Jump to content

Build Costs - spreadsheet?


Guest Rocky79

Recommended Posts

Guest Rocky79

Hi, Apologies if this is somewhere already had a really good dig around but cant find anything that im ideally after.

I'm after a list of build costs for a kit car - looking at Mazda based SDV GBS Zero or Westfield. 

Finding it all confusing. Speaking with GBS briefly on email they said the SDV route cost will be 5k ish for starter kit plus, then between 4-9k on top of this to complete depending on level of kit.

What i cant find is list of parts/prices that makes up the difference.

i.e what is missing from a donor car and the kit and how much? 

After base kit of 5k and donor of 1.5k (tops i guess) what is missing that i makes up the 2.5k?  seats, consumables etc? cant see that being 2.5k? 

 
Westfield seems a bit more straight forward, starter kit and completion kit then donor and any upgrades. So at a guess is going to be kit costs of 12k + donor cost?

Ideally someone has a nice spreadsheet already put together with their build costs i can have a look at.

Most of the build threads don't display costs (and rarely mention) so im guessing it may not be etiquette to share or people are in denial about how much they spent 😉!?  

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you're right, I have every single receipt for the build of mine and a partial spreadsheet but I'm not necessarily willing to share it - but also, there are so many aspects specific to a how a builder does his/her car that some of it would be irrelevant. For example, to take one part, I spent £800-odd on a high-end instrument cluster but some people might be perfectly happy with the Sierra jobbies... so many aspects come down to how much someone is willing to spend, gives you that massive variance in price. I also did some stuff around engine building that would have cost thousands of pounds with a reputable engine builder, and all it cost me was my time and a few beer tokens. So it's hard to draw direct comparisons, I think. Every build is unique (which is stating the obvious, I know). Builder skill levels can also be a factor - some people might be able to do one aspect themselves where someone else needs to pay a 3rd party to do something for them... more £££ spent

There's then stuff like tools you might buy to do the job. Consumables like nuts, bolts, washers, wiring, connectors, clips, flatting wheels, cutting discs, paint, yada yada.

One thing I will say is you'd be surprised how the costs build up for even the small things like replacement parts (bearings, fluids, hoses, etc)....

GBS are basically saying 9k to 14k for a build, including everything, which sounds about right to me. To make a budget car with the bare essentials, not splashing out on anything fancy, 9k sounds about right (without making an absolute snotter). If you're splashing out for a high-end build - fancy wheels, tyres, tuned engine, uprated brakes, fancy gearbox, fancy LED lights, painted/wrapped panels, fancy suspension - then you're more up to the 14k mark. You could break that too if you're going for something really special :D

Edited by brumster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Rocky79

Thanks Brumster, assumed it may be something people dont want to share. 


What would be good is a list of parts required/common upgrades. GBS provide a list of parts from the donor.

Additiona tol that I can see may be needed or normally upgraded:

Heater

Seats

Dials/Instruments

Carpet? 

Fuel tank? 

Seat belts

Wheels 

Tyres

Anything else obvious. 

Costing this at reasonable level plus kit and donor comes in around 9k,doesnt include any tools or consumables etc

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Rocky79
2 hours ago, brumster said:

Just for the avoidance of doubt, which offering are you looking at from GBS? The Starter self-build kit or the Upgrade Plus kit? Are you just going off their website, I take it?

Upgrade plus kit. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Happy to share my spreadsheet - https://zerolifebuild.blogspot.com/p/costs.html

I got most of my stuff from GBS, including all the (reconditioned) parts, so I did not use a donor and my kit is Ford-based, not Mazda, but may help...

My cost was around £17k but I did get a new, crated engine (£1k) and, like I said, no cheap donor to get bits from.

Edited by nelmo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, nelmo said:

Happy to share my spreadsheet - https://zerolifebuild.blogspot.com/p/costs.html

I got most of my stuff from GBS, including all the (reconditioned) parts, so I did not use a donor and my kit is Ford-based, not Mazda, but may help...

My cost was around £17k but I did get a new, crated engine (£1k) and, like I said, no cheap donor to get bits from.

Brave man, I stopped counting after £10k so she who must be obeyed never finds out.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Rocky79 said:

Upgrade plus kit. 

