Another Aussie newbie

[Graham]

Hi guys,

Firstly let me say wow, what a fantastic forum! Looks like this place could be one of the best resources available to someone building a gt40 project.

I'm planning to start building my car towards the end of next year. It's going to be a mk1 kit, probably from roaring forties or drb. The idea is to buy a wrecked BA-BF xr8 at auction, and adapting as many parts as possible from that into the kit. I want to build it with the stock 5.4l v8, but build it to be able to support a supercharger kit with a minimum of modifications. By that a I mean making sure the fuel pumps can supply enough for a supercharger, installing a strong enough gearbox ect.

All up, I'm intending to finish it with a budget of 60k, though that'll probably be only naturally aspirated. I'm a fitter machinist by trade, so making a lot of custom parts myself should be relatively cheap, and hopefully adapting suspension components ect won't be to much of a drama.

So I'm using the time between now and when I start to have a real good look around, and hopefully figure out all the compliance issues there might be with fabricating parts myself!

 

[Paul Pham]

Welcome Graham! Always good to see another aussie.

Like you, I'm doing my research on the different kits available locally and seeing what suits my budget and skills.

Finish cost of $60000 seems a little low to me, but i would love to be proven wrong.

The rf kits don't require any donor parts, though I'm sure that if you did supply your own components, that will keep costs down.

Good luck and enjoy your stay!

Paul

 

[Graham]

Thanks Paul,

Yeah, I've got a sneaking suspicion the cost may go over. But, I can do things like making fuel tanks, surge tanks, headers, other welding that needs doing and even spraying 2pac myself. Things like the wiring loom I can adapt from the xr8 easily enough, and I'm really hoping I can adapt at least the front suspension from it too... but I might have to buy that from the manufacturer. And that would definately push me over budget lol.

Will have to look into ADR rules and testing requirements, who knows? Maybe I'll be able fabricate that too.

Also, I don't really have the urge to put replica wheels on it, and I'm strongly considering being creative with the interior. That should keep costs down too, as I wouldn't be paying for expensive exact replica parts.

Anyway, 60k is my goal budget, lol.

Guess I've got a lot of homework to do

 

[Gus Richmond]

G'day Graham,
Best of luck with your build. I reckon there may be a few Miami engines around by the time you are ready for the go fast bits.
Would be good to see you acheive the budgeting goal, like you say if you don't mind it moving away from an accurate replica the budget pressure will be reduced somewhat.
Kind regards, Gus.

 

[Graham]

Cheers gus,

I reckon you might be onto something with the different engine type. I still think there's a lot to be said for using a commonly available powerplant though - parts and mods would be easy to get a hold of. Though like you say, I still have a while to decide

It'll be good to see yours when it's done!