First Step

[hamza]

Hi,
I would like to formally introduce my self, My name is hamza, from Peshawar Pakistan, Life over here is quite hard, harder than what might have been in Belfast during 1969

Mine will be the first roadster in Pakistan- for it have been surfing the net and read all about locost in the last almost one decade- finally managed to get Chris Gibbs book, "Build Your Own Sports Car on a Budget". Over the years I was unable to manage to import the book

At the moment am only able to get the 20x20 mm square 16 swg rectangular hollow steel sections, the 25x25 are available in 18 swg and getting 16 swg is becoming a nightmare:eek: Tomorrow will be contacting the factory who produce the 16 swg in limited quantity, lets see what they have to say.

I would specially thank Andrew Smailes and Tim Woodcock (Webmaster) in helping me register on this forum. Will be looking forward to help from you all, Unlike UK we can not buy complete cars from the Junk yards, we have access to used engines and parts that are smuggled into the country from the first world via Afghanistan- I know this will be a big challange:confused:

Looking forward to a sucessful build


Sincerely


Hamza

[twinturbo]

Wow, Sounds like you have a bit of a struggle on your hands but I think you will turn many many heads when your done.

Do you have to pass any safety inspection like our IVA before you can use the car?

TT

[tkpm]

Welcome to the forum Hamza, it seems you have a big challenge a head of you.:D :eek:
The people on hear have a wealth of information you can tap into.

Good luck with your build.:D

Terry

[spud69]

Hello Hamza and welcome,

looks like you have quite a challenge ahead of you, atleast you now know where to come for help and advice. 18swg 25mm box will be fine for your build, myself and HandyAndy use 2mm box section for the chassis builds and make for a stronger and stiffer chassis with better welds although sacrificing only a few extra kg's.

All the best....AndyH

[deezee]

On the brightside, I imagine you won't have any kind of SVA or have to deal with the DVLA.... so its not all bad.

[Twin]

Welcome H,

Use the 2mm stuff :)

[hamza]

Dear All,

Thanks a lot for your encouragement, I will be comming back to you all for guidance that will be required on almost every step.

Sincerely

Hamza

[gingea1pom]

Hamza,

We are standing by to help in any way we can,:D

I admire your drive to build with such constraints good luck.

To echo others do you have to get the roadster through some sort of test before driving it on the road or not.

Cheers Ginge

[hamza]

Dear Gine,
Thanks a lot

The only legal requirement is registration, unlike UK no test are required before driving it on the road, we even do not have MOT, I will be able to drive it in my town and look into the legal aspects lateron.

Sincerely


Hamza

[gingea1pom]

Hamza,

Just had a good look at your location on Google Earth, you are only 5 days 11 hours away a nice drive of 6125 miles,

There are lots of straight roads around you but not many twisty bits, does the airfield to the west of Peshawar let people drive their car around, as there are airfields in the UK that allow this, they are great days out.

Cheers Ginge

[geeman]

my parents are originally pakistani, although ive lived here all my life, but from the times ive been there and what my parents have told me, i cant imagine there being any form of road legal testing requirement, heck you dont need a license to drive, as all you really need is a few hundred rupees(about £5) as a bribe to the corrupt police as that mainly how they make their living through bribes.. You can get away with most basic crimes in pakistan(i mean like speeding, or diving without a licence) with much ease.

I can imagine it being hard to source correct parts in peshawar, as i would have thought it would be near impossible to find anything from a ford sierra, guess you'll be improvising quite abit. :)

[Josh]

Welcome Hamza, sounds like you have a steep hill to climb! Good luck with it all.

On a side note, 16swg is 1.626mm thick and 18swg is 1.219mm thick. The higher the swg the thinner the metal. I would suggest that 1.219 is not thick enough for the main chassis tubes, keep searching for the 16swg!

Cheers
Josh

[hamza]

Dear Ginge,
The air ports/air fields are surrounded by pickets with armed guards who will fire at any moving object that gets near it. They are all military air fields and the civilain cariers are only allowed to land and then pulled to a corner for parking

Will have be be more imaginative, I will look into the posibility if I can get access to the open ground where they practice para jumps.

Sincerely


Hamza

[hamza]

Dear Josh

Thanks a lot for your input, will search for the 16 swg, have located some in Karachi which is the other end of the country, am looking into the modality of payment and shipment. It an interesting situation, the dealer does not trust me and wants all the monet before shipment and I have my doubts if he would ship after getting paid- an interesting situation

Sincerely

Hamza

[hamza]

Dear Friends,

Still running from pole to post for the 25x25mm 16swg, today purchased the 20x20 mm 16 swg, 19x19 as prescribed in the book are not available, and will start cutting and welding the 20x20 which goes into the base of the frame. Since Mid/tig welding is not available so will go for arc welding, In the forum I came across very interesting information posted by Enoch on arc welding. He has very kindly advised to use 2.5mm roads and 130 amp arc welder, so one of my major concerns is over.

Yes Geeman is right finding a ford Sieara is impossible, the only engines that I can get are 16 valve efi toyota, honda 1600 CC are also available, I know I will be doing a lot of improvisation- which will make the build all the more interesting plus might show a way to those who are not building a roadster as ford sieara and similar cars are not available in their countries.

Will start my build diary soon :D

Hamza

[flyerncle]

Good luck Hamza,looks like the Roadster is on a world tour. :D

[gingea1pom]

Hamza,

Really looking forward to the build diary, is there a chance you would be able to get some pictures up?

Cheers Ginge

[hamza]

Yes Ginge will be posting pictures of the build, the workshop will not be as fancy as the ones I see on the forum, have talked to a friend will be using his welding shop, after wards have also talked to a powder paint shop, I am certain it will be very interesting for you as it is very different from the ones I have seen on the net in UK.

Hope all of us will enjoy it, as flyerncle has put it its the Roadster is on a world tour

Hamza

[K4KEV]

Nice one Hamza.....you got guts bud, who knows what its gonna look like, I know what you lot are like, fridges, washing machines, dustbin lids,:eek: go on tell me I'm wrong and there will not be a part of a washing machine in your prospective build just pulling your leg bud (bet I'm right tho)
gud luk
Kevin

[hamza]

Dear Kevin,
Thanks a lot for your best wishes and very interesting comments, Yes you are right you will see a lot of non-conventional items being used in the build, I also plan to paint is very differently- in short it will be a fun for you all to see and comment and a nightmare for me.

I plan to take pictures of the useful items that are imported/smuggled into Pakistan from europe where they are thrown away as junk including news papers.

Hamza