mk1 based project

[Paul Woods]

right! ive been thinking long n hard about what sort of project im going to do once lily has been completed.Ive always got to have one to stop the boredom setting in so i have been mulling over a few possible ideas,one of which was to build a car from scratch using mostly mk1 donor parts.

The idea is to build a tubular chassis,mount mk1 suspension to it,steering etc,basically full mk1 running gear,mk1 wiring loom,probably dash....apply a lot of the 1.5 mods to it like big brakes etc but then custom build my own unique body to sit on that lot with of course a big mid mounted engine possibly of the NA V8 ,V10 or 2jz-gte variety/mk2 turbo box.No chassis rails so engine choice is huge size wise,thinking i can also make the chassis a tadge wider or longer than a stock mk1 for even more room.

The second plan is to still build a tubular chassis and mk1 running gear but then maybe plonk an elise front and rear tub onto that,or some other ready made gorgeous FG body onto it.

At the moment i still favour designing my own body,building it from panel beat sheet steel etc...its a huge project and all just theory and dreaming at the mo,but thats how lily started and the 1.5 come to think of it!

Lilys got to be finished and enjoyed for a few years yet though,but im definately going to build my own car from scratch one day,just thought id share the idea....at the moment im just sketching concept drawings of body shapes and stuff,im leaning towards something looking like the Mc F1 in style,if anyones got any ideas im all ears.

Lets have no :nuts: replies,i know this already :D

[jasper]

There's some good Diablo kits knocking around, can't find the thread at the mo but they're in all the kit mags...

[Driftin_AW]

sounds marvellous, a massive undertaking though, it often takes people years to produce a body from scratch, I think I'd rather buy a pre-made body for your own frame.

anyway you'd better start reading chassis design books, as there are so many important things to consider.

I think a mid-mounted longitudinal engine with a porsche box on it would be excellent, I would probably go for a nice V8, or v10-12 if you can find/afford one.

There's actually a guy that did to a Fiero what your #1 idea is, he made a complete tube frame from scratch, then fitted all the Fiero body panels to it, except it was stretched a bit and was quite a bit lower, if you haven't seen it I'll hunt out the link.

[Paul Woods]

yeah thats the sort of thing im aiming for,but not using their chassis kits,just the body....but then again i dont want to fall into the lookalikeee wanabee category either,couldnt stand people saying thats not a real ferrari/lambo etc etc Its a tricky one,maybe i should come up with my own design after all?

[Paul Woods]

yep malc im a complete novice when it comes to building a tube chassis,ive got the welding skills for sure,its just getting the tubes n bars stiff enough that id worry about....all i know up to now is lots of triangulation! Im in full agreement though,i def need to buy a book on the subject.

[MegatronUK]

If you're going tubular, then I'd go with double wishbone suspension front and rear... it's pretty simple to fabricate if you're going with a scratch built chassis. A V6 is always going to be the best compromise for mid-engined designs.... but boy I'd love to squeeze a 2JZGTE into a beefed up Lotus 7 replica!

Personally I've got a couple of ideas for projects:

GTM Libra -esque
Mid engined Twin Turbo V6
RWD
2 Seater

Mid engined V8 / Supercharged V6
4WD
2 Seater
... go on... guess... you know what it is! :wink:... a 6R4 copy!:lol:

[Sooty]

The second plan is to still build a tubular chassis and mk1 running gear but then maybe plonk an elise front and rear tub onto that,or some other ready made gorgeous FG body onto it.

Elise clams are big money. Even damaged ones that can be repaired are ?250 each. However, if you are adamant you want to go this route, give me a shout as I may be able to help you 'find' some very cheap. The tub itself is ally that is bonded. About ?5k for a full one and bends at the slightest nudge.

It'd be cheaper to buy a tatty early S1 Elise for around ?7k and work out how to drop the 3S-GTE in it. At the moment the engines being dropped in them are 1.8T Audis, 2.0 Ford Duratecs and most popularty 2.0 Civic VTECs (some of which are being s/c) and companies are charging anything between ?6k and ?15k for the conversion. If you can make it fit then you could turn it into a commercial venture.

[Driftin_AW]

how about, just to be different, you put a really crappy, inconspicuous body onto it, like a kombi van or something \\:D/

here's that link to the crazy fiero guy.
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/048610.html

[Paul Woods]

john a 6R4 copy was always an early dream of mine,but they have the areodynamics of a housebrick! :D maybe you/me and the old fella should build one for a laugh!

Interesting sooty! dropping an engine into an elise isnt challenging enough TBH,im pretty sure i could get a blown V6 or other into there fairly easily,the clams arent that dear at £250 each though,just all the bits n pieces that add up i guess.....no i think if i ever do this its got to be my own body design,in for a penny in for a pound!

