First things first

So here we go!
I have decided to build a Great British Sports Cars (GBS) Zero kit car; using an Audi 1.8 turbo charged engine, instead of using the Zetec 2.0l engine.



http://www.greatbritishsportscars.co.uk/

The choice was made a lot easier at the Stoneleigh Kitcar show earlier this year when I was able to have a really good look around the car and saw the quality of these kits for myself.
It was also great to speak with Keith Bird face to face about the build as when I told him my plans on the phone he laughed; quite hard. But after a short discussion he was actually really excited about the project and very keen to help.

Now this will not be a straight forward build because GBS have not used this engine before and will therefore need to make bespoke engine mounts and make minor tweaks to the chassis for the engine to fit. In addition, the wiring loom will need adjusting also to accommodate the Audi engine loom and ECU; but let's cross that bridge when we get to it!
Furthermore, because the chassis is designed around Ford Type 9 or MT75 gearboxes I had a decision to make about whether to use these boxes still or try to make an Audi box fit. I opted to use the old reliable Type 9 as this is a well tried and tested box and would mean a lot less messing around in the long run.
Ok so engine and gearbox sorted. However, I somehow needed to make the two match as of course it is not a straightforward bolt on job. The two options were;

• to make an adapter plate to make the Ford bell housing fit the Audi block
• or find somewhere that makes adapted bell housing for this application.

I've opted for the adapted bell housing option because it just seems to be a proper way of doing things and it wouldn't add to the overall dimensions of the gearbox/engine combination due to the adapter plate; which would mean locating the gearbox further back or the engine further forward to accommodate it, and as the engine hasn't been used before I'd like to make the engine bay as large as possible.
I'll have more to follow on the bell housing and gearboxes when I get to it!

More to follow soon, stay tuned!