aaronmorris
Head's a shed
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+1, Gets you an V5, Then buy the body as and when you have the cash.
(or stuff comes up cheep)
Build my own landy - viable?
- Thread starter thommilburn
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+1, Gets you an V5, Then buy the body as and when you have the cash.
(or stuff comes up cheep)
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keep daydreaming if i were you. 
Things always cost more and a ground up rebuild is probably one of the most expensive things you could do!
Do what we all should have done and buy a land cruiser. That way you will actually get to use it rather than just fix it
You don't own a land rover because you want reliability or easability.
Things always cost more and a ground up rebuild is probably one of the most expensive things you could do!Do what we all should have done and buy a land cruiser. That way you will actually get to use it rather than just fix it
You don't own a land rover because you want reliability or easability.
SteNova
Well-Known Member
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- N. Wales, LL22
If I can only offer one bit of advise don't think being a mechanic is easy/fun/worthwhile/lucrative, it's great to have as a hobby and you can save ££ doing DIY work, but as a career choice it's not that good, working in a dealers all you do is services and swap parts, work in a backstreet and all you do are nasty dirty jobs on older cars and to make any real money you have to own the company, when in was in college all the guys doing motor vehicle study's thought they were cool as they could work on their own cars in college time, while I did engineering & electronics, I see a few of them from time to time working in garages they look 10 years older than me and their hands are uncleanable
Dr_evil
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keep daydreaming if i were you.
Do what we all should have done and buy a land cruiser. That way you will actually get to use it rather than just fix it
You don't own a land rover because you want reliability or easability.
Mines now more GM than landrover
Nigel-S
soft and furry
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'Landy' and 'cheap' do not go together, no such thing as building a landy on the cheap. If you can find a good rolling chassis with a legal V5 then that may be a start. If the chassis is rotten (and it has a V5) it's therefore cheaper, but that'll soon be cancelled out by the cost of a replacement chassis. There is no 'cheap' way around it, if there was we would all be doing it. My son recently bought a nice Rolls Royce Silver Shadow with full service history, mot, tax etc, the price he paid was less than a clapped out Defender. My advice is to save your dosh until such time you can afford a basic Land Rover.
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MGBGTV8
Active Member
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I take your point, but what a lot of people don't factor in is the little bits when they take on projects like this.
From my moniker you can probably gather I move in MG circles... A popular activity is fitting a Rover V8 to an MGB. Folk go out, buy and build a V8 for a grand and think that the rest is easy. What they don't realise is that they'll need to spend another 3k in bits to get it in the car and driving the back wheels!
Similarly, if we're talking ground up rebuilds you've got to consider the little bits and pieces.
If we're talking just the basics like galvanised chassis and galvanised bulkhead to buy these things off the shelf we've already spent 2 grand and got nothing that remotely resembles a working vehicle yet.
2 Grand gets you something with an honest MOT if you're prepared to exercise a little patience and are prepared to travel.
To reinforce the point I made about "the little bits" - I've just restored the back end of my discovery 1. Rear window, tailgate and alpine window seals came in excess of £200 for a poxy bit of rubber.
Going back to the MGB theme again... doing a full rebuild from a shell I can dig out invoices to show expenditure in excess of £1000 for stupid bits like fixings and grommets! Scary!
Building a car from nothing really isn't cheap and it's so easy to become disheartened if the finances aren't in place to make progress and there in lies the risk of it turning into "project for sale" in the back of the free adds.
I passionately believe that if money really is the tipping point on the scales its' far better to start with something that is useable and complete to play with and go from there. Even if you have to push it in the garage and forget you own it for a couple of months because you need to save up for x y and z parts to get it through an MOT.
Well that's my take on it anyway...
SupraAyf
Active Member
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This is the exact same point we keep telling people in our UK modified car clubs. We get a whole load of people (mainly young guys) swearing they can afford the basic car/bits/project only to get a big shock when their initial budget then covers only 50% of the job.
The car then falls into ruin or is never looked after correctly due to the lack of funds. We now have a whole load of crappy cars in the country which are quite frankly crap and all because of poor funding and planning by the purchaser.
Ground-up is expensive no matter what vehicle it is so let someone else take the financial pain.
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Dr_evil
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I take your point, but what a lot of people don't factor in is the little bits when they take on projects like this.
From my moniker you can probably gather I move in MG circles... A popular activity is fitting a Rover V8 to an MGB. Folk go out, buy and build a V8 for a grand and think that the rest is easy. What they don't realise is that they'll need to spend another 3k in bits to get it in the car and driving the back wheels!
