The Real Cost Of Building A Kit?

[Guest paulh]

As someone who was considering a lightweight (for cost reasons), i decided against it due to all it's associated problems. But, with the 2B now reduced in price (see link), what are people's honest opinions on how much you can actually build one for.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Robin-Hood-2B-base-k...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Does this kit have every non-doner part required to build the kit?

I am aware that you COULD spend your mortgage and then some! But if you were really really stingy on the purchases (assuming i'd need to buy tools too) what can i realistically expect to spend on building a 2B?

 

£1700 Kit

£200-300 on the donor

£200-300 on tools?

what's next....

[Guest turbo]

it all just depends how much you want to spend on certain parts like seats,shocks,guages,wheels

i think this is a good way to buy the kit as you can spend your money and pick the bits you want rather than use bits because you got them in the kit.

looking at it, if you stick to a budget and spend time cleaning up bits well etc the car can be built nicelly on a budget.

so on a tight budget about 3k to 3.5k.

if you want new seats,guages,petrol tank,alloys,gaz shocks,some bought help with mods.stainless fixings and other fancy goods then i would say around 6k.

thats what i think but hopefully some others will give there experience on bills.

i think i spent around 6 to 6.5k plus about 100 hours in the garage.

[Mitch]

my kit was 3,3k (all options taken at time susp upgrade seats wheels etc)

with all the nutsbolts,rivets trim materials plus SVA regs fees 1st years ins etc think it was 4,5-5k one the road, my kit was sstainless chassi-panels and wishbone options.

thats not including tools.

 

and i still spending on improvements

 

not sure whats inc in the kit now though

 

HTH

Mitch

[Guest piddy]

When I brought my 2B ( one of the first batch) in 1998 I believe. It was put on the road for £3000 but during the years I had it on the road I spent another £1500 on it making changes.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Put ours on the road in 2003 for 3k all done but that was with a lot of real hunting down bits at the right price.

 

That excludes SVA road tax and insurance.

 

It took nearly a year to find a donner at right price £80.00

 

We wanted cumfy seats not racing ones, Citroen BX in green to match the car, £10.00 the pair, again months of hunting but worth it to keep the costs down, and boy are they cumfy.

 

The only real extravigence was the paint £500.00 .

 

Since then though I would think we have easily doubled that plus some

 

The new engine and all the bits came in at 2.5 K .

 

Still spending now but thats our choice !

 

3K and don't upgrade can be done.

 

Ian J

[Guest salty_monk]

I have always bought mine ready built mostly for cost reasons... In both cases I have got them for less than the price it would cost to build to the same spec.

 

Just a thought.

 

Dan

[Guest gdc]

just to through another thought in ,there is one lightweight left at gbs!

the lightweight with additional work to strengthen will pass sva ,

it is a slightly easier build than the 2b in that the material is an alloy and drilling it is far easier than the stainless and chassis tubes.

additional thought is required over and above the build dvds but thats the case with all hoods

we have done a lot of work to achieve sva and the info will be given freely to anyone that needs it.

 

graham

[Snapperpaul]

I got caught out with a part built, had to replace the engine and bought an expensive one, had to replace the diff as it was a 3.38, donor wheels are rubbish, sierra dash did not have rev counter so replaced all the instruments. And so it goes on. Wheels, seats and shocks to replace and because it has stood so long it may need paint.

I am up to 5,000 including all tools and some paid help the total bill will be closer to 6,000 but if i did it again i could probably do it for 4,000 untill upgradeitus sets in

[Guest chris brown]

Mine was £5004 (in 2002) including SVA and insurance but not Tax but this did include the enhancement pack that was being offered at the time (£800 wasted) and full wet weather gear nearly £400

In answer to your question does the kit plus donor equal car on road. Well I suppose it could do but I have never met anyone who has done it.. Better seats are a must IMHO. I also used an extra sheet of stainless to fill in those gaps which aren’t mentioned in the video (yes there are several), also parts off the donor may not be in the best of condition therefore you are likely to want to replace all brake parts (Disc's, pads, shoes and cylinders) as a routine because are you going to risk your new baby on old brakes. Then there’s the bits that aren’t included like P clips, jubilee clips stainless rivets (I used more than most at 1250 but I would think 500 would be a minimum) enough brake piping, those awkward angled bits of top and bottom hose which means buying several hoses (cheap at shows) and cutting them up.

 

There are dosens of bits like this none that expensive on there own but all together add up to several hundreds of pounds.

 

Is it worth it in the end?????? You bet it is.

[Nigel Rogers]

I think it all depends on how you are financing your build and how much time you can dedicate to it.

 

My build is slow but steady. Fitting in building a kit car with work and family, I spend about 6 hours a week in the garage, this isn't going to get my car built very quickly, but then again I have time to save up some hard earned pennies to buy the stuff I need for the build. I reckon it should cost me under £4K to get it on the road (counting my chickens before they hatch)

 

You could look at it as how much a month can you afford

[Guest Kieran]

Doesn't the budget 2b kit miss out things like a propshaft and the mountney wheel etc??

 

Kieran

[enforcer]

Don't forget the wider costs involved - most notably TIME! You can expect to outlay hundreds of hours if you are building a hood, perhaps significantly less if you are buying one of the more expensive kits. The hours will take their toll on you home life, work, relationships etc. Maintaining a healthy balance in all of this is essential!

[Guest tom2b]

If i was getting another car i would probably buy it completed. I bought a part built for 2,600. I decided not to keep receipts but at a guestimate i reckon i have spent a further £2,600 getting it finished, svad and upgrading much of it which is still on going. So for about £5,000 i will have a very nice example of a 2b. I have enjoyed doing the work to the car and dont begrudge the money. However the reason i would buy a competed one in the future is i am losing nearly all of my spare time working on the car, time i dont really have.

[steve in stockport]

i bought mine as a rolling chassis from a guy who lost interest due to other commitments.

it came with all the parts from the donor that he had stripped, full set of RH alloys, loads of extras etc for £2000.

took it home stripped it right back down and started again from scratch.

18 months on and off and £1800 later the car was on the road and that includes all fees and test costs.

mind you i'm lucky in that i can scrounge bit off cars we get at the fire station to cut up

have since spent £350 on new shocks all round and £70 on a surrey top.

 

total £4220

 

Steve

[Guest peter2b2002]

I got my 2b in 2002 took about 18 months only working in the evenings and weekends every other one due to work total cost till sva about £3.5k inc doner

pete2b