Phil’s Kit Car

13th July 2014

I think today is the day I have officially started my project. I’ve bought a donor car for £500 from an eBay seller. It’s a 1997 BMW 323i Coupe and looks far too good to take to pieces.

I’m not sure where the idea of building a kit car came from but I woke up one morning a few months ago and thought …. “I’d like to build a Lotus 7!” …. This came as quite a surprise to me as I don’t think such a thing had ever occurred to me before although a few years ago I found an old picture in a dusty box that contained a few of my old possessions from the late 1960's. Perhaps the idea had always been in my head and the old picture flicked a switch?

Another possible explanation may be that I watched too many episodes of an extremely weird British 1960's TV series in my youth; “The Prisoner”. Most people of my generation will remember the series wherein a bloke is constantly trying to escape from a very strange holiday camp and is recaptured in every single episode by a giant balloon. It all sounds ridiculous now but seemed to make perfect sense in 1967. The bloke’s name was “Number 6" . He was played by Patrick McGoohan and in the opening sequence he drove a Lotus 7.

Anyway, for whatever reason, since this unexpected inspiration popped into my consciousness the idea has stuck. I found myself researching the subject. Over the course of a few months my knowledge base grew from knowing hardly anything about kit cars to believing that I knew enough to commit to building one. Ignorance is bliss. For instance I now know that Lotus 7’s are no longer made but Lotus 7 lookalikes are being made by many manufacturers each with their own interpretation of the original design. Some look like Lotus 7's and some have moved the original concept forward. All are a work of passion and all have their individual merits.

I've grown to like the idea of taking on this project but possibly for all the wrong reasons. For a start, its way out of my comfort zone and will be very challenging. Then there’s the real possibility that I could fail or simply give up. I might even be walking into something way out of my depth on the technical front. On the other hand, my family have generally reacted well to my idea and I’m sure that help will be on hand if required. My dear wife is hedging her bets. She has already renamed my project as “your car thing” in a rather dismissive way as if its just madcap scheme that will cost a lot of money and come to nothing. She’s not actually anti the project yet but I can see things getting a bit uncomfortable when I start to tear a perfectly good BMW apart.

I suppose the real starting point of my project was sweeping the garage floor back in June. I don’t think I would have done that unless I had this project in mind and the catalyst that prompted this labour of love came directly from my research. I've trolled the web for information and by far the most inspirational material out there is the numerous blogs that are kit builders’ “build diaries”. They all start the same way, sweeping the garage floor, so I thought I should do the same.

Seriously though, by reading these diaries I’ve seen how the builders have overcome problems, had doubts and made silly mistakes, just as I expect to do. I also sense that these brave folk are just ordinary souls like me and that there exists camaraderie within the kit car world that offers help and encouragement at times when things are not going so well.

I’ve thought about the best way to lay out my garage and I’ve tried to remember some of the basic mechanical skills I acquired as a teenager working on 1960 something Minis or Ford Prefects.

I have a reasonably good selection of basic tools scattered around the house and garage and one of my first targets is to gather all of these together and arrange them in some sort of orderly manner in the hope that I’ll be able quickly select whatever tool is required without having to crawl under the bed or search through the kitchen cabinets. I’m lucky insomuch as I have an oversize garage, about 28 feet in length and 11 feet in width. It’s watertight, built of block and tacked onto the side of our house. Before I start any mechanical work I will patch up the ceiling and paint everything brilliant white for best light. I also plan to do something with the rough concrete floor, fit some extra strip lights and perhaps a couple of sockets either side of the working area. On the subject of spending money, I’m thinking that the cost of the project will be spread over a reasonably long period of time, hopefully not the rest of my life, and I should be able to save enough to tackle the next phase of expenditure as and when. I’m naturally optimistic and believe that things will work out alright. What will be will be.

