Well, erm, this seems as good as place as any seeing as this is where I'm stuck at. The first leg! Always wanted to build a car from scratch, the lot and reading up I reckon I'd best start with me engine. Stuck already though. BEC or CEC? Always been into cars more, though I do have a bike, but the lure of the BEC and its acceleration is pulling me one way but still alls I ever wanted was a tuned car engine. (XE possibly?) Decisions, decisions.Typed in CEC Vs BEC and well, I need say no more! Stand by for loads of newbie questions and accept my apologies already if they've been repeated but for the last 3 days I've been searching the forum for advice so I'll try and keep them down. Now, onwards BEC or CEC???

Welcome, I am sure most of your questions will be answered on here.
As for choice, BEC but I am biased.
Steve.

[Edited on 18/8/06 by stevec]

Hi and welcome

If i were you i would go out in both and see what you feel is best for you. BEC's although mega quick are not ideal when driving in normal traffic and CEC's are not as quick as BEC's unless you spend loads!!

Try before you buy!!

Good luck

Yeah would love a quick 'try before I buy' so to speak so I'm on the look out for someone up here who might help me out or any meets/shows so's I can have a good butchers. Gonna stick with road use though would like summat a bit special, summat to rival some of the usual mob. On goes the search but I'm bursting to start!

i borrowed a mates caterham for a few hours and that was enough to convince me to build a full bodied car which my bec and cec are. if you have a bike too you might end up with both on the drive doing nothing if the weather is crap i dont think anyone will try and defend the sevens weather gear

Yeah, the weather here's never great. Speaking of drive's, mines sloped down to the garage and if a BEC don't have reverse I can see myself one day just turning onto it and being instantly up the brown creek

there are a couple of places which hire out westy,s and caterhams by the day, could be worth the money if the driving experience isnt what your after. you do tend to see lots of freshly built cars for sale and i often wonder why you would want to sell something so soon after its built? the thing that drove me mad about having a bike was the weather and its the same with a seven

A V6 would be nice .... but then I'm biased Also went for a full bodied CEC car due to our inclement weather and I want to use mine as a daily driver.

A V6 would be great but I'm thinking of either a Vauhall XE if I can find a decent one or some bike engine possibly a Kwak. Pro's and cons, pro's and cons but I would love to sit at the lights and p1ss all over, well summat decent. A scooby or am I aiming too high? Not too high I think for some of them.

If your gonna do a V6 you may aswell shove in a V8!!! Much yummyer

A V8. Imagine just sitting listening to that burbling power but then imagine paying for the fuel and all that. Would be fantastic but not this time I think, just wouldn't have that sharpness I think, that kick in the arris!

if you check out this thread there is a few bolton boys on there who i am sure will be happy to show you there cars,

http://locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=49993

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p1ss all over, well summat decent. A scooby or am I aiming too high? Not too high I think for some of them

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Thats it, that surprise when people see a non modern looking car and try their luck. 7000 off the line, so I take it yours is BEC then? Not familiar with the Indy Bird yet though I'm off to look now.

Thanks for the link ABoardman, never realised there were so many 7's up here never really seen them mind I've only been back here about 2 months after 6 years in Scotland at her majesty's pleasure so to speak. RAF that is, not clink!

Yup, mine's an Indy with the Blackbird bike engine. Very quick indeed! Can be a bit tiring if you have to go near motorways, but otherwise damn great fun. You'll find that a lot off the car names tell you what engine they have, if they're BECs. Ie
Bird = Blackbird
Blade = Fireblade etc etc.

hi mate, have a go in a bec before you ake a decision! and don't listen to chris mason!!!!!!!!lolol

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don't listen to chris mason!

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Aww no come on fellas I'm having a real hard time deciding as it is. Bike engines are pretty expensive in comparison but dare I say it a little easier in the construction than a bulky car engine, but, I just dunno

just to make things harder but clearer, bike engines do not have to be expensive. Get a zx9 or fireblade engine, £300 ish, then its just 50 for your sprocket adapter. You obviously need a prop and an exhaust, but car engines need them too!

Eh? Really? Is the performance good on the 900's then?

That's the size (roughly) of a blade! It's only the bird, hayabusa and zx-12 that are bigger and used regularly. Although I've probably missed an engine or two there.

The XE is an excellent choice, as much power as you'd ever realisticly need for a road going 7, and torque to match. Bellhousings to mate to the Ford 5 speed box are readily available, as are a multitude of aftermarket tuning parts if you feel the need.

It's only real downside is that it's a little on the heavy side

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