[Paul Woods]

ha ha! malcolm thats food for thought! supercar chassis/engine but really crappy shell,i could use a mk2! lol sorry goldy :ha:

[MegatronUK]

My next realistic project after this one (and the '7' is on the road) was actually to be a road going hot escort. Most likely mk2... but I quite fancied something different for it: fully independent rear suspension; I've seen it done once, on a Cossie powered mk2 using a sierra/scoprio rear diff and full custom rear wishbones.

Done up with a nice interior and modern comforts: fuel injection or tb's, leccy windows, nice reclining seats etc.. a bit of a change to the raw mk1. I even had a nice engine to go in it: a 2.0 DOHC from the mk5 RS2000, chain drive and 155bhp stock. But the old fella sold it... grrr!

Doubt we'll get any more projects after this one though; he's warned that several times! :lol:

[djdna2000]

Paul, sounds like a great idea. As we all get further down this tranplant route, ideas which before would have seemed crazy are now seeming more possible by the minute. My next project won't be quite as mad as building my own car though, I think it's gonna be a mk4 supra, with either one of those 1gzfe lumps or possibly a complete transplant of the RB26DETT and drivetrain from a Skyline GTR - 4WD supra!

[MegatronUK]

Bah... wash your mouth out! :lol:

[Goldy]

Paul... sod it all and build yourself a lancia stratos i think you can buy the shell as a kit. They look awesome and you could build your own chassis and drop the body on it.... Put a big V8 in it.... totally cool :D

http://orion_web2.tripod.com/index/menu/lancia/stratos/stratos.03.jpg

For the moment I would concentrate on finishing lilly.... (Before the rust sets in :-# )

[Sooty]

Interesting sooty! dropping an engine into an elise isnt challenging enough TBH,im pretty sure i could get a blown V6 or other into there fairly easily

I could get half a dozen people with at least ?3k each to ask you to prove it. Would even consider buying another myself to let you try it.

[Paul Woods]

what? to stick a v6 into an elise? piece of piss mate...cant see a problem,the bay looks big enough,if its not then do a bit of cutting...only hurdle i can see is driveshaft compatability with lotus hubs but i bet theres a fairly simple solution....and use all of the mk1 gear shift shite onto an E153.Its more likely to be other little problems like speedo drive n stuff like that that would be tricky.Of course we dont have to bang a toyota lump in there (burn the heretic!) .Personally it would have the elise purists turning in their grave horning a big 6 in there,they are bound to bang the old it'll wreck the handling drum.But hey im game if someones gonna throw the cash at it,its certainly not impossible by swap standards.

Ah now goldy.....stratos,oops just messed myself....i like them that much,id definately consider that a dooer as a next project.

dan your as mad as i am mate!

[djdna2000]

elise purists/mk1 purists/anal bores - all the same to me.

er, that is boring and anal people, not the graham norton/robbie williams kind of anal boring :D

[Paul Woods]

PMSL :ha: sounds like you have experience in this field dan mate? but hey,not as much experience as the welsh lot have in their "field" :ha:

[MegatronUK]

Remember there's more of them than us! :D

[superchargedsam]

There sure is ! lol !

[lodgeman]

i know this is a kit car but for ideas is this the sort of thing you had in mind?
http://www.gtmcars.com/spyder.php or are you thinking something like the ultima?

[superchargedsam]

will you lot stop it, for years I have been going to all the kit car shows and have so far held back from doing one and this year had to avoid going as had a fair wedge of cash burning a hole just before the national kit car show and needed a proper car (got the celica) so had I gone I rekon I would not have been held back by anything !

[lodgeman]

heres something a bit unusual:-P

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2005/12/54.jpg

pic police- i did resize it but its an odd shape!

[superchargedsam]

lodge what is that and wheres the detail on it or is it just off the scene of the new tron movie ?

[Goldy]

How about this for the next project :-P http://www.3wheelers.com/tritech.html

Bet you cant build a V6 one of these .....

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2005/12/55.jpg

[lodgeman]

its a german kit car maker in germany - prototype i think. will try and get the link.

http://home.hetnet.nl/~masosi/index.html

holland not germany- got from the totalkitcar.com website

[podge]

ive thaught about a tube frame chassis for a mk1 but ive been thinking about puting a gt4 engine upfront and four wheel driving it or tubing up the back but make it a bolt on and you could have diferent backends for whatever you wanted to do like a v8 onto a renault transaxle and by the side of it in the garage a spare backend with a 3s in it see what i mean

[Gary Symons]

Well I want to build one of these next:

http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/gtr/ 8)

Dont thik I will ever be able to afford it though :frown:

[Paul Woods]

lodge that gtm looks a bit too TVR for me,but yes the ultima is more the sort of thing i would be aiming for,something unique thats designed by me...but then some bastard on here posts up a cobra FG body and it all goes pete tong again!!! i love those cobras but they are ten a penny these days.

