Robin Hood 2b Plus

[Guest Stuartl]

Hi, This is my first post on here!

 

I am looking for a seven-inspired kit to replace my Sylva Striker that I sold nine months ago.

 

I considered a GTS Panther but was warned off the company as they appear to have nothing whatsoever in the way of Customer Service or back up.

 

I am very interested in a 2B +.

 

I have good mechanical skills (well I think so!) and a well equipped large, dry garage.

 

From what I have heard so far you can get a good finish from the kit but some parts, particularly the panels, can be a poor fit.

 

I would be very grateful for honest opinions about the car and the company as well.

 

Customer Service, back-up, efficiency etc are all important to me as the company is a long way from where I live so I cant keep popping down there if there is a problem.

 

Lastly, I live in Gloucester and would love to see another 2B + and have a chat with the owner/builder!

 

Many Thanks

 

Stuart

[Grizzly]

Hi Stuart and welcome to the Forum.

The saying goes that 'If you can build a Robin Hood, you can pretty much build anything'.

Good finishes can be obtained with Robin Hoods. I've seen some really nice ones. It all depends on how much time & skill you have and what level of detail you're after. You have to bear in mind that these particular cars though, do not simply bolt together, like Caterhams or Westfields, but then again, they're nowhere near the price! There are many aspects to the build that require you to think long and hard and be prepared to make (shall I say) modifications along the way. With time and effort though, you can end up with a very reasonable car on a fairly tight budget. With this, comes immense satisfaction and a certain amount of pride. Line up a gaggle of Robin Hood's and they'll all be different. Don't let the fact that the factory is far away from you put you off. Once you have a kit in the garage there should be very few reasons to have to visit the factory again. They do mail order though and there's a whole industry (as you probably know) at your disposal in order to source any further parts you may require along the way.

Your best course of action now is to sit and read the (hopefully) numerous responses. These should help you decide what's going to be right for you. Personally, I'm quite a way from you, but there should be some Hoodies nearby who'd be more than happy to natter away as to the joys of Robin Hood building and ownership.

Best of luck....

[Guest 2b_pablo]

for me the zero looks good being a spaceframe chassis and lighter. bit more spartan tho.

[agent_zed]

Hi i live in lydney and have a 2b with the front wishbones if you want you can come and have a look at mine. I'll be about this week if thats any help.

[Guest Stuartl]

Hi i live in lydney and have a 2b with the front wishbones if you want you can come and have a look at mine. I'll be about this week if thats any help.

 

 

That sounds great! Thanks to all the other posters also!

 

It would be great to see a complete car in the flesh so to speak. Have you a contact number (and name ) that you could let me have?

 

Many thanks,

 

Stuart

[Guest chris brown]

Hi Stuart

Welcome to the site first of all what do you want the car to do? If it is lots of track days with a little road then the Zero would be my choice but if like me you do lots of road use with camping weekends at the shows and club meets then the 2B is probably the best bet. What you loose in performance is made up with having more storage space and the fact that the chassis is very strong hence rather heavy. I have used mine for the trip down to Le Mans for the last 5 years and you would be surprised how much kit can be stowed in a 2B. I also appreciate the fact that it is all stainless steel as my car lives out all year round.

As others have said it is not a simple build and most people go away from the original design in lots of places. But that is part of being a hoodie also this site is probably the best build manual you will ever come across.

[Guest Stuartl]

Hi Stuart

Welcome to the site first of all what do you want the car to do? If it is lots of track days with a little road then the Zero would be my choice but if like me you do lots of road use with camping weekends at the shows and club meets then the 2B is probably the best bet. What you loose in performance is made up with having more storage space and the fact that the chassis is very strong hence rather heavy. I have used mine for the trip down to Le Mans for the last 5 years and you would be surprised how much kit can be stowed in a 2B. I also appreciate the fact that it is all stainless steel as my car lives out all year round.

As others have said it is not a simple build and most people go away from the original design in lots of places. But that is part of being a hoodie also this site is probably the best build manual you will ever come across.

 

 

Hi Chris.

 

Having the Striker for a couple of years was a great learning curve as I was able to establish what I would actually use the car for, not what I thought I might use it for.

