nelmo

20 minutes ago, phaeton said:

We clearly live in different worlds, I couldn't ever imagine spending £16K on a kit car, TBH I'm currently looking at changing our main car & our budget on that is £16K I ended up selling my last kit car as at £6K sat on my drive was causing me issues with it not being used. But each to their own, maybe I live to much in the past in the 'good ole days' to put that in perspective, I can remember being able to go into a pub, buy 3 pints & 3 packets of crisps & still get a penny change.

Yeah, different strokes. I've sadly sold my kit (last June) and bought an old Porsche. I meet up with Porsche owners and some are seriously loaded.

I do miss it so I ocassionally pop along here to relive the old days

On 6/1/2025 at 6:02 PM, phaeton said:

Dutton coming back at a whopping £9975+vat

That seems very cheap to me - I built my Zero kit in 2015 and it cost me £16k.

Like you say, kids don't do manual labour these days. While I was building my kit, my son ocassionally dragged himself away from his Xbox to watch me but he wasn't really interested. He loves his cars now but for £3k, you can buy a Golf GTi that is quicker than most kits and thats what he wants, performance (he currently has a 550bhp C63 AMG which he paid £18k for - a factory built GBS ultimate has less go and is £45k+ ).

Back in the heyday of kits, they were a cheap way to have a fast car, I guess? Nowadays, lots of competition

I would recommend the Emerald ECU - expensive but common and so lots of help if you need it. GBS still sell the full wiring loom - again, expensive but if you aren't happy with electrics, worth it to save the hassle. 

I bought the main loom and then made my own engine and dash loom to save cash. 

If it helps, my blog has all the details of my 2015 build:

https://zerolifebuild.blogspot.com

Apologies for butting in, especially as I don't have my kit any more, but I thought I'd recommend a couple of better meet points:

1. Denbies vineyard

2. Newlands Corner.

Both have large, free car parks, toilets and cafes and nice roads in the area.

On 11/25/2024 at 1:22 PM, Jonty Wild said:

Could be but I was hoping for a faulty ejector seat and that I could fix it when I take the seat out to fit runners.

It can't be for the heated rear screen or central locking or sun roof.

Any other suggestions

I had a button on my dash (labelled as a fan) which was a switch in the ignition circuit  - car wouldn't start if the switch wasn't pressed.

What they should do is offer to contact the current owner and pass your details on, leaving it up to them whether to reply or not.

On 11/20/2024 at 3:26 PM, treefrog said:

It was possible at one time to get previous owner information from the DVLA

You can, although I'm not sure what they can tell you and it looks like you'll need a 'reasonable explanation' - try this:

https://www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla

I feel your pain, I just sold my kit in June this year and already, the new owner is not replying to any of my texts when I ask how it's going

I'm afraid if it's not had an MOT for 13 years, it's probably gone to that scrapheap in the sky or stuck in someones garage - I doubt it would have lasted as a track car for this long. This is part of the reason I sold mine - I knew the same thing might happen as I got less interested in fixing it and it would be very depressing. At least this way, I can hope someone else is maybe keeping it going...

Unfortunately, there are very few kit cars with doors and even fewer (any?) with remote locking. That was actually part of the appeal for me when building mine - I didn't want electric gimmicks.

Electrics are sadly a real PITA at the best of times and, as you are finding, there are few pro's prepared to work on them because it can take hours with seemingly little progress, which makes it difficult to charge people. I would recommend trying to contact the manufacturer of the remote unit - they are your best bet.

Sorry to not be of much help - good luck!

Good blog, well done. I particularly like all the decals - looks great  

Fit a screen and you don't need helmet or glasses and you can then get doors and a roof so it is semi-practical all year round. After years on bikes, I never wanted a car that needed a helmet. Also, having doors does put people off just leaning in and releasing the handbrake - I've watched people looking very confusedly at my doors  

I fitted a switch in the ignition circuit (in plain view on my dash but labelled as a fan  ) so even if you had the key, it wouldn't start if the switch wasn't pushed in. This actually caught me out on the first time I tried to start my engine - couldn't work out why it wouldn't turn over until I realised I hadn't pushed the switch in  

TBH, unless you have a new, shiny Caterham, I don't think our cars are in the least interesting to a car thief - the parts are almost worthless, the market is very small and our cars are too unique to be able to just sell them on - I never worried about it.

No, you won't for that budget but you can get a good pinto-engined kit for that.

