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i think the kit car industry is quite at the moment anyway, which doesn't help. I'm hoping that all the exi kits out there now will be complete by april so all you builders with your cars will come to our launch to show them all off.
Looking at the viewing figures i sometimes get the feeling there are lots of people visting this forum regularly but not posting or commenting.
Whether they are builders or potential builders we will not know unless they show themselves.
I hope Marlin are selling kits or else they will go bust.
I picked up my Sportster chassis in April 2004 and i'm still not finished so there may be a lot of part built kits out there making slow progress. At that time they were selling one Sportster chassis per month. If that rate carried on there would be about 40 chassis out there which if true would bring a constant business in parts and body panels etc.
Anybody out there lurking want to reveal themselves?
I'm envious of you 5exi builders that can complete your builds in 4 weekends!!
Im hoping to have ours finished in 18months, but thats pushing it, will be machically finished within a year though. Cant wait to drive it with brakes rather than just a handbrake that doesn't work.
Off Topic:
Is anyone going to Trax, &/or Eurofest?
Off Topic:
Is anyone going to Trax, &/or Eurofest?
Nope, but I'm going to the Llandow trackday, and in the absence of a decent track car, I'm just going to provide a mobile chicane with my shopping trolley daily driver.
Off Topic:
Is anyone going to Trax, &/or Eurofest?
I'm hopefully going to Trax. If the weather holds. This is because I was hoping for a track day at Donny. But that's not happening. So was hoping for a little spin at Trax. Hopefully not the 360 degree kind.
well i was hoping to be going to trax this year with our exi,but that was a year ago when we hadn't even got the kit, so a lot has changed since then. Next year after easter I should hopefully be at many shows, would be good to have a get together at such events and even have a club stand etc
i have hardly taken mine out this year grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
if poss i will go to the llandow trackday so i hope to meet more 5exi owners then.
there are a lot of cars "nearly" finished...
In April 2006 I went to Castle Coombe open day. The car attracted a lot of attention then. I hope in April 2008 I can persuade you all to attend for us to go on track together. I am confident it will raise the profile of the car.
The marlin racing efforts are also important. I hope to attend the next race with video camera and record the latest efforts. I'll post them up when done!
If Marlin are having a bad time sales wise, i dont thinkl there alone. Maybe next year will be better if we see the sun for more than a few days at a time.
I hope in April 2008 I can persuade you all to attend for us to go on track together. I
John, I'm not too far from you, and the moment I'm confident my car is okay for the track, it'll be on it whenever time and money permits. My first "track" day will be on an airfield (such as Keevil or Hullavington) so I can spin in relative safety, then I'll put it around Combe.
Having only done 3 track days, 1 in an s2000, and 2 in a Golf, I need to hone my skills a bit first! I've been around Combe, and reckon it could bite fairly hard if the car or driver aren't up to scratch.
I'm working as hard as I can on my car, so hopefully a track day isn't too far away!
Thanks Ex-Biker.It's me.I have been to see Mark last Friday at the factory.They are in the process of moving and has told me of a 12 week delivery on a car.I am in no rush as to sorting the car,as I can't clear the mortgage until summer next year.I am going to sort the donors I need in the meantime,which will be a type R car.My mum has the perfect donor,but sadly she loves her Type R too much to see me dismantle it.I have looked for the pdf's for parts lists and can't seem to find them.I need to know what the pricelists are to allow the wife to breath over it and I need the donor parts list.I have a friend in the buisness,who is looking for a Rover 200 at the moment,so hopefully be starting soon.[QUOTE=Ex-Biker;8491]I haven't heard of any new owners.
There was a prospect asking on PistonHeads last week. I was expecting him to introduce himself on here.
Welcome, fellow new-comer. Sounds like there will be a few of us starting builds over the next few months.
Tempted as I was by the type-R engine option I suspect I will build with a 1.6k series to start with from a donor to keep costs down. May plan to change it later for something a bit more powerful. Has anyone else changed engines at all yet how easy is it to go from say a 1.6k to a 1.8VVC?
I have just finished building the 16K, it goes quoite well, I too have considerd a more powerful engine at some time, but well, got to think of the financials. If you want an 18VVC, I would suggest you explore that at first.
It'd be interesting to see how predicted budgets align with actual spend. I know Craig is well through the £20k barrier, and I'm not far from it. If someone were to suggest the type-r is 50% more expensive than the roer k-series option, I wouldn't be surprised one bit - there are lots of bits and bobs required to make a (hopefully in my case!) decent job of the type-r which even with the best planning you'll not include for.
I would suggest go have a ride in each (type r, T series turbo, 1.6 VTEC and 1.6 K) before you decide. There is enough of us about now to give you a choice (well maybe not enough type r's & 1.6 VTEC on the road to try). Put your location on your profiles and see who's the closest. And try each.
I went for the turbo. What a pain in the arse for a newby. But worth while once finished.
Heres's a list from the conclusions I've seen.
1.6 K series - Easy build. Nice and fast.
1.6 VTEC - Not tried so can't comment.
2.0 turbo and Type R - Pain in the arse and costs more for all the "extra" bits. Plant the thottle, and it's even more fun to drive.
Speaking to Marlin. Comparing the 1.6 K V Turbo on the track. 1.6 K would lose on the straight. But on the corners, the K would gain due to the weight of the engine.
Marlins choice is the 1.6 VTEC. Not sure how much and complecated the 1.6 VTEC is compared though.
Sadly on the budget side of things I cant really compair as we have decided to spend the extra money to develop parts of the car, so its not standard by no means and wont be much like an exi when finished.(depends how hard you look).
When we placed the order a year ago, we were racing the the 750mc with a Honda B16 with twin 40 webers, after already collecting the kit, 2 days later Mark metioned that he was moving to the castle combe championship, so once we found out that the exi was going to be slow in class then we decided to change a load of things, biggest one was the engine from b16 to the k20, huge price difference but is well worth it if you can afford to. As we then went for more power, Mark @ Marlin was adiment that the driveshafts would not go straight with the engine still being foward, we poved him wrong., But over the year that we have been building the car within 3 months of saying yes we will order it, we had doubled our budget.
What ever you plan on spending add 5 Grand to it as new bits and piece come out and you then want the latest gadget to be fited to the car. Even though ours is a race car it is still going to be finished off as if it was going on the road, saving costs where we can but as we have spent so much already doing it the way we have, then we are going to stick with it untill this one is finsihed.
If we end up building a second car then it will be probably the most expensive exi built, with costings estimated at 35K but that is down to us (well me) wanting the best money can buy.
If i was any builder Honda K20 is the way to go, but build it to take a supercharger, (pm me if interested in any of our development work, i.e Honda runing gear & Body etc)
