JTM's Supra

[JTM29]

So me and my dad are looking for a new project.
We are 15minutes or so away from Lakeside and we want to get into the sprints held there and possibly hill climbs and sprints at other tracks.
We went out to Lakeside a month or so ago and we saw alot of these Westfield sportcars.
Basically they are a kit car that you can build up yourself, they are fairly lite and quick. Also are reasonably cheap.
There are a few brands; Westfield (Built in the UK and shipped over), Arrow, and Birkin. We are at the moment trying to decide on which one to go with. The arrow seems to be the cheapest option and decent quality build.

I have setup a website on my server http://www.jtm29.net/home that will follow us on our build. Not alot on there at the moment but if your interested i will be posting on it after every day we spend working on it and upload pictures and videos.
Our goal is to build this up, get it road registered and then start working it towards sprints.
Here is a couple links if your interested.
http://www.westfield-sportscars.com.au/
http://www.arrowsportscars.com.au
http://www.birkin.com.au/

So if anyone has experience with these or and ideas please post id love to hear them.

// Now thread for my Supra //

[thornz]

Sweet mate!

Will follow this along the way, good luck with it, something I have always wanted to do myself at some stage, but don't know if I'd trust something I had built around a race track

[Bauer]

http://www.locost7.info/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

check that site out. I dont know what it will help you with but it is owned by an ARSE and Im sure Oggie will chat to you about your options if you ask nicely. Havent seen him around in a long while but he is one of the good guys

[Bauer]

10 Good reasons to build a kit car


1 It's great fun. Fun to build, and fun to drive
2 It develops your skills, and your self confidence.
3 It develops your social network by involving you with club members and their partners
4 It makes financial sense. Most properly built clubman cars are worth more than the cost of building them.
5 It develops you driving skills, through involvement in track days, rallies etc.
6 It develops family ties through the involvement of partners or family members in the build , and in club events.
7 It is an active interest that gets you away from the TV or pub for a while.
8 It promotes recycling, as most kit cars use second-hand and reconditioned parts.
9 It is a very fuel-efficient vehicle capable of over 40MPG
10 It promotes an appreciation of travel and adventure, which is good for the soul.


10 Good Reasons Reviewed after 3 years

1 It's certainly fun to drive. More than I hoped for. The build process was a lot less fun than I first believed. It was challenging, frustrating boring, and sometimes fun. I'm glad it's over, and I don't think I'd do it again soon.
2 Absolutely
3 Hopefully, this will be more true in the coming months.
4 Not true. If you have mechanical skills or can access them easily, you can build one of these cars for less than $25000, which is about the market value.
5 Still waiting for this, but have no reason to doubt it.
6 Very true. I was hardly speaking to my co-builder son when we started this. Now we are very close. Highly recommended. Also, my wife and her friends are very passionate about the project, and very supportive.
7 Yup
8 Also true
9 Haven't got the figures, but if you drive it like I do, it's not gonna happen. But who cares!
10 I never realised until now how much hard work and heartache is required, but it's been worth it!

[Montey]

Don't forget to look at these guys too: http://www.prbaustralia.com.au/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[matticooper]

http://www.prbaustralia.com.au/

Had a mate build one of these. He said it went very well.... and that was the cheaper option(s) too.

[JTM29]

PRB are the importers of the UK Westfield, Will have a bit more of a look into the Locost as well.
We are currently leaning towards the Arrow, we have went to the Queensland distributors place the other week and he took me for a ride in his car. They seem to be the cheapest as we can use the older Toyota motor in them, which works well for us as well because my dad is a Toyota dealer. The other ones we have talked to say they need a newer Ford Duretec engine to get them registered, which is an extra couple thousand. We also like the support from Arrow as the distributor isnt that far away from us and can help us along the way, and has already been very helpful. He also builds a lot of custom parts for it himself and has built many kits for customers so he is very knowledgeable. Actually going back to his place to have another look as his car and the one he was building while we were there last time.
Also need to get some measurements to compare as these cars are fairly small, im 6'2" so room also will be a factor.

At the moment we are trying to line up to have a look at the PRB/Westfields and the Birkins on Monday and hopefully get a good idea of the differences between them, which from what we have found so far is very little.

[VTRacing]

Driven a Birkin with a Toyota 4-pot. Felt solid enough, nice appearance. I think if you're 6'2" you may have a drama with most of them.

It was ok, not really my cup of tea but it would be fun for trackdays.

[JTM29]

Been reading around the forums and aparantly they are getting people a fair bit taller then me into them ok. Ive sat in the Arrow and not a problem in terms of leg room, and it was built for a guy that was around 6'. And the guy from Arrows says as we build it we can adjust the steering, pedals and seat positions to better suit me. Have to checkout the others and see how they go.

