More Parts Are In

Today more photos of parts that have arrived were emailed to me. Three of them are bellow...

The best news are the fact that the sourced engine is great (just 5k miles and already fitted with heavy duty clutch and baffle plate). It's a 893cc carb'ed blade.

Even better is the fact that there is a high probability that the crate will be ready for collection on the week of 12 to 16 July! I'll be hearing more about dates next week.

I'm a very happy "future-builder"!

The Chassis and Some Bits

Today I received more pictures of how my order is going. The chassis is there and so are some other parts.

When showing the photos to the wife, I went "That's the dash instruments, that's the reverse box, those are things, those are bits, that's the pedals, those are other things..." and we started laughing. This is going to be a fun ride!

HappyBlade's Womb

As I said before, the car will be built on one of my parking spaces on the building's underground parking lot. After the periodic cleaning it just received, here is a picture of the place.

It's a 5,4m x 2,6m area. Nearby is our personal locked storage. We live 7 floors above. I'll have an insurance to cover build accidents, just in case I damage one of the neighbour's cars.

The Transport Crate

Steve from Aries Motorsports told me he would be sending pictures of my order as parts arrive, to keep me updated on order status. I loved the idea, besides waiting for the kit I can now see it being prepared to come "home".

Last Thursday, the 10th June, Steve sent me the first couple of pictures of the wood crate where the kit will be transported to Portugal. The crate is a requirement for the transport, it measures 3,3m x 1,2m, x 0,8m, weights 200Kgs and, when loaded, will weight 650Kgs.

Now I have to think of how I'll dispose of this big crate after the car arrives "home". Probably an axe and my fireplace will have to do the trick.

Car Specifications

When questioning for quotes, I had first to define the car specifications.

What I looked for was a "kit in a box" concept, that is, to receive all new or refurbished parts needed to be able to assemble the car and put it through legalization without having to go buy extra stuff (aside from tools).

Additionally, I wanted a bike engine for the low size (nice for Portuguese tax, based on cc and co2), high power, sequential gearbox and sound. If it's going to be a different car, let's have it as different as possible from the normal car! The main option was a Honda Fireblade engine (on carburettors) since it's powerful enough for a road car and cheap, yet fun and tested. As a bike engine has no reverse, I wanted a reverse box (not electrical), having MNR's one as the preferred choice.

I also wanted seat runners, so that we could adjust the seat for both me and my wife, and a windscreen (thinking about later on having a soft top) so that we could skip on the helmets. Later on I dropped the windscreen requirement to make it easier to legalize and to cut off some costs...

Parts aside, I also asked for a service to receive the built car, pre-test it, take it to legalization and deal with the paperwork so that I could fly to the UK and pick up the car street-legal. This is a precaution just in case I can't make it legal in Portugal.

It was with the above requirements that I spoke with companies at Stoneleigh. I also made clear that I was looking for a road car, not a track days car, and wanted it to be as budget as possible.

In the end, Aries Motorsport had the best offer and, after detailing the little bits (car, seats and seatbelts colour, etc.) I placed the order on the 2nd June for a Crimson coloured Aries Locoblade. I was given approximately 8 weeks delivery time with some slippage considering vacation season is starting.

Now I have to wait... ... ... Are we there yet? ... Are we there yet?

Preparing for the Car

Since I live on an apartment building, I'll have to build the car in the underground parking space. I first talked with parking space neighbours to tell them about my intentions and get their OK. Then I got quotes for an insurance, just in case I damaged the neighbours cars during the build. The last step was to get a permit (valid from March 2010 to March 2012) to build the car on the parking lot, since it was against building regulations.

With this out of the way, I sorted all the kit car manufacturers that advertised a bike engined car and contacted the three that seemed to have what I wanted at the right price. Aries Motorsport was one of these three and the one providing the fastest and most satisfying answers to my emails.

It was the middle of April and I was still wondering why there were such big price differences between kit manufacturers and feeling awkward to buy a car without seeing it. I heard of the Stoneleigh Kit Car show and the wife and I booked the weekend to visit it.

Aries Motorsport wasn't going to be at the show this year but Steve Huckerby was very kind and opened up on the Saturday evening to show us around and talk a bit. He also took us for a ride on the demonstration car, which was amazing!

The next day we went to see the kit car show, where I got to talk with other kit car manufacturers previously out of my list about selling me a kit with a bike engine. I also got to see some of the differences between kits, meet the people from the companies and checking their willingness to help and provide a nice service.

Back to Portugal, I followed by email on some of the talks I had so that I could make a final decision and order the kit...

How it all started

In July 2007, while browsing the web, I found out by sheer luck that there was such a thing as "kit cars", cars to build at home. It was the Hawk HF3000, a Lancia Stratos replica. I started to dream about buying one and build it, because I love the Stratos since I was a kid assembling 1/43 scale models. Besides that, I had for long fancied knowing a bit about mechanics.

In August 2008 I was talking with a cousin about cars and found out he was scratch-building a Ferrari replica. He then told me about the Portuguese Locost mailing list and what was the locost idea. I got Ron Champion's book and read it.

On the beginning of 2009 I made a reality check and abandoned the Stratos idea since I couldn't afford it nor had the garage space for such a lengthy build. I started to consider more seriously the locost alternative. Initially with a scratch build based on the book, later on buying a kit from a vendor and assembling it.

The idea grew, I investigated kit vendors, I investigated licensing laws in Portugal, I thought about the different options I had for the car... And made the decision to start making things happen.

A New Project Is Born!

(Maybe I should have called this blog "HappyFrankenstein", since if I fail to assemble it correctly, it will be an awful sight...)

This blog will be the build diary for my first kit car! It will cover all steps since kit car selection to kit car completion (and possibly after-legalization changes and trips).

The kit car will be the LocoBlade, from Aries Motorsport. It will be called HappyBlade because I usually name my stuff as "HappySomething" and liked that one better over "HappyAries".

The diary will contain photos that will be available on the HappyBlade Picasa Album.

More to come later...