Building a car from scratch

I am not sure if i ever posted this on here. It was many years ago that i decided to build a replica car of a Porsche 911 turbo flatnose. I was in my late 30's then & buying a house & bringing up a family. . Now 71. Still proud of the achievment building a replica car that was an exact copy of a german made motor.

I am sure many forum members will dis this thread as they have for the poor chap who has been modifying his motorcycle. All I can say is, never mind & that he will probably not post on here any more as lots of my youtube followers have indicated to me. It is a real shame because the forum is very good with lots of information for anyone wanting to know how to etc. I am an electrical engineer by trade but never answer any questions about anything electrical because there are so many other members that are probably not electrically qualified that undermine my comments on problems . Especially ones about inverters or as you may call them VFD's.

I spent the last 30 years fitting inverters to control panels of which i designed & built for blue chip companies. But it seems i did it all wrong & some members tell me so. Not sure what they did for a living but suspect possibly tarmac layers. But hey. Enjoy the video guys & gals.

Steve.

Steve, I just enjoyed your video thank you.

Martin P

Thank you.

Steve.

I've always admired those who can see a big project like this through to the end. Plenty must start these types of project with the best of intentions and never finish having under estimated the work necessary. Looks a good job, well done. Kit cars are not my cup of tea but I still like to see them, especially the well engineered ones.

Interesting what you say about the "poor chap" with the motorcycle. I think he thought this forum is a mutual appreciation society, it isn't. Anything less than total admiration for his efforts was unacceptable it seems. For a forum to function well, as this one does, tolerance of others views is a necessity, the motorcycle guy lacked that tolerance suggesting that this forum was not the place for him.

I

Good effort, but is a kit truly built from scratch?

Along similar lines, I would not call one of these cooking from scratch.

Edited By Chris Pearson 1 on 06/09/2023 15:47:27

Edited By Chris Pearson 1 on 06/09/2023 15:47:38

I suppose it's not about what they put in to the kit, it's about all the bits they left out and what you did to get it to satisfactory completion

Model Locos often have an externally constructed boiler and you just plug everything in and away you go.

...oh no wait a minute...

I think most of these things involve a lot of effort and skills from the builder, but you've really got to do one to get the bigger picture

..spot on..

Thanks for the comment.

Sorry i did not know that about the bike guy.

Steve.

I see your point & no that was a kit. Just as lots of models made by others come with stock & drawings. Thanks.

Steve

Ady you do not have to tell me about building loco's. Many of my friends do just that. My departed friend Randy Blackburn built a lot of steam vehicles. The 2 last ones he did (Foden trucks) took 8 years to complete. Another has just finished a 1/4 scale Burell which took a few years to do. I hold my hat off to those guys who spend there time making the beautiful machines.

Steve.

that's a lovely looking car, it must represent hundreds of hours of work and planning. I modified a mk1 mr2 with a V6 a few years ago, its all of the little things that take so much time, connecting up the heater, ECU wiring, matching the clutch to a gearbox and engine it was never intended to fit, sourcing suitable engine mounts, then there is the brakes, cooling, suspension and so on and on.

Thanks Juddy & yes there is lot to mull over making them.

Steve.

Hats off to you Steve.

Anyone who builds a car from a kit or otherwise is to be admired as when you think you have done 90% there is still 90% still to do. It takes a serious level of determination to get out of a comfy chair in the winter to put the hours in.

I second your comments about VFD's

CS

Thanks for that & thumbs up on your last bit.

Steve.

Steve ,without tarmac layers you wont be able to enjoy driving your great effort,, Just kidding. As people ask me with some of my projects how do you do it , i simply say one day at a time.

Yes very true about Tarmac & building something.

Unfortunately at the time I built that i was working long hrs & if anyone remembers back then the mortgage interest rates shot up to 14%. So I had little spare money. I was going to build a dedicated Chasis with Indipendant all round with wishbones but just had to settle for what i had at hand.

Steve.

I remember 14% mortgages, in fact ours was even higher, we'd worked out how much we could afford and borrowed right up to the limit above which the rate went up even higher. They then, without explaining anything added a years interest which took us over. It was that very cold winter in the early 80s, couldn't understand why the dog kept going upstairs during the day, turned out her water bowl had frozen in the kitchen, she was going up to the loo to get a drink. Yuk, but that's dogs. The snow I kicked off my boots coming in from work was still there next morning, we just heated one room.

Steve, I've watched quite a bit of your video, plainly not just a case of bolting a kit of bits together, a magnum opus in fact. Well worth reporting, might kick me into finishing some of my jobs.

Hi Duncan & thanks for the comments. I actually appreciate your input as you seem to be one of the very intelectual members of the forum. Well i hope you get some of your projects completed. I also remember the very cold & long winters. Always had a blowlamp ready to do a bit of defrosting.

Steve

Hi Steve, It all looks fairly do able until you start to offer up the bits and they don;t QUITE fit ! In my case an MGB engine and overdrive box into an Austin Cambridge estate ! I knewI I would have to make a special prop shaft and the exhaust was different BUT the gear box rear mount was 1.5" futher back and the top of the box was higher so the tunnel had to be raised.

Your clutch problem, SO MUCH FUN when the rest say it CAN'T be done and you say OH YES IT CAN !

All of this was simple compared to your job, I just wanted it to work, it didn;t have to be pretty, what you did was beautiful. So many kit cars never get finished so to see yours was a joy. Best Wishes Noel.

Built this a good few years back, in fact it was why i bought my first lathe a Cromwell 3.5”. Mr Sparey’s book was a well thumbed tome back then.

Kawasaki ZX900 engine, very lightweight car, approx 450kg with 140bhp and an 11,000 rpm redline.

Made my own rear brake set up using Motorcycle disks and homemade alloy bells. And a mechanical paddle shift system with a quickshifter for clutchless up and down shifts.

Had lots of fun with it once finished, did trackdays at most of the British tracks, Harewood Hillclimb, Curborough Sprint, also plenty of drag racing at York Raceway.

Eventually sold it to lovely chap who drove all the way from Hungary with a trailer attached to collect.