13 replies to this topic

[Scottieb]

OK, so i'm skint, in the process of buying s house, going to end up with a 1K mortgage and no VX

since not haveing the VX i'm having serious withdrawal symptoms from driving a fast, topless rear wheel drive car where you sit on the same thing that is separating you from the road.

I used to be well into Austin Mini's and the thought has gone through my mind to buy one and do a groung up re build and put a honda vtec engine in instead of the wheezy old a series. But to be honest, its just not as apealing anymore since having a 'real' sports car.

in this months issue of PPC, they did a run to paris in a Robin Hood lightweight. They said it drove very well. it has an all aluminium monocoque chassis. just out of curiosity, i had a look ot the price of one on their website. wait for it, £1850 for the complete kit!! they say you can put one on the road for about 3K

Another VX or elise is going to be out of my reach for a while now, but this may be an option. its a cheap way to some rear end action...(in the motoring sense of course!)

What do you think?

CLICKY

Scott

[danVXT]

does that price include an engine though??

[JimH]

I have some considerable experience of these things and they are to put not too fine a point on it, an abortion. Unless the build quality has improved about 3 trillion percent in the past few years what you will end up with is a ford sierra stuck together with bits of pipe. At least they have stopped pretending that a sort of mackled up sliding pillar front suspension (using butchered front struts ) is safe on anything other than a wheel barrow. I also see they have stopped putting the entire sierra sub frame in the back. Oh hang on, my bad. They're still doing that for the 2B.

The headline price is a bit low but if you want to build one that isn't total sh*t you have to pour a lot of effort and dough into one that it really isn't worth it. People think they are in the Caterfield class as far as ease of construction is concerned. They are not.

However, it may be worth it for the instructional video. The one I watched was hilarious.

I'm now going to modify the subframe so it can be fitted to the chassis <produces 2lb hammer and cold chisel> *whack* *whack* *whack* etc etc

Sums the whole thing up TBH. If you are short of bread and want rear wheel drive fun there are plenty of cheap things to buy to play with without burning blood, sweat and tears on one of these dogs.

[PaulCP]

I built a stainless steel RH mk2 back in 1996 which is considered to be the best of the RH models produced (the kit cost £2500 then) and a decent thickness SS was used for the tub As JimH says the quality is not good so the build did take a long time due to having to sort issues like holes not being drilled in the correct places, rear arches needing warming up and then pulling back into shape etc (did make the build more interesting though ) I guess that in the end mine cost approx £8k in the end using many new performance related parts. It did however perform very well indeed and i sold it for £6500 when i bought the VX TBH i don't think i would conside any of the current range. The focus is now on cheap cost and quality is way off what it was back in 1995 (& it was pretty poor then)

Edited by PaulCP, 19 April 2006 - 06:46 PM.

[JimH]

The focus is now on cheap cost and quality is way off what it was back in 1995 (& it was pretty poor then)

Hells bells.

If that is the case you would be better off (both finacially and dynamically) trying to graft a Pinto unit into your wheelbarrow.

[rasputin]

my brother is into kit cars and told me that the robin hood chassis is crap always loads cheap on ebay. best buy is mk or locust. save yourself lashings of dosh and buy a partbuit one off ebay best engine choice would be a zetec .but most have pinto,s in em. dax kitcars are very nice if you can aford it even better with a hyabusa engine

[mcbunny]

imho best seven style mk or id say without a doubt an mnr vortex

[The Knobs]

not many are kits are better than the Striker or fury, hence the domination in kit car racing classes. I have built a few kits over the years and have just bought a ready made striker for a lot less than it would cost me to build one. Just be careful when you do budget comparisons, because you could spend a lot of money on a pile of $hit.

[rabidh]

I built a robin hood 2B around 4 years ago - the chassis was very good (and all stainless steel) and its fun to drive (not fast - but fun). Nothing in the kit actually fits properly though and the chassis isn't jigged too well. I have some pics of the build -=here=- if you're interested.

