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Sept 20, 2022 19:01:10 GMT
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What is your budget for doing this?
What country are you in?
Can you legally do this conversion in your country?
I reckon minimum £20,000 plus parts for someone to do it for you - that's if they even know what they are doing............
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16grit
Part of things
Posts: 213
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Sept 20, 2022 20:27:43 GMT
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What is your budget for doing this? What country are you in? Can you legally do this conversion in your country? I reckon minimum £20,000 plus parts for someone to do it for you - that's if they even know what they are doing............ All of the above.
There's paying for someone to do the work for you and paying someone for having had the work done. Sometimes the latter can work.
Maybe your 8 could become a Clio?
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Last Edit: Sept 20, 2022 20:39:42 GMT by 16grit
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alexr8
Part of things
Let's do this!
Posts: 24
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Sept 21, 2022 11:17:04 GMT
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What is your budget for doing this? What country are you in? Can you legally do this conversion in your country? I reckon minimum £20,000 plus parts for someone to do it for you - that's if they even know what they are doing............ Budget is not set in stone. The main consideration is I don't want to throw money at something not worth it. This is why this talk is very valuable to me. I'm in Spain, where the R8 is popular because many were manufactured and sold here by a Spanish company called Fasa. I checked yesterday and you can buy an R18 in good condition for less than a grand. I mean fully roadworthy with current MoT. The answer to the legal aspect, believe it or not, is much more complex than yes or no. The overall situation is very complicated around here, and requires a long answer. By request I'd be happy to elaborate on a separate thread if anyone would like to know. Thanks for the cost estimate, that's really valuable. It's too expensive. Looks like I need a different plan. I'm close to sorting out a nice garage. Maybe I can downgrade this to work I can carry out by myself there, following your great advice (fuel tank relocation, one or two Mecaparts upgrades, etc.) |
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alexr8
Part of things
Let's do this!
Posts: 24
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Sept 21, 2022 11:18:57 GMT
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What is your budget for doing this? What country are you in? Can you legally do this conversion in your country? I reckon minimum £20,000 plus parts for someone to do it for you - that's if they even know what they are doing............ All of the above.
There's paying for someone to do the work for you and paying someone for having had the work done. Sometimes the latter can work.
Maybe your 8 could become a Clio?
For the time being I haven't contacted the company I had in mind for this, so I don0t even know if they'd be willing. They do have extensive engineering experience in the field of competition. I don't think they've done one like I had in mind. Forget the Clio. I'm tired of driving cars with poor looks. For a change I wanted to drive a car that pulls, handles well, and also looks the part. |
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alexr8
Part of things
Let's do this!
Posts: 24
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Sept 21, 2022 11:19:22 GMT
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It's interesting that you seem to think that car configuration plays a role, but only so much. I always thought it was fundamental. For example, I always thought FMR is very difficult to get wrong, but there seems to be consensus that early Speed Six TVRs (pre-Sagaris) were dreadful, which put me off once. Maybe I'm all wrong there.
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Sept 21, 2022 18:07:28 GMT
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Or put the R8 body on a Lotus Europa chassis ( available reproduction). The same R16 engine 16grit suggested, the desired mid engine configuration, very good suspension, and it might even be easier to get it road legal... Wow, interesting!!! Like you said, this seems to tick many boxes already. Noteworthy rework tasks I see: -Shorten the chassis to match the R8 wheelbase. -Sort out a steering rack that suits (connects) both "halves" of the car: the rolling chassis and the car interior column attachment. What else? On the plus side, I would get many things automagically sorted out like gear linkage, pedals, powertrain mounts, engine-gearbox mating, etc. etc. Very nice! There used to be this really nice replica called Banks Europa, is this what you had in mind? I'm not aware of any replica kits lately. No, I didnt mean a kit car, but reproduction parts to repair actual Lotus Europa's with. A quick Google seems to show several. Building it that way wouldnt be cheap, but any kind of production made part ( even if it is low number production) is going to be less expensive than a One-Off fabricated one. Specially if you have to pay somebody to make it for you. ( I guess you could use a Lotus as a donor, which might save some money. But to be honest, that thought makes me cringe a bit ) The difference in wheelbase is ( according to what I found online ) only 67mm. So you can probably get away with using the R8 body on a un modified ( not shortened) chassis, without it looking weird( specially if you go with wide wheels and widened arches/ widebody kit). If you plan to get the work done by somebody else, you need to keep the build as simple as possible. But yeah, like others have said already, what you want ( and how you plan to get there ) will be a big commitment... |
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Sept 21, 2022 18:22:29 GMT
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Wow, interesting!!! Like you said, this seems to tick many boxes already. Noteworthy rework tasks I see: -Shorten the chassis to match the R8 wheelbase. -Sort out a steering rack that suits (connects) both "halves" of the car: the rolling chassis and the car interior column attachment. What else? On the plus side, I would get many things automagically sorted out like gear linkage, pedals, powertrain mounts, engine-gearbox mating, etc. etc. Very nice! There used to be this really nice replica called Banks Europa, is this what you had in mind? I'm not aware of any replica kits lately. No, I didnt mean a kit car, but reproduction parts to repair actual Lotus Europa's with. A quick Google seems to show several. Building it that way wouldnt be cheap, but any kind of production made part ( even if it is low number production) is going to be less expensive than a One-Off fabricated one. Specially if you have to pay somebody to make it for you. ( I guess you could use a Lotus as a donor, which might save some money. But to be honest, that thought makes me cringe a bit ) The difference in wheelbase is ( according to what I found online ) only 67mm. So you can probably get away with using the R8 body on a un modified ( not shortened) chassis, without it looking weird( specially if you go with wide wheels and widened arches/ widebody kit). If you plan to get the work done by somebody else, you need to keep the build as simple as possible. But yeah, like others have said already, what you want ( and how you plan to get there ) will be a big commitment... And also, at some point you may stand back and wonder if you are building a fast Renault or a slow Lotus... |
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alexr8
Part of things
Let's do this!
Posts: 24
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Sept 22, 2022 12:11:05 GMT
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Oh, I see, around 2.5 grand, a chunky backbone, it looks quite nice to me.
I wouldn't use a Lotus as a donor. It'd be a shame and probably not cheaper as soon as it requires any refurb.
I once saw a car with wheelbase mismatch, it looked terrible. But I don't know if the mismatch was as small as you're mentioning for this.
The fast Renault vs. slow Lotus really made me laugh. True, that thing would be a Lotus with added weight in the form of a heavier bodywork.
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Sept 26, 2022 10:27:14 GMT
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not down on the idea. I think it would be a really cool car, and I hope you'll build it. Just make sure you look at it from all angles first...  |
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alexr8
Part of things
Let's do this!
Posts: 24
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Sept 26, 2022 20:50:42 GMT
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Ha ha, don't feel bad about it, you knowledgeable guys have given me a great deal of valuable information and food for thought. I really appreciate all the wisdom you've shared here. Also it's always a joy to share the passion for these things and read different opinions and arguments :-) I'm not entirely put off. Once I have a space, I'll be on the lookout in case a no runner with decent bodywork appears. Then everyone is happy because I've given the poor car yet another opportunity instead of ruining my unmolested ride.
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Last Edit: Sept 26, 2022 20:52:25 GMT by alexr8
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