Hi All,

I am in the very first stage of starting to build my first locost,

I have the book by Ron Champion,

But am very confused!

Where do I start??

I have read the book about parts to collect etc and donor cars

But I read on the net that you can use Motorbike engines what is the advantage to this

and also do I need a car still for the axle??

I am living in Spain now so I want to build a left hand drive!

Please can anyone let me know if this is possible using ron's book??

Thankyou

No probelms with LHD at all - quite a few on this forum. The only problem with a bike engine is the lack of reverse.

You can do your build any way you want. I'm not bothering with an entire donor - just getting all the bits seperatly.

IMO you should have at least 8 cylinders in a v configuration Save the braun / Morphy Richards engines for hairdryers

Welcome
Lhd will be easy, just have the steering rack and the dash the other way round.
I started by stripping the donor car and building the chassis at the same time. Taken 9 months but getting there.
The first thing you need to do is to decide cec (car engine car) or bec (bike engine car).
Im sure someone will come and tell you all the benefits of a bike engine but i beleive you will need a very light car to get the best out of one.
Cec will be much simpler if you want to go purely by the book but i would also recommend you buy chris gibbs haynes roadster book which is based on a sierra and has more suggestions for different engines including bike engines.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply!

Does anyone know of any places I can purchase the parts that will deliver to me in Spain!

Also where would anyone recommend I start!

If I give a company a photocopy of the chassis drawings... Do you think they would be able to produce this for me??

Thanks

I haven't bought a donor, just got pieces when required. I did this because I didn't have room. It would be a lot cheaper though if I had bought a donor. Its probably easier if you have all the parts before you start ( I didn't) so you can be sure they are going to fit when you build the chassis (if you do).

Bike Engine cars £ for £ are technically more advanced than car engines create way more power per litre
have sequential gearboxes clutchless upshifts

rev to 14,000rpm

pull fine through the rev range regardless of what you read and them having no torque

sound better

you get more attention when you pull up and more people interested when you say youve got an r1 engine than a pinto zetec or xe

easier to work on

last but not least yo can do 60mph in first gear

What About the problem with not being able to reverse??

Thanks

quote:

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Originally posted by zxrlocost
Bike Engine cars £ for £ are technically more advanced than car engines create way more power per litre
have sequential gearboxes clutchless upshifts

rev to 14,000rpm

pull fine through the rev range regardless of what you read and them having no torque

sound better

you get more attention when you pull up and more people interested when you say youve got an r1 engine than a pinto zetec or xe

easier to work on

last but not least yo can do 60mph in first gear

---

quote:

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Originally posted by zxrlocost
you get more attention when you pull up and more people interested when you say youve got an r1 engine than a pinto zetec or xe

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quote:

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Originally posted by quirkrover25
What About the problem with not being able to reverse??

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And if you get a bike engine you get to suggest everyone else does the same anytime someone asks whether they should use a Zetec or a Pinto

Most popular bike engined car......

May I?

IF you have access to parts nearby
IF you have friends interested - ones who are mechanically inclined
IF you have the garage space
IF you have the funds/tools/patience/abilities

THEN go for it. I have learned a few things: it will end up costing more with individual parts, compared to a donor. A kit with most of the parts included (MNR, MK et al) will save a lot of trouble, but you may spend more initially, AND, not ALL parts are included. EBay can get expensive with shipping added on.

It is actually more complicated that it looks from Uncle Ron's very inspiring book, which remember, was based on the idea that readily usable parts are cheap, and easily found in circa 1996 England. THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE.

Stay on this site if you are using English parts. The guys here are great, but remember, they tend to have deep pockets and a VERY optimistic outlook!! If you come out of it having spent 10,000 E, you will be doing OK. I will be spending about 18,000 E here in Canada. Mistakes were made...

[Edited on 30/12/07 by RK]

get a reverse box or push the car will weigh around 450kg

if all those great points havent made you want a bike engine get a demo ride thatll put your mind at rest

you only have to look at the amount of people fitting bike engines either new builds or from car engines

if it dont give you an adrenaline rush it aint worth having

supercharged jag engine thatll be good for the drag strip







and thats about it

Try talking to some other people based in Spain - they might be able to help you with info on availability of parts, etc.

From a quick look, the following Locostbuilders members are in Spain:

Alez
DUR
robertst
tks

Also, if you don't want to bnuild the chassis yourself (and there are apparently errors in Ron's book anyway), then I think it would be better to buy a ready-made chassis from one of the established manufacturers, rather than give the plans to some local company (who probably hasn't done it before) to weld for you.

Good luck!

Does anyone know a supplier that will supply the chassis??

quote:

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Originally posted by quirkrover25
Does anyone know a supplier that will supply the chassis??

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If you are a bit younger than the average age, i would sugest a bike engine fitment, otherwise, it's a car engine, some people find a bike engine a bit extreme and need someting a bit more sedate, something there that there brain can keep up with.

quote:

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Originally posted by quirkrover25
Does anyone know a supplier that will supply the chassis??

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The advantage of a Bec is power to weight ratio and acceleration.
An R1 car is rapid from a standing start and as already mentioned, sequential gearchanges with clutchless shifts are possible (trickshifter).
Good low mileage R1's aren't cheap if you go for the injection (mine 700 miles £1.8K), plus you will need to add in a power commander to tune it. Carbed versions are a lot cheaper, but there are tuning issues for emmissions at sva to get around.

Just think of the 0-60 times of those close to ferrari's/lambos for a fraction of the cost and it's a no brainer.