HI all.

IM looking for some advice and confirmation on the 'Locost' im hopefully about to buy.

I know its tatty, but im looking for a little project.

Please can i get some answers on the following concerns. See pictures below.

1) Is this defiantly a 'Locost'? I'm studying the chassis and it seems to look the same as others online, but please confirm its not a Robin Hood

2) Engine seems to be on solid mounts. If you stand at the front it doesn't seem perfectly straight. Any ideas? Readjust with spacers?

3) Currently running roughly on R6 carbs - any thoughts on those? Replace with standard Mondeo carbs/injection?

4) Its a track car, so has the loom removed. Starts and runs ok, but has bare bones ECU - is this ok?

5) Owner seems to think it weight 710kg - does that seem a bit high?!


Just general thoughts would be great (bare in mind this is 1400 quid)

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Wishbones and mounts suggest a 'build for £250' car, IE off an Escort rather than a Sierra. I can't see any sign of it being a Robin Hood, but I have to ask why the aversion to Robin Hood cars?

The engine mounts appear to be on rubber 'donut' mountings, so not necessarily solid. They might just seem solid due to the weight of the engine. As for it (not) being straight, it might be intentional (IE it might be at that angle in the original car).

Nothing wrong with R6 carbs, I'd try and get them sorted first before swapping them out. Going to FI will require a change in fuel system.

If you don't need lights etc, then you don't need the wiring. 'Bare bones' for a track car seems reasonable.

710kg could be high, but there's no sense of 'lightness' in those pictures. For example they used a proper car battery rather than a lightweight one (so several kilo's already). He could also be measuring it with all fluids and driver.

Overall it's quite reasonable for the money.

It's pretty agricultural, the front chassis is not locost, it looks a bit Robin Hood to me with locost wishbones replacing the cortina subframe.

Roll cage is not any good for MSA, safer than nothing the rear stays look very steep.

Sitting unevenly, get a bit of string and measure diagonals to see if it's twisted. If it measures true then adjust the suspension, Spax shocks are not the best.

Personally I would not put a great deal of value to it, but £££ for smiles is priceless

Seeing as a cortina based Robin Hood would be a monocoque, it definitely is not a Robin hood with locost front end bolted on. In fact, it is no robin hood of any type ever.

The two types of robin hood car you are likely to come across are the monocoque cars, which started off with triumph bits, then Cortina and finally Sierra. From there they moved to the 2B which is a full tubular chassis, heavy but very strong.

So to answer your questions:

1)It is definitely a home made chassis with the welds in the photos being of questionable quality.

2) Make mounts the fit the engine to the car properly

3) Mondeo never ran carbs and getting standard injection to work is more hassle than its worth, so stick with the R6 carbs

4) I'm not sure what you mean by bare bones ECU, but at a a guess it will have a megajolt or similar controlling ignition only, this should be fine. Though looking at the photos it might just have an edis module and no ECU, this is not fine. As for taking it on track in its current condition...

5) Yes it does, but dont get hung up on it.

The main thing that would make me run away from that car is it screams "bodge job"

Thanks for the intelligent input.

I did wonder about how It was sitting, but the ground is sloped In that picture.

Bit concerned about the mismatched front end.. Not sure what to make of that.

I have nothing against robin hoods, but thought they were heavy and not great for track use. Although it doesn't sound like this is now.

I will measure corner to corner as suggested.

What do you think about the price?
Thanks

Honestly I would only price it at what I thought I could rescue and put into another chassis, and in those terms its far too much. Look at the welds on things like the wishbones, would you trust those? Now imagine the same person has welded the whole chassis.

I'm no welder, but agree they look a little unsophisticated..
But are they really that bad?

I was going on the basis that it's obviously been around a while and it's still in one piece.

However I think I might heed your advice on this..

It's just so tempting because tidy examples are so much more money. But this is probably s false economy... Even for a project.

[Edited on 4/4/16 by Banana]

[Edited on 4/4/16 by Banana]

[Edited on 4/4/16 by Banana]

if it was as scruffy as it is, but had a good quality chassis underneath it then it would be different, but honestly I think thats a "track car" because there is no way it would have passed IVA.

Due to the welds?

Thanks for the advice. I will pass this up and keep looking.

[Edited on 4/4/16 by Banana]

Looks tatty but not dangerous,
Looks powder coated in places but hard to judge, I look at the chassis as a cleanup job where you would strip back the paint round some welds and if they look good just clean and repain.
The EDIS medial is actually an EEC 1V as it has a vac input, this is not easy to get working although someone may have mixed this to provide EDIS PIP & SAW signal for a Megajolt.
I would use a proper EDIS & Megajolt

I would not buy a car built by someone who was happy to put that fabricated water pipe on the car. A lot of the welds, most importantly on the roll bar look heavily metal finished, you don't know if they originally looked like the welding on the water rail.

