Newbie from Peterborough here
 

Hi guys thought i would come on here and give a hello as im very new to this side of the car world and i have taken delivery of my haynes book so now my project will hopefully take off shortly.

hopefully all the help i need will be on here and it will possible be quite alot of help lol

welcome bud ...plenty of build logs on here to peruse thru and if you get stuck just ask....main thing ....get started even if its just collecting bits and bobs
kev

thanks kev im just trying to decide where to decide as i need to chose a donor and am looking to see what options i have.

if i went for a standard chassis what are the options engine wise as sierras are fairly limited these days lol.

i see alot of people talking about mx5 but didnt know if there were options other than these 2

Welcome poshguy
Nice to see another member not too far from my neck of the woods, we're a bit thin on the ground round here!

glad your fairly close to me skov nice to know there are people near.

i have been looking around at part built kits etc but i think the best way forward is to start from scratch.

Main thing is to see whats available or hang fire until you see what you want whether its the mazda or sierra route... engine wise ....owt ya like:D ....200sx engine going in mine...thats the beauty of the roadster complex or simple YOU get to choose.

thanks kev yeah well im going to have a good read of the book then try to make some sort of plan that i will prob never stick too lol.

skov i have just read your about your build and it looks very good, there is some bits in there that i really like but would not even have the confidence to do.

im trying to decide if i want to try welding my own chassis or if i should see about a ready built chassis but obviously if i go mx5 route i would have to make the mods to fit.

Skov are there many mods mx5 wise.

my apologies for my newbie questions

found a good donor if only i was ready for it http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1997-MAZDA...item3cba4dbd93 lol

I've (more or less) followed Saturn's MX5 design. He's kept it as close as possible to 'book spec', so there are very few changes.
If you get hold of his build guide it details all the changes he's made. It should be available for download on Monday, or over the weekend if you email him. Look for Spud's thread in the chassis section.

I hadn't done anything like this before I started my build and only had a couple of hours welding experience. You soon pick up the skills you need. Belive me, if I can knock up a chassis anyone can!
What I don't mention in my thread is all the mistakes, dodgy welds, and bits I've had to re do :rolleyes: It's all part of the learning experience though!
If I could go back in time 6 months I'd do a welding course before I started, as it would have saved me a whole lot of trouble!

thanks i will have to look at options with regards to the donor i would like to do an mx5 rather than the sierra but not sure how confident i am with making the changes needed but i will take a look at the plans.

is there many more of us in this neck of the woods

I don't think I'd go with that one to be honest. I think you need a 1994 or earlier donor if you want to avoid needing a cat convertor for the IVA test.
Plus if that's a 1997 1.6 it will only have 90bhp.
Up to ~1994 the 1.6 had 115bhp, but they dropped the 1.6 power down to 90bhp when the 1.8 was introduced in 1994.

thanks its little bits of info like that that i really appreciate as i was just looking around to see what was about but i will bear that in mind.

has anyone got any for or against for mx5 or sierra or is it just preference

If you're building from scratch / flat pack then it's no harder than building the book version.
Not sure how hard it would be to convert a Sierra chassis to an MX5 one. I guess the main change would be grinding out and replacing the top of the diff cage, which could be tricky to access.

The only other builder I know of round here is james3004, who's a few miles down the road from me. He's using a Sierra donor, but sticking a beast of an engine in (ZVH turbo I think).

sounds like it could be good.

with regards to the engines i just have to decide if im confident enough to dviate from the book and also if im confident enought to buy a flat pack chassis which i dont know if i am lol.

confidence confidence confidence.maybe ill find some soon and ill be away or at least i hope so.maybe jumping in at the deep end is the best way to learn.

Hi and welcome to the madhouse:D

Just to encourage you a little.I went through the same angst but decided that if I do it then I do it all--otherwise I may as well do a kit car(which this is not).
I'm glad now cos its been a great learning experience and to my mind more satisfying to do it yourself.Everyone on here has been really helpful--no one ever said they were sick of being asked the same sort of question again and again--I felt really helped through(thanks all!) still a long way to go!

