Donor Items for "one donor" Kits & which SDV - or not to SDV?

[KugaWestie]

I still need a little convincing here.

 

I am older - as you might well have guessed - and I think of motorsport being based on traditional makes with spares for Ford etc being available long term and at reasonable prices because they are so widely used.

 

If I commit to a Mazda based car I will inevitably be buying Mazda spares & that gives me a couple of concerns.

 

Firstly how long are Mazda going to be interested in supplying spares and is there likely to be an aftermarket in the way that traditional makes have enjoyed which makes consumable bits available to maintain the main bits. I can still buy all the parts for a Ford Crossflow that was made in 1970 but I am not sure that I could do it for a Mazda.

 

 

Why dont you buy a xflow engined westfield that is already built, and do a strip and rebuild instead?

[elder]

Gary

 

I have considered exactly what you are suggesting & it might be the most sensible option. Do Westfields have any particular weakness that I need to be aware of when inspecting them? I am aware that we are talking kit car, unknown parts origin & possible competition use (sounds terrible when I put it that way!). 

 

When was the current shape introduced? When I look at adverts I see SE,  SEi, or SE W. Is one of them what is still made today (& the same size)  & if so which? I could not really manage a smaller cockpit than the current cars. 

 

The mechanical base of the cars suggests to me that excluding engine/ gearbox changes not a lot might have happened for a good few years.

 

Is there a model history anywhere?  The only book that I can find is Westfield Performance Portfolio 1982-2004.

[KugaWestie]

http://forum.wscc.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic/93131-how-wide-how-narrow-will-it-fit-whats-the-width-or-length/

 

SE = model

i = independant suspension all round (no live axle)

W = wide body

 

So basically:-

SE = narrow car with an escort live axle

SEi - narrow car with independant suspension (probably sierra diff)

SEiW - as SEi but wide body

 

Sizes in above link

 

Lowered floor pans were introduced as standard around 2007 I think - before then they may have been fitted but you would need to check

 

HTH

[elder]

Thanks for your help. It is much appreciated.

 

So the current car as sold as a Special Edition (which I had a run in at the factory), S2000, Mazda or Ford Single Donor is an SEiW with lowered floor pan?

 

I will go in search of the date from when the lowered floors were fitted.

 

 

 

 

​

Edited August 18, 2015 by elder

[Welly Jen]

I think spares for the MX5 won't be a problem long term. They are a popular sports car and people will want to keep them running. You can buy everything for an MGB, or Midget over thirty years after they went out of production from after market companies, including all body panels and I can see MX5's being similar.

Jen

[Kingster]

So the current car as sold as a Special Edition (which I had a run in at the factory), S2000, Mazda or Ford Single Donor is an SEiW with lowered floor pan?​

 

Yes

 

Also, note that the MX5 is the biggest selling 2 seater open top sports car ever made - I wouldn't worry about spares availability

 

But if you like Fords - build a Zetec or Duratec engined car - mine's great.

[elder]

I am going to ask when the current body spec became standard as a separate question. Hopefully I can get a date.

 

Thanks again

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I would treat the dates as a rough guide anyway, and not get too hung up on them. Kits get bought and then occasionally might be ten years in the completion, so you can have a 2003 car with a 2003 chassis and body, or a 1993 chassis and body. Or you can have a 1989 car that someone has retrofitted with a 2001 body etc.

 

If there is something in particular that is important to you, you just need to learn how to recognise it; don't forget, two or three sellers down the line the current owner may be blissfully unaware that their pride and joy is actually a hybrid of different years parts.

 

On the Ford parts question, again, I wouldn't read as much into it as their sometimes appears. Yes there may seem to be parts made for lots of Ford options going back years, but that doesn't mean it's anything like OEM quality still. (Though there are plenty of fine quality retro parts). There's a lot of nasty Chinese re pro stuff as well as just mediocre quality stuff. A classic example is some of the replacement gear sets for the Sierra diffs, the quality just isn't the same as the OEM Ford parts, as a consequence makers have started to move away - Caterham had loads of issues a few years ago with diff noise.

 

The Mazda market is huge and global. It's not going to go quietly!

[dombanks]

I built a sierra SDV and don't regret doing it that way. But I think I lucked in a bit.

My donor was £70 and mechanically was fine. I managed to register a silvertop zetec onto the v5 so git past the cvh engine and I got an age related plate.