Cool, ok, so you're getting lights, a wiring loom, a radiator, shocks/springs, a dashboard and a set of suspension bolts in addition to the base kit. If you're happy with all of those it works, obviously the wiring loom is specific to the car so provided you had no plans to do anything weird and wonderful (different engine, different switchgear and so forth) it shouldn't be a problem - at most you might me modifying it slightly if you decided to do something different, it's not the end of the world.

There are some options you can look at and decide whether you can source them separately (seat belts, seats, gauges, fuel tank, handbrake, exhaust, carpets), windscreen and all associated bracketry, wipers, etc or source them from GBS/Kitspares while you're at it.

Nelmo's spreadsheet is a good reminder of all the consumable and "gotchas" that you need to buy... I think the main thing I was trying to get out was, it's easy to think about the large items like seats, engine, wheels, tyres but don't forget

- consumable like rivets, nuts, bolts, clips, cable ties, jubillee clips, exhaust clamps, hose (custom water hoses aren't cheap), fluids
- services (reconditioning, painting, or whatever)
- route replacement items (clutch, brake pads, discs, you might decide you don't trust the donor calipers for example)

You'll not want the default fuel tank solution from GBS so you'll need to factor in either the costs of a separate swirl pot, or else modifying the tank to take a better combined pump+swirl pot. Personally, in hindsight, I would just get a custom tank fabricated.

Also don't forget to factor in the IVA costs and all that shizzle :) !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Rocky79
14 hours ago, nelmo said:

Happy to share my spreadsheet - https://zerolifebuild.blogspot.com/p/costs.html

I got most of my stuff from GBS, including all the (reconditioned) parts, so I did not use a donor and my kit is Ford-based, not Mazda, but may help...

My cost was around £17k but I did get a new, crated engine (£1k) and, like I said, no cheap donor to get bits from.

Thanks that is really usefull.

I like your blog too very honest especially the 'so you want to build a kit car' i fall into 3 of your - would not recommend categories if you.... but no rush to do in a set time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Rocky79
2 minutes ago, brumster said:

Cool, ok, so you're getting lights, a wiring loom, a radiator, shocks/springs, a dashboard and a set of suspension bolts in addition to the base kit. If you're happy with all of those it works, obviously the wiring loom is specific to the car so provided you had no plans to do anything weird and wonderful (different engine, different switchgear and so forth) it shouldn't be a problem - at most you might me modifying it slightly if you decided to do something different, it's not the end of the world.

There are some options you can look at and decide whether you can source them separately (seat belts, seats, gauges, fuel tank, handbrake, exhaust, carpets), windscreen and all associated bracketry, wipers, etc or source them from GBS/Kitspares while you're at it.

Nelmo's spreadsheet is a good reminder of all the consumable and "gotchas" that you need to buy... I think the main thing I was trying to get out was, it's easy to think about the large items like seats, engine, wheels, tyres but don't forget

- consumable like rivets, nuts, bolts, clips, cable ties, jubillee clips, exhaust clamps, hose (custom water hoses aren't cheap), fluids
- services (reconditioning, painting, or whatever)
- route replacement items (clutch, brake pads, discs, you might decide you don't trust the donor calipers for example)

You'll not want the default fuel tank solution from GBS so you'll need to factor in either the costs of a separate swirl pot, or else modifying the tank to take a better combined pump+swirl pot. Personally, in hindsight, I would just get a custom tank fabricated.

Also don't forget to factor in the IVA costs and all that shizzle :) !

Thanks, this is great, looks like i was along the right lines but yes all those less obvious parts were the bit i was wondering about. 

Some great build blogs on here too are there any 'must reads'?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Rocky79 said:

Thanks that is really usefull.

I like your blog too very honest especially the 'so you want to build a kit car' i fall into 3 of your - would not recommend categories if you.... but no rush to do in a set time. 

🙂 glad you like it - IMO, you'll be unlikely to spend less than £15k, even if you use a donor. Apart from a new engine, my car is fairly basic (although it does have a windscreen and roof which would save £700 or so) - I could have easily spent lots more on better suspension, throttle bodies (£2k!!), improved brakes etc, etc...

If you allow for that sort of amount and decide you can afford that, just get going and don't worry about exact details...as Brumster says, kits are so individual, you can never know now exactly what you're going to want, therefore you will never know exactly what it will cost in advance. Even afterwards, my spreadsheet isn't perfect - lots of smaller bits didn't go on there. My wife's biggest complaint was that our house looked like an Amazon depot, with packages arriving almost daily at some points 😀

As Confucius (or someone clever) said, "a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step" 🙏

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...