ibrooks

Well not to sound too much of a flash git but I have one of each and I'd be looking at the 2B with kinder eyes (although my S7 is Cortina based). The S7 is a monocoque and so the chassis is actually the tub so the sides are structural and you'll notice a wider sill that you have to sit next to You'll also notice the transmission tunnel is wider. All this means the cockpit is smaller (a big thing for me as I'm fat). The S7 also has a floor in the engine bay (again part of the structure) which makes it harder for it to get rid of heat and so increases the chance of it coming into the cockpit or causing overheating problems. If you are slimmer and the cooling system is up to scratch and the bulkhead is well sealed the S7 should serve you well (this little lot will also indicate that the car is likely to be in good shape as the owner or builder has obviously sorted some of the common problems). The 2B is a spaceframe with panels that are fastened to it. The side panels are notoriously hard to form (especially if they're stainless) and the rear panel has to be beaten with a knockometer (hammer) to form it, which isn't the best thing for mirror finish stainless. If it's the earlier sliding pillar front suspension then bank on having to change it (it's functional - just). Also the RHE supplied rear coilovers are not the best setup available (the Sierra standard setup is a little soft too). Bear in mind that apart from appearance and the support you'll get here the cars are streets apart in design and as these are kit-cars the builders/owners have much more input into the final product and so each car has to be treated on an individual basis. It's going to be very much a matter of what you see/hear/feel that must guide your decision. Iain

Must admit I was thinking of you all with envy whilst I was working today and then an evil little grin was to be seen about 4:30 when I was dropping the works van back off in Chorley as the heavens opened. That was a downright impressive downpour for a few minutes there (just about long enough for you to have the hood on by the time it stopped again). Iain

Hows about VIRGINIA BOTTOMLEY IM AN EVIL TORY BIGOT Not that I have anything against her of course but it cracked me up first time I heard it.

My letter from Preston VRO says that it should be stamped on the offside of the chassis and also on a plate rivetted to the car. Iain

Must admit this is something that winds me up no end. Whilst building mine my dad took delivery of a new car and I could spot things on it that would fail from the word go. Also - have you seen those vans with the glass carriers on the sides? how would they fare? and that's just the obvious example. It seems that more and more you will be OK so long as you have a huge amount of money i.e. the big manufacturers or if you spend £20k plus on one of the meccano kits that some of the other kit-car manufacturers offer. I personally suspect that this is why Richard is really selling up as it looks like it's getting more and more difficult to offer the sort of car that he has always made. It bothers me that in the magazines and places like totalkitcar.com we see more and more reviews where "a basic car should be on the road for £20k". I'm not in a low-paid job but I'm sorry I don't have that sort of cash spare my alternative is to put more of the effort in myself in order to save the money but it looks more like I'll end up butting my head against the "as a major manufacturer would fit" obstacle. Rant rant rant :gdit: Iain

I'd love to but unfortunately I'll be driving a Transit on Sunday (working). I still need to get it MOT'd (should be a formality) and then registered and taxed. Unfortunately Aerospace have picked this weekend for us to move the receiving dept (actually they held it off until this weekend at my request) so I'll be working Friday afternoon as well so it may be next weekend before it's actually legal. I am also in the process of destroying (shortening) a sump for the 2.1 as well. Iain

14.2-1 is theoretically a bit high for reliability but as with all things there are people out here in the real world that have run stuff like this with no probs. Personally I would look at getting the chambers on the 1.6 head opened out to drop the compression ratio closer to 10-1 as this should be a reliable engine but still fairly powerful (potentially). Iain

Looks like my row of smiley faces was too subtle for some of my NW colleagues. Jim, Mitch YES IT PASSED! I took it back to Chadderton yesterday afternoon in the p155ing rain and had the re-test. By the time I got home again I had wet trousers and boxer shorts and a MAC (the trousers and boxers were wet by the time I arrived actually, did you see the rain yesterday afternoon?, but once I got the MAC I didn't care anymore). Iain

Don't know about him but I was driving a 2B with no hood or screen to Chadderton for the re-test. I swear that if the man hadn't given me the certificate there would have been a killing. Good luck for tomorrow Bugsy. Iain

Nope you tell them but you don't Iain

Which is the UK megasquirt site - I'm hunting all through the pages and just keep getting Yahoo groups is one of those the one? Iain

OK - now find someone local to give me 3 grand for my S7 - just make sure they're not called Andy .

