Hi Everyone, been reading a load of the topics around here recently after buying the famous book, ive been really inspired by some of the build projects going on around here , fantastic bike engined projects and mid engined projects as well as traditional locosts! Im very much thinking of starting something along the lines of a book based locost mainly due to budget restrictions and the fact that i cant afford to buy a bike engine or v6/v8 at the moment-maybe in the future

Anyway , im a student right now (just finished 2nd yr of Uni) and you know what the insurance premiums are like for people my sort of age (19) . I think im limited to an engine which is so small it cannot be viewed by the naked eye..... any tips / comments / words of warning - would be appreciated! Cheers!

Jamie

alright mate, and welcome!

i called the insurance companies, and the best quote i got was £450 with sureterm a couple of years ago.

engine size isnt an issue, as long as its 2L or under, and not injected.

limited to 5k miles a year as well (but i cant see myself doing nearly that!)

good luck with your build!

Tom

(oops, forgot to mention i was 19 at the time)

what course you doing, and what uni?

[Edited on 7/6/05 by tom_loughlin]

Hey, cheers for the quick reply! 450 sounds pretty good considering what im paying for driving a 1.1i Peugeot 205 ( just removed the engine today - new one of same capacity going in, 100,000 miles less on it! Im at The University of Plymouth at the moment studying Biology - engineering is just a hobby at the moment. i was thinking i could dump the 1.1i engine (same mounts as Mi16) into a locost but it would either be phenomenally slow or people would just laugh! anyway im just going over some ideas to start with, cheers for the welcome!

Jamie

you will be amazed at the speed of these things, even with small engines in - most people go for ford running gear, although there are loads out there who will make anything under the sun!

the speed is purely down to the weight (or lack of) of these cars, so if a pug 1.1is making about 80bhp (havent got a clue how much), but it only weighs 500ks, thats 160 bhp / tonne!

im sticking to my 1.8 for the time being, and hopefully uprading to a 2L when i learn to drive the thing properly!

Take a look at:

MNR
MK
GTS
MAC1
LUEGO

to get you started.

all the best
Tom

[Edited on 7/6/05 by tom_loughlin]

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to the site You will find lots of people willing to help you with just about anything you can think of while building your car.

Think carefully about your choice of engine. If you do want to use a Peugeot engine I'm not sure about the options for rwd gearboxes. As Tom said, most of the cars are designed to use ford sierra running gear, and you dont get much cheaper than that (Quite often a whole car for £50-100).

I too have just finished my second yr at uni, I'm doing manufacturing engineering at Warwick. Theres several people on here who are at uni, or have just finished.

Best of luck in deciding what to build!! (thats probably one of the hardest bits!)

David

Hi, welcome to the site Another uni student here, although I've just finished all my assessed work so I'm pretty much finished now!

I agree with all that's been said above - insurance is cheap (under £300 on a 2L carb engine at 21). Peugeot would be possible but possibly quite a lot harder than a ford engine.

The other main decision to make is whether to build a kit or build your own car from scratch - a kit will be quicker and easier but also more expensive.

Either way I'm sure you'll have fun and you'll end up with something to be proud of.

Good luck, keep asking questions on here, it's the best source of info you'll find!

Pete

Cheers for all the welcomes !

I think the sierra running gear is probably the way i'll go as they seem pretty common, havent seen many mkII escorts around to use! i just had a look over the book (edition 1) and the locost as built by Ron in the book uses a BMC A series engine which is 948cc ! makes the 1124cc engine ive got look a little less weedy although it only puts out 60bhp in standard tune, considering the size it is surprisingly quick....

i see the advantage of using the majority of parts from the sierra , its rwd to start with etc - will probably head down that route.

My neighbor has a backwards Y reg Sierra diesel which he is getting rather too old to drive, just wondered if (when he wanted to get rid of it) there is anything usefull which could be pulled out!

diesel sierras have very sought after low ratio difs for hte bike engined boys

On the insurance front - if you go the true locost route it could take you 2 years + therefore you may get better deal when the time comes. Even a bought kit could take a year on a budget.
1.3 crossflow or 1.6 pinto maybe a cheap starting point. Other option is to go for 2.0 pinto and try and save up a bit of cash for insurance. Even £5 a week will give you a £500 head start for insurance and SVA when the time comes.

get the diesel if its decent enough (it will be a good buy if it has had some new bits (brakes?) etc). Pinto engine and box can be had for £50 - 100 mark. i dont know what 'box the sierra will have, if a type 9 then that is a good bonus. I got my non-runner for £20 but had to spend good money on refurbing all the bits.