1990 Westfield SE Kit Find - Now what?

[Bolt]

Hi All!

 

I have just acquired a 1990 Westfield SE kit (being a metal chassis, front wishbones, all body pannels and alluminium plates, pedal set and a rear axle)

 

Appears this is designed for a ford crossflow engine and have instructions which mention this.

 

My questions are :

 

- what would be the best donor vehicle to buy to construct this?  I was actually thinking of buying a MX5 and using that (as they can be picked up for £500)  Would this be suitable or would it be to much work to make this fit?

 

- Do I need any other specific parts or can I get all I need from the donor vehicle?

 

Many thanks in advanced!

[FILFAN]

Welcome to the club bolt

Might help a little if we knew what your plans are for the car road/track/race etc

Personally I would put a Zetec engine in which can be purchased new for little money.

[Doug Dastardly]

If you're planning a road car there may be some complications with iva, which I'm sure can be done, but worth being aware of.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

Hi Bolt, welcome to the forum

With an SE kit a donor car will give you very little other than the engine and gearbox, their orignal donor would have been a Mk1/2 Escort. All the other bits you already have or were Westfield parts or source from some other obscure car.

If you opt for an MX5 engine and box, then assuming you have the type-9 gearbox tunnel (see linky for dimensions) then you’ll need to do some chassis mods to widen the tunnel to at least 12” to get the box to fit. There’s plenty of reading for you on my build thread (see linky) about putting a Mazda engine in an SE, but it's a big job and not for the faint hearted. Alternatively you could buy mine which is already done :D

If you want to use front uprights from an MX5 then you’ll also need a set of the Westfield Mazda SDV front wishbones, but note that the PCD of mazda wheels is different to your rear axle so you'll have to mix and match. It’s much easier to use a set of Cortina uprights to go with the Wishbones you have.

IMO the easiest (and cheapest) option for you is to use Ford parts, either with a Crossflow engine which the chassis was designed for or a newer Ford engine mated to a Type-9 gearbox. But much of the above and the path you choose ulimately will depend on your own abilities and the budget you have available

HTH Mark

[Hammy]

I would agree with Smokey - later ford motor and type nine box .

Have a read around , look at the westfield world web site and pop along to Your local club meet.

Don't rush to buy parts just yet !

http://westfield-world.com/index.html

[Bolt]

Thanks for all the advise all.

 

Looks like I need to look into this into alot more detail as I was hoping a doner car would be able to provide alot of the parts (such as steering arm/rack, hubs etc!) and it appears this is not the case; Though I still would be inclined to attempt to adapt it to make this work......

[alexander72]

welcome Bolt, have a fun with your build :-) 

[Aerodynamix Ltd]

Cortina 3/4/5 front hubs , mk2 escort steering rack , set of balljoints and a set of shocks will get you onto four wheels ,as already noted above have a good think about what you want to do with it and what spec you want to build it to , local meets are a good way and of course Stoneleigh is only around the corner make sure you come along and have a look at all the Westfields in particular , every one is different , each made that way by their owner

[Meakin]

HI Bolt,

The 1990 SE was designed for the xflow. I got mine through the IVA but am currently converting to zetec. If its the narrow body and lowline have a read of my blog as the zetec is a tight fit. 

If you go with the xflow then your IVA is easier as you don't have emmisions to worry about. A Zetec will need either a certificate of newness or proof of the engine age. You will then have to meet the required emmissions for that age of engine.

 

For ease of build I would recommend the xflow with either type 9 or type E gearbox. Mine had a type 2 gearbox but it caused problems. 

 

Hope thats helped

Paul

[Bolt]

Thank you for all the responses!

 

In terms of the engine options - Xflow & type 9 gear box seems to the easier choise but I am off put by the limited performance potentially and price!  I may even see if I can get a z20let in as it seems to couple directly to a t5 gearbox with out much work.

 

In the mean time though I will make into a rolling chassis and then get out the tape measure (and maybe an angle grinder!)

 

Cortina 3/4/5 front hubs , mk2 escort steering rack , set of balljoints and a set of shocks will get you onto four wheel.......

Thank you for this;  Is fleabay the best place for these parts?

[alexander72]

Bolt,  Dont be put off by the x-flow as an engine choice for your first build mate, granted a newer engine like the zetec is an option but if you are like me and of limited mechanical knowledge and meagre budget then a x-flow is easy to work on, easy to tune and can deliver quite a lot of performance in such a lightweight chassis combination.

 

My cross-flow goes plenty quick enough to easily rack up 12 points in 5 miles and is no slouch on a sprint/hillclimb.

 

Good luck chap

 

James 

[Norman Verona]

Welcome Bolt, hope you'll be joining the club. Whatever you do to get your car back on the road you'll need this rabble to help. It will save you far more then the subs in the first few weeks of membership.

[Aerodynamix Ltd]

Probably the easiest place to locate the cortina hubs is ebay as suggested , or another option is sierra hubs , im not sure I think one of our local members may have had some of those spare I'll have a word about .

Check FAQ and top and bottom ball joint numbers should be in there , if not let me know and I will sort the numbers for you , I take it your bottom arms have four bolt holes as per Cortina ball joint and not the two as per Maxi joint.

Shocks you could use procomp in Birmingham , a few of our local members have been pleased with their efforts , although until you decide what engine choice etc you may be stuck on what valving and spring rates to choose , perhaps a wanted for some old shocks could get the chassis rolling until the final decision is made .

Z20LET could be fitted but as it's a newer engine emissions will be tighter if you want to go the IVA route , bellhousings are reasonably available depending on when a run has been done , Westfield , SBD or even Yukspeed may be able to help and of course you will need a 0 degree fitment .

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Just bear in mind packaging though; if yours is a narrow style Westfield, it will be slightly shorter as well as narrower than a wide body. Most things are doable if you love a challenge, but finding room for a largish turbo engine plus it's ancillaries will make for a trickier install.

 

There's a few wide body cars running the C20LET engine, though its never been as popular in Westfields as the XE. Be interesting as an engineering challenge to see how you get on.

[Martin Keene]

The x/flow is a superb engine for a 7, but I think a zetec is probably a better bet these days. X/flows are getting on and these days cost more than a zetec, plus will probably need a refresh, you need a set of carbs or bodies for both.

Part of me would dearly love to have kept mine, but to get the same power as the zetec would have cost £3k, the same as the zetec install, and that would still have been on carbs, where as the zetec is on bodies.