advise wanted on mid-engine kitcar

[phbaars]

I want to build a Lamborghini Diablo replica, but with a single donor car to keep the budget low. What would be a better choice, a Jaguar or Corvette donor?
Any suggestions are welcome.

[steve_D]

Sorry have to say this.
If you cannot afford to build it to a highish spec then please don't start.
You, and all who see it, will be disapointed and all the hard work will not have been worth it.
Sorry
Steve

[dangerrous]

phbaars said:

I want to build a Lamborghini Diablo replica, but with a single donor car to keep the budget low. What would be a better choice, a Jaguar or Corvette donor? Any suggestions are welcome.

typical engine fit will dictate a corvette, but since we're not in america I would suggest a jag, you can get a respectable donor for a couple of hundred quid, not sure about the netherlands! The jag has a good suspension set up and a reasonable engine, the corvette has the 5,7 LS1 v8. I read a five page indepth report on the LS1, its a basic well built light engine produced in just about every chevy car and truck, it has a distinct after market improvements following. It was developed as a proven bullet proof powerplant, just remember that America don't really produce fast efficient engines- their stringent emmision laws don't give them the freedom like the japenese and europeans, a german v8 is an option.
Remember the limit is dictated by your own imagination and the kit manufacturers set up, they will let you know a particular favourite.
report link-Can't remember specific link but it was down to a 'corvette LS1' search resulting in a town's owners club, I think they quoted themselves as the largest owners club in America
rgds
Dangerrous
ps just caught steved's reply, he's got a point, parallel designs quote £30,000 for you to build their kit, nice car though

>> Edited by dangerrous on Sunday 6th June 22:21

[phbaars]

steve_D said:

Sorry have to say this. If you cannot afford to build it to a highish spec then please don't start. You, and all who see it, will be disapointed and all the hard work will not have been worth it. Sorry Steve

Thanks for your reply steve_D. It is not realy the costs that I am concerned of, but the availability of the parts. My preferred kit sofar is the NAERC see www.naerc.com. But this kit uses parts from several American cars that you do not see in Europe. Life could be easyer.
Cheers Paul

[jgmadkit]

A favourite over in America seems to be Pontiac Fiero body conversions.

I havn't even finished the list yet but clicking here

www.kitcarusa.com/kit_cars_search.php?donor=pontiac&production=true

shows several diablo kits based on the Fiero (There's gonna be more as I havn't finished the site yet). That's about as 1 car donor as you're going to get.

Getting a Fiero over here isn't a problem, the kit on the other hand could be but nothing that can't be solved. An excuse for a holiday maybe!!

John

www.madabout-kitcars.com and now www.KitcarUSA.com

[andycanam]

steve_D said:

Sorry have to say this. If you cannot afford to build it to a highish spec then please don't start. You, and all who see it, will be disapointed and all the hard work will not have been worth it. Sorry Steve

Steve
This is a bit harsh.... as long as you don't cost cut in various odvious places like body finish etc. then there is no real why you can't build a low spec one and upgrade as funds allow.

Is there a single donor diablo kit available in the UK.... I know there are loads in the US but you need to be very careful.... maybe try:

[url]www.kitcentral.com/pn/html/index.php[/url]

andy

[KITT]

andycanam said:

This is a bit harsh.... as long as you don't cost cut in various odvious places like body finish etc. then there is no real why you can't build a low spec one and upgrade as funds allow.

True, but a Pinto engined Cobra (for example) is just not on! You can't have something looking fantastic and not be able to perform in the way it looks suggest.

[FlossyThePig]

KITT said:

andycanam said: This is a bit harsh.... as long as you don't cost cut in various odvious places like body finish etc. then there is no real why you can't build a low spec one and upgrade as funds allow. True, but a Pinto engined Cobra (for example) is just not on! You can't have something looking fantastic and not be able to perform in the way it looks suggest.

Why not? What's wrong with the fur coat and no knickers attitude in life?

There are some very convincing copies out there but at the end of the day that is all they are, copies. Sometimes people spend more money creating their replica than it would cost to buy the real thing.

Ken Atwell built his first GT40 replica using a Pinto engine. If you want to build a replica on the cheap you must possess expensive engineering skills to compensate.

[peetbee]

KITT said:

True, but a Pinto engined Cobra (for example) is just not on! You can't have something looking fantastic and not be able to perform in the way it looks suggest.

I know of one person who's built your example for insurance reasons as well as to save money on the build. His plan is to upgrade after a few years once finances allow.

I would say that engine and interior are two areas where you can save money but are relatively straight forward to upgrade at later stages (in other words I agree with Andy!)

>> Edited by peetbee on Monday 7th June 15:28

[andycanam]

KITT said:

True, but a Pinto engined Cobra (for example) is just not on! You can't have something looking fantastic and not be able to perform in the way it looks suggest.

It'd still beat most of the hot hatch brigade and be peanuts to insure, so why not....
would you give more cred to the 17yr old driving a pinto engined cobra than the 17yr old with a kit'd up 1.1 nova.

And if you really get stuck you can pick up V8's for not a lot..... I saw a running rover V8 twin turbo go for 1k on ebay the other day.........

Might also want to do some digging around here as well.

www.lamboreplica.co.uk/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi

>> Edited by andycanam on Monday 7th June 18:52