Hi,
What are peoples views/experiences with GKD and the legend 6?
After all the helpful advice from my last topic I have been checking out all other option and quite like the idea of a BMW powered 7 type car.
I have had a little search around here and nothing is much said
Fairly new car to the scene. Ive heard plenty of good things, chatted to the owner at Detling and or newark (cant remeber which) and seemed like a
nice helpful chap.
BMW is an excellent choice for a base as donors are plentiful, cheap and there are very hot versions (not so cheap!).
One thing to consider, if you ignore any donor led decisions, is your planned use. If for fun, and the odd track day then any 7esq kit car will tick
that box, if you want a competive track car that you perhaps want to race one day, then perhaps a more seasoned, track orientated car with some race
pedigree should be looked in to.
All I know is what I've seen as I walked passed their stand at KC show's and what I've read on here.
My take on these are:
They looked too big to be small and nimble for my liking of toy car.
And
According to someone on here and the magazine article they read, they are the best handling 7-type car in the world...
:p
quote:
Originally posted by Steve Hignett
According to someone on here and the magazine article they read, they are the best handling 7-type car in the world...
:p
Speak to Franky on here, I went round and saw his car a while back. All I can say is I would have one anyday. Its a pretty awesome looking thing. I
believe the 330 engines gives above 200bhp as standard. I think its would be a reasonably priced build with above average performance.
check out this link, found it on the web its franky's car
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?p=274631
[Edited on 10/2/11 by femster87]
From what ive seen of them, they look a nice bit of kit, looked like a very well made chassis, modern BMW running gear has got to be better than the
old Sierra stuff, the m3 powered car has got to be the one to go for, thats got to be alot of fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-fFLbD-ehE
[Edited on 19/05/04 by PAUL FISHER]
I'm building one, its not been 100% plain sailing but 90% with the other 10% compensated for with fantastic customer service. Quick replies to
emails/phone calls any time of the day/night. This is worth its weight in gold, just have a search about customer service.
The cars an evolution of a Ginetta g27 in a '7' style so its got lots of track history on its side.
The Legend 6 is only 40mm or so longer than a caterham roadsport so its not a big car, just well packaged with lots of interior space.
The best thing going for it is its donor, 6cyl e36/46 bmw's are cheap cheap. You can buy a rotten m3 for less than 2k and see most of the back
with the bits you don't need. The way they're designed to run means that you keep the diagnostic port so you can plug a laptop into it and
check for fault codes/view live data(obd2 cars). if you look at the cost of fitting an aftermarket ecu to a zetec/duratec along with throttle bodies
and getting it mapped it makes great financial sense too. If you use an 'M' donor you get ITB's/LSD as standard. A m3 lump is the
same weight as a redtop however the bmw bellhousing and gearbox is over 20kg's lighter than a type 9
A 328i would be a great donor as you can get a full car for peanuts and have 220bhp without opening up the engine. Its about 20kg lighter than a m3
engine too.
My last update is here...
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=147123&page=1
Owners club is here with lots of builds going on of both 4 and 6 cylinder cars.
http://www.gkdoc.com/
[Edited on 10/2/11 by franky]
Franky, can I ask what the 10% that caused you the main problem are?
U2u me if you don't wanna discuss here. I like the idea of BMW power
The 10% is nothing to hide, nothing serious at all, infact i've had less hassle than a friend who built a caterham classic. They were just
teething issues/delays with the first legend 6 build, just a few brackets in the wrong place type things. They've all been sorted now so every
car now is 110%. There's quite a few being built now which must show how good they are.
The bmw parts are cheap to buy, even getting new stuff from bmw is surprisingly cheap, 12 new torx bolts for the diff flanges £5ish for example.
I can't stress how important customer support is or how much GKD are behind their product and customers.
I would build another tomorrow if I didn't have one to finish first!
[Edited on 10/2/11 by franky]
Thanks Frankie,
This has made my decision a whole lot harder!
