Hi Guys,

as you can tell by the post count im new here,

just sold my 600bhp Skyline and im in the market for a BEC Kitcar,

I dont want to spend Caterham/Westfield money so im looking at

MK Indy
Mnr Vortx
Mac#1 Worx

now i've seen a nice Mac on Pistonheads with a Gixer engine.

So far reading up i've seen theres some concern about the welds on the Macs.

can any of you confirm the condition/quality of the welds?
has anyone had a failure?
are the Worx cars better than the previous ?

Is the question over the welds just a myth or is it factual?

i also read there has been problems with the position of the welds in relation to the geometry, again is this true?

sorry for the vague question but im still trying to work out whats what when it comes to these cars.

thanks Gary

[Edited on 28/6/09 by gaz_gaz]

Hi there

I've a mac#1 ( a worx chassis though ) and my welds look fine, i can weld myself mig, arc & bottles not professionaly but taught by an expert and im more than happy with the welds on my car that Mac#1 have done

[Edited on 28/6/09 by grusks2]

thanks for the reply

thats re-assuring to hear,

just looked at your Brands Hatch thread.
car sounds awesome down the straight,

car looks fantastoc too

I too have a worx and can vouch for the welding, what are these failures you cite. Can you be more specific.

hi.

i only asked if anyone had any failures due to welds as i have read on a couple of forums there where concerns over the weld quality.

then i read this thread

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=109264&page=3

where a chap mentions issues with the geometry.

I'm just trying to work out if its

a... ever been a problem
b.. a problem thats now resolved
c.. an ongoing problem
d.. just mud slinging betweek owners of diff brands.

i dont want too buy a car and worry everytime i take it out that the welds aren't upto the job or worse still, find out the hard way.

i have a mk indy,all the welds are spot on thay have done a good job,and cleand the welds that the body panals go up against,
i wouldnt fit a gsxr engine though,i have herd people have quite some problems with them,i'd think about a 150-170bhp R1,nice and relyable,

I think that was an isolated case where the car had been in flooded water and the owner took no remedial action. I believe the bearing , bush seized and was to blame.

The owner seems happy with the car now if you read his subsequent posts.

The final choice of kit will be down to budget, engine type and what floats your boat. I think the 3 you mention all have plus points. Mac are a good car and mark and colin are extremely good on build help help and advice.

Hi,

what are the problems with the GSXR engines?

i've read the 2004 - 2006 R1 engines had a habit of popping but also read there are a couple of modifications you can make to the breathers that help out alot,

Flames,

i did read that the fella was happy now but no one really defended the Mac when the original poster mentioned the problems in relation to geometry,

As i mentioned at the start, im not attempting to put the car down at all, i'm just trying to establish if the problems really do exist.

and finally,

sadly i dont have time to buy and build a kit, with summer here i'd like to buy a ready built car and just enjoy it and who knows, possibly build 1 myself in the winter.

thanks for your replies

Gary

Hi Gary, if its the Mac#1 Gixxer with the blue bodywork, and the GSXR logo across the bonnet, it was built by me. I have built 4 Mac1 cars and the welding has all been fine.

Chris

Hi Chris

yes thats the car thats caught my eye at present,

looks really good with the complete cage etc,

do you know the current owner of the car?


[Edited on 28/6/09 by gaz_gaz]

yes its a nice car, and Dave who owns it at present is sound. You can u2u me if u want

hi mate.

i added you on msn at the address in your profile, im not sure how the u2u works on here yet.

forums a little diff to others i've used

Gary

you need 4 more posts for u2u to work i think

gaz-gaz I wouldnt be worried with MAC's build quality. That thread was my car.

As mentioned earlier a combination of an idiot previous owner and flooding I think made the problem.

Im in the same boat as you being new to it all - you learn quick! The MAC guys are really helpful and finish the work in my opinion very high and thats good to know when you own one of these!

If I could do anything again I would have got some experienced to come with me. Ive blown another £2500 atleast on mine getting everything how it should be.

again, thanks for the positive comments,

there going some way to re-assuring me.

thanks chaps

Ive got a ZR. Been on road 3.5 years, no issue with welding. Thinking of selling mine - has a proper engine in it too

I had a factory built mac. Unfortunately it had several major and minor issues and is no longer with us. Asked if I would buy another I'd have to say no. Maybe I was unlucky and ended up with a lemon? but it was a factory car so I don't know what to say really.

