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[Nick W]

This isn't a new project because it's been abandoned in a friend's garden for many years.


I've resurrected after several conversations with friends about building a Locost type car for something to do for little cash. The snag is that I'm not really a sportscar fan.



My original plan was to build a four cylinder hotrod using Sierra parts out of this:





I have the chassis, all four wings, the grille shell and bonnet tops. The £150 I paid for all of this over twenty years ago also included the doors(which were unusable below the colour split) but I've lost them somewhere along the line. That's annoying but not a huge problem. It's all very rusty, but is still saveable.


This is a tiny car; 2300mm wheelbase, and is only 1400mm across the wings.


I don't have vehicular access to the bottom of my garden, but I reckon we can lift that body over two of my neighbours' fences, and everything else can be carried up the alley. This makes building it at home feasible.


I have NO budget at the moment, but there is work I can do for 'nothing'


I realised a long time ago that I don't like lots of power, and there's no room to fit it if I did. The more we talked about it, the more I realised that some out of the box thinking would allow the use of certain parts in stock instead of having to buy lots of expensive stuff. Originally I'd have used Cortina front uprights(which I did have) but they're now at least £150 a pair, or some of the aftermarket kitcar equivalents nut that's a good way of spending nearly £500. I still have a Capri axle which could be narrowed to suit, but it is missing the brakes(there's easily £150 there) needs a rebuild and would have to be hung on a really short four link.


Doing Richard's front wheel bearings last month I realised that the Metro/MGF front suspension is basically a double wishbone that works well in small light cars. All it would take is the fabrication of new wishbones copying their geometry using the spare parts I already have. Fabricated steering arms will be needed to attach to a Capri rack I have. I want it on small 14 and 15" wheels, so that's easily accommodated. Then I realised that building rear uprights and wishbones for an IRS using the same hubs, bearings and brakes could be done for about £150 all in. Plus the diff. I'm thinking Freelander for that as it matches the other components, is cheap, easy to mount and is available with usefully tall ratios.


Richard has a k-series that is surplus to requirements, which only needs to be collected. It's small, light, makes 120hp, comes complete with decent management and is free. It will need a RWD gearbox; MX5 or Omega are the current choices. Either will require a custom adapter plate, but that's easy enough. I was surprised how big the Mazda box is, an Omega would be easier to fit, but the clutch plate will probably need to be custom.


Which led to this virtual mockup in Fusion 360





Which is to be made from 100x40 and 40x40 box section and various laser cut flat parts. That's the third iteration so far, and is intended to be easy to build on a flat surface. Some of it, particularly the actual height off the ground is dependent on a physical mockup with the 5.5x14" front wheels(stock MGF spares and will be scrounged) and 6x15" rears which will probably involve fitting some of those centres in other  rims.


I'm also thinking that Hydragas displacers(which we have) could be used in place of the usual coilovers. Those are the gold cylinders in the picture. That will save a considerable amount of cash too. I do need to fiddle about with the suspension geometry, but that's easy enough in CAD




I currently have no money to spend on this, but if I can get the body and chassis in the garden, I can square up and repair the body as a start. It needs both sills replaced, the structural wood is rotten and will be replaced with steel, there's a big dent in the rear C-post and there's lots of other rot to repair. That's just work and £20 of steel.


The car is intended to be fully legal - there isn't enough to use a log book even if I had one - so an IVA test is required, and properly finished as I can't stand the rat-rod 'style'. It will be painted black and blue as you see in the picture.


Should have mentioned that it's a 1936 Morris 8.

[VXL V6]

Looks an interesting project 

[Rangie]

A lot of work , but the end result could look great good luck with it.

[BlackieNo1]

What a cool sounding project!

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

120bhp in that will be more than plenty. Should be a cracking little car when its done. 

[Nick W]

120bhp in that will be more than plenty. Should be a cracking little car when its done. 

If I'm honest the 75hp 8v 1400 would probably be enough if I could find a suitable gearbox, although the 16v inlets are much more suitable for an engine bay that's barely 600mm wide. The proposed engine is free, and will do for mock up and designing the gearbox adapter if nothing else. Having more power makes the gear ratios a bit less critical. What I don't want is a low geared, close ratio 'box, because they're horrible to drive.


