Hi all

I'm a new member here who is finally getting a GBS zero after many years of wanting a 7 style car.

The car is part finished, very nearly there and I'm sure I'll have many questions as things progress. Looking forward to exploring the group more and hopefully getting along to some shows and meets. I'm hoping to get a date for IVA in August to give me even more motivation 😁.

I've never done anything like this before and not exactly the most practical person so it'll be an interesting journey to go on. I'll post pictures of the car when I get it on Tuesday.

Welcome to the club!
This is a fantastic hobby and it really pays off when you go on the road to enjoy the fruits of your labour!
Having said this, it needs nerves of steel as frustration runs high, and some times we literally run on fumes so spanners do fly around! 🤣

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the madhouse ! As Thanasis says it's well worth it when you get to drive the finished car.

Meanwhile you'll need a good helping of determination and a load of perseverance but it's all very do-able if you are methodical and take your time.

I would recommend you make a list of everything that needs doing, guesstimate how long you think it will take, and then double it.

Good luck, Steve

Thanks for the welcome. I forgot to mention that it's a Mazda based car. I'm fully prepared for the fact that it's likely going to need more work than anticipated and that it'll be a running project but I can't wait to get it.

I'll post up some pictures of it tomorrow once it arrives.

And she's arrived. First impressions are pretty good overall, runs well, pedal box tiny, I'll need to buy suitable footwear rather than normal trainers. A bit to do and the bodywork has a few marks on it that I wasn't aware of but overall I'm happy. My brother is a painter so the bodywork isn't a concern really.

It has every receipt for everything that's ever been bought for it which I'm pleased about as it wasn't clear from the advert or communication with the vendor just how much paperwork was with it.

Unfortunately I can't upload any pictures as the files are too big. Looking forward to having a proper sort through of everything this weekend and sorting out a to do list.

I'll probably post that here as a way for me to keep a track of things and ask advice from the forum.

Awesome, very happy for you!
About the pedal box, yes, you will need some karting shoes (don't go with racing ones as they are way too expensive due to homologation with FIA standards which you won't need unless racing it on a race track).

It's always good to have some paperwork with it, shows that the last owner was diligent and took care of it.
Yes, keep us updated, we love to hear about people building their kit cars!

Thanks Thanasis and thanks for the recommendation on the footwear. Looking forward to getting it sorted and on the road. It's going to be a long remainder of the week at work 😂

11 hours ago, Mike GBS said:

Unfortunately I can't upload any pictures as the files are too big.

Just shrink them. There are plenty of programs around that will do it. Personally I use paint.net, which is free. I find if I take a pictures with my iPhone and resize them to be 20% of the original size they are just about perfect for the forum (See my recent post on East of England meets). It reduces the size from 3.5Mb to just 200Kb.

Edited June 17Jun 17 by alanrichey

Excellent, thanks @alanrichey I'll have a look at that this evening.

Attended the Cars & Coffee evening at the GBS factory last night which was a great event. Lots of cars there and took some real inspiration from them all.

I thought I'd detail the list of the jobs that need doing, in no particular order.

Fit the carpets - going to try and get that done this weekend

Change the wiring connectors so they fit straight into the factory harness

Secure rear roll bar stays

Add some grip tape to the pedals

Trim the centre panel and add gaitors to the handbrake and gear leaver

Secure centre console

Tune and set up the ITB's

Fit seats and seat belts

Rear boot cover

Trim the edges of the front wings and scuttle around dashboard

Fit indicators and mirrors

I think I'm also going to change the dashboard as it looks like it's either a home-made one or a generic and there is a gap around the top of the dash so will just get a proper Zero GT dash using the same clocks. This will also give me the chance to relocate some of the buttons, currently on the dash to the centre console which I think will be better both ergonomically and aesthetically.

Having spoken with the team at GBS last night, they were saying that the next IVA slot isn't until September so that's a shame but a fair bit of work to crack on with. Any advice gratefully received.

With it being Father's Day I elected to use the day messing with the car in-between playing with the kids. It's been quite a productive day, carpets trial fitted, two parts of the centre console trimmed, decided to hang fire on the main panel until the gaitors arrive. Also sorted the sill trim and a couple of other trim pieces.

Roll on next weekend or maybe even midweek given the forecast where I hope to fit the carpets for real, secure the rear stays and add the grip tape to the pedals.

I am a little unsure on where all 21 pieces of the carpet go. I'm on about 13 and it looks pretty complete to me. Will find out during the week.

Not really done a huge amount this week, it's been too hot. Trimmed the remaining centre console bits. Decided it was too hot to fit the carpet and be messing around with that so that'll be a job for this weekend I think. I hadn't realised that the boot is carpeted, hence the remaining carpet I mentioned in my previous post. Told you I was a novice 😁

Not updated this for a while. All the carpets are now in place. Grip tape added to pedals and a bit of general tidying. The trim has been completed and I just need to fix the rear roll bar stays. The fixing kit sent appear too big. Should I just file out the holes slightly to enable fixing?

On 16/06/2026 at 21:45, ThanasisPolitis said:

Awesome, very happy for you!
About the pedal box, yes, you will need some karting shoes (don't go with racing ones as they are way too expensive due to homologation with FIA standards which you won't need unless racing it on a race track).

It's always good to have some paperwork with it, shows that the last owner was diligent and took care of it.
Yes, keep us updated, we love to hear about people building their kit cars!

Just a small update regarding footwear of all things. Got dragged to McArthur Glenn, a designer outlet in the Midlands. What would normally be a fairly boring trip, traipsing around behind the wife as she looks at any number of bags that all look the same to me, I noticed a Puma store so went in. Managed to get a pair of speed cats for £30 and a pair of Puma drift shoes. To make things even better, it was buy one get one half price so both pairs only cost £50.

I'm still failing miserably with the picture re sizing but I'll ask the aforementioned wife to do them for me.

Could have been worse she could have made you go to Meadowhell