Now time for my first rant. Lotus sold the rights of the Lotus 7 to Caterham Cars. Having established that I looked at the Caterham web site. They offer a range of cars and I was really impressed until I saw the price list. Every car was out of my price range. Having said that I don’t know what my price range is at this stage but I do know what it isn’t. This could well have snuffed out my idea before it had properly taken root. While these Caterham cars are undoubtedly highly desirable products they are way, way out of my price bracket and at the time of writing their 620R model cannot be purchased as a kit.

It costs around £50k ex works, and it still relies on Ford Sierra mechanical parts. I don’t live in the South East of England, I don’t work for a bank and I’ve only got £500 to start me off. I prefer it that way, I am looking forward to muddling through the kit car experience, having to be inventive, having to save up and having to work within a budget. I want to experience the highs and lows of the process, the thrill of getting a part looking just right or enduring the pain of frozen hands or chaffed knuckles while working on some filthy oily second hand part on a dark winter night. I want the finished article to be my baby that I will love despite its shortcomings and faults, not a mass produced clone with perfect credentials. I’m a newcomer to the scene and maybe I’m missing something but I can’t help thinking that Caterham have strayed from the simplistic ideal of the Lotus 7 and the shed at the end of the garden.

Luckily I soon discovered that there are plenty of other lesser known manufacturers out there who seem to embrace the original ideal.

Just as I had originally envisaged, most kit cars rely on parts harvested from one or another make of car. In the past these have included the VW Beetle, the Ford Cortina in its various manifestations, the Triumph Herald because it was built on a good old fashioned chassis and most recently the Ford Sierra and Mazda MX5 because they are rear wheel drive and have independent rear suspension. There are, no doubt, endless other donor cars out there and my next task, after sweeping the garage floor, was to identify which would be most suitable for me. The only criteria at this stage was that my donor car should be roadworthy, driveable, useable to more than one kit and carrying a reasonably long MOT.

After some negotiation with my dear wife I was allowed a nominal budget of £500 to acquire it. I know I still had to prepare my garage but I wanted to commit to the project before I lost interest. I’d considered the Mazda MX5 and the Ford Sierra 2.0 DOHC as possible candidates. I thought there would be hundreds of these for sale around the £500 mark but it turned out that they are quite rare, especially Sierras. Looking at other rear wheel drive donors, I was surprised to notice that there is an abundant selection of cheap and cheerful BMW 3 series models available within my budget. Some of these come with 6 cylinder motors. This excited me. Could I create a monster? A straight six mad as a box of frogs speed machine? Could I be young and irresponsible again?

The answer was yes. I spoke to a very helpful and knowledgeable gentleman from GKD Sportscars in Kent. They make a kit car called the Legend and it was designed around BMW running gear. He advised me that six pot BMW engines will fit their chassis and pointed me towards the E36 range of 3 series fitted with the post 1996 M52 alloys engines. The E36 range was made in the 1990’s but the 6 cyl engines changed from M50 specification to M52 specification in the later years of the production cycle. The major difference was that the engine block is heavy iron on the M50 motors and alloy on the M52. The net result is a substantial weight saving that is more suitable for a lightweight kit car and some compensation for my rather large and heavy self.

Around the same time I had some eMail correspondence with Mark Burley from Quantum Cars to ask about the feasibility of 6 pot BMW power in their Xtreme range. I was attracted to the Xtreme because it boasted a stainless steel monocoque chassis, it claimed it was more roomy than average kit car and, based in Devon, it appeared to be one of the nearest kit car manufacturer to my home in Cornwall. Mark came across as an extremely helpful and affable person and he is obviously a mine of knowledge. He offered a BMW solution whereby he would modify his chassis free of charge to accept the engine and gearbox but he warned me that I would still need to use a Sierra differential and Sierra uprights. By this time the sound of the big 6 cylinder motor and the famous BMW badge had already seduced me and with the knowledge I could use at least two kit suppliers I started my search.

