I'm thinking of having a go at building my first kit car, but I don't want it to become a black hole for my hard earned cash. Does anyone
know of any good websites/books that would steer me in the right direction for putting together a thorough budget?
Also, are there any hidden costs that I should be aware of that I should iclude in the budget?
Thanks
every single thing you do will require you to return the part you originally bought and buy a slightly more expensive replacement.
I think high resolution budgetting would be extremely difficult for the above reasons. Literally everything from the fuel lines to the cooling system
to the brakes are going to require anything from a small to larger amount of furtling.
I set my macrobudget at £5000 and its going to end up about £7500
Don't be fooled into thinking you can build one for £250!
It depends on the spec you want really
I guess you could build a reasonable car for £3-4000 if you buy a cheap kit and use everything you can off a single donor and only recondition stuff
if you really have to.
You could easily spend twice that or more if you want something special.
I always think that if you work out how much it is going to cost then add 50% or even double it then you won't be far off.
Don't for get to factor in the cost of the IVA test which isn't cheap.
quote:
Originally posted by Colesy21
I'm thinking of having a go at building my first kit car, but I don't want it to become a black hole for my hard earned cash. Does anyone know of any good websites/books that would steer me in the right direction for putting together a thorough budget?
Also, are there any hidden costs that I should be aware of that I should iclude in the budget?
Thanks
Mine's going to end up around £8500.00 I dont think I'm doing anything beyond the norm.
Plenty of people have written budgets and spreadsheets, so you will be able to write one with some assistance, but it will be a bit pointless to a
certain degree.
I estimate that most people (for a first or second car) would overspend by roughly 20%.
I'd suggest that you put up a post stating a few things and asking for guidance re money in those areas.
For eg, you might state:
BEC or CEC
Caterham, Westfield, MK, MAC1, MNR or LOCOST etc
Want a budget build (basic wheels, brakes etc) or a Bling build
How old you are, and you're past experience (what you are capable of doing yourself) etc
I'm sure that you and others could come up with a multitude more examples to help figure out a budget to try and stick too!
Also, if you are ever going to be tempted by the bling, then don't pretend you won't be - it'll hurt later, when you are trying to buy
them and pay for IVA at the same time!!!
Steve
About £5000 for my Pinto'd Locost.
Did most things myself. I think this price includes most of the tools (welder etc.) and probably includes my welding courses too.
HTH,
James
Yup. I'd also suggest don't bother it's almost completely impossible to work out every cost and even when you do the bodge factor will mean a 200% correction factor in both time and money!
The thing that will save you the most money is thinking hard before you buy/make/destroy anything.
Trying to get everthing you do right in the first place is the best way to go. I.e. don't buy brakes, then scrap them and buy much bigger ones as
the original ones were a bit small.
Darren
If you U2U me your e-mail address, I'll send you my build costs for a MAC#1 with 1.8 zetec using single donor and not mutch bling stuff. If covers every nut, bolt and washer plus van hire to collect the kit, consumables. This will give you a good guide to build a similar car.
Minimum £5K for a car you can be proud of (don't care what anyone says 
) BUT it does depend a lot on what you can do and what you have lying
around already....... from ground zero I suspect it will be more like £8K by the time you're finished, however that will be over several years
probably
A sad side effect of kit car building is that you start to lie about what anything costs to your significant other ('no, I've had that for
ages'...... or 'no, it was a bargain from ebay, only cost me 50p' etc etc) My mrs now doesn't believe a word I say about what
anything I've bought actually cost (car related or not!) and to be fair I am so used to 'rounding down' I can't really blame her
Thanks for all the replies guys.
A little bit more about me to give you an idea where I'm coming from:
Anything that I build would have to be my car for all weather (I don't need it for commuting, but evening and weekend all year round). After
looking around, the car that's caught my eye is the Fisher Fury, but I could be tempted with something else as long as it's fun and has the
option for a roof.
I think a CEC would be best as the car would only be for road use and I'm not sure a high revving engine would be that relaxing on long motorway
journeys (but corretc me if I'm wrong?).
I think as a first build I'd like to keep things basic and hence keep the costs down. Once I get to the second, third, fourth, etc builds
I'll start to bling things up, but right now I just want to learn new skills with a reduced risk of very costly mistakes.
My previosu experience is very limited. I've had an MGB GT which I did some basic work on and a Porsche 944 which I re-fitted the interior, but
this was all with help from my father-in-law who restores classic cars as a hobby. He also has just about any tool going, but I'd limit my
borrowing from him to just big items (e.g. engine lift, compressor) rather than everything so I can build up my own range of tools and not end up
taking the p!ss.
Just do it - it's probably one of the best things you'll ever do........ it will always cost more then you think/want AND it will take twice
as long as you expect probably as well...... but it'll keep you off the streets Build it for yourself though because they sell for much less
than you can ever build one for.......
For build costs for a Fisher Fury I would ask the manufacturer how much one can be built for, how much the builds typically cost and how much they
would charge for a fully built one. Your cost would be somewhere between the lowest figure and the highest one.