Similarly, if we're talking ground up rebuilds you've got to consider the little bits and pieces.
If we're talking just the basics like galvanised chassis and galvanised bulkhead to buy these things off the shelf we've already spent 2 grand and got nothing that remotely resembles a working vehicle yet.
2 Grand gets you something with an honest MOT if you're prepared to exercise a little patience and are prepared to travel.
To reinforce the point I made about "the little bits" - I've just restored the back end of my discovery 1. Rear window, tailgate and alpine window seals came in excess of £200 for a poxy bit of rubber.
Going back to the MGB theme again... doing a full rebuild from a shell I can dig out invoices to show expenditure in excess of £1000 for stupid bits like fixings and grommets! Scary!
Building a car from nothing really isn't cheap and it's so easy to become disheartened if the finances aren't in place to make progress and there in lies the risk of it turning into "project for sale" in the back of the free adds.
I passionately believe that if money really is the tipping point on the scales its' far better to start with something that is useable and complete to play with and go from there. Even if you have to push it in the garage and forget you own it for a couple of months because you need to save up for x y and z parts to get it through an MOT.
Well that's my take on it anyway...
I'd like to point out the fact that I've got a 7.0L V8 in a Series 88 and that will have cost me less than 2k once I sell the old parts off........which I may hopefully have done as a mates looking to do a V8 conversion
MGBGTV8
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Sorry, I might be a little bit slow here, but I'm not following the point you're trying to make?
Dr_evil
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You're saying fitting an engine goes from a grand to four grand......its not really true
Yeah it costs a bit more than you think it will but its not that excessive!
Yeah it costs a bit more than you think it will but its not that excessive!
aaronmorris
Head's a shed
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Also depends on how much of it you can do your self though. For example you're talking of making adaptor's up for your engine. Using lathe's and laser cutters, Some thing which not every one has access to. So adds a little cost to the project.
Although I agree it's not as excessive as others are making out.
MGBGTV8
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Right... with you now!
With respect, you're getting bogged down in the details and figures. The point I was making is that the bills don't stop with the purchase of an engine. Furthermore, the example I cited was an MGB to Rover V8 conversion. To do that *particular* conversion IS a 4 grand (minimum)exercise before you start worrying about selling unused parts.
I don't want to create dischord and upset the mods by bleeting on about MG's on a Land Rover forum, but in the case of that particular engine swap the actual cost of the engine represents some 20 - 25% of the total cost of the project.
If you look at your own project I'm sure you will agree (if you ignore selling bits and pieces) the actual cost of the engine itself, whilst it may well represent a good chunk of the cost of the project, certainly isn't the be-all and end-all in terms of outlay!
Turboman
Mab An Gov
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This is the exact same point we keep telling people in our UK modified car clubs. We get a whole load of people (mainly young guys) swearing they can afford the basic car/bits/project only to get a big shock when their initial budget then covers only 50% of the job.
The car then falls into ruin or is never looked after correctly due to the lack of funds. We now have a whole load of crappy cars in the country which are quite frankly crap and all because of poor funding and planning by the purchaser.
Ground-up is expensive no matter what vehicle it is so let someone else take the financial pain.
Now that is good sense
Let someone else put in the big investment, and then buy the unfinished project for a song!
THEengineer
whatever
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you can do it! but start your ground up garage alongside it. maybe a brick or two a week.
Dr_evil
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True although if you're friendly with local businesses they'll usually do it for you cheap too
I get some free bits of steel from certain places (offcuts which they have no use for after doing big jobs) which I can then use and that cuts costs too.
I'm also making up my own inlet and exhaust manifolds but thats easy work anyone can do that if they can weld and grind
.
Turboman
Mab An Gov
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:lol:you can do it! but start your ground up garage alongside it. maybe a brick or two a week.
Amphermiser
Active Member
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Yes money is certainly a big part of my build, but to be honest, time is my biggest hassel. Because mine is a ground up design and build, it takes a while to solve, design then build. My build has taken far longer than I would have ever thought. I will be glad when she is finished, or should I say back on the road and in the water.
SteNova
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Also... You need loads of knowledge... I built a nova from a shell in a weekend, but I had 13 years of stripping and building them, I knew every bolt that was needed, all the wiring colours and a pile if good parts, I plan to fit a glav chassis on mine but I have lots of learning to do first
Spunka
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What ever you decide to do ,If you stick around on here you will find it helpful