Podge! front engined!!!! come on man get with it! now go wash your mouth out and write 1000x "mid mount good,front mount bad" :D

[lodgeman]

if you like the ultima -you will love the stealth!!!!!

http://www.stealthcars.co.uk/

just dont look at the price:-P

[Paul Woods]

mmmm i think thats a bit of an ugly duckling myself al,i think id be driving off in the ultima given the choice...its too enzoesque at the front and over fussy body design...not my cuppa that one,still nice though!

[jasper]

Do the ultimate chav wagon Paul, pull the back seats out of a Saxo and put in a f*ck off massive lump....You'd be the hero at the Burger King car park...

[Paul Woods]

not a bad idea jasper but i dont have the orange faced track suited oompa loompa girlfriend to plonk in the passenger seat...or any sov rings for that matter,so its a no goer! my cover would be blown!

[Goldy]

Once you build the saxo.... the rest will follow 8-[

[Sooty]

A lad I know is building a Fisher Fury. Its the first time he's ever done anything like this, so his write-ups may be interesting for some of you.

http://www.robcollingridge.com/kitcar/index.html

[superchargedsam]

oh man I like that riot and know where there might be a decent blade engine to stick in one ! no no no thats enough sam !

[superchargedsam]

if you on the for sale section they have a mojo for sale which must be running the 4AGE 20 valve engine !

[Goldy]

Heres an idea for you paul.... Twin engined Mr2 :mrgreen:

[Paul Woods]

ah we've thrashed that one out before on TB,some pretty mad ideas came out!

[jasper]

How about a Paul Woods Rocket Car.....?

[Paul Woods]

JB's your man for that one! he has instant access to those engines,one could easily just "go missing" one day... :D

[Paul Woods]

i am now officially in love....it was in this months PPC,which i have to say is the best issue ever! anyhoo its a lola replica made by GD cars
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2005/12/59.jpg


I fookin love this thing,v8 LS1 powered,looks to kill....kit is £22k though!!!! BUT! i can get a shell for £1995,just got to build the rest myself! need 5 plus the bonus ball tonight.The version i like has a proper windscreen but no wet weather gear as yet.....tell me thats not gorgeous.

www.gdcars.com (http://www.gdcars.com)

[Paul Woods]

more lola porn....
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2005/12/60.jpg

[Paul Woods]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/paddy1970/lolarep3.jpg

[lodgeman]

just to upset you paul-i have driven an original lola at silverstone(not fast though ) and been a passenger in a lola t70 on a hscc car club day. and if i can find it i have a pic of me in a chevron b16 being driven around silverstone.:wink:

[superchargedsam]

wow those cars are stunning !

[Paul Woods]

alan you bastard! :D seriously? you got to drive one? jealousy is not the word for it! jammy get.

It might take me a few years to even begin this lads but im def going to build this lola,but with my own chassis based on mk1 running gear and possibly an LS1 V8....£2k for the body is within reach i think! although you can probably add another £5K for the rest of the build....im in love with that shape though.

[Paid2getdirty]

For me the ultimate thing to build for the road is a copy of an F1 car, obviously with the livery your memory is most in love with. Trundling down the high street in a JPS Lotus liveried type thing and lighting the tyres up from the lights would be something you just don't see everyday. The hardest thing is obviously to get it through an SVA test with all those ankle slicing appendages sticking out. Maybe thats why no company has made kits to do this.

Out of interest does anyone know if you are allowed to produce your own chassis for road legal use? I thought SVA prescribed you had to be a registered company thats produced and tested a chassis. Am I wrong?

[MegatronUK]

Gardner Douglas make some fab looking replicas. They do a Cobra aswell, if my memory serves me right.

For me though, if we're talking about that kind of thing, it would have to be a Healey replica :)

http://www.sebringinternational.co.uk/mxr.html

http://www.sebringinternational.co.uk/images/tmxbullet.jpghttp://www.sebringinternational.co.uk/photos/tmx_silver.jpg

I just love the shape so much more than a Cobra

[nik]

i am only interested in one replica..THE best car ever made..and it was a Ford..!!!
GT40
saw them at a kit car show years ago with my bro..incredible cars..even the kits were awesome..

[lodgeman]

alan you bastard! :D seriously? you got to drive one? jealousy is not the word for it! jammy get.


yep got to drive one although the engine wasnt running and i was being pulled by an atv:smile: we used to do a lot of body work for the local race guys in a garage i used to work at( man of many trades :???: ) and the cars we used to work on were :- maclaren m8 -7ltr can am car,lola t70 coupe-pics below-,chevron b16 and a smith 500 which had a norton single cylinder 500cc engine, and shook the fillings out of your teeth.they were all guys we met racing in the historic sports car club, my boss raced a surtees formula 5000 , great bunch of guys . if i can find some pics i will post em. the lola t70 i think is just going to be remade for gt racing!

