Hey Guys! First of all I just want to say how awesome this site is, it has been a massive help in both the design and building of my car! Thank you to all I have been in contact with on this forum, however, I would like to make a special mention to John (Wheezer) who massively helped/advised and inspired me with his epic build! - John's SV Clone build
Secondly, I do indeed plan on creating a build log - Im just no good at building a car and writing up a detailed load of posts at the same time
The car is very fresh in its completeltion - passed its IVA TEST two weeks ago, registration documents came through less than a week ago, and I'm currently in South Wales with my wife and the car on holiday. In 4.5 days the car has covered over 700 miles and hasn't missed a beat..... so far - which my wife has been very happy about.
Sooooooooo where did the crazy idea of building one's own car originate from! Well, that medal would have to be awarded to my dad. From the age of 16 my dad has been fiddling around with cars, stripping them down and rebuilding them, engine / transmission transplants...... Alot of messing! Before I was conceived, my mum had an Austin mini which my dad heavily tuned/modified, to the point she was giving Porshes a good run for their money off the lights on her way into work in Leicestershire.....as a nurse!
I grew up watching my dad tinker with cars, when I reached about 10 years old he started making his first Locost - which he designed himself. I would often be about doing whatever I could to help or keep him company. He wasn't all too happy with the finish on his first Locost, so a number of years later he commenced building a second! I was a young teenager by this time and had well and truly caught the petrolhead bug!!
Skip forward again a few years, when I started building my car with the help of my dad, I was 24, had been married to my beautiful wife (Emily) for 4 years and we had secured a 3 bedroom house with a garage - hence the commencing of my project!
My father in law owns a Caterham 7 and I always liked how they look and thought, that's the kind of look/finish I want my car to have, so I asked if I could nab a few measurements and he kindly said yes! I didn't want to buy a kit build as I knew it wouldn't really scratch my itch - I needed to build my own car from the ground up.
Donor of Choice was a 1997 Mk1 1.8 MX5 with 82,000 miles on the clock and 3 months MOT for a bargain exchange of 250 British Gold Coins! I don't want to go into too much detail about the car now as all will be included in the future build log. The chassis was designed by my dad, using some of the measurements taken from the Caterham, the suspension is fully independent, fully adjustable, double wishbone front and rear. Caterham doors, scuttle, windscreen, bonnet, nosescone and wheel arches - because it made my life so much simpler haha! Floor is 2.5mm thick Aluminium (can't remember what Grade, stronger grade than body panelling) bonded and riveted every 50mm. Side and rear skin is 1.2mm 1050 half hard Aluminium. The engine has been tweeked with a little, and is being ran by a Ms2 basic megasquirt. I'm yet to return to the tuners to get a final power figure as things did need to be dialed down a bit to ensure I passed the necessary emmisions tests for the IVA test. Im predicted to be in the 160bhp at the flywheel region.
The car took 3 years to build, start to finish including strip down and clean up of the donor parts. My approach has very much been do it once, do it right! - as best I can anyway. Its not really been a low-cost build, with every part being stripped and rebuilt/refurbished apart from the gearbox. But I knew the kind of build I wanted, and what I wanted the finished product to be so I just went for it.
The biggest thanks has to go out to my dad. This wouldn't have been possible without you and I could never thank you enough for helping me realise this dream!!
Anyhooooooo here's some pics of the car. Hope you enjoy.
My dad's car is the one in the background.
Thanks again to all
Jacob Armstrong