Fortunately there is a local guy who is building me a new car (thread showing it when it's done). If that was not happening I would only buy an LA Gold from http://www.procomp.co.uk I suggest you speak to them and Matt will tell you what's what.

Hope that helps.

Dan

Dan,

I seem to recall you bought your car privately from someone who bought a factory car. Id be surprised if a car fresh from factory wasnt right. I built mine from kit and its been great - no complaints at all. Like all cars, once they have been in the hands of owners its hard to know what they have done, these cars especially as most are put through a program of evolution being mainly bought as toys.

I had the misfortune to see and work on this car.

The problems with Dan's car had nothing to do with the previous owner, and everything to do with the factory build.

The guys who built it should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, and it was presented at shows as well!!!

Some of the design is nothing short of unsafe, to be polite.

The wheels pointed in all sorts of directions, because of the geometry of the mounts at the chassis, and the wishbone lack of symmetry. Also, no adjustability in the wishbones to straighten things up.

If a picture could show the pathetic welding inside the rear uprights, it would be here. But the black paint and location stop that. The welds look as though they were dribbled in from a distance. Pigeon shite would be a 1000% improvement. The outside was ground off to make it pretty, which left me wondering just what was holding the uprights together?????These are still around somewhere, so pics may still be possible.

When this was mentioned before, all number of Mac1 owners jumped up and yelled it down, defending Mac1, saying that 'things had since improved'. They couldn't have got a lot worse!!!

I've been to the shows, seen what is being sold as kits. If I were to buy a kit, there's only one builder I'd go to at present, and that's Matt at Procomp.

You pay your money, you get less than you would expect from most, but not Procomp.

Cheers,
Nev.

had a look on procomp,

there cars look fantastic but i dont see any mention of a bike engined car and im having real problems finding any already built cars.

im, way to impatient and want 1 now, if it goes well i may build my own over the winter but at the moment i just want a completed car

[Edited on 3/7/09 by gaz_gaz]

Do you ever notice how many brand new cars are being sold with < 500 miles? Sometimes at a loss of thousands? People says it's to "build another" Personally i'm not convinced.

My theory is people get seduced by some of the claims that are made. When the cars turn out to not be as good as they were thinking people want to get rid ASAP.

You don't see procomp cars for sale as they are good, people that invest time and money in getting one of their cars do not want to sell.

Regarding CEC / BEC, personally I like the ability to accelerate over 100mph rather than just up to it so it's a CEC all day long for me. I've had a 430bhp 33GTR previously so with you used to 600 I'm sure you'll want this ability as well.

HTH

Dan

[Edited on 3/7/09 by livelee]

livelee, you certainly seem to bear a grudge against kitcar mfrs apart from it seems procomp.

it seems to me that procomps market is specialising in racing cars and aftermarket mods. It would be interesting to see how many of their cars had successfully passed sva or iva. because the majority of builders use their cars on the road on a weekly basis if not more.

As for cecs vs becs this is a personal choice and has been debated many times on this forum. But I am surprised that you think a bec runs out of puff approaching 100mph.

People selling after 500miles, i accept your point of view and shows to me that not enough market research was done in the first place. by these individuals. Kitcars aren't everybodies cup of tea.

I do hope that your current build meets your expectations and that one day you will move onto your dream car a procomp gold.

When you're left with a bad taste in your mouth sometimes it's hard to get rid of. I've not got a grudge against anybody, if I had i'd have posted a thread about it all.

However when I saw this I thought i'd comment. I'm confident the new build is going to be spot on, it's going to be exactly right for me as the whole car has been designeed, engineered and manufactured around me and my needs.

I'll not be buying a procomp car now or in the future. However that does not mean I won't reccomend them. I've no idea how many of their cars are road legal, that would be a question for Matt. I'm sure every car that has been to sva/iva has passed though.

Dan

Hi

having just been pointed toward this thread. I will just confirm that quite a few of our cars have passed the SVA. In fact the car that won the Welsh sprint championship outright was fully SVA road registered and taxed as it had to be for the class. And at least one of the golds competing in the KITS championship was also fully sva compliant and registered.

Anyhow the first thing to do when looking at any manufacturers kit is to measure up the chassis accuracies on a bare chassis and then on a factory built car measure up the wheelbase either side. If the chassis dose not come within a few MM walk away. If the wheelbase dose not come within a few MM walkaway.

Cheers Matt

I can vouch for MNR as I have crashed mine quite heavily and the wishbones folded but no welds broke.

Just to add to what Matt said.

Also ensure the rear wheels follow the track of the front wheels. This is essential and sometimes overlooked.