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Hi
I thought you may be interested in my latest monthly article, which i write for Kitcar magazine each month. Hope you can read the tiny writing
I built a Robin Hood S7 and fitted a fully reconditioned Rover V8. I owned it for 4 years and went every where in it. When I came to sell it there was 10,000 miles on the car. I couldn't believe it when a number of people wouldn't buy it because " it had too many miles for a kit car ". What a joke, it was like new and 2500 miles a year for any other car is nothing !
I think you will find a coupe weighs more than a standard Z3 with its roll cage and extra body .
I would guess that all other models weigh about the same as the original car.
Hmmm what about taking the electric motor out for the hood? Surely that saves weight?
Standard Z3 2.8 with tribute 250 coupe kit and standard seats and wheels weighs in at 1190 kg
My personal Z3M with a 250 coupe kit and small leather bucketseats but heavy chrome 17 inch wire wheels weighs in at 1340 kg but has the huge M engine
A standard Z3 2.8 with the convertible 250 kit and standard seats weighs 1221 kg
A Z-3 2.8 with the Cobra kit mounted weighs 1240 kg with 19 inch wheels
A Z3 2.8 with Cobra kit and standard wheels and trim comes in at 1180 kg
Update on the new hubs for the 250 SWB
This is the customers E-type 'curly' hub wheel powdered coated in chrome effect paint and fitted with a period looking tyre.
On Monday evening we are fitting the new hubs to check for clearance.
Allthough the looks are nice, we would NEVER place R rated tyres on a Z-3....
Even the slowest 1.8 is still capable of 120 Mph, while the R rated tyres are good till 105 Mph
In our country it is even an MOT failure to drive with such tyres and in case of an accident you are not insured.
My eyes are struggling to read the tyre but from what I can make out it is 185/80R15 93H, meaning good for 130mph. R in this context stands for Radial as far as I know.
It would be a problem if we were using the Autobahn regularly.
To be honest, there will never be a time on the UK roads where I or my customer will be doing anywhere near 130mph. In fact to make sure everyone sees the cars we tend to drive slower than normal!
Maximum speed would be 90mph which is under the suggested max by 40mph, a pretty substantial safety margin.
The part I like about these tyres is they look like old fashioned crossplies (we used to call them 'crashplies').
Well at last the newly machined, shortened hubs have arrived. This means the wheels fit under the arches (just, on the rear). The spinners however will stick out of the arch.