[JTM29]

Though id just update this,
After looking around abit more and sitting in a few more kits we realized that the cars are just to small for me. I can fit in fine and push the throttle down, but lifting off my knees where hitting the dash and steering wheel. Also the pricing on building one of these was quickly rising as well as the time it would take to build.

So we decided to look for a road car to do up for the road. Dad being a toyota dealer we were only really looking for toyotas, at first we were looking at the turbo starlet but they are rare and again very small. Then we had a look at Supras, soon looking into the Twin turbo Supra. After a couple months of looking we found one in decent condition that we could buy and get to work on.

Im going to change up the website and still have a blog of what we are doing on it. We are currently on holiday and the car is sitting at the dealership waiting for us to get home to work on it so as soon as we are back ill get working on the website and posting some updates.

Here are a couple pics of the car



Crappy quality taken on camera phone.

Current plans to start off is a bodykit, stripping it down and painting it black, TRD brakes, stripping out interior and putting in rollcage/raceseats and redoing suspension. Im sure more will come as we develop the car and start taking it out

[DexterPunk]

fantastic! love the car, cant wait to see more of its development.

[Sambo]

Though id just update this,
After looking around abit more and sitting in a few more kits we realized that the cars are just to small for me. I can fit in fine and push the throttle down, but lifting off my knees where hitting the dash and steering wheel. Also the pricing on building one of these was quickly rising as well as the time it would take to build.

So we decided to look for a road car to do up for the road. Dad being a toyota dealer we were only really looking for toyotas, at first we were looking at the turbo starlet but they are rare and again very small. Then we had a look at Supras, soon looking into the Twin turbo Supra. After a couple months of looking we found one in decent condition that we could buy and get to work on.

Im going to change up the website and still have a blog of what we are doing on it. We are currently on holiday and the car is sitting at the dealership waiting for us to get home to work on it so as soon as we are back ill get working on the website and posting some updates.

Here are a couple pics of the car



Crappy quality taken on camera phone.

Current plans to start off is a bodykit, stripping it down and painting it black, TRD brakes, stripping out interior and putting in rollcage/raceseats and redoing suspension. Im sure more will come as we develop the car and start taking it out

I am insanely jealous, that is my dream car. Looks like great fun!

[Santaria]

I'm with Sambo on this, I'm also extremely jealous. Hope it turns out to be fun and not frustrating!

[Vilante]

SO JEALOUS!!

Congrats mate, looking forward to seeing how it goes!

[ysu]

I like supras too, nice looking machines - and this one seems to be in good conditions.
How much does it hurt to get one of those?

[petey]

ditto ditto ditto

awesome

[Sambo]

I like supras too, nice looking machines - and this one seems to be in good conditions.
How much does it hurt to get one of those?

Nearest I could figure out is a good nick 97 TT Supra with the VVTI engine which is what JTM has there is about 25k

[ysu]

thanks!
That's not too bad, is it?

[Vilante]

I like supras too, nice looking machines - and this one seems to be in good conditions.
How much does it hurt to get one of those?

Nearest I could figure out is a good nick 97 TT Supra with the VVTI engine which is what JTM has there is about 25k

If his Dad's a dealer though he would have got it for a fraction of that. One of my old mates Father was a dealer and used to buy the trade in's for him for peanuts.

[JTM29]

Was a private sale we got it for 24k, because the only way to get supras in Australia was to import them or buy second hand its hard to find a VVTI twin turbo in decent condition. Even less chance to find one as a trade in or buying off another dealer.

[JTM29]

Just a quick update.
Been heaps busy with uni and work i haven't had time to do up the blog for this, but we haven't done a lot on it yet.
Basically we have cleaned it up, cleaned up the wheel wells and around the suspension and brakes ready for us to work on while we waited for the new components. We have been waiting on new Tein Suspension to be imported, upgraded brakes and sway bars from Toyota which all came in last week. We are currently moving over the next two weekends and on holidays the next 2 weekends so we cant get to putting it all on the car until next month

We have also painted the middle parts of the wheels black, we plan on painting the car black once we get a body kit for it. Here are some pics:


Ill post update again once we get started working on the suspension and brakes and post some pics of it all going in. Cant wait to actually get started on it, getting over for waiting for parts or spare time to work on it

[w00dsy]

i'm surprised Norbs hasn't been in here to remind everyone that a Commodore wagon is all the car you'd ever need

[c.j]

Let me know if you are heading to Lakeside JTM, ill bring my subi and a camera. I wont be doing nearly as much as you mate, family to look after but saving my pennies for the 6 speed box and am about a 1/3 of the way there.

[JTM29]

We are still a couple months away from getting to the track but ill let you know when we are going to take her out.

[c.j]

Same with me mate, but I prefer Lakeside over QR from my two wheeled experience.