Any Advice ??
 

I'm not looking for mfg. recommendations but whether or not to build a donor car or a get a complete kit. I know that a complete kit choice narrows my choices. It seems that the donor route may be a little less expensive for a first build. Any suggestions?

John

Get a turnkey, they're well built and you're on the road right now. I would go for a dealer in my area - Backdraft, Superformance?

Thinking pre-owned, there are some nice cars around - www.CobraCountry.com

Bob

Post a better description in your title when posting

It seems like fewer people are doing donor builds these days. You end up tearing apart the donor car and then decide to replace half the parts...project creep sets in and your budget gets blown out.

If you're looking at buying a complete kit, why not look at pre-owned cars. You're going to save a ton of money and there's some great deals to be had.

Depends on what your goals are. If you're looking for a good fun street car that's easy to build and won't break the bank, go with the donor kit.

As for donors, be carefull on your selection. If you get a donor that's low miles and good condition, life will be good. If it's older with a lot of miles, you'll end up replacing a lot of the parts. And that adds to the complexity and cost of the build.

If you're looking to build something special and unique, buy the donor kit and then shop for the other parts you'll be wanting. For example, if you want Gordon's 5 like rear, big Wilwood brakes with dual MC's, and digital gauges, get the donor kit.

Donor builds never made much sense to me. For most of us, we wait a lot of years to build our actual dream car - an AC Cobra Replica. Then, we go out and buy a kit and donor parts to put it together. In the end, it seems to me, that we have an old car with a flashy body and some cool paint.

In my opinion, do it the way you want. It is your car and your build. But think about if this is the car of your dreams, build it with new parts so when you are complete, you have an entirely new car.

Paul

it really comes down to just a few factors...

1. how much do you have to spend right now, or over time
2. Is it more about doing it your self or is it all about the car
3. how comfortable and experienced are you in the garage

A lot of guys go the donor route as its a low cost of entry but end up spending a lot more than planned. Most donor kits are set up to use either new parts or donor parts from say a Mustang.

Some guys go higher end and get a kit or even a roller and put the parts they want in.

But if it more about the car and you want to drive it now vs. in three or four years (lets face it, it takes a lot of free time to do a kit, so unless you can work on it full time, it will take some time) then you can't beat the deals on used cobras right now. Many are in the range of some kits and rollers.

John,

What is your budget like, as that will determine (and dictate) which direction to point you in?


Bill S.

my 2 cents...... I looked for over two years, buying a kit, buying a roller. I went used professionaly built. In this econ. there are some pretty sweet cars for a lot less than they were two years ago. I was very close to buying a new Backdraft then I drove the B&B I bought and got it for 20k less not counting sales taxes.

I know of two people that went FFR - Donor and ended up rebuilding most of the parts anyway.

Even if you buy a complete kit, ready for assembly, you are going to run yourself ragged chasing down all the little bits and pieces you'll want to build it "your way." By building a car using donor parts that problem is only compounded. Its a buyer's market, and for what you'd spend on building one from used donor parts you can likely buy a complete kit made with all new, 0 mile, performance-grade, pre-fitted parts, and chop months off your build time. Granted, you gotta write that check all at once versus scrounging for parts over many months (though many kit makers will break their kits down into bite-sized chunks.)

One thing that may not have occurred to you, but when you are zooming along at a high rate of speed, you'll already be asking yourself "Did I tighten that bolt?" Do you want to also be asking yourself "Did the spindle I bought from Acme Salvage get cracked when the donor Mustang was hit by that freight train?":eek:

A kit using a doner car is like putting a dress on a pig. Looks nice, but it's still a pig under the dress.

Thank you for your informative reply. In the future I will try and put a complete title together including all the questions I might have and not bother with the body of the post. My sincere apology if I have somehow upset you.

I heard it was like putting lipstick on a pig. It looks good but still tastes like pork if you kiss it.