When they say 'all parts included' they're lieing - and we bought pretty much every extra they had (the kit cost £3750), and we still had to spend another £2500 getting it on the road. The kit car is at my folks in bedfordshire - maybe an hour's drive or so from yours if you wanted to take a look. I wouldn't reccomend you get a robin hood though - we know several other people that have been building one, and its been massively hard work for everyone - only about 1 out of the 4 owners has finished (after about 3 years).

The MK indy looks like a good car though (and i've seen one being built) - the locost type cars go together a lot more easily and you get better suspension (double wishbone rear on some) unless the RH lightweight has really improved. They're the same kindof price too (slightly more - but then they're not lieing about what you need). Best bet is go to a kit car show and look at the customer built cars. You'll soon see you don't want a robin hood

I would NEVER buy a part-built kit. If you build a car, you want to do it properly since you'll be driving it. I've seen quite a few unfinished kits, and most were put together very badly. The only sensible thing to do would be to strip it all down and redo it, which would be far worse than just buying a brand new kit - you've also got to worry about damage + holes being drilled in the wrong places, etc.

Just my 2p - if you still want to buy a part-built robin hood, there's a guy in my parents' village who is desperate to get rid of it

[JimH]

When they say 'all parts included' they're lieing - and we bought pretty much every extra they had (the kit cost £3750), and we still had to spend another £2500 getting it on the road.

That's the point isn't it? Just go and see what £6250 will buy you in Autotrader for RWD fun. A nice E30 springs to mind.

These kits aren't even particularly rewarding as a project because all the effort goes into making a pig's ear slightly less of a pig's ear.

Agree entirely about the unfinished project thing. Most are unfinished because the person who started them was so utterly clueless they completely overestimated their abilities and you'll spend yet more time and money putting their bodges right.

[rabidh]

That's the point isn't it? Just go and see what £6250 will buy you in Autotrader for RWD fun. A nice E30 springs to mind.

Its a lot, but after that feeling of driving a car that I built down country roads in the sunshine I'd prefer it to any car costing £6k I can think of. The only reason I got a VX was because the Robin Hood wasn't sensible as a daily driver (and yes, I did try for a few months). Its more of an experience to drive than the VX, and you get a lot of respect for being totally insane. People will hear you coming down the road well over a mile away, and when you lift off when driving at night foot-long blue flames shoot out the exhaust by your elbow.

These kits aren't even particularly rewarding as a project because all the effort goes into making a pig's ear slightly less of a pig's ear.

If you're going to bodge it then I agree. We spent huge amounts of time doing everything right though and I find that more rewarding than just following the 'instructions' - especially as you end up with a car thats totally original, and that i'd consider better than the original was intended to be. I also got a lot better at manufacturing stuff, and learnt a load too.

The thing that got us to buy the Robin Hood was that it was stainless steel. Even now its crushing to watch bits of the car that aren't SS go rusty. I'd probably still go for the MK/Locost option though

If you're doing it for a cheap car though, you'll be disappointed. Its more for the fun of building it yourself.

[TheStoat]

Does it make sense to buy just a rolling chassis for that price when they are selling this beauty for far less?

Attached Files

•  Red_Kaig.jpg   0bytes   0 downloads

[Scottieb]

[adamduk]

A friend of mine built a RH some years ago, put the biggest smile on my face ever as a passenger. Even compared with 911s and TVRs. Not been in a CSR 260 though. Yes, the fit elements (in the dash) are slightly odd, and he ended up with 3 windscreen wipers, but it was certainly fast, apparently great to drive, and felt very solid. Fun at an initially cheap price, but he spent aaaaages building it, as well as adding stuff. Maybe look for a ready built one? VX is positively luxurious in comparison. You have to shout at anything over 30 in the RH. In the winter he put 50 kilos of bricks in the back to help get the power down