Nice choice though
Cheers
Mark
Fury's are a nice choice..... I'd be tempted to keep an eye out on Pistonheads etc for an old Fury with a small engine. Do a quick engine swap and voila..... Often works out cheaper than building one from scratch....
I'd been interested in doing the complete build, but I suppose doing the engine swap would give me some experience without as much of a time commitment and/or potential financial loss?
A Fury build cost can vary a lot. I'd say you're looking at £8-12k depending on spec. It can be done for less or more depending on how much
of a magpie you are, or whether you can ignore the shinney things.
Buying a finished Fury and then updating/altering to your preference might be better value.
Although not a Fury, but it's cousin, this is good value...
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1582196.htm
...and leaves scope to add your own touches to it.
Compared to a seven a Fury/Pheonix/Stylus is a lot more civilised for everyday use. I'm happy to tour long distances in my R1 engined car but I
can see the convienience of a CEC for everyday use also (I'm off now to wash my mouth out!).
adrian
That Phoenix looks like a bargain for the spec.
Buying partbuilts can save you a lot of cash but in some cases be prepared to spend quite a bit of time undoing other peoples work (either because you
want to do things differently or the previous builder had made errors).
- Jim
quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
A Fury build cost can vary a lot. I'd say you're looking at £8-12k depending on spec. It can be done for less or more depending on how much of a magpie you are, or whether you can ignore the shinney things.
Buying a finished Fury and then updating/altering to your preference might be better value.
Although not a Fury, but it's cousin, this is good value...
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1582196.htm
...and leaves scope to add your own touches to it.
Compared to a seven a Fury/Pheonix/Stylus is a lot more civilised for everyday use. I'm happy to tour long distances in my R1 engined car but I can see the convienience of a CEC for everyday use also (I'm off now to wash my mouth out!).
adrian
The Fury is definatly a good choice for an everyday usable car - but build cost will depend a lot on how much you can do yourself .
When I built mine , the cost was basically the kit cost plus a £250 Escort , and about £1000 for everything else .
But used absolutely everything I could off the escort , the only reconditioning I did was new pistons/rings , a cheap clutch and a gearbox bearing
.
But that didnt include a hood or sidescreens - something essential for a daily driven car .
Sweeping statements on a forum like this with so many knowleadgeable people will see me get shot-down in double quick time, but;
You're prob looking at:
£5k - £8k to pick up a cheap one and rebuild with your engine choice
£8k - £14k for a new build
Now you don't have to be a genius to work out that the lower price in both brackets is for a budget build and the upper, is a blingy build.
One thing I would say (cos I think it's important) is that the rebuild choice, whether blingy or budget, would mean no IVA test for you to budgt
for (assuming it's already OTR), something that your GT and 944 won't really have prepared you (or your F-I-L) for...
ATB
Steve
I'm on for a 8.5k build cost for a well specced m3 engined GKD legened.
quote:
Originally posted by Steve Hignett
One thing I would say (cos I think it's important) is that the rebuild choice, whether blingy or budget, would mean no IVA test for you to budgt for (assuming it's already OTR), something that your GT and 944 won't really have prepared you (or your F-I-L) for...
ATB
Steve
quote:
Originally posted by Colesy21
I'm thinking of a black hole for my hard earned cash.
quote:
Originally posted by Simon
quote:
Originally posted by Colesy21
I'm thinking of a black hole for my hard earned cash.
I've edited the quote so it reads more appropriately.
Basically, you're already in too deep
ATB
Simon
Get a part built and when you run into problems, call Steve H. He says he doesn't have anything to do these days, and needs to be kept busy. He
does, however, have a fair amount of experience in these kit car matters and doesn't represent any particular camp, and has no biases or agenda
from what I have gathered. He is not FREE!
Questions:
1. Are you a mechanic?
2. Do you weld?
These will change your budget considerably, because you can avoid expensive pitfalls with knowledge. Bodge factor is therefore reduced by a factor of
at least 2, sometimes 4. How do I know? Because I am old and wise. I used to be just old.
quote:
Originally posted by RK
Get a part built and when you run into problems, call Steve H. He says he doesn't have anything to do these days, and needs to be kept busy. He does, however, have a fair amount of experience in these kit car matters and doesn't represent any particular camp, and has no biases or agenda from what I have gathered. He is not FREE!
Questions:
1. Are you a mechanic?
2. Do you weld?
These will change your budget considerably, because you can avoid expensive pitfalls with knowledge. Bodge factor is therefore reduced by a factor of at least 2, sometimes 4. How do I know? Because I am old and wise. I used to be just old.
quote:
Originally posted by Colesy21
I'm neither a mechanic or a able to weld. All I have in my favour is enthusiasm and a love for cars
. Before starting my build, the only oil change I'd ever done was on a deep fat fryer... But I still got it from kit to first time SVA pass in 7
months at a cost of around £7500. Just go for it - you'll pick up the skills you need really quickly!
Ed.
You have a good chance of doing this for a reasonable amount, but a decent tin top will always be cheaper, just not as fast! There is an awful lot of help over there, and actual kits, too, with factory support and everything. Can't go wrong from what I gather, and I've seen some nice cars in person, built by mere mortals, not necessarily mechanical geniuses (at least not at first!).