Robin Hoods Poor Quality?

[e666]

Hi

Echoing everything thats gone before....

 

I have a super spec. I had the Kit for 2 years and probably spent 14+ months actually working on it 1 night a week and 1 day at weekends. I love my car BUT it was not the easiest thing to build; the vast majority of that was cos you're build a car! However there were things that weren't quite right and needed some work and I did swear a few times about RH Personally I think the quality is good - mebbe not Caterham standard, but then it doesn't cost caterham prices.... I did consider a caterham, but couldn't afford it, I even considered an original Lotus 7, but couldn't face stripping it down to refurb and rebuild. So I wanted something that came as a job lot and was new and shiney.

 

The only advantages to me of a superspec over the 2B are: everything comes with it (well it did in 2005 inc engine and drive train), its a new car on a new plate and having spent a lot of time checking out the 2B builder sites I think there is less involved in the build.

 

For £7K I have a brand new sports car on a 07 plate that does 0-60 in about 5(ish) seconds and a top speed of 120mph (on a circuit obviously) and I get looked at whenever I drive it .. and I made it myself

 

To be honest I would not do it again, but thats because the whole Kit Car thing was always going to be a once in a life time experience...... but if I did want to do it again it would have to be a GT40

 

e

PS - this site and the support you get during your build is abso-flipping-lutely fantastic!!!!!

[Guest peter2b2002]

i must be the odd one out , my chassis was very well made all the bits fitted exept the back wishbone cross angle fixture that needed spacers, 10 month build time, great fun the drive, corners well, very positive handling, up to 60 holds its own against most other cars that i have run against.

pete2b

[Guest salty_monk]

I spoke to a friend of a friend who built a bike engined Westie. He told me that even though it cost more money there was still plenty of drilling, banging, trimming & adjusting to get everything to fit straight.

 

I think it's possible the Westfield tolerances are tighter & the Caterham ones are tighter still but there's not much wrong with the 2B, the new design "Hood" seems to have a better suspension setup.

 

I don't think the comment about the welding is justified. I had a sliding pillar model, same as that guy & the earliest of the 2b's. The welding was ok. It's also ok on my wishbones model.

 

Maybe his was a Monday morning chassis....

 

Dan

[Guest ballin]

Possibly so Dan, but there is no doubt the chassis welding is shocking! Monday morning or not, it still shouldnt have left the factory like it has, and I'm sure its not the only one!

[Guest allenr03]

I'm with Dan, one of the reasons I bought a RH was because they had a rolling chassis on display at Stoneliegh a couple of years ago and it was by far the strongest looking chassis I saw.

 

I'm really pleased with my car, I'm no engineer but the welding looks fine to me.

 

My car is a Superspec - 38mm OD =tube, sleeved joints, 50mm roll bar - not lightweight but I'm happy.

 

Rich

[philshelton]

the welding cant be that bad I had a head on crash in mine and all the weld have held up and both driner and passanger walked away with just brusing from harnes straps. This is one strong chassis and thats why i will be rebuilding it. as for GBS there help with sorting out what i could do with the car was excelent

[Guest chris brown]

I'm with Dan, one of the reasons I bought a RH was because they had a rolling chassis on display at Stoneliegh a couple of years ago and it was by far the strongest looking chassis I saw.

Rich

I agree I’ve never had a problem with the welding I release that without cutting through them or going down the route of NDT x-raying them I will never know how good they are but having looked at others at the shows I would put the Robin hood chassis up with some of the best. I realise some of the angles and bends may not be of the best design but I would still rather be in my 2B than in any of other 7 type car in the case of an accident

[Guest gdc]

i as some of you know am a serial builder,

i love solving the problems .

it to me is by far the best bit of owning a hood,you can buy a westie or chaterham and have them finished in a very short time ,ok you then get to drive them in double quick time but to me however the building and solving the problems is by far the most enjoyable.

re the cost issue you get what you pay for,if you pay westie money you get a quicker and easier build.

if thats what you want then fine do it .

if you want a challenge then chose a hood .

and with the help of the best club rhocar (by far) you can do it .

with discussion and deliberation we have taken a car that was destined for scrap and turned it into a very good road car

re the welding i have built a 2b and did not see the alledged bad welding.

regarding gbs i think when at school we all had could do better on our reports, they are a young company strugling with the large overheads left to them by others that have scarpered with the real cash that rhsc had

when origonaly sold. they have commitment and some good ideas give them a go

 

regards graham.

[Guest hypermick]

I know I put a fair bit of content in, at the start of the thread, but I will also add that the welding on my chassis is, in actual fact very good quality,. no faults there,. its just the frustration of seeing parts laid out which SHOULD actually fit properly (and don't) when theyre applied, that lets the whole thing down.

 

Studying the videos its clear that Richard Stewart had some good ideas when he designed the 2B,. unfortunately the bit that went far and wide was when he tried to apply his ideas to the engineering,. unfortunately at this point the mathematics went home and left him to get on with it. Shame really.

 

 

Mick.