All the posts above have certainly helped. My thoughts are to go with a complete kit. I'll add my power and drive train as I want it. I would say that my skill level is as good as anybodies when it comes to twisting bolts. My BIG handicap is electrical.

One thing I'm afraid of with a complete kit is where to get parts, brakes , bearings etc. when they wear out. I have an old ranch truck that is built out of so many vehicles over the years that even getting u-joints for it is a challenge. Do complete kits come with a list of what parts are common to off the shelf ? I would hope that when something wears out, I could go to Napa and get what I need. I've seen some of the mfg's say that the A frames, coil overs, rear links and such are specific to them. What happens when you bend an arm or wear out a ball joint and the company has gone under or sold out?

I think the only way I'd be interested in a used car would be if it was one of the make that I'd have bought as a kit. I'm not wanting to just settle for something that isn't what I want. I don't want to buy something to rebuild it, or repaint it.

I'm looking for a daily driver type. Probably a small block, 400 hp +-. Nothing too exotic.

John

I agree with Bill. Set a budget, get out there and look at the different manufacturers, and try to drive several cars.

In many cases, the parts are readily available (not always at Napa) through Summit, the manufacturer, or specialty suppliers. Little things break or need to be tweaked along the way. You end up researching the best option and in some cases you just improvise and come up with your own solution.

Depends on how you do it. If you find a 15 year old BMW with 150K miles on it as a donor, that's what you get. But if you find a low mileage 5 year old BMW, then you get something very differant.

That's like refusing to buy a used car because it's just a pig with a pretty face.

I started with all new parts on my car. Now they're all used parts.

The wiring on these kits is 7th grader simple. Hurricane uses a purpose-built wiring harness kit from Haywire, and every single wire is silkscreened every 12" with a label of where it goes (cooling fan, rear blinker, ignition, horn.) the harness comes with a 4 pages of instructions and once you read them, you can do it.

I can only speak for Hurricane but my kit came with a full build sheet with all part #s. Everything is either standard off-the-shelf and available at stores like Napa and O'Reilly (brake pads/wheel bearings etc), or available directly from race suppliers like QA1 (coil-over shocks), Wilwood (brakes) etc. Then there's all the "original Cobra"-related stuff like steering wheels, door latches, dash switches, knock-off wheels, etc that have been available for years from reputable Cobra suppliers (like www.finishlineaccessories.com) and will be for years to come. I have ZERO worry that something would need replacing in 10 years and not be able to easily source it. Frankly, I am more worried about that on my daily driver than my Cobra.

most guys only put 2000 to 3000 miles per year on a Cobra. So it would take 33 years to wear out most of the parts.
Now if you drive it hard, well maybe you'll get 5 years out of them.
Most Cobra parts are Ford, a few Chevie and maybe a Mopar part or two.
I think you can find all the parts in a local parts store like Auto Zone.

You can buy a runing, ready to drive, Cobra Cheaper than you can build it.

There are thousands for sale.

Surely there is one that fits your buget and taste. If there are a few things you don't like about it, you can repair, re-paint or replace it.

Happy hunting

Dwight

You can buy a runing, ready to drive, Cobra Cheaper than you can build it.

There are thousands for sale.

Surely there is one that fits your buget and taste. If there are a few things you don't like about it, you can repair, re-paint or replace it.

Happy hunting

Dwight[/quote]

Where? I've hunted around here, ebay CL, FF5. I haven't seen anything comparable to component prices. I've ruled out a few . FF5, BB, McGill Pacific are a couple that come to mind I'm not interested in. The Hurricane still seems to be the front runner. I may find out that I have the Champagne taste on a beer budget. That is one of the reasons I was considering a donor build. Less expensive to start and pay as you build?

Red, are you trying to keep your total outlay below, say, $40k?

I hadn't considered the TOTAL outlay. It's the initial outlay that I'd like to keep down around 20-25k. I can always throw money at it as I progress.