Introduction & Advice

[Ian Anderson]

Got one better on that Kneeler
[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Folding-Garden-Kneeler-Kneeling-Gardening/dp/B001TW5KLM/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1434115248&sr=1-1&keywords=garden+kneeler]Folding Garden Kneeler Seat Kneeling Pad Gardening 199N: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home[/ame]

So you can push yourself up on the higher handles

And flip it over and it becomes a stool

Ian

 

[P Roth]

Got one better on that Kneeler
Folding Garden Kneeler Seat Kneeling Pad Gardening 199N: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home

So you can push yourself up on the higher handles

And flip it over and it becomes a stool

Ian

As soon as I saw that, I went AHA, Fathers Day coming up... Gotta love amazon prime!

 

[Del]

That is cool there, never can have enough places to sit either, thanks!

 

[Del]

I have a question. Since Superlite offers the car in stages, I'm looking at being able to order Stage 1 and 4 at the end of the year. Most people's build threads, it seems they ordered the kit all at once and seem to be able to jump around from area to area as they want with not a standard build order.

My question is... Is it really a good idea to order in stages and still work on it a little bit at a time? Or would I be better to keep saving and order it all together? I really want to start it and I'd be okay with spending more over the course of a few years instead of waiting, but almost seems like it'd be more fun to have the ability to jump around to different areas, especially when I hit a snag?

Opinions welcomed, I'm torn on the issue.

 

[Eric McClellan]

I have a question. Since Superlite offers the car in stages, I'm looking at being able to order Stage 1 and 4 at the end of the year. Most people's build threads, it seems they ordered the kit all at once and seem to be able to jump around from area to area as they want with not a standard build order.

My question is... Is it really a good idea to order in stages and still work on it a little bit at a time? Or would I be better to keep saving and order it all together? I really want to start it and I'd be okay with spending more over the course of a few years instead of waiting, but almost seems like it'd be more fun to have the ability to jump around to different areas, especially when I hit a snag?

Opinions welcomed, I'm torn on the issue.

I say but it all at once, you get the discount and it's cheaper on shipping.

Hell, shipping is going to cost probably half your money if you do it one part at a time.

 

[P Roth]

I would say if you have the upfront cash, and plan on the LS engine and Graz trans, buy them all from Fran and you have only one item being shipped.

 

[Del]

I was afraid of that, but it honestly does make the most sense. I would be fine taking the hit on the discount if I knew least stage 1 and 4 would take a good bit of time to do while saving the purchase the rest a year later. But the more I think about it, seems I'd find myself not having much to do if I did only had those 2 stages for a year. Am I thinking right?

Definitely plan LS, and plan on new since rest of car will be new. But engine and trans will come at a later date. I want LS7 but have a feeling when the time comes for an engine it'll be hard to not buy a LS3 to get it on the road. I can always swap it out later or add extra to it.

I need to start working on Saturday's and make some quick extra cash to bank.

 

[Eric McClellan]

Well, I know that it's a lot nicer to know that you have everything at hand.

I'd hate to have a half finished project sitting in the garage just waiting for a paycheck to buy the rest of it. Something about that just feels depressing.

 

[Del]

Well, I know that it's a lot nicer to know that you have everything at hand.

I'd hate to have a half finished project sitting in the garage just waiting for a paycheck to buy the rest of it. Something about that just feels depressing.

You called it and reason I asked. Something about purchasing only part of it is depressing not knowing when you will finish it. And then you factor in "life" and who knows what it brings.

I've saved forever it seems and past 4 years been sitting on the money to start a GTM (waiting to build our house and shop so I had room). That was until I realized a GTM isn't a headache I wanted and saw/read about the SLC. I ended up spending some of it to get shop powered and lights (so I can use it now), but selling the busa I really don't ride will offset that. We have a turnaround coming up beginning of 2016 so there's going to be alot of OT made, plus as much as I want up to it. Just need to buckle down and work it, it's feasible to order it mid-2016 if I do that.