[Jon Bradbury]

Good evening everyone.

I've been looking into starting my own kit car build for the last couple of weeks and had almost reached the stage where I had chosen a Robin Hood 2b as the ideal purchase. So you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I came across various threads on locostbuilders.co.uk where the consensus view appears to be that the kits suffer badly from poor overall quality.

 

Two threads that contain some particularly vitriolic comments are these:

 

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=67168

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=67181

 

For example:

Obviously I'm expecting it to be a long hard project but I'm not prepared to find myself making comprimises because the kit I've paid for isn't up to scratch to start with.

 

I must say that having come across this messageboard before locostbuilders.co.uk I'm pretty surprised to be seeing these opinions because the overriding sense I'd got was that Robin Hoods were staggeringly good VFM. Also, simply looking at photos etc of Robin Hoods in the brochure and on this site I think they look far better than the various other manufacturers that these guys seem to prefer.

 

I'd be very interested if those of you with much RH experience could offer your thoughts on this.

Thanks

Chris

 

Chris,

 

I echo the sentiments already posted here, and add that those people that do go down the Robin Hood route and complete their cars surely get the most satisfaction out of doing so. Plus, you have this fantastic forum and club which is invaluable when you need help. Sure, the cars aren't bolt together Meccano, but the kits are relatively cheap and the build is a challenge to be relished, not feared. Plus you can be sure that if you get stuck, there are lots of people here that have the solution (usually several different ones that you can choose from) and many are willing to come and see your build and even help out with it. On those grounds alone you should not worry about the quality of the kit. Remember that even if you paid loads of money for a Westfield, you can still make a hash of building it - the kit cannot protect you against human error. At least with these cars you have the excellent backup of the club and its members.

 

Be secure in the knowledge that the Robin Hood is the most popular kit car in the country, with more completed examples on the road than any other kit brand.

 

Cheers

 

JonB

[Guest S7Pete]

Good evening everyone.

I've been looking into starting my own kit car build for the last couple of weeks and had almost reached the stage where I had chosen a Robin Hood 2b as the ideal purchase. So you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I came across various threads on locostbuilders.co.uk where the consensus view appears to be that the kits suffer badly from poor overall quality.

 

Two threads that contain some particularly vitriolic comments are these:

 

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=67168

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=67181

 

For example:

Obviously I'm expecting it to be a long hard project but I'm not prepared to find myself making comprimises because the kit I've paid for isn't up to scratch to start with.

 

I must say that having come across this messageboard before locostbuilders.co.uk I'm pretty surprised to be seeing these opinions because the overriding sense I'd got was that Robin Hoods were staggeringly good VFM. Also, simply looking at photos etc of Robin Hoods in the brochure and on this site I think they look far better than the various other manufacturers that these guys seem to prefer.

 

I'd be very interested if those of you with much RH experience could offer your thoughts on this.

Thanks

Chris

[Guest S7Pete]

Good evening everyone.

I've been looking into starting my own kit car build for the last couple of weeks and had almost reached the stage where I had chosen a Robin Hood 2b as the ideal purchase. So you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I came across various threads on locostbuilders.co.uk where the consensus view appears to be that the kits suffer badly from poor overall quality.

 

Two threads that contain some particularly vitriolic comments are these:

 

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=67168

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=67181

 

For example:

Obviously I'm expecting it to be a long hard project but I'm not prepared to find myself making comprimises because the kit I've paid for isn't up to scratch to start with.

 

I must say that having come across this messageboard before locostbuilders.co.uk I'm pretty surprised to be seeing these opinions because the overriding sense I'd got was that Robin Hoods were staggeringly good VFM. Also, simply looking at photos etc of Robin Hoods in the brochure and on this site I think they look far better than the various other manufacturers that these guys seem to prefer.

 

I'd be very interested if those of you with much RH experience could offer your thoughts on this.

Thanks

Chris

[Guest S7Pete]

Robin Hoods rule OK. I'm a new boy to this but felt compelled to reply. I haven't even finished my Hood yet (an S7) but it is I think the next best thing to a Caterham any day, if not better.If everything in life was easy , we would all be pretty bored before long.so buy a Hood as the rest of us have and put your own mark on it ,ie. I built that; Cheers S7 Pete

[Guest little fella]

Every body's going on about the build quility of the robin hood it may seem a stupid Q but did any get built in the factory?I only ask as ive just bought a 2b spur of the momement sold bike seen car advertised did no research loved the look of the car it seemed right so bought it but got told it was factory built

[Guest chris brown]

Every body's going on about the build quility of the robin hood it may seem a stupid Q but did any get built in the factory?I only ask as ive just bought a 2b spur of the momement sold bike seen car advertised did no research loved the look of the car it seemed right so bought it but got told it was factory built

I don’t think there was any factory built 2Bs apart from the demonstrators which never went through SVA in fact I don’t think Richard SVA'd any car.

When we talk about build quality we are talking about parts of the kit fitting together without having to alter them (Pretty rare on the 2B) and not the final build quality of a completed car which is all down to the builder.