If I was looking for a 7 type kit, then I think this is the one I would have, and in the M3 version. I wouldn't even consider the other engines
because, if the worst happens and I had to sell it, the M3 is going to attract more money, enough to make the extra cost of buying it (if there is any
extra) well worth it.
Plus it will be quicker, too, if that's an issue.
quote:
Originally posted by raddish
Thanks Frankie,
This has made my decision a whole lot harder!
quote:
Originally posted by interestedparty
If I was looking for a 7 type kit, then I think this is the one I would have, and in the M3 version. I wouldn't even consider the other engines because, if the worst happens and I had to sell it, the M3 is going to attract more money, enough to make the extra cost of buying it (if there is any extra) well worth it.
Plus it will be quicker, too, if that's an issue.
If it was me id consider the smaller 4 cyl 16vs, they have a good power output and arnet as big as the straight 6s. Afterall the 7 was made to the Chapman philosophy of 'to go faster just add lightness'
quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
If it was me id consider the smaller 4 cyl 16vs, they have a good power output and arnet as big as the straight 6s. Afterall the 7 was made to the Chapman philosophy of 'to go faster just add lightness'
quote:
Originally posted by franky
One of the 4cyl cars would be a good choice, the 318is has 140bhp as standard and GKD do a bolt on supercharger kit giving 200+ if its power you're after. I guess they must be about 40-50kg lighter. There's hardly anything in it when it comes to the size of the car though.
I did mean the finished car up to 50kg lighter, including engine and chassis.
EVO Magazine rate the best Caterham as the HPC with the VX redtop. A m3 engine weighs the same as that so its not going to blunt the handling. also
it sits further back, about 5mm from the chassis cross rail.
I'll just make sure i've had a really big poo if chasing the ultimate lap time
The M3 is a good choice, but the 328 is also worth looking at. It's 20 kg lighter, and a *lot* cheaper, especially in terms of parts for the engine. It's still got 200 bhp (easily tunable to 240+) and 210 lb-ft of torque, so it will result in a very quick car, unless you want silly power. Both are good choices in my opinion - I went for the 328 based on price and am happy with that decision (I've driven it and I think it will take a good long while before I "need" an upgrade).
Oh, and I agree with franky about the 90% good / 10% teething issues. The 10% are mostly because it's quite a new kit and GKD didn't have
everything fully resolved for the first cars (franky and I are building the first two Legend 6's). The latest version of the kit has addressed a
lot of issues and I think people starting a build now should not have any big problems on that front.
As franky said, customer service is top-notch - Peter from GKD has been round to visit a number of times when I've had issues, and is happy to
answer the phone 24/7. If good support is important to you, then GKD is a very sound choice.
Hey Guys,
I am looking into getting a GKD in Australia, but having abit of trouble signing up for the forum (signed up but awaiting approval) or getting a reply
to an email i sent last week to Peter@GKD.
Can anyone help put some light onto this?
I have a few questions and i cant exactly nip around to the factory to take a look without spending ~$2K.
What i was after:
"Has anyone in Australia ever purchased one of your kits? If so do you know how they went with rego in this country (its A LOT harder then the
UK), also do you know the approx shipping cost (if you have not sent one over here don’t worry about looking it up at this stage)
As I have a rolling locost chassis I was pondering if I could reuse some parts I have currently collected;
The suspension bolt pack, what sizes are the bolts?
Which ball joints are used?
What are the size the bushes used in the wishbones?
What rear callipers are used?
What is the open/closed length for the shocks?
Which radiator is used?
In the cockpit area, seat area base width and overal cockpick inner width?
Do you have a few sample pages of the build instructions for the kit?"
Has anyone done a torsional test on one of these chassis? - In Australia to get rego we have to pass a test. Even its low i am happy to mod the
chassis if everything else 'ticks' the boxs.
Cheers,
Taffy
quote:
Originally posted by ftaffy
Hey Guys,
I am looking into getting a GKD in Australia, but having abit of trouble signing up for the forum (signed up but awaiting approval) or getting a reply to an email i sent last week to Peter@GKD.
Can anyone help put some light onto this?
