ive spent £1684 to get to get to where i am now thats sat on suspension too im aiming for less than £3k all in but who knows :D

Mine has cost me around £3,900.00 at the moment. Still have to do the IVA and a a few other bits to buy. I would have though £4,750 would be a correct figure for me. Could have done it MUCH cheaper if I'd used the donor engine, instead of another engine.

If you make everything. Wishbones chassis Ali panels etc you can do it for 3k. If your buying everything in then budget 4k.

i would say it would depend on your skills, tooling and time been the main factor
i have worked in the motor and engineering industry and i would say its saved me a fortune been able to rebuild my own engine weld my own chassis know where to sorce parts at a fair price etc

i never put a cost on my build as things and ideas can change as you go along

My Target.
 

I am looking for a budget car that will be great fun to drive. I am setting a target of £2500 ready for iva. I am surprised at some of the costs quoted, but guess they are really sweet pieces of kit. I will have a go at anything, so should keep the costs to a minimum.

Where do the largest costs sit if you have spent £4-£5k ?

I will be using the doner for as much as possible to keep costs down. The doner will either be the sierra or mx5. I like the idea of the Mazda if I can find a cheap enough example.

I'm looking forward to the show at Newark, as I havent really seen one in the flesh. :D

If your aiming at 2.5k the mev exocet is the car for you. its 100% mx5 and a real doddle to build.

I think the cost goes into all the little finishing bits, have you seen the price of a nice steering wheel and dials these days!

I have a 4 page record of everything i bought , some of the largest cost

Full body kit and seats £1000
IVA and re test £510
Shocks £345
2nd hand wheels + shot blasting + painting £210

Gus

A lot depends on how fancy you want to get.
If going for bike carbs / TB's you have the cost megajolt / ECU & rolling road session etc.
Digital dash if not using donor, fancy brakes etc etc.
I think it all boils down to if you are just building it to get it on the road asap, and then alter it later. Or whether you build it from the start how you want it.

My personnal choice is to do it right from the start even if it takes longer & costs a bit more.

But it only drops the weight of the standard mazda by 300kg and then you have to refurb the 20 year old suspension! :)