As per Robbie's comment welcome to the madhouse. If you find a donor with the wrong engine/box but the right price (CVH/DOHC) then Ian Hale is giving an engine away and I have several type 9 5 spd boxes that you can take your pick from for the same price. There are ways to get around these not being in the actual donor (not strictly in the spirit of the regs but......). I think the engine Ian is getting rid of is actually one that I took out of a Sierra - if it's the same lump then it should be a good un as it had only done 30 odd thousand miles when I extracted it. I know Ian went round europe with it as well as his domestic mileage but I suspect it's still done less than 50k since uncle Henry's boys built it. I didn't keep it or pass it on with the engine but the car had a huge pile of history and a receipt for an unleaded conversion (several hundred quids worth which is why I bought it). Yes you'll probably end up with a 2.0 but from experience I'd suggest getting it on the road by hook or by crook and then look at getting it exactly how you want it. No I didn't so it's taken me a few years to get my 2B up to and through SVA (earlier today so if my spelling is dodgy blame it on the celebratory beer I'm drinking). It might be a bit of a trip to collect them but one of our members came all the way from Portsmouth to help me get rid of some of my rubbish (sorry engines). Iain

Agree with Swan on this one. If John is willing to accept £2750 for it then that's up to him despite that fact that it sounds like it's worth more. Given that I'm going to be making a more concerted effort to sell my S7 in the very near future the higher the prices the happier I am. However if I was in the market for a ready built Hood I would definitely be giving him a call and quite possibly biting his hand off. Hey Mitch 5 Hoods within a mile radius - you counting both of mine or is there someone else lurking in the vicinity? Saw a mostly green seven on my way home from college tonight. It turned into the estate opposite Ewood park. Didn't get close enough to tell what pedigree it was (a proper Hood or one of those nasty copies ). Think it had a yellow nose and either a stainless or ally bonnet. Iain

Nuff said really. The brakes were sorted with a valve from a Metro but it came from a Rover Metro rather than the Austin one and so the fittings at either end are "normal" sizes (male on one end and female on the other). They have a t-piece on the top in the Metro which I left on (and blocked the redundant port with a bleed nipple) - this means it is about the same size and has the same ends as the inertia valve from the Sierra so I didn't have to change anything else (even bolted to the same bracket. There are two in each Metro and they are on the bulkhead I obtained both from the Metro whilst I was at it so I have a spare if anyone wants one. Now then - where did I put that 2.1. Iain

Awesome innit! The only problem I found with lists is that they changes from things like "interior" to seats, carpet, dashboard, guages, lights....... The first run on the road makes up for it though. Iain

I've got most of it sorted but the brakes are proving tricky. I've spent most of today trying to get hold of a Mini valve but the one I need is from a pre 1970 non-Clubman. I have two 1976 Clubmen and loads of bits from the 1980's Minis I have broken to assist in their ressurection. Unfortunately these have a 4-way thing on the bulkhead rather than the T-shaped one we need. Looks like I'm looking for the Metro alternative then. I'll keep you all posted. I will be at Newark but only for one day (working on the fail points the other day) and most likely in the tin-top coz until we concrete the drive you can only actually drive in and out of one side of the garage (well a Land-Rover could probably manage the step without grounding out) and the 2B is at that side whilst I'm working on it. Oh well nothing unusual me at a show in the tin-top whilst two Hoods sit in the garage feeling neglected :boohoo: . Iain

Funnily enough it was a white transit that lead to the demise of my beloved Sierra. Scum wouldn't give me his details though - no probs thinks I coz I had his reg number. I fronted up to the nearest police station and gave them the details (and got a producer for my trouble ). A couple of weeks later they got in touch saying that they had traced the driver and he "gave a somewhat different version of events" and so they would not be pursuing the matter :gdit: . Surely the fact that he disappeared whilst I turned up at the nearest plod station should have set some alarm bells ringing. Doing something about it would probably have stopped them from looking for someone speeding instead. Is it any wonder why they don't get the respect they think they deserve. At least I had the consolation of getting to extract the 2.1 from under it's bonnet for the 2B. Plod did give me the name and address of the company who owned the van - a little surfing provided an e-mail address for them - don't know how good their spam filter is but it should have been busy . Hope you get more than it was worth and a good compensation claim out of them without actually having any lasting injuries. Iain

Well guys you guessed it my 2B failed SVA at Chadderton yesterday. Actually quite impressed\coz it's on a lot less than I was worrying about. He didn't like my front indicators - they're on the cycle wings and so move with the wheels/steering. He didn't like the stuff I'd used to cover the front suspension. He wants an extra P-clip on one of the front brake pipes. He broke the hand-brake :gdit: (either the cable has snapped or it's come off inside the drum - haven't investigated that one yet). Also one of the holes in the angle is a little large and he thinks the outer sheath will pull through in time. A rear light cluster cable is likely to chafe. And there's too much rear braking effort (he only relied on the rolling road and wouldn't take into account the inertia valve which I think is iffy but I didn't complain too loudly as the rest is fairly minor and I didn't want him to go looking again). So anyone know a good source for a pressure reducing valve - preferably one that will slot in in place of the inertia valve to minimise my re-work time. Iain

