Looking for someone to finish a Beauford Unfinished DIY project for me.

[Richard Haigh]

Hi All, 

New to the forum, i bought a Beauford of a lady last year (whos partner passed away) he had the beauford through the IVA / SVA and i have the list of failures, not too bad, i did plan to do the work myself but i just dont have time and it looks like im not going to have time so im looking for someone to give me a price to:

1) get it passed.

2) make it mint.. retrim, respray and all the chrome and shiny bits.

She said to me that before he passed away he had estimated it needed around 40-50 hours to get it through the test.

Vehicle is currently located in Mirfield, but i can trailer it anywhere in the country. It drives it runs, its just lots of stupid small things, mainly too sharp in places, and things not having enough supports / fixings eg cable ties round wires etc. Biggest issue i think was the seat belt mountings. and possibly something about a bar that needed to be welded in the rear of the car.

Car will live in Hull / Scunthorpe when completed. May or may not be used for weddings... haven't decided yet.

I have the cash to get this completed, just no time. Anyone interest please drop me an email. Can be viewed. I appreciate no one can give exact prices, but just some ball parks.

Thanks in advance... and hello to all you wonderful beauford folk.

[Hamish Freeman]

Hi Richard,

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but there are one or two things of which you should be aware:

 

Rear Seat Belt Anchors

Good luck with this!  I am afraid that this may be a non-trivial job.  Mine failed on this and I ended up having to weld an A frame in 50 mm square tube each side of the “boot” area to triangulate between the shock absorber tubes, the chassis and the 1”(?) angle-iron bar that goes across under the rear shelf before the inspector was satisfied – safety factor possibly in excess of 1000x the possible load.  He was equally demanding about the side belt anchors, insisting that they be taken back to the Beauford supplied fixing points in the boot area rather than directly down to the chassis with 6 mm plate. 

 

In reality it is a case of being able to demonstrate to the inspector that the load from the seat belts is taken back to the chassis for each of the fixing points so there is no absolute solution.  It is best to talk to the inspector who undertook the test to understand exactly what is expected as it is likely to be in excess of what is required in engineering terms to allow for amateur workmanship.

 

Supports

Cables and pipes should be frequently supported with a maximum gap of 30 cm between supports, which must be of a solid nature.  Fuel pipework has to be set away from the chassis in such a way as not to chafe with vibration or set up an electrical battery with the material used – I do not recall reading this in the IVA manual but was told this during the test - totally reasonable!

 

Sharp edges

This is a regular bug bear and you would think by now that the suppliers would supply suitably finished parts.  Bonnet louvres are the favourite for which Beauford supplied chrome covers.  Interior door handles, instrument edges and anything home-made is likely to get the thumbs down on this one – join the club and borrow the suitable items for the test.  Were the door handles within the 50 mm protrudance limit out from the body?  All internal spaces under the dash must be covered in.  This included the pedal are in my case – great fun!

 

IVA Inspection

If you are going to argue with the inspector do not think that a carefully worked out and presented calculation will get things through as it will just be referred back to VOSA central and you will still need a retest.  I had mine tested at Southampton and as far as I can make out mine was a) the first home build to go through IVA and b) certainly the first Beauford to go through Southampton  - not a good idea!  Go to a station where they regularly test Beaufords and know what is required thus avoiding a lot of hassle.  As a former engineer I found the majority of IVA inspection failures nit-pickingly trivial but I did end up with a very safe car!

 

This whole experience certainly put me off wanting to build another kit car and fight it through IVA.

 

Hope you find a willing partner.  Have you tried Beauford cars themselves?

 

Hamish

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[Richard Haigh]

Hi Hamish, thanks for the reply.

Congratulations on getting yours through the IVA. I own a Fab shop and are quite familiar with the engineer calcs, but I too have heard the horror stories around inspectors and referrals to technicals in Bristol. Thanks for the advice on taking it to a vosa test station used to see beaufords. I haven't called Beauford themselves about finishing the car, I was slightly hoping an old school expert might read the forum and welcome a few months of work in the evenings to finish the car off, with a bit of help from myself as and when I could spare the time.

In short I got the car at a bargain, on the promise I would get it finished and send some photos to the poor lady who's husband passed away. I bought it in august last year, and told her I would have it done by the following summer, I'd really like to honour that statement, and get it so it looks the part, and take her out in it. I'm under no obligation to do this, but I just thought it would be nice.

I'm literally working 7 days a week 10-15 hours a day, I run 2 businesses, I just don't have any real time to get stuck into it. I'm happy to pay for someone just to get it through it's via, then pay trimmers and spray shops to do the rest.

Thanks again for taking the time for such a response, all your points will be taken on board.

I'm aware this is likely to cost thousands, but hopefully it will be worth while, I'm happy to pay some hourly at pre agreed stages, of fixed amounts. I really just want someone who knows what they are doing.

Richard

[GORDON RICHARDS]

Hi

  Have 3 garages and do have all the facilities to refurbish your Beauford  at my Petersfield Hampshire garage, no longer own one but still look after a couple give me a call on 07836633856

or email me if you are interested   .

We all know the IVA can be a problem most of these guys have not got the engineering experience to give a fair view. have had to tolerate the transport officialdom for 50 years.

does not matter where you take it,  just down to who inspects it and how big his ego is. had to may run ins with MOT, DTP, VOSA, and so on over the years. 

Gordon Richards    

From: Richard Haigh <rhai...@gmail.com>
To: beaufo...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 4 February 2015, 20:04
Subject: RE: Looking for someone to finish a Beauford Unfinished DIY project for me.

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