Jump to content

brumster

RHOCaR Member
  • Posts

    1,853
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    98

Posts posted by brumster

  1. 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

  2. I've only used ones you can't get any more so I'll bow out of this conversation :D well, except R888's, but I wouldn't really rate them for the road. Ok for perfectly dry conditions but need a bit of heat in them, you have to be sensible with them.

  3. Oh wait a minute... <laughs> are you just trying to pull the input shaft out without taking the rest of the gearbox apart? That's not possible I'm afraid, it'll be meshed in with the layshaft and I suspect you'll most likely will need to drop the layshaft to get the input shaft out. Take the top cover off and you should be able to verify. If you're just after swapping the bearing, and I've not done or tried this, so I'm unsure - but I guess you could try and slide it off the input shaft and out of the casing with the input shaft still in situ, but I bet that's going to be fun to do :). I just can't see you having enough room to get a puller in on the back of it, or tap it out, or anything really :( you'd probably still need most of the selector mechanism out of the way to get at it, wouldn't you?

    You might be better/safer just disassembling the selector mechanism and gearbox and doing it with it all out.

    For gawds sake just don't lose all the roller pins at the front when you pull out the layshaft :)

  4. Yes, there's a circlip on the front if I remember rightly <in fact, I just looked in the Haynes, yes there is>. I seem to recall once removed, the bearing comes out pretty easily to be honest, I don't think you'll need a press, maybe at most just a tap from a soft-faced hammer...

  5. Cool, have fun! Looks like it has the usual sagged doors and horrendous panel gaps on the boot, although thankfully the bonnet (normall the worst culprit) looks pretty good.

    They are very fussy on suspension geometry (ride height) and the back end will feel awful if any bushes are worn. There are some void bushes in the lower wishbones which GTM used to sell replacement bushes that were solid (no void) to improve taughtness on the back end. It is worth it, there is nothing more horrible than feeling rear wheel steering when you don't want it :)

    Mechanically they're solid, though, the 1.4 K-Series is pretty bulletproof but check the cooling on it - make sure it warms up quickly but also keeps cool if left ticking over. They suffer the usual problem of a badly designed cooling system as per the MGF (not meant for long runs to the front) so a remote thermostat fix is common. Even just a tiny 4mm bleed hole drilled into the thermostat outer can work wonders! A lot of people just pulled the thermostat out but this meant the things took forever to warm up and never ran at temperature.

    Gear level mechanism will possibly feel crap. It can be improved but it will never feel light and slick. Clutch can be heavy too with the long cable run, particularly in the cable has been kinked tightly. Clutch cables snapping was common place. Many converted to hydraulic, they were so sick of it :)

    Not the most watertight of roofs either, and while torsion rigidity was improved over the Mk.II Rossa (I had one of those beforehand) there is still quite a lot of scuttle shake with the roof off!

  6. So I built a K3 in '95, if you have any questions just PM me ;) what reg is it, do you know the history/who built it? The then-owners of GTM, Paddy and Peter, were both tall guys (Paddy in particular) so you almost certainly should be able to get in one don't worry.

  7. The one inside the input shaft or the one on the end of the layshaft, that sits in the front of the gearbox casing?

    Unfortunately I never upload them. I could root around and see if I can find them but I've since moved to a house where the broadband is very *bleep* (1Mbps upload), so it might take some time to get them uploaded (maybe trip to somewhere with a decent wifi hotspot and I'll upload from there).

  8. It's nothing special, as Stu says you've still got that manically short 1st... mind you, it does have much better spaced gears from there on up the box... so if you like stirring gears, it's an option, given how expensive Type 9's are getting these days (£200 for a snotter!). If you look in my attachments, there's a spreadsheet you can use to map gearbox options and ratios/etc.

  9. It might be BGH Geartech? They do uprated gearsets for the Type 9 that address ratios and improve lubrication on 1st/2nd gears, along with an uprated front layshaft bearing - just good durability improvements as well as performance.

    Gareth, that's probably your first and cheapest port of call. Or look for a Caterham 6-speed but they're a bit like hen's teeth. After that I think you'd be looking at one-off adapter kits to get alternative gearboxes onto your Vauxhall (Mazda?), or else expensive aftermarket gearboxes from Quaife, Sadev, 3MO, Elite, yada yada...

     

  10. I can't really vote as to give it fair judgement would mean I'd tried them all, or at least a fairbunch of them! I would guess maybe Snap-On as that's what you see a lot of mechanics use?

    Me, personally, I'm fine with my Halfords Pro stuff. Had it for years and it's as good as new, all the ratchets function perfect, and they honoured warranty for me once (on the bloody box of all things, not a tool), and it's sensibly priced. Certainly for a home enthusiast...

    Sealey stuff seems overpriced to me, what bits I've had (inspection lamp/etc) didn't last well.

  11. 1 hour ago, theduck said:

    That is kind of my problem with new cars, no one really makes what I want, so I'd end up building lots of things instead!

    Totally agree. The reality is I'd probably be more likely to choose a more 'retro' classic car than anything the manufacturers punt out these days. Modern new cars great for doing the job of being a car, that's fine, but very little floats my boat too apart from the uber-expensive silly stuff. Even then, give me an old F40 , or a Lotus Carlton, or an air-cooled 911 Turbo any day of the week :)

  12. 13 hours ago, nelmo said:

    If you won the lottery, you'd buy several cars to cover different categories (can't take a Lambo off-road, for example). 

    If we limit it to just 1 car, BMW M5 estate (or 550i if they don't do a M-series estate) - fast enough to beat most cars and space to take a wardrobe to the tip. Or maybe Porsche Cayenne for same reasons. 

    Good choice. M5 was a close contender for me for the same reasons - what a do-it-all car - but they don't make them any more in the touring so I dropped it. Only a 540i these days (straight 6), no more V10s :( boooo!

     

  13. So explain NOS to me, does it only fire at WOT so you get 55bhp (or whatever) in a very 'binary' fashion or can it progressively add more NOS into the engine based on throttle position, so you can 'feed it in', if you see what I mean? A brief google seems to suggest you can get some quite smart systems now so it's not just about drag-racing and instant power IF you don't want it to be (for a road car, for example, or a circuit racer)?

     

×
×
  • Create New...