... im new into this area of cars and would like a kick in the right direction...

im looking at spending around £5K, although i can go for more by getting modules (although i would prefer to get everything). What is the best to go for at this range? i want pure speed and driver feedback as this is a definite weekend only car and prob will rarley see the nights even...

also, whats the best donor cars and the like? im in the garage trade and have an ol' vauxhall carlton sitting here spare, is this any good or are all kits based around sierras??

any help is much appreciatted

do a search on martin keenan, or MK engineering, and Indy.

The MK Indy is reportedly a really good 'kit' to start off a locost. I have never heard a bad thing said about it.

Then fit a fireblade engine to it.


Dont bother with a windscreen or any unneccessar stuff. Take a look at Jon Ison's pics to get more of an idea.


atb

Steve



btw - this forum is more about building a car from scratch without a kut at all - the MK design is kinda half way. If you look at full kits in the kit car mags you will see the choices, but going for a full kit built car will trash your 5k and some more.

[Edited on 24/4/03 by stephen_gusterson]

How long's a piece of string?

Not all kits are sierra based, though a lot of the popular ones are due to the availability for the price of old sierra bits that just need a clean up.

For handling I would suggest a seven chassis is fine, very stiff. For speed it depends on how much money you want to spend on an engine.

Personally I wouldn't go for anything over a 2ltr, v6's & v8's are big and heavy. Similar performance could be gained from a bike engine (revy and sound nice) or a tuned 2ltr eg ford duratec 16v, vauxhall xe 16v, toyota 4 age (1.6) or cosworth motor. with big power motors bear in mind what the gearbox and drivetrain can cope with. Most of the above should be possible for 5k.

If its the 2.0 carlton you could easily use the engine, loom and g/box just get a 1off prop made to mate with a sierra diff. I don't think they were fwd were they?

The 2ltr engine in the carlton was a much later vauxhall 2ltr, the ecotec, not the xe, the ecotec produces much less power, around 130bhp I think as opposed to 150bhp as standard on an xe.

The Carlton is rear wheel drive and so the g'box could be used but isn't very commonly done (anyone done it?)
if you feel adventurous and modify the chassis you could probably cut down the prop shaft and use the rear end too!? don't know what measurements on the track etc are like, you would need to modify the uprights, possibly wishbones etc. otherwise buy an adapter plate for £150ish and bolt on a ford type 9 or use a manta gte gbox. SBD is a good place to look for vauxhall engine/gearbox related bits/advice. just a thought...