I suspect the car will weigh less than 800kg; lighter than a Metro. I'll be using other Metro parts not previously mentioned


Fusion suggests the bare frame is currently 85kg, the engine is about 110dressed, gearbox(the Omega dimensions, mounting and remote gearlever are edging it in front of a Mazda one) is about 40 and a diff is going to be similar. Add the suspension, wheels and brakes and I'm looking at about 350kg for all of the mechanicals. The body is entirely single skinned, and even with extra structure and welded in floor/bulkhead will still be manageable for two people to move.

[Nick W]

Somewhere in there is the original frame. It's only really of use to hold the body for repairs. It's not strong enough for the independent  suspension(it used 4 parallel leaf springs), isn't boxed and is rusted through in several places.


This shows how narrow the car is: 600mm across the bottom of the bulkhead, and 940 just in front of the rear wings.







Perhaps a better view of the proposed chassis:





it's unlikely to change much in appearance, but things like wishbone pickups are going to move about to provide better geometry, there's far too much camber gain at the back for instance. And the top wishbone needs to be narrower to allow for the displacer.

[Sir Tigger KC]

I don't have vehicular access to the bottom of my garden, but I reckon we can lift that body over two of my neighbours' fences, and everything else can be carried up the alley. This makes building it at home feasible.

How will you get it back over the fences when it's built?     

[Andy H]

I don't have vehicular access to the bottom of my garden, but I reckon we can lift that body over two of my neighbours' fences, and everything else can be carried up the alley. This makes building it at home feasible.

How will you get it back over the fences when it's built?     

[Nick W]

I don't have vehicular access to the bottom of my garden, but I reckon we can lift that body over two of my neighbours' fences, and everything else can be carried up the alley. This makes building it at home feasible.

How will you get it back over the fences when it's built? 

In pieces, the same way it went in. One of the many reasons for building a small, light car.
Final paint is about the only job I would want to do elsewhere.

[Nick W]

How will you get it back over the fences when it's built? 

Not an option due to lack of access.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Would a Hayabusa engine be suitable?

Plenty around.

[Nick W]

Would a Hayabusa engine be suitable?

Plenty around.

I want a usable, comfortable, relatively quiet road car. Bike engines do not provide that in any way. There are huge compromises necessary to get one in the car too. The Rover would be at the top of my list even if it wasn't free: it's small, short, light, powerful and torquey enough(a 16v 1400 would be plenty), and easily wired using totally stock management. The only real downside is the lack of a native RWD gearbox. I considered others, especially the MX5 and an Ecotec. MX5 puts the exhaust on the driver's side which really isn't ideal, and the Ecotec is bigger than I'd like.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Would a Hayabusa engine be suitable?

Plenty around.

I want a usable, comfortable, relatively quiet road car. Bike engines do not provide that in any way. There are huge compromises necessary to get one in the car too. The Rover would be at the top of my list even if it wasn't free: it's small, short, light, powerful and torquey enough(a 16v 1400 would be plenty), and easily wired using totally stock management. The only real downside is the lack of a native RWD gearbox. I considered others, especially the MX5 and an Ecotec. MX5 puts the exhaust on the driver's side which really isn't ideal, and the Ecotec is bigger than I'd like.

Hmmmm......perhaps you have a point.

Would the 8 litre V10 from a Dodge Viper suffice?

[Nick W]

Would a Hayabusa engine be suitable?

Plenty around.

I want a usable, comfortable, relatively quiet road car. Bike engines do not provide that in any way. There are huge compromises necessary to get one in the car too. The Rover would be at the top of my list even if it wasn't free: it's small, short, light, powerful and torquey enough(a 16v 1400 would be plenty), and easily wired using totally stock management. The only real downside is the lack of a native RWD gearbox. I considered others, especially the MX5 and an Ecotec. MX5 puts the exhaust on the driver's side which really isn't ideal, and the Ecotec is bigger than I'd like.

Hmmmm......perhaps you have a point.

Would the 8 litre V10 from a Dodge Viper suffice?

