New Driver. Where To Start? :s

[Guest Oni-Kage]

Hi everyone I'm 20 in October and hope to pass my driving test before the end of the year. I would really like to be able to drive a Robin Hood for my first car, but as anyone who's had to get insurance recently in my situation will know, it's kinda scary lol (i.e. Unbelievably expensive!!!).

This will mean that I'd have to put in the smallest engine I can. I'm thinking around a 0.8 to 1ltr give or take. I'm gonna admit that I don't know a huge amount about cars and kit cars, but thats one of my reasons for wanting to get a kit car, to learn.

So my questions are... What engines are available for me to use in a RH and what kinda set-ups would work well for me? Also what alarms and immobilisers are recomended, and where can I get them if I get a RH and it doesn't already have one fitted?

Most people are probably gonna read this and think "Stupid kid hasn't got the faintest clue", and are probably right lol, but hopefully I can learn enough to make a good decision.

Thanks for ure time and help

Aaron Turner.

Edited August 13, 2007 by Oni-Kage

[Grim]

depends on a lot of things, I don't think that the engine size will make much differance.

I've found mine cheaper to insure than a supermini! my first year, aged 22, zero NCB, cost me £720 fully comp limited to 5000 miles. And that's a 2b with a 2 litre pinto in. Now, on my 3rd year, i'm paying £350 for unlimited miles, with the 2 years NCB.

[Guest little fella]

Get your self an insurance qoute you'll be suprised at how cheap they are to insure compared to a normall car. Ive got 11 points 5 of wich for careless driving,and no no claims and i pay £360 on a 2lt 2b...

[Guest Oni-Kage]

I made an imaginary set up and got intouch with Adrian Flux and they gave me an online quote for £1800 on a 1ltr lol. I can't actually get insured on a 1.6 engine on a normal car, not sure how the rules are with a kit car though.

 

By the way, lovin the Foamy avatar lol.

Edited August 13, 2007 by Oni-Kage

[Guest ballin]

Are you going to build it? If so, how, if as you say you have very little car knowledge?

And if you are going to buy one, where do you expect to find a 0.8 > 1ltr engined one?!

 

Not having a go, genuine question!

[Guest Oni-Kage]

I plan on buying one and then buying a seperate 0.8-1 ltr engine and having a friend help me put it in (Well more like him do it and me watch and take notes lol). I'll keep the larger engine and then when I get a few years no claims under my belt, switch them back. Thats why I wanna know what engines can translate down to smaller ones e.g. if I had a 2 ltr pinto, what smaller engines would I be able to fit and would any changes need to be made other than a straight swap?

Again thanks for the feedback so far

Edited August 13, 2007 by Oni-Kage

[Guest tom2b]

I got good discounts with adrian flux, it was either 10/15% off for club membership and a further 10/15% off for having built it myself.

 

However when i was looking for insurance at the age of 20 (2 years ago) i got a quote off of footman james for £800 fully comp if my memory serves me correctly. Thats for a 2 litre pinto powered 2b.

 

As for a 1 litre engine, balls to that, the smallest you should consider is a 1.6 pinto which can easily be upgraded to a 2 litre pinto at a later date (nigh on direct swap) have a ring around and you should get something half sensible.

[richyb66]

Not sure whether it would make much difference to the insurance, but how about a sub K engine in a sub k car? Something like a 930cc talbot Sunbeam engine, nice and light as it's based on the imp engine and mated to a rear wheel drive gearbox. I don't think sourcing parts is especially difficult but the cost wouldn't be favourable compared to say a 1600 pinto so the extra cost might just be better spent on insurance unless you want to built something totally unique.

 

Might go well if you could put it in a very light car though?

 

Most sensible advice I'd offer is to run an old banger for a year or so that's cheap to insure and build up a bit of NCB while make a start building something a bit better (with a 1600 pinto in it as tom2 suggested).

[Guest timswait]

When you got your quote of £1800 from Flux, did you find out how much difference it would have made to have had a 1.6? Probably very little would be my guess. Phone around for some more quotes, you can probably beat that. I got mine on the road at age 20 (about 5 years ago) and it was slightly under £1000 TPFT for a 1.6 Pinto, it might have been cheaper because it was self built.

If you're still wanting to downsize the engine there is such a beast as 1.3 Pinto, that should be a relatively straightforward fit, but it's an unusual engine so would be very hard to find. Also a 1.3 X-Flow should be possible. If you want to go smaller than that then you'll have a whole lotta work to do working out engine mounts, exhausts, prop-shafts, fuelling, etc for something that'll basically be pretty dissapointing from a performance point of view. If you still want to do it then go for one of the older monocoques, which are lighter than the more recent spaceframes (and you won't be going fast enough to notice the lack of rigidity ) and try to keep it all as light as possible, get an ali blocked engine too if poss.

[eddieH]

Adrian Flux ought to be able to do better than £1800! I've got a 1.6 pinto in a 2B and last year they charged me £500 fully comp, 3000 miles - I was only 20 then. I'd give them a ring and have a talk with them about it - the online quote I got was higher than when I called them.

[Guest robin]

I agree with eddie, online qoutes don't give anything near as good a discount as phoning. Simply because the tinternet sites don't ask enough specific questions about the car or owner.

 

Don't forget that once you have a couple of qoutes, start again from the beginning asking the previous companies if they can beat your latest figures. You will be surprised how much more will come off.

 

One of the first questions you get from an insurance company will be "what's your lowest qoute so far?"

 

HTH

Robin

[Guest salty_monk]

You should be able to do better than that.

 

One thing not in your favour is the length of time you've been driving (i.e. none). I would think James & Tim started driving at 17.

 

When you get the quotes don't ask for cover before you've passed your test, that *can* have a big effect (you should at least check).

 

You also might find the pass plus helps a lot in your situation.....

 

Occasionally an old Westfield or Locost turns up with a 1.3 in it. I've also seen a couple of Locost's or book cars built using Morris Minor running gear with 1098CC engine.

 

For a really small engine what about one of these.... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1976-LOMAX-223-2CV-B...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hudson-Kindred-Spiri...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOMAX-224-KIT-CAR_W0...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Dan

[Guest chris brown]

For a really small engine what about one of these....

 

[1976-LOMAX-223-2CV-B...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

 

[/Hudson-Kindred-Spiri...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

 

[LOMAX-224-KIT-CAR_W0...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

 

Dan

The Kindred Spirit is manic great fun to drive. The Lomax 223 tend to roll to much and are nasty things but the 224 is much better

 

I had this for about 10 years great fun and quicker than the hood it was clocked on the A1 at 125mph

[Guest robinj66]

if you're intent on the small engine, then why not use a bike engine? Dunno what this will do to your insurance quotes but might be worth a try.

 

You could always try putting your mum/girlfriend/wife on your policy - for some reason, putting a woman on the policy seems to have a favourable affect on the premium

[Guest timswait]

it was clocked on the A1 at 125mph

By whom, you or the fuzz?!

Or do you mean A1 as in Autobahn 1, a derestricted motorway in germany?