 

[Alex]

I have a question. Since Superlite offers the car in stages, I'm looking at being able to order Stage 1 and 4 at the end of the year. Most people's build threads, it seems they ordered the kit all at once and seem to be able to jump around from area to area as they want with not a standard build order.

My question is... Is it really a good idea to order in stages and still work on it a little bit at a time? Or would I be better to keep saving and order it all together? I really want to start it and I'd be okay with spending more over the course of a few years instead of waiting, but almost seems like it'd be more fun to have the ability to jump around to different areas, especially when I hit a snag?

Opinions welcomed, I'm torn on the issue.

I think you discount how capital intensive building a car, any car, is.

When I'm working on mine I end up burning thousands each month on stuff. Nature of the beast. *le sigh*

 

[P Roth]

I think Eric's is a good example for doing an SL build, It appears he bought the entire kit from Fran and built it with those parts. No $3000.00 carbon seats, expensive Titanium exhaust systems, $20,000 paint jobs, etc. Not saying there is anything wrong with that if you want to burn thousands of dollars a month, but there are more than a few examples of very well built SLC's that were done without spending an extra 50 grand.

 

[Del]

I think Eric's is a good example for doing an SL build, It appears he bought the entire kit from Fran and built it with those parts. No $3000.00 carbon seats, expensive Titanium exhaust systems, $20,000 paint jobs, etc. Not saying there is anything wrong with that if you want to burn thousands of dollars a month, but there are more than a few examples of very well built SLC's that were done without spending an extra 50 grand.

I agree, for the most part I plan to stick to the original plans for the most part. I do know like Alex, I'll get carried away with some aspects of it and burn a little extra here and there as I go through the build. I can see me getting little carried away with some of the interior making it a little more fancy. Bad part I do like carbon fiber, not so much for the weight savings but just always have loved the look. I like CF accents, not so much whole pieces like seats, dash or whole panels.

I do wish I could get a loan to cover the rest and order today, but that isn't happening.... least not feasibly. Wish I had a few more things I could sell. Maybe I can rent out my shop or charge people to watch movies in my small movie room, haha!

 

[Eric McClellan]

I think Eric's is a good example for doing an SL build, It appears he bought the entire kit from Fran and built it with those parts. No $3000.00 carbon seats, expensive Titanium exhaust systems, $20,000 paint jobs, etc. Not saying there is anything wrong with that if you want to burn thousands of dollars a month, but there are more than a few examples of very well built SLC's that were done without spending an extra 50 grand.

That was the plan!!

The car is going to see a good chunk of track time. That said, a $20k paint job probably isn't the best idea. However, a $3,000 wrap is much more practical.

I still want to have a street car, so it does need to have a few creature comforts. I installed a cell phone charger for longer trips and want to get the AC charged up.

I can worry about making it "pretty" later

 

[Alex]

That was the plan!!

The car is going to see a good chunk of track time. That said, a $20k paint job probably isn't the best idea. However, a $3,000 wrap is much more practical.

I still want to have a street car, so it does need to have a few creature comforts. I installed a cell phone charger for longer trips and want to get the AC charged up.

I can worry about making it "pretty" later

IIRC, you said along the way you got a bunch of free/heavily discounted stuff because you're writing that series of articles on the car. Everything in my build is out of my pocket.

 

[Scott Rowland]

It's the small things that get you. Things that you don't count in your like your large purchases. Bolts, nuts, shrink tubing, fittings, hoses, raw materials, and other small things. It took me 20 years before I started budgeting 50% over what I thought in my head things would cost.
Luckily, since I also have a parts biz making a few parts for other cars, i also added in "car modification and selling for profit" to the scope of work done. Yup, all the hard costs are write offs (but not actual car purchase). My construction biz feeds SVRTech heavily since it is always at a loss, year after year. But, upon sales, you would get taxed on the profit margin of the car, if there is any.