If I wanted anywhere from 300 to 1500hp I'd use an LS, adding turbos to bigger capacities as necessary. 750hp is a single turbo on a mildly cammed 5.3 truck motor....

[BazaJT]

cars such as this and the Austin 7 really were "cosy" weren't they? Looking forward to how this develops and the end result too

[Nick W]

cars such as this and the Austin 7 really were "cosy" weren't they? Looking forward to how this develops and the end result too

You could say that, with a 25mm clearance around a guestimated gearbox, the footwell is 162mm wide:





and this also shows why a short engine and narrow gearbox are important requirements:





although the engine could go back a bit, here it will give enough room for the stock throttle body - it's over the gearbox - and allow use of a stock Metro/MGF pedal box/master cylinder/servo(if I bother) arrangement.


I do need better measurements of the engine and gearbox, but those just a couple of trips to friends cars....


There were four door versions of this body, and they weren't any longer

[Doctor Gollum]

Would it take a rotary engine?

Alternatively, a small Pinto

[Kevin Wood]

Alternatively, a small Pinto

They're all huge externally. And heavy. A k series would suit that car so much better.

Rotary is an interesting question, but he did say quiet...

[Nick W]

Would it take a rotary engine?

Alternatively, a small Pinto

How does a Wankel(they're not rotaries, which are obsolete aero engines) make for a cheap, drivable car Gearbox is big too. Be interesting to try one in a Seven type car though.


I was going to use a Pinto, T9 and Sierra diff/driveshafts/hubs/brakes when I got the 'car' 20+ years ago. But that was when a 2.0i Sierra/Granada was <£100. And I already had some of the bits. Now a knackered Pinto is at least £500, and you won't find a similar gearbox for under £250. Even a pile of injection parts in a box is £100(there's such a box next to all the spare Metro/MGF parts ). Pintos, which I like a lot, aren't small! They're long, tall and heavy. T9s are pretty underwhelming, and only really make sense if they come attached to the engine. I would spend £2k on the drivetrain without even trying. Current indications are that I could have a rolling chassis with the large mechanical parts for £1000.

Other requirements:
It's got to run unmodified management. That starts to rule out later engines, although cost does that too.

Exhaust on the passenger side is a big plus.

An adapter to fit the gearbox will be necessary, but the clutch, flywheel, starter motor etc have all got to be standard parts. K-series crank sensor drives off the flywheel, and there are variations which need to be considered.

I don't want to make an exhaust manifold. Exhaust system will be tucked up within the chassis rails, where it's out of the way and not visible. It will exit under the NSR wing for the same reason: no matter how you dress them up, exhaust pipes sticking out the back of the car are ugly.

Hydraulic clutch for space reasons, although that's not hard to retrofit. I'm not a fan of concentric slave cylinders, but it would make sense here.

Radiator needs to be tall and narrow, which is the opposite of modern stuff. I'll just have to practice my aluminium welding.

Whatever I use, it will need a custom propshaft. But they're sub £200 using all new parts.

It's going to need IVA. I've downloaded the manual and need to read it. Most of the technical requirements I would be fitting anyway. Some of the other problems - like rear seatbelt installation, interior protrusions etc - will be avoided by not having them.

The biggest single issue with IVA is the glass all needs to be safety marked.  It's all flat, so that isn't the enormously expensive problem that custom curved glass is. I have the entire windscreen, including the fold out frame, for a pattern. Rear and side glass to be bonded. None of them are large.

Hopefully I'll be able to buy doors, as making them from scratch will be a lot of work. Electric windows and modern flush internal handles solve a couple of minor problems. There are compliant exterior handles available for 30s style cars.

I have a complete Metro body loom. It's simple, easy to fit, and has everything needed but nothing that isn't: lights that are already on multiplugs, heater, wipers, engine fan, alarm, sensibly located fuse box, properly terminated earths. Remote central locking and electric windows are allowed for, all that's needed is another plug into the fusebox. If I do that right it will provide the additional safety locks required for suicide doors - I've a friend who has speed related ones on his Y if he ever needs to IVA it after nearly 30 years on the road. Another reason for using a Rover engine is that it just plugs in, and gives the required immobiliser   I have a Metro steering column, steering wheel and stalks.

