Robin Hood 2B Technical Notes & Build Manual

Author Colin Usher

	2 Years Hard Labour

Introduction

Since this web site was started in December 2002 Robin Hood Engineering has been re-branded as Robin Hood Sports Cars Limited. Richard has sold the business and the new owners are firmly in control. A new catalogue has been produced (December 2005) and inevitably the range has been substantially reduced. There are now only 4 cars in the range. The Lightweight, (chassis-less, stressed skin alloy monocoque) Project 2B Plus, The Super Spec. and the Rager 'off road' vehicle.

Under the Lolocost brand a Road/Track chassis is also available specifically designed to be used with the range of Lolocost components. Thankfully the 2B is continued more or less unchanged, however the Mild Steel versions of both the 2B and Super Spec seem to have been dropped together with the Gold /Titanium finishes. From the brochure it is apparent that the new owners have invested in some decent Plasma cutting equipment and a Chassis Welding Jig. Hopefully this may have corrected some errors in Chassis alignment etc. No doubt many of the problems experienced during my build have also been corrected. The Steering Rack alignment is one of these.

It is inevitable that this, and other similar websites will slowly become out of date as major and minor changes are made to the kits. For example the list of parts for the latest Project 2B has changed in some detail, a full set of 5 x 61/2 J tyres and Alloys now comes as standard and there are far fewer 'options' than previously available. Looking at the latest catalogue there would however appear to be no fundamental changes to the actual build, but please bear in mind that this web site ONLY refers to kits purchased circa December 2002 and more specifically to my own build of a Robin Hood 2B Plus in stainless steel with wishbone suspension. No doubt some of the comments are now out of date and without a full revision please accept my appologies. If the new owners of RHSC's care to contact me I will be only too happy to correct any errors etc.

There is no doubt that given care and attention a very fine car can be built that is probably truer to Colin Chapman's original Lotus 7 design concept than many other kit cars currently on the market, and this is almost certainly the reason for its continued success. It seems a contradiction that the ONLY fully Stainless Steel car in the world today is also one of the cheapest. Some of the methods employed in its build and the assembly information supplied with the kit leave a lot to be desired. This manual is an attempt to fill that gap, but should be used in conjunction with the four video's supplied by Robin Hood Sports Cars, but even these tend to be out of date in many areas. I suppose a kit car is never really finished as there is always something you are not happy with or wish to improve. I have now applied for and passed my SVA/MOT (April 2005) so to that extent the car can be considered finished, fully fitted with a Windscreen and Heater etc. The kit was purchased in December 2002 so has taken 28 months of more or less full time effort. An awful lot of time has been spent sorting out problems that should have been fixed by RHE, but that is the purpose of this manual and most of the solutions are contained in the following 26 Chapters.

Do not attempt to read this manual from end to end, it is not a book. It is however presented in more or less a correct build sequence. Read each section before starting the actual build and hopefully it may assist you in avoiding many of the pitfalls, and believe me there are plenty. There are dozens of ways of building any kit car, and I do not presume to suggest that the methods presented in this manual are by any means the best. Part of the "fun" of kit car building is getting over problems. At least that is what we are led to believe.

You will find an Index below, click on this to go to the relevant section. As with all Internet sites using the "Edit" & "Find" tabs will allow you to search for individual text words throughout the entire document. For this reason there is no "subject index" as is usual in traditional books and manuals.

The Index

Introduction

All the photographic images are " thumbnails " and clicking on them will bring up a full screen image.

The photographs are very high resolution SLR and, without broadband, may take a while to load, but when loaded should auto-size to your screen.

If you wish to print out a hard copy, save each section into "Microsoft Word" and then print out as normal.

Many thanks to all those members of the North West RHOCaR group who have freely given help and advice for this site.

Disclaimer. The views expressed on this web site are those of the author, who has no connection with any of the companies mentioned.

Before using any of these modifications or designs seek advice and approval from the original car designer or a qualified Automobile Engineer.

No liability whatsoever can be accepted for damage or accident etc. arising from the adoption of these modifications or methods.

Text © Colin Usher 2009 Illustrations © Colin Usher 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright holder. Except for private & non-profit use.