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Advice on what to buy


Lord

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Welcome to the Forum! The great thing about these cars is that you can adapt them to suit your tastes. Two years ago I bought a 2001 Megablade, it wasn’t the exact spec I wanted in terms of aesthetics but it was in fantastic condition and had some of the specification I wanted (4 pot brakes, Quaife ATB etc...), over the past two years I’ve spent a little bit of money on it and now it’s exactly how I want! No matter what car you get you’ll love it and make it your own! Get yourself to some of the local meets and see if you can have a ride in a few different models...

heres mine when I bought it, and how it looks now...

 

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D824632E-6C03-42B7-A6EF-214D39BC92B7.jpeg

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I’ve been looking into these a lot more and have even more questions. 

Firstly, I’ve seen some Classic body cars that have a spare wheel or luggage rack on the back of them. If someone has put these on and I want to remove them is there going to be holes or are the secured using existing holes?

While looking into a Duratec car with ITB I’ve always had the option of a Honda engine in the back of my mind. The S2000 engines are going for quite a lot of money but the Civic Type R engines are considerably cheaper, although also not as powerful. 200bhp would be more than enough so I’d be happy with a Civic engine. Is it possible to use one of these engines rather than an s2000 engine? I’m thinking Civic EP3 or FD2. Is the S2000 engine required as it’s rear wheel drive?

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Can't comment on the Honda questions, but the rear-wheel can be removed as I understand it, as my Sport 250 has the brackets on the chassis, but are not used with a FW bodyshell, so if fitted should be un-boltable.

Dave is your man for the Honda questions... ;-]

 

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The civic engine is widely used in mid engined/rear engined cars such as Ariel Atoms or MEVS. I'm not aware of one in a Westie yet as it's a transverse engine/box. The S2000 is inline hence is adapted easier. It may be possible to get an adapter to use a ford gearbox with the civic engine.

 

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The wheel carrier will leave holes in the rear tub when removed. 

You could unbolt the bottom part of the carrier and slide it out easy enough. the centre wheel mount can be unbolted from under bootbox.  You would then need to remount the number plate and lamp elsewhere so just move it all up to cover the central mounting holes.

You can make a feature of bottom rack holes by shaping, smoothing them over, they will also reduce the parachute effect of trapping  air in the rear valance.   A few members just cover the holes with a sticker of some sort  and others have the skill to fill and finish them properly with fibreglass repair kit and gel pack.  Choice is yours.

As for the Civic engine,  you'll need to find out if it can be mounted in-line and that reguires a bellhousing to marry up your  gearbox choice to the Civic engine. The height may also be a limiting factor, I've no idea on the size of them so that will need to be taken into account and find out if you have to change the induction and exhaust sides around, again maybe more holes to deal with.

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Thanks again for the replies. I’ve been doing a bit research and it seems the Civic engine will fit but will be a big job. By the time you adapt everything to fit then you might as well buy an S2000 engine which has more power as standard. It’s asp by all accounts a shorter engine so should give increased room in the engine bay and keep the centre of gravity down. 

As for the spare wheel then I’ll just see what happens with a car. If it has one then I’ll deal with it if it’s the right car. 

The more I’m looking around the more I’m drawn towards a new one with a duratec. Everything will be brand new and I can design it how I like. 

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Yep, a new kit will see you with exactly what you want,  just need a year or so to build it.    Of course it will be worth your efforts when done.  There's always discount offers throughout the year so don't pay full price.  Westfield do post on this forum what's on offer so keep in touch.

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Just now, SootySport said:

Yep, a new kit will see you with exactly what you want,  just need a year or so to build it.

Yeah that’s what I thought. So see the pic of me building exactly what I wanted and what I have now three years in!

16CFBA6C-3D2A-4788-B66F-F5AE868CB0E5.jpegB5CACF85-9850-43D5-80F3-C7202FCD75AC.jpeg

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8 hours ago, Chris King - Webmaster and Joint North East AO said:

Yeah that’s what I thought. So see the pic of me building exactly what I wanted and what I have now three years in!

16CFBA6C-3D2A-4788-B66F-F5AE868CB0E5.jpegB5CACF85-9850-43D5-80F3-C7202FCD75AC.jpeg

When I bought my "complete perfect package" you warned me of upgradeitis....I can't leave the thing alone....I could reel off 5 things I want to do to it now. Has anyone ever actually "finished" one ?

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1 hour ago, SXRORY said:

When I bought my "complete perfect package" you warned me of upgradeitis....I can't leave the thing alone....I could reel off 5 things I want to do to it now. Has anyone ever actually "finished" one ?

Also, you can’t see on the pics, but the car now has different engine, gearbox, dash, switches, ecu, wishbones, uprights, radiator, hoses, sensors - and I still have a list!

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12 hours ago, Chris King - Webmaster and Joint North East AO said:

Yeah that’s what I thought. So see the pic of me building exactly what I wanted and what I have now three years in!

16CFBA6C-3D2A-4788-B66F-F5AE868CB0E5.jpegB5CACF85-9850-43D5-80F3-C7202FCD75AC.jpeg

Which rear arches do you have on there, they look very wide. Also which fronts are they, I prefer that style where they are snug with the tyre  

Are all FW rear arches detachable?

Edited by Lord
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Chris's car was a Sierra SDV kit which uses Sierra rear driveshafts, so has a wider track than normal, at the back. The kit comes with wider arches to suit. They can be bought separately.

FW's have detachable rear arches, and I believe you can get extra wide too. The front wings are Caterham CSR style; a variety of manufacturers do them, Carbon RV is one of the most popular in Westfield circles.

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Yes, as Dave said, my car has a wider rear end due to the Sierra donor parts used in the build. Personally, I really like the 'stance' it has with the wide rear.

Since then I changed the entire front end to use the Westfield alloy uprights, hubs and wide-track wishbones - which 'balances' things out IMO.

My front arches were from @carbon-nv - the rear arch protectors were second hand though as nobody makes them for the extra wide ZK rear arches any more.

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Thanks, I really like that look. I seen on the Westfield site that you can buy extra wide arches for the FW but I just want sure if they were all detachable. 

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8 hours ago, Lord said:

Thanks, I really like that look. I seen on the Westfield site that you can buy extra wide arches for the FW but I just want sure if they were all detachable. 

Yes, the FW bodywork only ever comes with detachable arches AFAIK - it's all part of the design.

When I bought my ZK bodywork as part of my starter kit, detachable arches were an option even though in reality they are more what I would call a requirement for the build.

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