More About the Build

About the Build: In my first post I talked about Kit Cars and Locost Builds. I'm certainly not a locost builder, at least not this time around. With so little experience on hand, I wouldn't even know where to start to find the courage to do a full build, from welding the frame to a finished product. Instead, I chose to go the Kit Car way. I scoured the internet for build diaries of other builders, for manufacturers of kit cars, and for reviews of manufacturers. What I found was this: There are a ton of options and a ton of price ranges, but there are no manufacturers in the U.S. Instead, we here in the states need to rely on importers from whom to purchase the kits. That reduced my options considerably.

I seriously looked at three manufacturer / importers:

1) MK Sports Cars (UK) -- SmartSportsCars (U.S.)

2) Westfield Sports Cars (UK) -- Manick Technologies (U.S.) -- Flyin Miata (U.S.)

3) Brunton Auto (U.S)

Of the 3, Brunton Auto is the only all U.S. manufacturer / builder of this style car, theirs is the Stalker V6. This car supposedly an amazingly powerful car with a build quality to suit. However, they focus on a bigger V6 engine which adds more weight and can make the build a little tougher, especially for a builder that doesn't have all the proper gear for working with such a big engine. They also seem to focus on racing, at least from my brief interactions with them. However, they are reasonably priced, seem to be good quality (from reviews) and should not be discounted if you're looking for a high performance 7-inspired car.

Westfield Sports Cars has two distinct distributors in the U.S. I believe they may be the same company, but their products are at least distinct. Manick produces some high quality racy cars that use many different types of options, including a Bike Engined Car (BEC) that uses the massively powerful Hyabusa Motorcycle engine. Apparently this car, likes its donor parent motorcycle, can rip the wheels of the competition. You do pay for it, though. Flyin Miata builds their car around a miata donor and offers a standard kit, or a 100% complete kit, with everything included to build the car. For a builder with money to burn and who doesn't want to dig around a junk yard or ebay, this should be seriously considered. Their cars are lightweight and super powerful.

Finally, MK Sports Cars creates the MK Indy. Their importer is SmartSports Cars, in Florida. The car they produce is based around the Ford Sierra as a donor, but the sierra is only found in the U.K. and thus a difficult car to source from in the States. The guys at Smart Sports Cars (Paul and Alan) recommend a BEC set-up, using any number of super bike motorcycle engines. They fully support this method with all of the required custom components available for purchase a-la-carte. The kit is a pretty standard kit including the frame and chassis, basic building components such as brake lines, brakes, suspension, and much more. They can put together a package that is as complete as you like it and seem to be very flexibile.

The idea of building a BEC appealed to me from the start. For one, they are quick and light! The power to weight of a bike engine cannot be outdone, and even when its on a 1000lb car, it still screams. It might not be the best city driver due to its high rev requirement, but once on the rural roads, highways, or racetrack, they seem tough to beat. For the builder, the engine is pretty compact and complex, but its lightweight (~120lbs) makes it easier to work with than larger car engines. Some obvious downfalls exist, for one the clutch / transmission are pretty light for a car and need some basic upgrades. Also, in many bikes there is no reverse! Depending on where you live, this could be an issue getting the car registered. Several (pricey) solutions have been created in the form of Reverse gearboxes that integrate into the propshaft, but these reportedly leak oil, are heavy, and as already mentioned, pricey. Some people have used fully electric motors for their reverse, which they hook into the drivetrain. I'm not too familiar with this. For me, I decided I could work around these pitfalls. Ask me in a year if I made a good choice!

The verdict:

If you haven't figured it out by the blog title, I decided to go with MK Sports Cars and their MK Indy. The decision came down to my experiences so far with the guys at Smart Sports Cars. They are super responsive and willing to help, have answered every one of my questions so far without a sense or urgency or irritation, and have helped me to choose exactly what I need to purchase in order to be a successful builder. In my case, with my experience level to think about and my available time, I decided to purchase a "rolling chassis" from Smartsports cars. The chassis is their Indy R "race" chassis. This is a bit stiffer and is designed for racing as well as street use. Included in the kit will be the chassis prebuilt with the floor, steering column, suspension and brake system installed. I know some builders with scoffe at this, telling me I took the easy way out, but if that's the case, then so be it. My primary goal for my first build, as mentioned previously, is to learn about cars, to enjoy the build, and to be successful in the build. At 25, I've no reason to believe that this will be my last car build, especially if I enjoy it. To some this may be the "easy way out", but to me, it's simply the smartest way to go. Thanks guys at SmartSportsCars!

Final Thoughts:

A very important aspect of the build to think about is the Build Manual that comes with the Kit. Several companies offer true step-by-step instructions. Manick's Hyabusa build kit comes with a superb manual that I've read through. I've heard Brunton's is pretty good as well. MK's however, is fairly abyssmal. They have some good information, but for the most part it is somewhat non-specific and what is specific relates *specifically* to the Sierra for Donor. For someone building in the U.S., this is obviously not of much use. When I first started looking at buliding a car, I was scared out of my wits to do this build without much of a manual. However, since then (a short 5 weeks ago..ha, I guess I just jumped into it, many builders spend a year or more before pulling the trigger and making the decision to build a car) I've done a huge amount of reading. I've scoured the blogs and the build diaries, found as many manufacturer build manuals as possible, purchased several books on building kit cars and locosts, and I've downloaded service manuals and the Haynes build manual on the Yamaha R1 Motorcycle (my engine of choice is the 2006 Yamaha R1). After reading and reading and reading, I've become much more confident withe prospects of this build, even with such an "abyssmal" manual. I should also not forgot to mention, again, the available of the guys at SmartSports cars to answer questions as needed. They will be my build manual when I just can't figure out. And they should know, as they've already built at least one identical car to the one I'm building. (See photo at top). So, be leary of a bad build manual, but don't let it get in the way of making a smart purchase.