Pinto definitely - much more common, so easier for parts and lots of people on here have/had them, so lots of experience.

However, Zetec or Mazda MX5 is better still, if you can stretch to it.

Any pics? I believe the new owner of my kit was there (Steve?)?

I had this on and off for 6 months - finally tracked it down to the wiring to my TPS which had come loose. Found it using the data logger in the Emerald software (if you have an Emerald ECU?).

I've only ever had one car with a carb (an old VW Polo) and I had to once remove the fuel pump to fix a leaking O-ring. When I refitted the pump, I stupidly put the pipes on the wrong way round, so it was pumping petrol out of the carb and back to the fuel tank

Ran for about 60 seconds before gently switching off  

I'm guessing you mean rounds 7 and 8 will be this weekend on July 20th and 21st?  

On 7/14/2024 at 7:03 PM, alanrichey said:

One of the major classic car shows of the year, lovely driving weather, lots to see, plenty of food stands, proceeds going to charity.   What more do you want ?   Well apparently quite a lot more.    I've just got back from the Kimbolton Classic Car Show, probably over 1000 cars being displayed, and we had been allocated a prime Club Stand right next to the Castle and the SuperCar line up. (and with an Ice Cream Van next door)

So how many of our 350+ members turned up ?   Well here's the answer   (Techically it should have been 4 but the Club Chairman only made it half way before he has to turn back with engine problems)

It's a bit depressing, and especially embarrasing for me as I booked the Club Stand in anticipation of a decent turnout

Anyway, we still had a good day and my thanks to AndyW and thespannerman for turning up and supporting us (and Foz for at least trying).  And to the few who apologised in advance with good reasons).  

I think I am going to have to stop booking Club Stands in advance until I know that at least a few cars will be turning up.

 

 

Damn, that is sad, especially in the Midlands where so many of our members are. This is part of the reason why I recently sold my kit - there is no-one down South who seems interested in meeting up. I don't mind driving on my own but, occasionally, it would be good to meet others. I regularly see kit cars out on their own but they are mostly Caterham's who probably wouldn't be on here anyway.

TBF, it's pretty much always been like that down here - sad to see it spreading up north though.

37 minutes ago, phaeton said:

You know of a laser alignment system for £70 do you have a link?

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/trackace-laser-wheel-alignment-gauge-t-atag01/?istCompanyId=a2904180-3a7d-4e56-b876-cf81c9512180&istFeedId=6fbc4b04-fd28-4ce1-8513-835c8f118690&istItemId=wptrpaqqq&istBid=t&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aDyfa30Sef_crhBZZOvfLMyD8z4CPXuhd5v6qMwZVYn4Yoq8Dyjo7hoCJVMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Gone up, £90 now...

Has it got normal tie rods ie. they're on a threaded arm? If so, just try get a proper alignment (and no, you can't do it by eye). Two methods; a dubious process using string and long pieces of wood (do a search on here) and better is to find someone with one of those home laser alignment kits (or buy your own - about £70 I think).

I believe this is quite common and is about Ackerman geometry that a car uses to go round corners. I don't understand the tech stuff but Wikipedia says this:

Modern cars do not use pure Ackermann steering, partly because it ignores important dynamic and compliant effects, but the principle is sound for low-speed manoeuvres. Some race cars use reverse Ackermann geometry to compensate for the large difference in slip angle between the inner and outer front tyres while cornering at high speed. The use of such geometry helps reduce tyre temperatures during high-speed cornering but compromises performance in low-speed maneuvers.

On other forums, someone said a wheel alignment fixed it for them? Also:

THIS is why our tires shuffle sideways in low speed parking maneuvers. The colder or more worn the tire the more noticeable it is because there is less compliance in the tread. 

Check age/state of tyres?

On 6/26/2024 at 4:26 PM, Dcsinclair22 said:

here's a few cars they use for training search dogs, after speaking to the captain he said I could nick the coolant bottle from a ka

Nooo - how are they going to train the dogs now?  

1 hour ago, LeicJim3a said:

I will give it no more than 7 days before you are on here announcing your latest purchase ! 

 

 actually, I bought my replacement toy back in October (19 year old Porsche Boxster) - I've been agonising over this decision ever since...didn't expect it to sell so quick tbh. I was sort of hoping it wouldn't sell and I'd be forced to keep it 

Yup, Steve - many thanks for pointing him in my direction Keith - although, I'll be honest, right now, I'm feeling a bit low...not sure if I've done the right thing.

SOLD