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2006/01/1.jpg

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2006/01/2.jpg

they have such an amazing sound with a small block chevvy, four pairs of webers and no silencers. we worked it out one day that the f5000 surtees with the same engine as the lola did @ 3.5-4 mpg, that was a mix of pump and aviation fuel.!!!! i was just glad i didnt have to pay for it:eek:

[Paul Woods]

now theres a proper car! amazing pics alan.

Nik,my wife becky is in total agreement with you there,the GT40 is her all time dream car,she swears she will own one (i wonder who will have to build that one day!) I like them too,put it this way def in my top 5.

John i agree the healey reps are loads nicer than the cobras,nothing wrong with cobras,again top 5 but just too many of them,when the audi TT came out it was drop dead gorgeous and something special,then everyone got one and they just looked dull,odd how that happens with some cars...didnt happen with the mk1 though??? hmmm....that shits on that theory.

P2GD thats a good point,ive no idea if your own chassis can be sva'd,i just presumed so? i'll need to look into that.John didnt your dad build the chassis for the seven rep?

[Gary Symons]

I have some pics somewhere of a gt40 kit car from a couple of years back, will post the pics when i find them. Its fantastic, and if it is the one i am thinking about it is even painted in the gulf colours :righton:

[lodgeman]

heres the link to the gtd 40 website
http://www.gtd40club.co.uk/

and heres the mda gt40 site with prices!
http://www.gt40uk.com/price-list.html

[adamh]

nice cars there. you are spoilt for choice for sure. one i saw recently was a marcos mantis track day racer, two infact at my local tig welders having a damaged one put right by having a good one next to it to complete the shape and then weld etc, i shall try and get in and take a picture of the tubular chasis for you if he's still doing it. its just a huge pile of elaborate tubing, they are a nice little car. the chap (my tig welder) is also building a 4wd cosworth inside a mini chasis, amazing piece of kit no less, he's built and bashed every single piece of the chasis to perfection from sheet stainless, every panel, he has a serious problem with his stainless fetish. it has the cosworth dif bieng built into the rear and a tunnel right through the chasis to take the tranny shafts etc. it had a 140hp lotus bda in it and he said it wasnt fast enough before.
i quite fancy an ultima can-am, they are my fav home built super car.

[Gary Symons]

Couldnt find the pics of the 'gulf' gt40 bit did find these:

Various cars from donny kit car show a couple of years ago:
http://www.mr2mk1turbo.co.uk/temp/donnington/

[djdna2000]

tubular framed focus with RB26DETT perhaps??? (http://www.ffoc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=100035)

[Paul Woods]

thats pretty special isnt it,im going to have a go after lilys finished....anyone know where i can get a cheap lola t-70 body :ha:

[superchargedsam]

ok so not a mk1 project but a project all the same:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Veranti-Kit-and-Donor-MR2-Twin-Entry-Turbo_W0QQitemZ4602901076QQcategoryZ29750QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem

[Limeymk1]

Paul, a number of the guys on the locost forum (locostbuilders.co.uk) are building mid engined, custom chassis, cars. Steve Graber's one of them (MR2OC.com regular), I think you know him?

I'd love to have a go at something like this, just don't have the space or welding skills.

Chris

[Paul Woods]

ah yes i know of steve...graber cars if i remember right,the car hes building is a real feat of engineering....la bala i think hes called it,damn wheres the link when you want it!

[DrunkenDonut]

Looking for this?

http://www.grabercars.com/

[Paul Woods]

cheers DD! yep heres la bala...
http://www.grabercars.com/images/stories/albums/album34/Bala09_09_05.jpg

[jasper]

How about doing something like this for the V8?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Replica-Kit-Makes-GT40-MR2-1987-Race-or-Street-car-Project_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ7251QQitemZ4612 501643QQrdZ1

[millentubby]

what about a mk1 group B rally replica?

Marmite looks but I like marmite..could build the tubular rear end to accomodate one hell of an engine and try and make a FG body for it.

[chris99]

what about a mk1 group B rally replica?

Marmite looks but I like marmite..could build the tubular rear end to accomodate one hell of an engine and try and make a FG body for it.

A cunning plan indeed! I like this lots

[MartG]

what about a mk1 group B rally replica?

Marmite looks but I like marmite..could build the tubular rear end to accomodate one hell of an engine and try and make a FG body for it.

Loads of pics of the two prototypes here

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32792&highlight=rally



http://www.mr2supercharger.com/GroupBRacing.html

[weegaz22]

space framed mini running 2 bike engines in the back? 2x 20v R1 motors sat behind your head screaming away at 15krpm, sequential shifting, be a very fun car indeed