If you do go self build chassis GET A REALLY GOOD MIG WELDER ;)

Enjoy

Adrian

http://s1189.photobucket.com/albums/z429/ayjay50/

Welcome to the forum bud the mx5 route as d donor can seem a bit limited with regards engine choice but when you dive a little deeper you still got loads of options there is supercharger and turbocharger kits 1.6 which revs to about 7k or 1.8 that is a bit more powerful but heavier then you got the whole range of japanese tuning mods that will go on the engine the list just goes on and on not to mention what you can make back from the bits you dont need from the donor have a look at what saturn (SSC) have to offer give him a ring send an email have a look at his chassis kits do your homework then get cracking and enjoy

ajay and vmax thanks appreciate the advice

decisions decisions

if i go sierra route can any1 tell me is it best to go for the pinto engine and if so what year where they fitted upto if any1 knows.

i have found a bit of info that shows them being fitted upto 88 but i just want someone to confirm this for me as this is a very new world to me and i dont really want very big expensive mistakes like buying the wrong car lol.

cheers

I think your choice of doner depends on what you plan to do engine wise after the IVA. If you plan on leaving the engine alone or just upgrading to a better cam and carb(s) then a pinto is not a bad way to go, it's used in all kinds of stock cars and there's lots of tuning parts out there for them. This route means as long as you use a one car doner you'll end up with an age related plate.
If you plan on swaping the engine after the IVA for some thing more modern with more tuning or turbo power then you could go for a 1600-1800 CVH car, which means it makes it easier to swap for an 1800-2000 zetec later on as all the mounts will fit and some of the manifolds are the same. This way you get an age related plate but have fewer problems with IVA emissions test, one draw back is taking every thing out that you've all ready put in once and made good.

A very rough guide to what sierra came with what running gear
1600-2000 pinto type 9 drum brakes
1600-1800 cvh type 9 drum brakes
2000 twin cam mt75 disk brakes

thanks talon. i like the sound of having the option of changing the engine once all is built ect but obviously i dont know what i will do once it is built engine wise.

so really if i go down the later route i can go for an early 90s sierra.does any1 have any advice on engine size ie any positive or negatives etc

Hi and welcome;)

John (Skov) beat me to it... we now have 3 builders in this area Whoop!

As Skov Said I'm using the sierra donor (a J reg 2.0 ghia estate) but putting the ZVH turbo in it which is probably gonna be far from straight forwards:p

james nice to see people in the area. it would be nice to see some of these cars to se what im letting myself in for lol.

james where you a novice when you started or did you know alot about it before hand

im watching this any advice on whether its suitable to use.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1992-FORD-...item3a688adfc2

cheers
Craig

That one looks too good to break!

ill be honest there dont appear to be that many floating about.

how much would you expect to pay for that car.

would that fit the bill for a roadster build ok

They are getting pretty rare now, which is partly why there is so much interest in using MX5's.
I don't know too much about Sierras, but I would have thought that would be ideal. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong?
Again, not too sure on price, but I would have thought £300-ish.

the only other 1 i can see is
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

i would love to go down the mx5 route but i fear im not confident enough to weld the chassis and and fabricate the bits i would need to change and fear i would always be bugging people for help etc.

being new to this and never havin seen one of these either being built or fully built im slowly building up my courage as this will be only me building it as i have no1 into cars to help or assist etc (apart from this very good forum)

who ever knew it would be so difficult to decide bewteen sierra and mx5 donors.

i was previously thinking sierra but am now thinking mx5 and am awaiting the plans which are due shortly

I wouldn't say I was a novice when I started, I knew my way around cars a fair bit, and had helped out a mate who owned a garage quite alot, and I'm a Welder by tradeso have a good engineering background . But having said that I have learnt during the building process.

Both of those sierra look good to me, I paid £400 for my donor from a garage in bedford

thanks james, the welding bit is the bit that is slowing me down on choices at the mo but hopefully ill overcome that.

just need to chose a donor now but that is proving difficult at the first hurdle lol

Oh nice :P Bedford too far away for you lot!! :P Hey posh guy I will post some pics of my carsoon its currently at saturn awaiting IVA, once its done i'll take you for a blast in it as my family is up in deeping.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater



http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

Yep, wrong county, lol :p
According to google maps Bedford is only 29 miles from me, so I guess that counts! For some reason I thought it was a lot futher away than that...
I might have to ask you nicely for a ride post IVA if you can forgive me :D

Lol All forgiven.

https://picasaweb.google.com/ckms200...01131007057842


im located at MK44 2DG prob closer than bedford

Carl thanks really appreciate the offer and would love a ride in yours when you get it back as i have never been in 1 so least i will see what im letting myself in for lol.

cheers
Craig

your car looks good ive looked at your bottom link but i cant see the 2 facebook links as it sas they are not there.

Look at the Picassa link it's all there

ive checked out that link am just reading through your blog about the build

blogs out of date lol dont think i could restart it if i had the will

you car looks good what spec did you go for