On the eve of a first build

[datahar]

Hi there,

After longingly reading the book for more than a year now, I have decided to finally build this thing!

I have sourced (but not bought yet, so not too late) 2mm thick steel, enough to leave me with a confortable amount of spare, for £97 inc vat delivered
With the extra weight this will cause the entire body will be GRP to try and compensate.

I am aiming for a new plate build, but am wanting to keep to a budget, I have a motorcycle engine I was hoping to get reconditioned for the build (would the engine and gearbox be allowed for a new plate?)
Keeping the sequential gearbox, so I will be fabricating a paddle shift system.
Reverse I will be handling electrically.

The biggest headache I am having in the planning stage is the rear axle.

Rotating the engine 90degress, and a spline adaptor to a propshaft, then propshaft to a LSD sounds straightforward enough, but not cheap. Reverse wise would be a sprocket between 2 short propshafts connected via chain to a 20hp electric motor

Or I could stay chain driven (this sounds cheaper), I have seen Chain converted LSDs but was wondering if this was strictly necessary? Is a diff required for an IVA?

Could I go down the route of a solid axle with sprocket attached? (I am not planning on racing this car), this way I could have the reverse sprocket on there too, this certainly sounds easier and cheaper but I don't want to kill myself for the sake of a few £££s

Any thoughts and suggestions would be really helpful

Kind Regards

Jimmy