Kit In A Box - Rocket - New Zealand

[kiwicanfly]

I am starting this thread separate from my build diary and am intending to diary my experience of using the Kit In A Box option rather than a self sourced option as most do.

I am going to try and timeline it from the beginning so I have a bit of catching up to do.

I don't intend to look at issues of whether Widget A is better than Widget B and suchlike but comment on the Widget I actually received

So let the story begin.

[kiwicanfly]

First a bit about my background and current situation.

I originate from north of Derby, after leaving school I undertook an apprenticeship in Toolmaking.

In my early 20's I went to Bangladesh as a VSO Volunteer to work in technical institutions, after 2-1/2 years moved to an ODA (read same job type - more money) role where I stayed a further 2 years.

I returned to UK and went to university where I obtained a degree in Manufacturing Engineering.

Worked a couple more years in UK them emigrated to NZ in 1995 where I got a job as the Manufacturing Manager in an engineering company, I am still in that role.

Out company has the following facilities -

Foundry
Machine Shop - both conventional and CNC mills and lathes
Electroplating
General Fitting and Assembly.

Indirectly our group has fabrication facilities - welding etc.

Why is all the above relevant?

Whilst having minimal (to be truthful read no) automotive experience I have a pretty good background in engineering -

My trade experience allows me to operate the gear.
My degree exposed me to the more technical stuff.
My company has all the tools material and equipment.
My role "grants" me access to all of this ;D

So fellow builders - with all this going in my favour why Kit In A Box?

Surely considering the things that other builders do with standard home workshop tooling I should be able to do the tasks required without 'buying' the solution.

[kiwicanfly]

Like, I suspect, many Rocket builders the first exoskeleton car I saw was the Atom on Top Gear and was blown away by the concept.

To me it was a bit like my paragliding experiences, it had only the bits you needed and nothing more and could probably kill you if you treated it wrong.

"When I win the Lotto that's the first thing I am going to buy" I said.

Then I started looking for kits, can't buy a Atom kit and none of the others kits really appealed, (the Exocet would have been a lot more practical as there are kits locally made), then two days before my 50th I stumbled on the Rocket.

Told the wife I had found a project and then it was on - biggest barrier overcome in under 30's no excuses ;D

This was March 2012

[kiwicanfly]

So I have got the green light just got to get the kit.

Did some delving in the forum and the RTR site, tried to get an idea of how big the project was and what I needed to source, couldn't get definitive answers or lists but got the gist of it with some PM's to other builders. Leicesterkev and JimK and of course Marks detailed build thread all spring out to give thanks to.

However first major stumbling block - the Ford Focus was not a popular car in NZ and those that did arrive were late model. This equated to minimal available as insurance jobs (not such a great idea anyway) or paying upwards of NZ$8000 (UKP4k) for a 2nd hand runner.

I also found that new parts available in NZ were sometimes twice the UK price plus they needed to be freighted out here.

This kept sending me back to the RTR site and looking at the KIB option - Everything you need in a box"

Also freight on an entire shipment would not be much more than a basic kit only as surface shipping is volume based.

Made more and more sense plus not really knowing exactly what would be required meant that - everything that is in the box needs to be fitted and if it's not in the box it is not required. Simple for a confessed non-automotive person.

Also as JimK commented it is really nice just to be able to turn to the shelf and pick the bit up you need.

So decision made on preferred route just had to see whether there were issues on such a vehicle in NZ

[kiwicanfly]

Will a Rocket fly in NZ?

A swag of emails were sent back and forth getting general info about the Rocket and the KIB option during March, in addition I did some homework on building kit cars here in NZ.

I discovered that an Ariel Atom can't go on the road in Australia and the Rocket chassis has to be modified to increase torsional stiffness to go on the road in Australia so what about a Rocket in NZ?

The process here for most kit cars is to submit a Design Approval Application. This can be circumvented with well known designs but with never before seen designs this needs to be done and the LVVTA (Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association) needs to approve the design.

The LVVTA was set up in the 90's when it was looking like Hot Rods would be legislated out of NZ, this association was formed as a self regulatory organisation with a set of rules that has to be complied with and oversees all such builds.

They publish an excellent manual that details the requirements of every aspect of a build, this is very detailed but uses layman's language so it very user friendly.

The first thing I did was to run the Rocket by the LVVTA and get a "well it looks ok lets see the full details" approval, this was achieved quite easily.

Then it was time to move onto the 'heavy stuff' - A 24 page form has to be completed which details every aspect of the build plus numerous design drawings have to be submitted. Once a month applications are processed at which point you get the go ahead or more info is requested.

Due to the detail required the first thing I needed was a full list of all the parts that would be required, a kit list in my case, plus a certain level of detail of the design itself in order to complete necessary drawings.

So from that point there was nothing to do but "Send The Money" I sent my deposit to RTR, booked a build slot (23rd July), explained about the NZ Design Approval and asked for a full list of components I would be getting in my kit.

