The Cost Of A Build...

[Guest evans692]

hi guys . .

 

I am trying to work out what it is going to cost me to build my car, I prob going to go for a zetec 2.0 , and will prob get my donar parts from ebay, and gbs . . and such ..

 

I really want to build my car, but am a bit worried that I may go over budget and frightend that it might take a very long time , and worse case that I never finish it...

 

Please any advice , tips and a rough guide for a budget would be a real help..

 

I have added up my list of parts needed, prob missed some stuff but in total it has worked out around £6245 intotal.. does this sound about right or is this way off.....

 

thanks again ..andy

[Guest coops222]

whatrver figure you come up with ,double it and add on 12 months......

[Shaft]

When you stand back in the garage and look at the car, sat there all finished

ready to go for RR set-up & IVA, then registration, tax, insurance etc....

 

You suddenly realise another £1000 is needed before you can legally drive it!

My Zero stands me at @ 8k ( i dare not add up all the receipts for an accurate figure)

on the road, all in.

 

Timescale wise, i collected the kit and passed the IVA test in 5 days shy of a year.

HTH,

 

Nick.

[Guest snotfart]

whatever you do, don't count the costs.

ignorance is bliss!

[Guest nelly69]

would have thought a realistic cost would be about 10K

[Guest gixerboy600]

Morning,

 

I am nearing completion of my Zero, I started the build last March, in total it is likely to be around £11.5K. I have the zetec engine, raceline sump and water rail (cheaper are available), and I have spent more than I had to in favour of quality etc.

 

What ever it cost's you will enjoy it and finish it!!!!

 

Good luck

 

John

[Guest davidm]

I've been through exactly this same exercise, so if you want to pm me your email address and/or phone number we can compare component lists & costs.

 

When setting a budget, it's best to decide the maximum you're prepared to spend. Your costs will be influenced by whether or not you're going to be using the car competitively. If not, there's an awful lot of stuff you don't need.

 

Conversely, many essential components don't come across as being "extras" when you look at the kit/package options, although most (but not all) do appear on the Kitspares website. The list of these can get quite long, and add up to many hundreds.

 

Can you do it for £6245? Very doubtful. £7500 maybe just about, but then as mentioned earlier, there's the IVA etc costs etc to add on, plus tools and so on.

 

If you do pm me, I can call UK landlines for free.

[tendoshingan]

Well, my mrs is an accountant, so I pretty much had to run everything by her before I paid for it!!!

I also kept receipts of everything.

I estimated, apart from a few things here and there, that it cost me roughly £6500-£7000.

First off, me and Bone (Graham) bought ours at the same time for cash so got some reduction on price.

 

The next I found a good donor, XR3i, for dirt cheap off ebay, £120 as it had a blown head gasket. I stripped and rebuilt the engine and had the head skimmed for free in work, I also sold the stuff I didn't use off the car so the engine cost £80. I obtained another donor for free, a Sierra minus the engine, again from work. I work in a college.

 

I also purchased a lot of bits and bobs from ebay very cheaply, motorbike carbs, fuel pump, etc, even managed to find things like full rear diff with disc brakes from a Sierra Cossie for approx £100, just cos they wouldn't post. Petrol cost me about £25. I also scoured different cars for bits at local scrapyard.

 

I made a lot of parts such as inlet manifold. The only thing I really spent money on was the kit itself and gauges.

 

So I do think it can be done cheaply, but I do like the thought of making something myself to do a job instead of buying something.

 

Timescale picked up in July finished by March next year, 9 months, but that was because I wanted to get it in for SVA rather than IVA, cost again you see!!!!

[Guest evans692]

thanks guys.

 

some helpfull stuff , i am thinking to budget for around £5000 ontop of the cost of my kit.. so will take me upto around 7500. for total build..

 

I am going to be building on a bit of a budget, but would rather take an extra six months and do a good job with some nice bits than to do a rush job . . I am going to be paying for my bits as I go , never very good at saving. I am going to aim at 18 months that way it will spread the cost a bit more...

 

still thinking this over..lol...

[David S]

Morning,

 

I am nearing completion of my Zero, I started the build last March, in total it is likely to be around £11.5K. I have the zetec engine, raceline sump and water rail (cheaper are available), and I have spent more than I had to in favour of quality etc.

 

What ever it cost's you will enjoy it and finish it!!!!

 

Good luck

 

John

I would agree with John. I am keeping a detailed spread sheet of everything I am spending and looking at what I have spent so far and what I still have to pay out, it is is looking at around £12K. The factory say about £10K for a Zetec powered Zero but probably don't include IVA etc. I have also kept a separate list of all the other expenses such as van hire, tool hire, new tool box, new tools etc but you may not need to spend in any of these areas.

 

It is also very easy to get caught up in the trap of spending a little extra on things. For example, a pair of seats from GBS are £150 but you may want different seats that cost £200 each. You could re-use the Sierra wiring loom, which is free, or use an aftermarket one costing £150 or get the GBS plug and play one for £400. All these sort of things soon make the cost go up.

 

We are all different and have different budgets and priorities, but as you can see, you can get a cracking car for about £8K (see Shaft's car) and whatever you spend, the grin on your face, as the advert says, will be priceless.

[tendoshingan]

or get the GBS plug and play one for £400

 

Seriously??

 

I can't recall actually paying for the loom. Pretty sure it was part of the kit, and it certainly wasn't plug and play, spent ages making all the points on it. When Graham and I bought ours we had a very good deal. Also, we complained lots and lots as we were told at the time we could build a complete car with our kits and that was not the case so had various other items at cost price too.

 

Having gone down SVA route instead of IVA, fortunately missed on the extra cost there. But I must admit to not including tools in my costings. Again though I do tend to be a bit of a ebay junky finding bargains, even managed to pick up a SIP 130 MIG welder for a tenner as it was broken, took an hour to clean up the points to get it working. Other tools I managed to get for Christmas pressies etc.

 

I was lucky in having a full motor vehicle department to help out at times when I needed parts too which is a bonus.

 

Friends in the motor trade are useful, as is any type of discount you can bag yourself in local motor factors. Always a good idea to get to know them.

 

I would say to research exactly what you want the car to do too. I looked at TB's to start but the cost of bike carbs (£30 for zx6rs) and (at the time) a megajolt pack for £40 (make yourself) was too good to miss out on and a hell of a lot cheaper for just a bit less extra oomph.

[fry61]

£7500 including everything from purchasing kit to IVA; & I spent out on "extras" --cobra seats-Smiths clocks-minilite wheels-& exhaust system. The savings were made by using everything possible from Sierra drive-train, suspension & wiring. The down side,if you are in a hurry,is that it took us nearly 4 years to complete as we wanted;the best bit-- completing a car that is as you wanted.

 

 

[Guest gdc]

i recon mine has cost arround 7 grand on the road ish but i already had the st engine and the jenvies .

they came from my lightweight. so plus £700 engine second hand and £550 jenvies .

 

graham

[Guest evans692]

thanks guys ..

 

could you tell me what part of the build is the most taxing, is there a bit which every one hates doing?

[Bob Tucker]

Wiring....euch!!!