Hello all!
I've been lurking around these forums for quite a while now and have finally made my decision to have a go at building a locost 7. I've been waiting as I was hoping to be moving to a house with a garage but this has recently fallen through; I have decided instead to rent/borrow a garage. This means that I really need a quick build. I've decided to take some holiday to build it (or at least make a good start).
I'm reasonably handy with a spanner but cannot weld (took a course; realised my handiwork is crap :-) )
With this in mind I was looking at a car engined MK indy (probably) deluxe kit. Realistically what sort of cost can these be built to (think lowcost), and in what time scale?

I'm currently in the budgeting stage and it will take some time for me to save up especially as I'm going to want to pay for it all in one go.

I know these are very open ended questions but would just like some practical advice.

I'm in Plymouth, should this affect my kit choice, who else is from these parts?

Anyway cheers for your time.
Michael

although i have a indy and love it to bits isnt there a more local kit car company making the 7 to Plymouth that would be easier to get to for parts ideas etc ?

oh and welcome to locostbuilders.

[Edited on 15/8/06 by graememk]

GTS Panther worth a look I would say.

GTS - Wot - for a quick build? Does it really go to gether that fast and the parts will all come that fast????

If you want it to go together that quick and easy then you need a very tried and tested route - and don't discount Westfield either. At least you know it's all been done a thousand times before.....

MK is fine for a basic Seven - but not so great if you want all the trimmings like weather gear etc.....

[Edited on 15/8/06 by Jasper]

[Edited on 15/8/06 by Jasper]

Haven't seen a panther before, but what sort of price are westfields? Just by looking online the secondhand/preloved cars are much more expensive than an equivalent MK I would assume this was down to the greater build cost.

With all kit builds, there's a trade off on speed and cost. If you can spend more buying in parts like a dashboard for example rather than making one you'll save a lot of time.

If you intend to buy all the bits you need from MK in one go then I would say the distance isn't a problem. They are pretty good with help and advice on the phone. A lot of the sundries you'll need like nuts, bolts, rivets etc can be found locally or easily from mail order places.

As you have no doubt seen, this forum is an invaluable source of help and inspiration during and after a build.

In short - go for it

Hi if you fancy a trip up to Okehampton I have a built 1300 locost, up and running, there is someone building a tiger in Plymouth (Andrew)and theres Mark near Penzance. And i am sure others will be on here soon.
The westfield club have arranged a run out this weekend from Newquay so there will be a few cars there.
hope this helps and good luck with what ever you build.
Barrie

This saturday I've got my car in for a electrics check in liskeard (hot start problem grr), what time is the Westfield event going on in Newquay, I may be able to catch the tail end of it.

As a newbie i think that your first build will never be a 'quick' one... a i learnt, you just cant forsee any of the problems you encounter. Plan ahead, and research as much as possible by all means, but dont expect it to be quick. I thought i was going to finish in 6 months max, turned out 1 yr is nearer the mark!

A friend of mine had 2 weeks off work and built a Westfield "KIT" as in the 100% all in kit.
I just spent 2 years building an MK kit.
I think from you're post the Westfield option is closer to what you need, because I don't think anybody else will supply a real "everything" in one go........

I appreciate what you're saying on the time issue, but the westfield kit is about 7.5K, I could buy a second hand elise s1 for that. I was looking at around 4K+- a little bit.
By the way, I know if i bought a s1 elise I wouldn't be building it myself, but it's justifying the cost that's the problem.
Basically I need to build and sva the car in short shrift, I can tidy it up into something to be proud of afterwards.
EDIT: I'm not necessarily after an all in one kit, but I'll need to buy all the bits at about the same time.

[Edited on 16/8/06 by clockwork]