This was the first week in April, I remember it well as Paul called me during Coro!

I knew that there was a chance that some things might need to be modified from standard so I advised that I would not give the ok to build my chassis until I had Design Approval, this might mean giving up my slot but the sooner I got the application approved the sooner things could proceed.

After all how hard could it be?

[kiwicanfly]

So time moved on and information was slowly gathered.

I was aware that the LVVTA only meets once a month to asses applications and the deadline for submission was around the end of the previous month. I was keen to get an application in for the May meeting.

Critical to this was the full list of exactly what I was buying.

Well time moved on, and on, and on, until eventually after making a real pain of myself the list eventually came through.

A full list of every part requitred to build a Rocket with the part number and suppliers, the date was now 20th April.

To be fair I did ask an AWFUL lot of questions but without asking the questions I could not get the answers which meant I could not complete the form which meant I could not get approval which meant I was not going to move to giving the ok to build my chassis.

Perhaps I was naive but I expected the standard kit list to be immediately available simply to ensure all parts are accounted for when despatching to a customer.

I also expected technical drawings and specifications to be available as it would be for other engineering projects.

Well I suppose it was not the first time, and wont be the last time, that I have been wrong.

Well anyway I missed the end of April for May meeting deadline, still that gave me the whole of May to get ready for June - easy eh?

[Paul (madeye)]

Jan 29, 2013 8:13:10 GMT kiwicanfly said:

Perhaps I was naive but I expected the standard kit list to be immediately available simply to ensure all parts are accounted for when despatching to a customer.

well if that were the case, all your parts would be in your garage now mate..

Nuff said on that............

[kiwicanfly]

I then spent the rest of April and the first few weeks of May generating drawings and tying up loose ends.

One particular area of interest to NZ inspectors is Bump Steer. It turns out they have become REAL keen on this in the last few years after a guy changed the engine in his Subaru and had to lower his steering rack to fit it.

This completely changed his bump steer characteristics and he crashed and killed his passenger during an overtaking manouver, apparently he hit a small deviation in the road surface but it was enough to send him off the road.

I therefore did a lot of investigation into this aspect of a Rocket but in the end could not get sufficient information to produce meaningful technical drawings so decided to take my change with photographs.

I left things as late as possible before submitting in the vain hope that I would be able to gather the missing data but things were so hectic in England, there always seemed to be another car show to attend or a kit going out the factory or a car to be IVA'd which prevented the info I was looking for from arriving.

However one key piece of data I did manage to obtain was the size of the wishbone material, we are required to have lower wishbones made from material of at least 25mm in diameter, however as Rocket wishbones are 28.5mm in diameter this critical dimension was not a problem.

I wanted to do proper drawings but in the end I had to go with the photo only option and duly sent things away.

Then I met Stuart.............

[kiwicanfly]

So we are now in the third week of May and my LVVTA Build Approval has been despatched to Wellington for the June meeting. Then I met Stuart.

Stuart bought a kit from RTR in 2011 but had not made any progress in the build due to his work commitments.

I had not been able to hook up with him previously as he works offshore but then he advised he was back, his kit was in Taupo and he was getting an certifier in to give it an initial appraisal, a good time to go over (about 4 hours away) a see what a Rocket actually looks like in the flesh so to speak.

It was an interesting visit, I came away quite positive but it was immediately obvious there were going to be some issues. I realised there were going to be a number of welding requirements that would be easier to do over here, we needed to strengthen the seatbelt mounts and we can't use loose crush tubes for seat mounts so that sealed the deal on getting the chassis shipped without being coated.

A problem Stuart did highlight was that all the parts ordered didn't seem to have arrived in the initial shipment, but after seeing my list he was quite impressed and figured that if it all arrives as listed I should be looking pretty sweet.

If there is welding to be done it was also reasonable to leave the roll bar off to reduce packing crate size.

Also took off with half of Stuarts suspension so I could finally draw up the front end and work on the bump steer predictions.

So there I am with a vernier and I happened to check the diameter of the tubes which were supposed to be 28.5mm, well over the minimum 25mm required here, and they turned out to be only 21.3mm

Well this is interesting I thought

So back at home I checked the NZ requirements again and they had a amendment in the latest rule book allowing the suspension to be as small as 22mm, a bit closer to the supply size but not quite there.

"Oh yes they are not 28.5mm but are really 21.3mm x 3mm wall seamless tube but don't worry" I was assured "we can build them from 25mm for you".

"Will 25mm fit in the jig" I asked, "Of course, don't you worry" was the answer.

So that was when I devised my cunning plan, I produced all the drawings that could possibly be required and sent them off as an amendment to the application explaining what had happened and advised the new tube dimensions as being 21.3mm x 3mm seamless tube.

As I knew Stuart needed to get his through approval and already had the suspension parts I figured that if they approved my application he would be good and then when receiving my new 25mm parts I would be well in excess of what had been approved - I said it was cunning.

We are now in early June.