 

[Del]

It's the small things that get you. Things that you don't count in your like your large purchases. Bolts, nuts, shrink tubing, fittings, hoses, raw materials, and other small things. It took me 20 years before I started budgeting 50% over what I thought in my head things would cost.
Luckily, since I also have a parts biz making a few parts for other cars, i also added in "car modification and selling for profit" to the scope of work done. Yup, all the hard costs are write offs (but not actual car purchase). My construction biz feeds SVRTech heavily since it is always at a loss, year after year. But, upon sales, you would get taxed on the profit margin of the car, if there is any.

You're definitely right on that, with most any project. No doubt those minor things add up and probably alot more than you could realize unless you're keeping track of every nut and bolt. Guess the good part about that is you just buy as needed and really don't think about it at the time, but add up quickly over the build.

I was getting excited because I was hopeful I could buy it in stages, but that doesn't seem like a good idea and while sitting in my shop it'd be depressing to look at it knowing I can't do anything. My focus now is putting in OT at work and even work on weekends when life permits. Also have to quit my online spending habits will greatly help. If the turn around stays on schedule, those couple months of 6-12s should easily get the remainder. This time next year, maybe before, I should be able to place my order.

 

[Eric McClellan]

You're definitely right on that, with most any project. No doubt those minor things add up and probably alot more than you could realize unless you're keeping track of every nut and bolt. Guess the good part about that is you just buy as needed and really don't think about it at the time, but add up quickly over the build.

I was getting excited because I was hopeful I could buy it in stages, but that doesn't seem like a good idea and while sitting in my shop it'd be depressing to look at it knowing I can't do anything. My focus now is putting in OT at work and even work on weekends when life permits. Also have to quit my online spending habits will greatly help. If the turn around stays on schedule, those couple months of 6-12s should easily get the remainder. This time next year, maybe before, I should be able to place my order.

Best thing I ever did was ordering in bulk from McMaster. Grade 8 and Stainless hardware in BULK for very reasonable prices.

I did a rough count and am easily in the 250 range for 1/4-20 bolts and several dozen grade 8 pieces with washers nylock nuts in various sizes.

The other cost is medium stuff like sound/heat deadening material. You'll want a good amount of it.

All said and done, little things here and there, a decent build if you don't farm out any work is $60-65k total. I asked Fran about what it would run and that was his estimate too, total cost involved.

Now, if you go with a fancier engine rather than a crate and go with a beefier/fancier transmission, that needs to be factored in too.

This all goes back to my original build theory....

Step 1: Plan
Step 2: Plan
Step 3: Research
Step 4: Modify plan
Step 5: Plan some more
.
.
.
.
.
Step 117: Buy parts. (I've made this mistake too many times and ordered things prematurely and it bit me in the ass).

 

[Del]

Eric, that's good info to buy in bulk! Beats dozens of trip to hardware store for sure. I have one close by that has anything I'd want in individual pieces (unlike the big box stores) so sure I'll be hitting it up frequently.

I was think 65-70k for the build I had in mind for total cost including ~3k vinyl wrap.

I believe in your original build theory once I have placed an order for it. Plan, plan, plan. Think out every task you do and KNOW you will not have perfect build. You will run into bumps and have to figure things out or some stuff will get aggravating to get just like you want it. That's not really the part I look forward to, but I do look forward to the feeling accomplishment after I get past each bump.

 

[Eric McClellan]

There's been more than a few times I need like 3 of one thing and going to the local store is actually more expensive than buying 50 of the same thing through McMaster even with shipping.

Now I have a lot of left over but I'm a hoarder so I'm OK with it lol

 

[Del]

I definitely feel ya on that. Everyone needs a stash of miscellaneous bolts, washers, nuts, screws, etc. They ALWAYS come in handy at the times you need them most.

Anyone know if there's any SLC owners in Louisiana or east Texas?

Just want to say how awesome this forum is. Even tho I don't own a SLC yet, everyone is more than willing to feed me suggestions and advice. I look forward to repaying the favor when I can.