Brakes will be entirely MGF: 240mm discs, vented at the front(really not necessary on a 800kg car), solid at the rear with integral handbrake. Effective, neat, compact and cheap. If I use the pedal box, master cylinder and servo everything will match. I can buy discs and pads all round for less than replacing the missing brakes on the Capri axle I have... Friends are due to scrap an F soon, which will provide the calipers. Handbrake lever. Cables. Etc, etc for the cost of giving them a hand.

Steering rack will be narrowed Capri(I've got one)/Escort(I can scrounge one) which are essentially the same. I'd narrow my spare Metro one, but I need to move the steering arms to the front and it won't work. Well it will work, but turn the wrong way. That's fun for driving games, but not for a usable car


Trim will be a headlining, door cards, carpet and seats. I need to practice sewing. Should have got my aunt to demonstrate some stuff before she went home at the weekend. Plenty of soundproofing will be needed; it's all single skinned.


Seats need to be narrow to fit, and small to look right. If Metro/MGF/Fiat 500/Lupo/I10/whatever won't work, I'll build some 3/4 size Recaro copies.

[Doctor Gollum]

I was thinking 1.1/1.3 rather than the larger lumps. But sounds like you have a solid plan for the rebodied Metro approach. 

As an out of the box idea, and given potentially easy access to an MGF, would the MGF drive train fit in behind the seats?

[Nick W]

I was thinking 1.1/1.3 rather than the larger lumps. But sounds like you have a solid plan for the rebodied Metro approach. 

As an out of the box idea, and given potentially easy access to an MGF, would the MGF drive train fit in behind the seats?

Smallest Pinto was a 1.3 in Europe. Try finding one. And why would you bother when it's externally the same as a 2.0l and hopeless?


MGF in the back? The body isn't wide enough at about 900mm between the wheelarches, and the back panel is barely past the axle line. That would make the exhaust burn your back and the inlet poke out under the back window.


Mid-engined four cylinder 32 roadsters have been built and would probably fit in an A. That would be a good use for an F - all the dirty bits in a folded steel backbone chassis like a Europa.

[Doctor Gollum]

When you put it like that...

Toyota 1.0 vvti from an early Yaris?

Or a 1.4K series 

[Kevin Wood]

Plenty of Caterhams use the T9 gearbox so it might be worth a look as I'm guessing a k series bellhousing would be easy to find. They are quite small and parts are plentiful too. Maybe not too cheap these days due to their popularity in kit cars.

They are underwhelming, though, as you say. The Mazda box is certainly much nicer to pedal along the road and the ratios will suit a small light car better too.

 I used an MT75 in my Westfield which is much nicer albeit with a cast in bellhousing. It's also light and short but maybe too wide? Might be worth a measure up.

[dave the builder]

For an IVA doesn't it need to pass the very latest emission requirements 

 you don't have a vin or logbook for the chassis or body 

MOT wise the requirement is to meet the emission standards set for the year of the car  OR the engine ,whichever is oldest

but the IVA is very strict

[Kevin Wood]

IVA emissions requirements are based on the age of the engine and were always a bit less strict than the rules for production cars of that year. I think with a pre 1995 engine you could get away without a cat when I did mine but I haven't checked the latest rules.

Even if you need a cat that isn't a disaster, you just need to build one into the exhaust and make sure you're using an engine management system that does closed loop mixture.

The biggest challenge for a project such as this with a bespoke chassis will be satisfying them that the structure is adequate and that crash worthiness requirements such as steering column behaviour in an impact are dealt with.

[Nick W]

For an IVA doesn't it need to pass the very latest emission requirements 

 you don't have a vin or logbook for the chassis or body 

MOT wise the requirement is to meet the emission standards set for the year of the car  OR the engine ,whichever is oldest

but the IVA is very strict

IVA isn't particularly strict, and a stock managed engine with appropriate cat will pass any of the necessary tests. We've just done a tweaked VVC that was well within the regulations.