Cheers

Fred W B

Chassis looks very poor with some iffy bolts across the front cross member.
I don't think I would be happy to chuck that into Paddock Hill with confidence.

Price up what the useful parts of the car would come to and see if that comes to £1400

Engine
Gearbox
Sump
Intake Manifold
Bike carbs
Exhaust manifold/headers
ECU
Back axle/diff
Hubs

And so on....

The ecu is the Esc as found on 80's fiesta's it's designed to run a little 1.3 endura/cross flow.

That one isn't even fully connected. There is no vacuum connection and no temperature sensor.

Some of the welding on that is why sva / iva was introduced.

Thanks alot for the input. Saved me a potential headache. Even if it's a cheap headache.
Guess any kit car is only as good as the builder

Really don't think I would waste any money on that, just too tatty, will become a nightmare

Looks nasty in every aspect to me, more like £400 and even then I'd think twice!!

Well it sold on eBay for 2500! Not sure how I feel now..

If I was you, I would feel like I had a lucky escape and still had hold of my cash. You had some good (free) advice from the members on here. Keep in touch and they will help you again if you decide to purchase another, more genuine kit car.

quote:

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Originally posted by Banana
Well it sold on eBay for 2500! Not sure how I feel now..

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That would be me then

Turns out yesterday was a bad day

Knew it was too good to be true, oh well, it's only my hard earned cash

Was it on ebay ? Have you collected it yet ?

It was on ebay, but I haven't paid or collected it yet. Thinking I might try and get out of it as I don't think it really lives up to his statement:

"This car has been at a classic and sports mechanical restoration garage in Ipswich finishing this project as I haven't had time.
The following bits have been professionally fitted with receipts to prove"

Don't know what my chances are, but I don't fancy forking out another £200 or so going to pick it up on top of what it costs

If its not as described then you would be best to withdraw if possible.

Ive never cancelled an eBay transaction but I'm sure if it's not described right then you should be ok, I think for £2500 ish you would have the pick of some good part built cars if they need finishing/IVA doing on them.

Good luck.

Wow , small world.

You should have looked on Gumtree - it was up for £1400. The chap was desperate for me to take it at £1400.

To be honest, i was a little disappointed, as he said it was a runner. But when i got there the aux belt was missing so i couldn't drive it.

To be fair, he was going to get one for me, but it just didnt seem as described..

Just text him saying I was dropping out. He came back annoyed, said I messed him about, but judging by what the guys have said to you, it's not even a real locost anyway.

Hoping I'll get away with it

I would probably not put too much more on here about it in case it gets picked up by him or others until you have it settled, just cover your self first. thats only my opinion of course,

Lots of receipts does not make a nice car!

He can always pass a second chance offer, it may be 'low cost' but it is not a locost

Not a lot he can do, apart from report you to ebay. But I doubt that will be a real issue if it is your first wrist-slap?

Bit of a sticky area pulling out of a eBay auction, morally and legally. I once accidently won a car only to realise I couldn't get insurance. I put on a very low, early bid. I apologised for the mistake and offered to pay his listing fees and pay him £50 for his trouble. He went mad, ranting over the email and threatened me with court action. After doing research and taking advice it turns out you can be taken to court because winning a auction is a binding contract. And normally the seller wins. After receiving several very threatening emails from the owner of the car I relented and told him I'd buy the car and come round and pick it up. However I told him that if there was anything wrong with the vehicle that wasn't as described in the auction, exactly as described I would refuse to buy and take him to court for my travel expenses. He refused contact after that.

Not the best situation.

Suggested that he cancel the sale as the item did not appear to be as described after detailed photographs were scrutinised for me by independent experts. He did so immediately, which would seem to be an admission.

Thanks very much for all your support and advice folks, it was much appreciated at a very worrying time.

At last! I've found some welding worse than my own. Some of those definitely look of the "grind down the grot to make it look alright" type.... I wouldn't have much faith.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mash

Hoping I'll get away with it

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who cares about legal things at ebay...the ebay world is a complete world of bastards and illegal deals....shill bidding with 2 accounts...friends accounts are used for pushing the auctions...auctions are ended earlier if the price isnt what expected...completed deals ar cancelled afterwards (with accordance of seller and buyer) so the buyer gets a refound of the sales fees etc....

so dont worry ...nothing will happen if you cancel the deal from your side and do not show-up.

sellers cannot leave neg. feedback..so another good thing for you.


honestly: this car can be used for parts only. would never invest a penny to get this roadworthy. waste of time and money as the base is already questionable.

[Edited on 16/4/16 by alfas]

Managed to get a half decent MK Indy a bt outside my budget, and needs some tidying, but worth it.

Just got to insure and tax it

Thanks for all your help