

costs 200+ just to get thre sva and registered...!

atb

steve

bear in mind that "only fit for crushing" can actually make more money than selling for parts!!!

I took a BMW 535 to the scrappy for a mate (skip hire place, not car breakers) and got £75 for the scrap, picked up off my trailer and crushed with the grapple there and then!! There were two completely shot type 9 gearboxes in the boot of it too.

Thanks for the ongoing help guys.

I don't think I'm ready for the Locost option yet, I've seen my welding skills in operation!

As a matter of interest how easy is it to put together your own car (not a kit, a genuine locost) with SVA etc?

If I search out a chassis is it feasible to use parts from other vehicles such as Volvorsport suggests with the Beemer parts or would that make life very difficult trying to make everything compatible?

I do like the Marlin Sportster (though it is a lot more expensive than many others) and presumably I could put my 2.0i BMW into it for now while I work on finding and preparing a bigger Beemer engine to simply swap over next winter?

By the way can someone tell me what powder coating is and how it varies from paint and its advantages? I know, you're going to ask where I've been all these years! I stopped working on cars about 15 years ago when company car and time demands of my job took over. I've now retired (early).

On the powder coating, it's not used as a paint finish on large areas on cars, just components and chassis etc.

Basically the part to be coated is electrostatically charged, then heated and bombarded with coloured epoxy powder from a "spray gun" which then sticks and melts into a uniform and tough finish.

Take your point NS but I'm not looking to sell any parts. Quite the opposite, I know what's good and what's bad about the donors I have because I have owned them for 3 years or longer so I trust the donated parts more than I would from an undriven donor I picked up from a scrappy.

Most kits tend to be based on cars other than what you mention. Thats not to say they couldn't be adapted to take some of the components from your suggested donor vehicles. Try phoning round a few kit manufacturers and getting their advice and some idea of costs involved.

you took a 535 to the scrappy and didnt even snaffle the Gbox , shame on you , Mega HP can be handled by that box , unless it was an auto .

You can buy the bits to make the locost car you don't have to weld. The only time I think you would have to weld is the engine mounts - I'm being adventurous and learning to weld jsut before I strat. People like MK, MNR, GTS and Luego (all on here) will make a chassis, wishbones etc and you'll just bolt it together. They would also work with you to get engine mounts sorted.

Oh and I've spent £500 so far - ony missing suspension and body work plus I've bought a ton of stuff and changed my mind. You CAN do it for £1K but it's hard. About £2.5K would get you a VERY nice car though!!!!

The 420Gsi was ROVER T16 powered as the OP stated not Honda having owned both the Honda big block Twincam and the Rover T16 Rover is the much nicer lump -- although it leaks oil..

The Rover engine will mate to a Sherpa 2litre or SD1 gearbox -- but needs other bit from the Sherpa 2 litre engine -- including the flywheel and engine back plate. A Rover SD1 2 2000 is an even bettter source of bits.

It might also be possible to use an MGB gearbox and back plate but it is a long shot.

[Edited on 8/2/05 by britishtrident]

[Edited on 8/2/05 by britishtrident]

Thanks BT but this is where I start to get confused! You refer to a T16 but my V5 gives the engine number as 20T... so ... well T16 makes me think 1.6.

Clearly I'm missing something.

The 16 is the number of valves -- these are great engines but heavy. The smoothest 4 cylinder I have ever owned.
I nearly bought a very low mileage immaculate Rover 820 at auction on Sunday but the bidding went over what I would pay (600) for an 800 so it went to a very happy punter for 700 .

[Edited on 8/2/05 by britishtrident]

OK, this topic has been good for me but can I keep it going. Let's assume Chuckie has convinced me that welding (by somebody else) is not a problem but what about the SVA without Customer Service and Technical Departments to help? (excluding Robin Hood who have so far responded to my enquiries with something far from Customer Service). Is it practicle that one person on their first home build should attempt to go throufh this hoop?