Another Newbie

[gunner]

Good evening guys/gals, newbie checking in... currently active looking for a 7's style kit, thought I would gain some valuable info from a forum like this. Run Subaru's for the last few years but bored with the Japanese stuff now and wanted summit different, from the Dorset area and look forward to trawling some posts..

[greenwoo]

there's plenty of info available through the collective on here, whether its valuable......

This topic comes up fromtime to time and allows us to put our thinking hats on.
Do you have a make of kit in mind, budget in mind and most importantly what do you anticipate using the car for? ( yeah i know, you want to drive it)....but road?track days? a bumble down to the pub or racking up miles 'in a sporty way'

To kick off, i'd say that in many ways mileage is the opposite way round when buying a kit. Its personal choice, but i'd rather buy a kit that has done miles rather than one that runs to the MOT station once a year....that way you have a clue that it does what it says on the tin.

There's loads beyond that, but the 2nd biggest IMHO, is work out what you want in terms of spec, which somes down really to what you want the car for - and then if need be, pull out the stops to get the spec you'd wan from the beginning.
Upgrading these things is 'all part of the fun', BUT extras cost ...even something as simple as getting a decent tonneau could set you back £400+, or swapping seats out might be a net £300.....some 'extras' might not feature on your radar, but some could make the ownership more enjoyable from day 1 ( tonneau, bigger fuel tank etc).

Anyway, if you have specific questions ask away....
nice part of the world you're in.....we've had a few runs to that general area - Compton Abbas airfield and surrounds....reminds me that we havent ventured down there in a while.
Mark

[b33fy]

Welcome, as Mark says loads to choose from, bike engines, through to zetecs/duratecs, Mazda, Honda or V8’s, depends what you fancy, show and shine or use and abuse.. and budget of course. Lots of variation here so loads of info knocking about.

[gunner]

Thanks mate, yeah need to get up to speed on kit info , do like a track day, so suspension set up/ brakes etc are on the agenda although anything can be upgraded to suit.
Insurance was a big draw to kits for me as the costs are low (compared to Jap anyway)

[Nash]

Hi fella and welcome to the club. Do you want to build a car or are you more interested in driving it? Reason I ask is getting a car through IVA takes longer than expected and in some cases it’s better to buy a already build and correctly registered car then set about making it your own then starting from scratch?!

[locost220]

Welcome to the club, as well as the wise words from others there is always the opportunity to come along to the weekly run out and check out the kits and maybe hop in as a passenger to get a real feel for it, including what type seats, dash engine might appeal.
Rich.

[Crunchie Gears]

Hi welcome to the club and there are some members more Westerly than others and so we are likely to meet if you fancy a run.

I think you will like trackdays in a kit car with no driver aids and plenty of performance.

[gunner]

Thanks for the welcome guy's, not interested in a self build as to time consuming for me, would rather buy a tested/passed car and put my mark on it, a bike engine car would probably thrill the most due to the mental acceleration and I like the idea of a sequential, most seem to run a pinto in car engine guise around the £5/6k mark of my budget but Surely these are a bit long in the tooth?? Best start a proper post in the appropriate section to get some input.

[David T]

Welcome.

As far as upgrades go, probably not similar to tin tops where you go for suspension, weight saving etc. With kit car much of this is there from the start, so, as others mention more likely to be seats, lights, cage, carbs to EFI and so on. As Mark has said previously probably best to buy the car you will inevitably want, ie cost of Pinto car plus Zetec upgrade mostly like far greater than cost of buying Zetec car in first place.

Try and meet up on one of the organised runs. I'm sure there's plenty of people happy to give a passenger ride and this will help greatly in understanding what the options are and what you'd prefer.