What I would say is given the small amount if parts you use from the sierra I don't think it's worth it any more Go for a standard seiw kit and Q

It seems to me the sierra kit was based on the pinto as you used all the engine etc. lobbed in a wf body but you can't get then now hence the Mazda. I would say there is only 1 part of my original donor on my car now

I've not had any issue with wheels etc so don't be put off with that.

[Kingster]

Kingster996 - You say that the Mazda donor parts list is longer than the Sierra. Do you have a copy of the Sierra list?

 

Found an official list for you:

 

 

Out of that lot I only used the gearbox, diff, hubs, uprights and steering column - the rest I replaced with new (except engine, which was a used Zetec).

 

Note, the Sierra handbrake wouldn't fit on the Sierra kit - just shows that the main chassis is actually identical to the modular one as that uses the Ka handbrake now, so over time I can (should I choose) change other components to be more 'standard'.

 

I intend to replace the gearbox with one that has better ratios and the diff might get replaced too. I might also fit a full front widetrack kit at some point (if the right bits find there way to me at the right price), so eventually I'll not have much of an SDV at all!

[Prawnabie]

I think it depends on what you can get your hands on as a donor. A lot of cars use the sierra so as in Dave's case, they may of already got hold of a donor before they had chosen a kit. If you are looking at an SDV, don't already have a Ford donor and don't want 200bhp + N/A then a Mazda has to be the way forward IMHO.

 

I build my Mazda when the factory were doing £1000 off the starter kit in Jan last year. I also bought a few other things like shock absorbers, 4-1 manifold and some brackets etc from them - everything else I either made or bought second hand from here/Ebay.

 

On the road it owes me just under £8000 and apart from the seats + roll bar (I bought some we used westfield race seats in red/black and the roll bar needs painting) it looks like I had bought everything from the factory. The only parts I used from the donor were..

 

Steering column + stalks/cowling

Wiring loom

Engine + gearbox

Prop/Diff/shafts

Front + rear uprights

 

Everything else that was supposed to come off the donor I replaced with new. This just shows that if you are a bit savvy (tight!) You can build a decent car to std spec for less than you think.

 

HTH

Shaun

[elder]

Kingster996

Thank you for finding the Sierra list. Comparing it with the Mazda it is somehow obvious that the Mazda is the newer donor. There are little differences but the main one is the use of the Mazda instruments but not those in the Sierra. The Sierra completion kit includes instruments but the Mazda one doesn't so no nasty surprise there.

 

Prawnabie

Interesting about the £1000 off January offer. I am aware of the 10% offers - in fact they have offered me 10% until 31st August -  but on a starter kit that is only £300-£400 so a big difference. 

 

Is the £1000 January offer a regular or very much a one off? Allowing for holidays, getting the parts together & a bit of cleaning/ reconditioning I could easily wait until then to order the kit. 

 

Your spend is inspirational!

Edited August 19, 2015 by elder

[lewis]

Not sure if it was repeated this year but this was the offer in 2014. Might be worth asking Mark at the factory about it.

 

http://westfield-sportscars.co.uk/downloads/westfield_1000_2014.pdf

[Kyle]

£1000 is fantastic! This year's January offer was 10% off as that's when I ordered mine.

[Kingster]

I think it depends on what you can get your hands on as a donor. A lot of cars use the sierra so as in Dave's case, they may of already got hold of a donor before they had chosen a kit. If you are looking at an SDV, don't already have a Ford donor and don't want 200bhp + N/A then a Mazda has to be the way forward IMHO.

 

I build my Mazda when the factory were doing £1000 off the starter kit in Jan last year. I also bought a few other things like shock absorbers, 4-1 manifold and some brackets etc from them - everything else I either made or bought second hand from here/Ebay.

 

On the road it owes me just under £8000 and apart from the seats + roll bar (I bought some we used westfield race seats in red/black and the roll bar needs painting) it looks like I had bought everything from the factory. The only parts I used from the donor were..

 

Steering column + stalks/cowling

Wiring loom

Engine + gearbox

Prop/Diff/shafts

Front + rear uprights

 

Everything else that was supposed to come off the donor I replaced with new. This just shows that if you are a bit savvy (tight!) You can build a decent car to std spec for less than you think.

 

HTH

Shaun

 

Similar story for me - I bought a lot of parts off ebay/forums/mates-of-mates etc and came in well under £10k on the road - I guess my extra expense over Shaun's car was the brand new JK seats, new WiIwood brake kits, new MSA roll bar, new carbon can and the extra cost of adding fuel injection with a non-donor engine. But I still reckon having a 2.0 injected 168bhp Zetec on the road for that is a result

 

And sorry if you've seen her before, but I just love it, so one more time...