 

When I got the Striker I knew it would never see a track and whilst it was fantastic fun to drive I would have liked a few more refinements which I hope the 2B could offer.

 

In no strict order of importance:

 

Possibly a 2.0 Zetec although depending on budget constraints I might stick with the Pinto.

 

A decent dash! My pet hate with the majority of kit cars is that they look great from the outside but often have a nasty, cobbled together dash.

 

A heater! Missus loved the Striker but she did tend to go a bit blue in the winter months which clashed terribly with the BRG Gelcoat

 

A bit more width than the Striker as rumour has it (according to my wife, Jude) that I am getting wider and as I have no plans to remedy this I need to make provision for a wider car.

 

I think the 2B would fit the bill nicely as we do plan to do the various shows and the Striker was a bit of a hard ride over 100 miles each way.

 

My brother had a factory built Caterham (until Boxing Day when he totalled it on black ice and we did LEJog

in that in the summer in 4 days there and back and the heater was a godsend, yes, even in August!)

 

Thanks again for all the responses to my original post and again, all information is most gratefully received!

 

 

Stuart

Edited December 31, 2007 by stuartl

[Guest 2b_pablo]

you can change the dash for very little money mate (relatively speaking ). £70 for the vapor digital dash (there are a couple of similar products) and a couple of extra gauges (fuel and oil pressure). a sheet of carbon fibre and you could see the lot for under £200.

 

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/paul.../Photo00152.jpg

[Guest Stuartl]

you can change the dash for very little money mate (relatively speaking ). £70 for the vapor digital dash (there are a couple of similar products) and a couple of extra gauges (fuel and oil pressure). a sheet of carbon fibre and you could see the lot for under £200.

 

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/paul.../Photo00152.jpg

 

 

Cheers Pablo,

 

That looks a neat dash but I have to say I'm not into carbon fibre at all. I like the simplicity of that though. Its the Sierra dials grafted onto a flat sheet of ali that makes me cringe

[Guest 2b_pablo]

pah Ive just fell out with you

 

here is V1 dash in mdf with black vinyl covering and utterly useless radio!

 

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/paul.../Photo00019.jpg

[Guest Stuartl]

pah Ive just fell out with you

 

here is V1 dash in mdf with black vinyl covering and utterly useless radio!

 

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/paul.../Photo00019.jpg

 

 

I like that, again it's quite simple but effective. Much the same as me. Well, simple anyway

 

Raw Engineering do a plastic moulded dash for the Striker (my previous car) which I think is utterly vile and reminds me of my early attempts at vacuum forming at school in the mid 80's but people seemed to like it.

 

Maybe it's just me

[Guest chris brown]

If you do decide on a 2B then by far the cheapest way to buy one is to go for a part built like this one on ebay just don’t believe when people say 80% built as the chances are you will have to strip down lots of it and start again to get it to a standard you are happy with. Also if it doesn’t have wishbone front suspension it has to be very cheap to make it worth while as the conversion kit from GBS is around £500 or £700 if they do the work.

[Guest Stuartl]

If you do decide on a 2B then by far the cheapest way to buy one is to go for a part built like this one on ebay just don’t believe when people say 80% built as the chances are you will have to strip down lots of it and start again to get it to a standard you are happy with. Also if it doesn’t have wishbone front suspension it has to be very cheap to make it worth while as the conversion kit from GBS is around £500 or £700 if they do the work.

 

 

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for your reply!

 

I appreciate it might be cheaper to do it this way but having bought my Striker already built the idea of the new kit is that it will be all my own work. I am a bit of a perfectionist and would rather shake the piggy bank dry and do it from start to finish this time round. The dash on the ebay car illustrates what I was talking about a few posts ago regarding bodging the old car dials onto a flat panel................ :(

 

My Striker had the old escort wiring loom chopped and hacked about and it just looked a mess and I dont really want to go down the road of correcting someone elses idea of a quality finish.

 

I'm sorry, I dont mean to sound so negative but do you understand what I mean?

 

It might take twice as long and more money but at the end of it all the car will be spot on

[johnlrichardson]

Do GBSC still sell 2B+ kits. I heard they only had 1 chassis left weeks ago

[Guest salty_monk]

I think they have the new "The Hood" now don't they? That should be better than the 2b plus from what I've seen so far.....

 

Dan