After the first fit with self tappers I went on to replace them with M4 bolts. I then dismantled it again (gets soul destroying the number of times you have to do that doesn't it) painted it and reassembled with stainless bolts (dome headed ones of course to avaoid the dreaded sharp edges). Iain

The one you've put most effort into. If you're looking at a pre-built Hood then look for one with "proper" wishbones as these will be easiest to adjust with bolt on shocks and springs to get the settings you're after. This would discount an Exmo (unless it's been modified) and an early 2B (same caveat). The Sierra based Hoods also have IRS which is going to be better (again when setup properly) so maybe limit yourself to them. The engine is up to you and what you're willing to spend or do yourself. If you look at a Pinto then a later engine will run unleaded and you'll have to use your judgement on what the seller tells you about what's been done with it. Get them to drive you in it or let you drive it and see what it performs/feels like. Again every kit-car is different so apart from vast generalisations it's difficult to tell you to look for. It also depends on what you're looking for. If you want creature comforts then they all add weight and will make the car less performance driven. If you want a track-day weapon then you'll want to remove things like a stereo, carpets and boot linings but it'll be less practical. After that it's aesthetics I like the looks of swept wings but they are horrendous from an aerodynamic point of view. Stainless or painted etc etc etc. Iain

You need a single pipe from the tank to the pump. From the pump you go to a pressure regulator. This sends one pipe to the carb and another back to the tank. The fuel being sent back to the tank is the excess that the pump shifts as it is capable of moving more than the engine needs. The reason that the Sierra setup has it going back to the tank is that the "three way thingy" is also a vapour separator and so there may be gas in that line. If you ditch the Sierra regulator and get a filter king one it is a diaphragm type and just closes off when the pressure is too high so you don't need a return line. It's also available with a built in filter which sorts that job at the same time and it's adjustable. Vapour separation isn't necessary with shorter straight lines as any bubbles that form are relatively quickly forced through the system and cause no problems. In the Sierra where the pipes run up and down there are areas where bubbles can collect and then all come through at once and possibly cause the engine to stutter. If you are determined to use the Sierra regulator run the pipe with a rise at each end and flat in between and just T the return into the line that supplies the pump at the front of the car. Iain

I've sent pics to some people who specifically asked but here's one for the masses. This is the Hood I bought with my 2B but since I'm using the S7 till the 2B is on the road I snaffled it and will get another for the 2B. It's a pretty good fit and keeps me dry in the rain.

Depends on your criteria. If it's looks then all three. If it's track day performance then none of them. If it's "bang for buck" then Caterhams and Westfields can't even come close to matching any Hood. Any Robin Hood is a Lotus Seven inspired sportscar (LSIS for short) and so looks like a Lotus Seven and so similar to the others. Westfields are also LSIS's and the Caterham is more of an evolution of the Lotus Seven (that last may cause an eyebrow or two to raise but...). The S7 and Exmo are built differently and so they tend to be heavier (monocoque rather than a spaceframe). They are also designed to use the Ford Pinto engine which tends to be heavier and less powerful than the engines used by the other two. The 2B is a spaceframe but there is more steel in the panels than fibreglass and so again they tend to be heavier. Again most use the Pinto but some are now using the DOHC about which I know nothing (but I suspect it's still heavier and less powerful than a Vauxhall XE or K-Series which Caterham and Vauxhall tend to use). So out of the box expect the Hood to be slower and not to handle as well (but it'll cost a fraction of the money). If you're prepared to play and get your hands dirty then the Hood can be made to match the others in pretty much all aspects apart from weight (and your grand total should still be significantly lower). Personally I like the combination of a bit extra weight and the Pinto. The extra weight means the car soaks up lumps and bumps better and tends to be a more comfortable road car. I'm also a fan of the Pinto as it's bomb proof and very torquey so it makes for a much more relaxed drive at normal speeds (up to 100). Basically any Kit-Car is what you make of it (or whoever built it made of it). The Robin Hood will take more effort to get to the same level but it can be done and it'll cost you less. The Hood is a better road vehicle but won't compete on a track. Don't be fooled into thinking from this that a Hood is slow and doesn't handle. A basic Hood will embarras the most modified of hot hatches and you'll have to spend telephone numbers with the big boys like Porsche, Ford or BMW to match it for performance on or off a track. Sorry it's long winded but it's a big question. Iain