I have a few questions and i cant exactly nip around to the factory to take a look without spending ~$2K.
What i was after:
"Has anyone in Australia ever purchased one of your kits? If so do you know how they went with rego in this country (its A LOT harder then the UK), also do you know the approx shipping cost (if you have not sent one over here don’t worry about looking it up at this stage)
As I have a rolling locost chassis I was pondering if I could reuse some parts I have currently collected;
The suspension bolt pack, what sizes are the bolts?
Which ball joints are used?
What are the size the bushes used in the wishbones?
What rear callipers are used?
What is the open/closed length for the shocks?
Which radiator is used?
In the cockpit area, seat area base width and overal cockpick inner width?
Do you have a few sample pages of the build instructions for the kit?"
Has anyone done a torsional test on one of these chassis? - In Australia to get rego we have to pass a test. Even its low i am happy to mod the chassis if everything else 'ticks' the boxs.
Cheers,
Taffy
Thanks for the reply Franky, useful info.
I will probably go the e36 318is route, M3's are damn expensive over here. Sadly Car prices in Australia are not like they are in the UK 2nd
hand. A standard 318i goes for around $1-2K damaged and a 318is $1.5-3K.
If the 4 goes well might look into getting a 6 based on a 328 or 330. Would love a E46 M3 car though!
Will hopefully hear from Peter soon.
Cheers,
Taffy
If the regulations are that bad, there's always the option of either importing one built by GKD and registered in the UK, or building it yourself
(if you are keen to do the build yourself), shipping it to the UK to get GKD to register it, and then importing it. The distance might make this
prohibitively expensive though. Peter at GKD sells quite a few cars to Europe so he has some experience with exporting cars which is good, but I
suspect you'd be his first Australian customer.
Anyway, good luck. If you're thinking about going the Legend 6 route at some point, I'd suggest getting a 6 kit to start with, then you can
do an engine swap to a straight 6 later on, rather than start from scratch with a whole new chassis.
Ftaffy, If you're contemplating an ICV build, find a signatory engineer first and discuss your wishes with him.
If contemplating a six cylinder, then chassis of any UK manfrs WILL NOT PASS TORSION Or BEAM TEST in Aus. The locals there have enough problems with
4 cylinder builds, for anything bigger than 4's, the chassis has to be heavy, as in 40x40x2mm at least, and not the 25x25x1.5 of the 4's.
Also, a lot of additional diagonals, cross bracing, and side impact tubes need adding to the UK spec chassis design.
Find an engineer signatory. And there's a fairly active build club/group in Vic, have a look on Ozclubbies.com.au.
Cheers,
Nev.
[Edited on 19/7/11 by Neville Jones]
Hey Nev,
Thanks for the reply, I am a fairly active member on ozclubbies and currently have a VASS engineer for my very slow locost (with Australian chassis
mods) build. I was asking in relation to a GKD as i have not heard of one in Aus.
I have seen a Tiger Avon in Aus, it did not pass straight up and requires additional stiffening in the scuttle area.
A new way of getting passed all of this is to build a car and get it under club rego (90 days use a year) and you dont need to pass the torsional,
emissions etc. But it was not my first preference but possible.
Cheers,
Taffy
Hey Rodgling,
Importing finished cars is just as bad sadly, unless i owned it for 2 years in another country and is on the import list.
I looked into buying another car (factory built) from the UK a couple of years back, ended up only being a few K cheaper then just buying an
australian delivered which was way out my price range!
Thanks for the idea though, wish it would work . Kit and assemble myself is the only real option i think.
On a positive note i am now registered on GKD owners club forum.
Cheers,
Taffy
quote:
Originally posted by ftaffy
Hey Rodgling,
Importing finished cars is just as bad sadly, unless i owned it for 2 years in another country and is on the import list.
I looked into buying another car (factory built) from the UK a couple of years back, ended up only being a few K cheaper then just buying an australian delivered which was way out my price range!
Thanks for the idea though, wish it would work
On a positive note i am now registered on GKD owners club forum.
Cheers,
Taffy