The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

Deck Ape

I've read Mr. Ron Champion's excellent book and hope to build one of his roadsters here in LOS. I'm interested in member's opinions about the best donor vehicle.

Thetyim

I would let Peterpan answer this one, if I were you.
He has, I believe, already researched a similar project and will know about both the engineering and registration problems

Deck Ape

I anxiously await his reply. Engineering shouldn't be tooooo much of a problem as there is a huge online community of builders. Registration is another matter, although as long as your donor vehicle has a green book I think there's a chance.

peterpan

First rule about living in Thailand. DO NOT LISTEN TO THAIS, they think they know it all but actually know sweet FA.
I remember a Kiwi friend imported his V max, he asked my staff about obtaining registration for same, they told him cannot do and if it was possible it would take months and cost 80k. The usual "our country we know what can be done, and you Farang no nothing".
You should have seen their a faces drop when he came back two days later with a shiny new legal green book and a receipt for 2500 Baht total.
Even with this evidence staring in their faces, they refused to believe it and sulked like babies for week.

Anyway onto your original question, Registration can be done, provided you have all import tax paid for any parts (engine transmission) imported and or the green book off the donor car, in the latter case dead easy. As for donors, not many Cortina / Granada donors or parts here although I am sure you will pick one up given a bit of time. I don't know what else you would use as a donor, plenty of Toyota stuff here although you may struggle getting and older rear wheel (Celica) transmission. This is what I would use.
3S-GE (3S-FE, 4S-FE, 5S-FE) motor This can put out up to 220Hp in the right configuration, easy enough to get here with the right money.
W55 type gearbox
Then see if you can find a Granada / Cortina hulk to use the green book and donor parts.
It won't be a lo Cost tho.

Thetyim

Looks like they are a few Cortina hanging about

¢ÒÂö¹µì FORD Cortina 1.6 L »Õ ¤.È.1977 ( à¤Ã×èͧà´ÔÁ ) 55,000 º. : pantipmarket.com

öÁ×ÍÊͧ, öãªéáÅéÇ, öºéÒ¹½Ò¡¢ÒÂ, »ÃСÒÈ¢ÒÂ, ¢ÒÂö

Travelmate

Try considering Sierra. Seen one advertise for TB200,000.
Good luck in building a Lotus 7 replica.
I have restored a Lotus and that took me 4 years!!

Deck Ape

Great help guys. Thanks.

I can't believe you came up with a Cortina that fast. I was looking at an old Mitsubishi Galant for about the same price but didn't buy it. PP I'd love to get 220HP but probably won't have enough money for it.

Deck Ape

Thanks, will do.

Travelmate

How much is your budget?
A project like this in Thai will not be lo cost for sure.

Deck Ape

I'm not a big budgeter. But guaranteed it's going to cost more than the 250 quid that is on the cover of that book. I think if I could build it for under 300,000 I'd be happy.

tsicar

a friend of mine is building one with a 4cyl motorcycle engine. weighs far less than the old kent engine he put in his other one, and makes more than twice the horsepower!
good luck with the build, i am sure you will have lots of fun.

Thetyim

^
Sounds like a StrathCarron
Is he basing it on that ?

Deck Ape

Yeah I was thinking Bike Engined at one point, anyone know what a hot 1000cc moto engine and transmission would cost ballpark?

I've started sourcing parts for an oversized go-cart. I bought a tuk-tuk motor which is the 500 cc Suzuki LJ50, rear end and so forth. Didn't take me long to realize it would have been cheaper just buying an old small car.

tsicar

he has built a number of super-sevens, and is now building a locost (found a bonnet, nosecone and some other odds being thrown out at the local fibreglass works, and built the chassis himself)
he built all the suspension bits, wishbones, etc himself, and machined his own hubs and rear driveshafts, splined joints, brake discs and calipers etc himself.
originally he fitted a hotted-up kent engine with a crossflow head and two twinchoke webers, but trashed it after he weighed up the parts and compared weights and horsepower figures to the motorcycle engine.
i believe somewhere i saw an article on a guy who fitted a hyabusa engine in a seven, and ended up with one of the fastest 0 to 100mph and back down to zero times ever.
the locost can be built light enough to suit a motorcycle engine without placing too much strain on the transmission, and you would end up with one dynamite car!

i have often thought of building my own car based on a bike engine when i get back to thailand
visited a factory here not so long ago, where they are building replica tiger-moths, and i would love to build something really light, based on the old wood, fabric- and- dope, for something really light and cheap to build.
i am thinking along the lines of the old morgan three-wheeler. a shaft drive bike would donate most of the parts needed.

peterpan

Some one built about 15 Sports/racing cars using Suzuki GSXR 750 engines here in Thailand, I have seen them racing but havn't been able to find out much about who owns them or built them.
Problem up here in Udon and most other places outside of Bangkok is that there is no engineering support infrastructure, its hard enough getting a peice of metal bent let alone finding people who can do decent machining and fabrication, so you would have to do most of the work yourself with the consequent investment in machinery.
Although the body work would be the least of your worries as their seems plenty of people capable of doing that,

Thetyim

Blimey look at this lot
Some of these look like fun

Motorcycle engine powered cars, Motorcycle powered cars

tsicar

bodywork on a 'seven could be done by a ten year old . there is just about nothing but a bit of aluminium sheeting. if you could not get this right, forget about building one, as the rest requires much more thought and some skill.
i brought a small "three-in-one" lathe/milling machine combo to thailand, but found that the surprizingly good machining that is available even in the smallest thai villages made it a waste of time to do it myself.
if you look around you can find good work done at a fraction of what you would consider spending an whole day sweating in front of a lathe yourself to be worth.


wot's this i hear, then,- that tsicar racist bastard, actually admitting a thai can do something right? perhaps he has been "gotten at" by the likes of "the gent", raycarey or antrobinson!!

tsicar

great link, thanx.
the 'guzzi powered one is along the lines i was thinking. donor bikes a bit scarce nowadays, i would think.

flash

am i correct in thinking there is no reverse in one you build with a motorcycle engine?

Thetyim

^
I think there is an option to add an electric motor for reverse