I'm seriously considering building a caterham / westfield to keep me busy over winter. I cba to work as i'll get hammered for tax if i do this year so i want a project as the renno work i'm doing on the house will largely be done around Oct time i think.. Maybr Nov

I'm naturally drawn to that Westfield Mega S2000 but i prefer caterham looks.

I havent tinkered too much with cars lately but when younger i've swapped engines, done clutches, did a rear axle once. I'm no expert.

If anyone has any recommended reading i'm all eyes.

I'm sure Carp will be interested too. For when he rebuilds that f@#king Lots of trouble.

 

DO IT!

I'm going for the Cat although things may change a bit as I'm doing a racing licence and money may be ported into that.

I've bought a new house with more space and a double garage. I'm that serious about a kit car.

 

Buy one complete and enjoy it (you can buy mine )

Carper, have you done a trackday before??

 

Before I determined I really just wanted to drive rather than work on a summer car I was buying a Seven. Berkit (sp) out of South Africa. Plan was to get a rolling chassis (delivered in a crate) and install the engine, etc. myself. Since you're in the UK you have a local source. Things like nuts and bolts need to be constantly checked and safety wired. Cycle fenders look great but trash the car's body with road debris.

I figured a S2000 engine and gearbox would be ideal. Fitting it and getting it sorted would be enough "work on" for me.

I saw a Seven recently. It was raining. My roof went up in 6 seconds. My right seat was occupied or I expect the soaked young woman passenger would have been in it!

Winter projects? A buddy is just about done putting a Buick alloy V6 in a Triumph TR7 convertible. Been restoring and re-engine-ing it for 6 months now. He'll be at it all winter. Comparatively simple project with the carburetor engine, no ECU, no cruise control, no AC, no anti-lock brakes, etc.

-- Chuck

 

The Mega S2000 is probably your best bet and that will come in at about £22k after you have ordered some of the tasty stuff.

www.locostbuilders.co.uk is a good place to go. Some guy has just popped up selling Birkin kits which is interesting.

Birkin, if you didn't know, is the only other company to have bought the rights, along with Caterham, to the Lotus Seven name.

He wants £15k for a rolling chassis and you stick your engine, gearbox and ECU in.

There is a transition at the moment where cars are moving from Sierra donors to MX5.

This is a rather large win in you're planing on building a CEC (Car Engined Car) as the wishbones, diffs brakes etc are all better and more plentiful than the sierra items.

Incidentally, this is the only issue with the Mega S2000 is that the uprights and rear differential are still ford based items.

And this leads me on to the world biggest issue in kit cars - the Type 9 gearbox.

The Type 9 gearbox was invented about 3 days after the wheel and designed to take hefty power loadings around 5 bhp. It is absolutely tosh and it will cause you endless headache.

I have had a fully built quaife Type 9 in my Westfield and it was still sh1t!

This is important because a lot of cars are designed with the transmission tunnels only wide enough to fit Type 9 boxes so makre sure you find out before you order. Most new cars have the MT75 option (The type 9 replacement from ford) which is a bigger box and thus the car is designed with a wider tunnel.

Ok, so what cars would I recommend?

I think the top of the list would be the MNR Vortx.

MNR do good work and have great customer service. If you want to go S2000 donor, they utilise the engine, gearbox, prop, and differential. They have even manufactured their own uprights now so no lead weight Sierra items

The other option ignoring the S2000 donor is a BEC (Bike Engined Car).

BECs are all the rage. They utilise a 1000cc (Mainly Firebalde, GSXR, R1, ZX10R) or Hayabusa engine.

The advantages are you get a nigh on 200bhp engine with a sequential box that weighs 80kg. Compare this to an F20C+g'box and you are looking at 160kg.

If you want to go BEC I'd look at MNR again, but I'd also look at MK. MK's customer service is d1re to be honest, but if you accept this, they're a good bunch.

I think that's a good starter for ten, but if you have any questions, let me know

 

It's not going to take you 'this' winter either ... you'll never be done and it will never be finished or at least that's been my experience of the 3 i've had a hand in unless you stick rigidly to the kit and its components and change / upgrade nothing etc etc.

And as Ron says, it is NOT a cheap job and it's worth getting a decent set of tools, a clean space to work in with a good strong bench along with 4 good axle stands and a strong jack.

 

Hi mate, yeah three but never in my own car

All experience/training sort of days.

 

I've got loads and loads of tools, very little space and pretty low skill levels.

The space situation will be resolved in 4 weeks. The skill levels will take a little longer

 

Somebody's got some money burning a hole in his pocket ...

 

Building a kit car is a great way to alleviate that.

I'm at an impasse with mine where it needs custom one off bits.

Prop, clutch line, water hoses, fuel lines, wiring loom, exhaust manifold.

Getting those sorted is probably gonna cost £3-4000.

And then if you're like me you'll be buying upgraded bits along the way - harnesses, projector lights, steering wheels, dash clusters, clutches etc etc.

And then, if you want it road legal, you have to get it through the IVA. The test is supposedly £500, but budget £1500 to fettle stuff