bob
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| posted on 20/1/06 at 02:07 PM |
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Ordered the keith tanner book just after christmas and picked up yesterday,its very good with a lot of info that compliments the ron book.
I think its worth the £18.99 price tag
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/1/06 at 03:57 PM |
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Have to agree with the exponents of the Mazda donor idea.
I know very little about them but the key is that yes, you may pay more for the donor, but you get more of a car in the end for it!
The "single sierra donor" is, in my opinion a totally flawed concept!
The sierra is mcpherson front end, and it's uprights (again in my opinion) look messy and clumsy when attached to double wishbones (skirting
carefully around the geometry arguments!), they also have heavy engines which will pretty much all need rebuilds now, too wide a track width, and many
parts totally unsuited to being 7 donor parts!
Now yes, you may well get a dead sierra for £50 and boast to yer mates at the pub about it, but you probably wont then tell them about the £300 you
spent making the engine give an acceptable level of performance, or the £50 getting the driveshafts shortened, or the steering rack shortening, or the
recon brake calipers you needed, or the new wheel bearings etc etc etc etc..........
It doesn't take long to work out that spending £750 on top of the donor car, just to get parts that a) fit and b) aren't knackered is not
at all uncommon.
Therefore, if you can get a donor with "ready" bits on it for £800 or so, then you are no worse off.
I just don't really get the whole "single sierra donor" thing because you end up with a car full of compromises, which costs no less
than building one from seperately salvaged parts, each tailored to the task in hand.
Donor brakes, for example, are rarely suited to the 7, and are rarely in serviceable condition on a £50 car! I don't mean the whole Haynes
"service it or you'll die" thing, but that old parts generally detract from the driving experience, and if you want to build the
car, it's better to spend a few quid more at the start to do it right than to have to do it all again later!
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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