Ariel Adam build (poor man's Ariel Atom)

I had people asking me to put together a build thread on a Street Rail/Buggy I built. Unfortunately my phone decided to brick itself and I lost most of my pictures but I have a few.

Basically take all the cost,engineering,function and style out of Ariel Atom and you have the Ariel Adam.

Had no real plan when I started project just started working on it. Bought a pretty crappy sand rail and was planning on just cleaning it up and having fun with it, while fixing a bunch of hacks decided to make it a street rail, then kinda snow balled out of control.

Its a Berrien two seater chassis and seats back was cut off and reshaped to fit Honda motor and rear wheels were moved back about 15".

Front beam is a VW Ball joint, cut and lowered and has drop spindles and disc brakes, Rear is Lincoln Mark VIII hubs with custom control arms, Motor is a D Series with a Holset HX35 (@10psi), Rear wheels are 15x10.5 Billet Specialties

Titled as Assembled Roadster

Was hoping it to weigh around 1300lbs and feared 1500 but it weighed in at 1180lbs with a full tank of fuel

Have about 2500miles on it, gets about 40mpg and at 10psi is a blast. Hoping to take it to track next week and see what it will do but not built for a drag car just a street toy.

It was cheap, took about 6 Months to build and gets10x the looks and thumbs up my GT500 ever dreamed of.

Right now it probably makes 200bhp on 100% stock engine, hoping for 300whp next spring on built motor.

Here is how its sits today..

How it started...

Good size comparison..

And first attempt at the track... During...

Nice!

Here's a quick video, butt dyno felt like 100mph, gps speedometer said 72mph but video looks like 20mph

Turbo Honda D series street rail: http://youtu.be/9gfpxGzVQyI

Awesome. And you live in ohio too. Cool. Neat take on a rail Whereabouts?

I'm up in Toledo

Awesome!

Why are so many cool things in Ohio!?!?!

mbruneaux wrote: Why are so many cool things in Ohio!?!?!

Cause its Ohio, we have nothing else to do then build things.

Cool.

How do you go about making something like that street legal?

CobraChris2jz wrote: I'm up in Toledo

I thought that bridge looked familiar, then I saw the Ohio 48 sticker.
I too grew up in Toledo within walking distance of The University. First house in S. Toledo off Glendale, then P'burg near the new Penta. Now living on The Roller Coast.

Very cool build!
Welcome to GRM.

A M A Z I N G

Berkleying awesome. And a webasto for heat I see in there? Nice.

Yes but I ditched the Wabesto, no heat as of right now except the turbo

Random question, While you were in there welding, why not rake the front windshield some? Seems like moving that back 10* would go a long ways to make this thing look more "racecar"

Any plan on updating the front suspension to a double wishbone instead of the VW set up?

After seeing the build for the skidpad challenge, these seem like decent frames to start a mid engine project with.

I wanted to rack windsheild but because the windshield "hoop" is one piece it would either mean making it two pieces (weaker) or cutting entire frame apart and hoping to keep it square.

I'm planning on a possible A arm front suspension and electric power steering this winter but the VW stuff works and rides pretty good for now.

I have to admit that thanks to you I now have spent most of the day looking at used rails on craiglist...

And sitting that low to the ground has to be a blast

Most of these home-brew projects tend to look "functional" but clunky. This thing, however, is bad-ass! Looks right out of a Mad Max movie.

Very cool. Hot Rods are fun.

Friggin awesome!

So, no issue getting it inspected then licensed without a wiper? Reason I ask is that I'm finishing up an Exocet build (also in OH), and am contemplating putting a low rise windshield on it. But ... trying to decipher Ohio code, I read that a functional wiper must be installed if you have a windshield. Not clear if you need a windshield, but the wiper requirement seemed pretty clear if you had one.

Any insight you can pass back on how your registration process went would be GREATLY appreciated !!

CobraChris2jz wrote:

mbruneaux wrote: Why are so many cool things in Ohio!?!?!

Cause its Ohio, we have nothing else to do then build things.

That right there is magazine quote material

I'm watching this because I have had very similar ideas. The wiper question is a good one. Very cool car

Fortunately for me it was inspected and titled years ago in Michigan and just transferred to Ohio...from my understanding they are much more strict now.

It did have a wiper when I bought it, but no fenders,no front brakes and non DOT lights and tires.

I did have a state inspection and a cop inspect it and said nothing about wiper and fenders.