Back after a long break

[Mcramsay3003]

Evening All!! It’s been around 6 years give it take since I last posted on this forum, nice to see there are still a few familiar faces posting! 
 

i was an active member of this forum back when I built a pretty rough gen 1 Zero - not my finest work but I learned a lot. I then moved on to building a prototype Marlin Sportster kit( mine was the first kit to be based on a Bmw 5 series donor rather than a 3 series, I made this more complicated by shoehorning in the might 3.2 M3 straight 6. The build was difficult (The owner and designer of marlin passed away during the build) meaning I had to find my own way through parts not fitting, IVA not being considered in the design etc. It took 4 years but I ended up with a really well built and professional looking kit. I sold the marlin 2 years ago and I am now back putting the feelers out for building another kit. 
 

after doing a bit of research the Gen 2 Zero looks like a winner in terms of affordability for the starter kit. The car looks to be pretty easy to build with IVA being a crucial part designed into the build. The one thing that puts me off is Engine choices and I wanted to get a flavour for what is possible. Fitting a 4 cylinder Mazda/ford zetec doesn’t really ring any bells for me. The 2.5 duratec is a bit more tempting but looks to be an expensive route. Ideally a V6 option would be ideal - had any one gone this route and managed to get something to fit & couple up to a type 9/ Mazda equivalent gearbox? 
 

ideally looking fir something minimum of 200BHP. To put that in perspective my marlin was pushing 300ish and was mind blowing. 

so really looking for a bit of advice on how people found the Gen 2 zero, is there a better kit option out there that I couldn’t find (gen 2 plus kit is around 5k so I’m budget to get started) finally are there any spicer V6 or 4pots that don’t need lots of new parts that can be fitted in the zero? 
 

Many Thanks!!!