Even if I had a logbook for this, there wouldn't be enough points left to use it legally. As I wouldn't be using the original engine, gearbox, either axle, any of the suspension, steering or the frame I would score nought points. Minimum is eight, and you can't cut bits off the chassis. Easier to register it correctly from scratch. I wouldn't buy any existing kitcar or similar that wasn't properly registered at the time it was built - there are lots of 'Cortinas/Minis/Escorts'/etc that look like Jeeps/Lotus/weird shit. Hell, there are people who have bought correctly registered Duttons just to avoid IVA on their own marginal creations.

I've no worries about the structure as it's going to be considerably more robust than a Seven type car made from 25x1mm square tubing lined in thin aluminium sheet, with Transit trackrods as suspension ball joints. And yes I know there are thousands like that without issues, but the doubts creep in every time I see one.

Collapsible steering column is mostly a matter of careful selection and mounting. And some of it can be built into the extra linkage that will be needed to connect the column to the rack. I have a Metro one, but aren't married to it if an alternative avoids problems. That's one of the parts of the manual I need to check carefully.

I'd use a T9 with a Pinto as Ford sold loads like that, or a Zetec, or a crossflow if I had some sort of mental breakdown. But I don't like the gearbox very much, and certainly wouldn't adapt it to anything else. Caterham bellhousing completely blows the budget on top of the excessive cost of the gearbox. MT75 is hardly a budget/easy to acquire combination these days, although it does at least bolt up to Ford engines without any extra work. Adapter plates are not difficult to make though. One problem with any of the available gearboxes is ratios; first in particular tends to be far too low. Close ratios add a non-overdrive top into an already unpleasant mix, although a really tall diff ratio can help - Ian's MGB might as well be a four speed for all the use first gear is, which is why he's going to a V8 ratio over the winter.

Yaris is out of my comfort zone, and isn't enough to work on that. It would still need adapting to a RWD gearbox. 1.0l Corsa ought to bolt to an Omega gearbox, which would be worth considering for something like a Kitten or Rebel. I would like to be able to leave the bonnet open and not have to provide sickbags   If this were a slightly larger car like a Pop, I'd probably just buy a 2.2 Omega and use the engine, gearbox and diff as is.

1.4 k series is actually harder to find these days than a 1.8. And externally, including the manifolds, they're identical. Which makes bastard combinations like a 1.4 VVC, or 8valve 1.8( ) simple bolt togethers.




The biggest IVA challenge for one-offs is custom, correctly marked glass. That especially applies to modified saloons. But it's all flat on this, and Defender or Panda screens are cheap

[Viral_Jim]

I seem to remember reading on the GT40 kit car forums that there are ways to IVA without most of the "glass" in the car. The GT40 boys like to avoid fitting the glass to side windows etc on account of wanting to use some form of clear plastic, which wouldn't pass the IVA.

It doesn't help with your windscreen, but would mean you could probably re-use any/all other glass you've got.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Only the GM big blocks will bolt to an Omega gearbox (early 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, V6 etc), the 1.0 is a small block 

[Nick W]

I seem to remember reading on the GT40 kit car forums that there are ways to IVA without most of the "glass" in the car. The GT40 boys like to avoid fitting the glass to side windows etc on account of wanting to use some form of clear plastic, which wouldn't pass the IVA.

It doesn't help with your windscreen, but would mean you could probably re-use any/all other glass you've got.

Windscreen is the only glass I've got. And it's nearly 80 year old plate glass, so I would be replacing it with laminated even if it wasn't required.


My point was that correctly marked curved safety glass for one offs(or existing cars modified enough to require IVA) is very expensive, if you can get it. The basic process is to lay a sheet of hot glass over a former, so you're limited to stretched shapes and limited curvature. Laminated and toughened glass have different restrictions. I doubt the GT40 side windows can be made in glass, so it's a case of need rather than want for them to be plastic.


Mine is all flat, so can be cut from existing flat screens(Defender and Panda are the usual donors) or made to suit without too much trouble. In theory cutting a screen to template is a simple process using basic tools, but given that I only need six pieces paying someone to do it using glass they supplied would be sensible. That has to be done with laminated glass, as you can't cut toughened...

[Nick W]

Only the GM big blocks will bolt to an Omega gearbox (early 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, V6 etc), the 1.0 is a small block 

Fair enough, it was more of a possibility for other silly ideas   The days of cheap Kittens are long gone.