January 13, 2010 - Good question.
Someone on the Grassroots Motorsports forum asked about the relative difficulty of building a car like my Seven or the MG. For those who don't want to go read the discussion on the forum (there are some good points from other folks to do with registration and the like), here's what I answered. Note - I don't usually refer to the Seven as a Locost because I didn't build the frame. But that's what it is. Warning, long!
Here's a point-by-point comparison.
The Locost is basically a clean sheet when it comes to packaging, and the frame is built to accommodate whatever powertrain will go inside. Before the first piece of metal is cut, there are no constraints. This can cause a problem for some people, as design paralysis can kick in But it does side-step some problems right from the start.
The MG, on the other hand, is heavily constrained. The new drivetrain has to fit into an existing package. In my case, I'm making dramatic changes to the car to build what I want to build, but I still have to fit everything into the body and deal with things like the pre-determined position of the fuel tank or the steering column. Of course, this also means I don't have to deal with problems like trying to figure out where to place and how to mount the fuel tank. But just think of the exhaust - on a Locost, you stick it out the side of the car. With the MG, it's going to have to go under the car and thread through the suspension.
The Locost is very simple. It's a car, distilled. There's nothing there that isn't required. This makes life easy.
The MG, not so much. It's expected to be a real car with a heater, a certain amount of sound and noise insulation and the like. Of course, most of the hard work has already been done - the windows roll up and down, it's carpeted, it has a heater and ventilation plumbing, etc. Some care is required to retain all this.
The Locost is built out of clean steel. The MG has 40-year-old undercoating. Yuk.
With the Locost, you're responsible for everything. Need fenders mounted to your wheels? Make a bracket. Need seats? Figure 'em out. Need a steering column, a fuel filler, a scuttle, etc - it's all you. You've got some design freedom, but nothing comes for free. You have to solve every single problem involved in designing a car. This is the biggest part of the work.
With the MG, I only have to deal with the parts I'm changing. I don't need to figure out how to hang doors, mount the headlights or deal with airflow management behind the dash. That's been done for me. This helps. Of course, it would have helped more if I hadn't tossed the stock suspension away!
So which is harder? From a problem-solving point of view I'm going to say the MG, due to the existing constraints. For example, I'm not only going to have to figure out a steering column, but I have to figure out how to make it work with the existing firewall and column mounting. But it's a pretty close race, and if I'd decided to do a more traditional 302 or Rover swap into the B - which would have retained the suspension front and rear - then it would have been the other way around. My MG is a pretty extreme makeover. It helps that I have the knowledge that I gained during the Locost build, I suspect, but it's difficult to quantify that as I always assume when looking back that I knew then what I know now.
Time is hard. I didn't build the Locost frame, and I was single then. Instead of building in my own garage living on my own, I'm building in a garage that's attached to the house I share with my wife. This means no late-night grinding and hammering. It also takes me longer to do simple things like make dinner! I'm going to estimate similar time overall.
Money? That's such a variable. I think it's actually going to be pretty close. I could have found a cheaper MG (heck, a free one found me recently that would have been a perfect starting point) but I also bought my Locost frame. I don't pay attention to the total costs, I don't want to know. I just try to do everything for the minimum cost to do it right.
In terms of skills, I'd put them at a wash. I'll have to do more fine bodywork on the MG (no rivets here) due to my need for flares, but overall the basic skillset of shaping and welding metal, wiring, plumbing and painting is the same. Had I found a different MG to start with, I expect rust repair would have been a new skill I'd have to learn. But it's just an application of the metal and body work. |
THE DIARY