So here we are, 13th July 2014 and after several weeks of searching and a great deal of thought I have finally located and acquired what I hope is a suitable car. Taxed and tested for six months and in daily use it was in a classified advert on eBay. The seller had good eBay feedback and his description seemed honest and straightforward. I was especially won over by the very impressive wheels shod with a set of hardly used low profile tyres. I just hope I can carry these over to the kit.

Unfortunately the car was in Cardiff, 200 miles away from home in Cornwall. To an outsider the concept of making a four hundred mile round trip to buy a £500 car would seem a bit daft but I hadn't found anything locally so what the hell. I also reasoned that a 200 mile motorway journey would give me a good chance to identify any mechanical faults. I bought a 24 hour insurance policy online from Ageas Insurance. It cost £27 but was well worth it. I then somehow managed to persuade my wife that an eight hour round trip to pick up a sixteen year old car that might or might not make it home under its own power would be a great way to spend a sunny Sunday. I packed my AA recovery card and we set out. What could possibly go wrong?

Somewhat surprisingly, nothing went wrong. The BMW was happy cruising along the motorway at 70 mph or so. Everything seemed to work. There was no trail of smoke from behind, the exhaust didn't fall off and the car didn't overheat or spontaneously combust. I identified a few faults. There was rough running on tick-over, a transmission whirly noise when the clutch was disengaged. and there was a slap noise from the back end under hard acceleration. Combined with the rough running on tick-over the exhaust fumes had that smell that comes from a petrol engine when the choke is pulled out and left out too long. The brakes were good, the steering was accurate and all the electrics worked. The mileage on the clock was 137,000 and I found a wad of old receipts and MOTs in the glove box going back to 2004 that seemed to partially verify this reading. The 205.3 miles on the trip meter was the journey home.

In the boot I found a full set of BMW tools and the original jack plus a spare wheel that still had the little spiky bits of rubber sticking out, to me this was an indication that it may not have ever been used.

The seller had fitted a new battery a few months before selling the car and to my surprise this also lives in the boot. Upon arriving home I took the road tax off the car and printed off a form from the DVLA website to apply for a refund on the remaining 6 months. I am hoping this will bring in around £100, 20% of the purchase price of the car. I also removed the Sony radio that sported an aux connector for phones or MP3 players. I donated this to my son’s Ford Fiesta.

16th July 2014

During my research I had discovered that the DAX RUSH kit car had been taken over by a company called Fenton Motorsport. I had tracked down their email address and made an enquiry a few days ago. I received a response today that sounds most interesting …..

Hi Philip 

We are just in the last stages of finishing the new BMW chassis design, this chassis will take all the parts from your car even down to the steering column ,wiring loom and ecu, no one as yet got a kit like this on the market they are still using old steering columns from fords, we are also looking at electric power steering as a option too, if you do a little research you will find some of the box chassis that are been offered are bending with the power of the BMW that’s why all our chassis are round tube and have been tested to take 600bhp, I will be in touch early next week with a full price list and options, please visit our Facebook pages M.A.N Motorsport, Dubforce Workshop and Fenton Motorsport and you will see what the new chassis looks like, I hope this as been helpful too. 

Kind regards

Nigel

Nigel Barker

So I looked at the Fenton Motorsport Facebook page and found this picture.

I’ll look forward to receiving more info. I’m encouraged by his assertion that all donor parts can be taken from my BMW but I’m not exactly a small person and I’m worried that I might not fit into such a tiny car.

19th July 2014

I have been doing a bit of research about the difference between the M50 iron block engine fitted to the earlier 325i and the M52 alloy block engine fitted to my 323i. The 323i replaced the 325i. My first thoughts were that the 23 would be 2.3 litre and the 25 would be 2.5 litre. Sounds logical, perhaps the newer engine makes the same power as the older one despite being 200cc smaller. Progress tends to happen that way but I’ve come across a surprise. BMW are very sneaky people. Both engines are the same capacity at 2494 cc but the more modern 323i M52 has less power than the old 325i M50. Its lost 21 bhp even though its more modern and exactly the same cubic capacity. It makes just 168 bhp compared with 189 bhp for the older iron block M50 motor. I decided to find out why.

There are some very useful BMW forums out there on the internet and by trawling through them I have discovered that BMW constricted the M52 engine to reduce its power. There are a few theories why they did this but the most convincing, to me is that the 325i was taking sales away from the 328i because it was so close in power and cubic capacity. By renaming the 325i the 323i and reducing its power it justified the higher cost of the 328i. Very sneaky.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I have discovered that BMW constricted the M52 by fitting a smaller inlet manifold. According to the forums I can easily win back at lost 21bhp by fitting an inlet manifold from the older M50 motor. Can performance tuning really be that simple?

23rd July 2014

It’s been really hot this week so I thought I’d do a bit of night work in the garage. I always stay out late in my taxi on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, often until 4am; so painting a garage floor at midnight on Wednesday is an early finish for me. After much sweeping and scrubbing I have applied a coat of PVA onto the concrete floor at the back end of the garage only. This is where I plan to have my workbench and tool storage. I have an old dining table that I hope to make into a workbench plus a few old filing cabinets for storage. I will also add random shelves made from old kitchen cabinet doors and other bits and pieces I have lying around.

The floor is fairly level but very rough and pitted. I plan to finish it in grey garage floor paint but I’m wondering if I may need to add some kind of levelling compound first in order to achieve a smooth finish.

The rest of the garage still looks a bit of a mess but l have a plan for every single item in there including getting some exercise on my old but trusty pushbike.

My son’s Fiesta has an oil leak so tomorrow, time allowing, we are going to get underneath and try to find out where it’s coming from. I’m hoping it’s a sump plug or badly fitted oil filter. A year ago I would have taken the Fiesta down to the local garage for any kind of work but now that I’m a budding kit car builder I am willing to have a go at anything.

This leads nicely into my second rant. Over the last few years we have had some horrendous garage bills for work on our taxis and on many more than one occasion the work has been sub standard or incompetent.

For instance, we paid over £100 for an inconclusive diagnostics check on a turbo diesel. The computer recommenced all sorts of expensive items including a turbo, a mass air flow sensor and an exhaust gas re-circulation valve. When I got the car home wondering if I should scrap it or throw a small fortune at it I decided to have a look for myself using eyes rather than computers. I couldn't help but notice that there was air coming out of a big rubber pipe that ran across the front of the engine. A quick search on Google revealed that the pipe carried pressurised air from the turbo to the inter-cooler. Further inspection revealed a 3" split. I bought the replacement part from the local dealer and all the problems went away. Perhaps I should use this as a lesson to look for the bloody obvious before letting the car near a garage.

Then we had a scheduled gearbox oil change on a VW Golf with DSG transmission. It cost over £80. The next day my dear wife noticed a pool of oil under the car. A quick inspection revealed that the expensive new gearbox oil was leaking because the mechanic had forgotten to torque up the drain plug.

Then there was Kwik Fit who fitted two new tyres to a Fiat Doblo and forgot to tighten the wheel nuts. Not only that but the fitter left the wheel nut socket on one of the loose nuts. I complained about that one and got a cheque refunding the cost of the tyres in exchange for the socket. I could go on but I would get depressed. From now on, if anyone is going to do a lousy job on my cars it will be me, it’s cheaper that way.

17th August 2014

We’ve had a holiday in Portugal so not much progress. Having said that I downloaded a book via Kindle before we went away and read it from cover to cover twice. “Build Your Own Kit Car” by Steve Hole. Thanks Steve, your book is full of useful information and encouragement and I would recommend it to anyone who may be planning a project like mine. Got cheque for £123 from DVLA for the BMW’s remaining tax. My donor car now owes me £377.