Advice on buying a Westfield

[Leigh1981]

Hi all,

I've just recently sold my supercharged Honda civic type R, which was running 431whp and 300lb of torque as I didn't get to use it much with renovating a house and having a new born baby so it had to go as I was spending close to £1000 a year on tax and insurance.

I've always wanted a kit car, but until recently I didn't have a garage to store one. I've seen a few westfields for sale which I like the look of but I'm unsure of what to look for and what I should be looking to pay for a well spec'd version.

I quite like the idea of a bike engined Westfield as the insurance is around £200 and only £145 a year tax so if I don't get to use often it' not a big outlay I've lost compared to why I was paying on the Civic.

Is there many people around the stoke on Trent area with Westfields? Any advice on what to look for when going view one would be very appreciated as well as if you know of any well spec'd bike engined Westfields that are for sale.

Cheers Leigh

[Andy (Sycho)]

 most Westfields will be a similar cost for insurance no matter the engine fitted, I would get to your local meet to try a few cars before jumping in@Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary

Is you local AO & I guess @IanK (Bagpuss) is pretty close to you.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Yep, if you’re Stoke way, it’s the Cheshire and N. staffs Area meet this week, (Thursday in fact). 

Ian as mentioned above is possibly not too far away, he has a Honda S2000 poerewed car!

[CraigHew]

Leigh,

Have a read through these (if you haven't already)

 

 

[Leigh1981]

4 hours ago, Sycho said:

 most Westfields will be a similar cost for insurance no matter the engine fitted, I would get to your local meet to try a few cars before jumping in@Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary

Is you local AO & I guess @IanK (Bagpuss) is pretty close to you.

Thanks for the heads up on potential meets I can go to. I was really surprised by the insurance how cheap it was which makes it ideal as a Sunday car to have some fun in

[Leigh1981]

3 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

Yep, if you’re Stoke way, it’s the Cheshire and N. staffs Area meet this week, (Thursday in fact). 

Ian as mentioned above is possibly not too far away, he has a Honda S2000 poerewed car!

I'll have a look at that meet see if I can get across as be good see some cars and give me a better idea of what I want in one.

I would love another Honda powered car as my Civic was such a great car and with the power it embarrassed alot of high end cars, but when looking at S2000 engined westfields they sell for more than I want to pay as I need use some of the surplus funds on the house.

[Leigh1981]

3 hours ago, CraigHew said:

Leigh,

Have a read through these (if you haven't already)

 

 

 

Cheers they were a good read. I'm fine buying cars and know what to look for, but with it being a kit car I wasn' sure if there was anything in particular to them I needed to consider.  However when reading those I'd do most of those checks anyway so that's good and doesn't seem as daunting now lol

[andy665]

Get to look at / experience a number of different engines. No such thing as "the best engine" for a Westfield - all havevpros and cons. Pop over to Telford and have a look at mine - happy to pop the kettle on - its a V8 that people either love or hate - obviously I love

[Leigh1981]

1 hour ago, andy665 said:

Get to look at / experience a number of different engines. No such thing as "the best engine" for a Westfield - all havevpros and cons. Pop over to Telford and have a look at mine - happy to pop the kettle on - its a V8 that people either love or hate - obviously I love

Got to love the sound of a v8 The friendliness of people so far reminds me of the old mini forums when I had my clubman 1275gt, which is good as the Civic forums are full of negativity other than the handful of nice people I met at shows.

I do have a soft spot for Honda engines as last 7 years I drove one and never had a single issue with it, which when you more than double the power output on stock internals is impressive as well as the 9000rpm limit always put a grin on my face.

So I'm hoping I can find something that makes me feel the same way!

 

[Kevin (Mr T)]

from Essex, good luck with the search!

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

Welcome from Werrington, Stoke-on-Trent. Hope to see you on Thu or at some other point. You're welcome to pop over and take a look at mine and talk Westies at some point.

[Leigh1981]

4 hours ago, Kevin (Mr T) - Essex AO said:

from Essex, good luck with the search!

Thank you At moment I'm searching daily, but have only seen a couple that I really like the look of from the photos. So I can see it being a long search lol

 

[Leigh1981]

3 hours ago, IanK (Bagpuss) said:

Welcome from Werrington, Stoke-on-Trent. Hope to see you on Thu or at some other point. You're welcome to pop over and take a look at mine and talk Westies at some point.

Thank you and you are literally only down the road from myself (I'm from Leek), so that be great thank you

[CraigHew]

2 minutes ago, Leigh1981 said:

Thank you and you are literally only down the road from myself (I'm from Leek), so that be great thank you

take your sunglasses...

[Leigh1981]

I've been busy so not had chance to come on here, but I finally bought my first Westfield I opted for a Megablade as it suits my driving style and since owning I've loved taking it out when I can get a spare hour. 

The pictures below are my first drive out in it.

I've then started making a few changes starting with clear front indicator lenses as one of the orange lenses was cracked.

Next I've swapped the wheels for 7x13 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 with Toyo R888 tyres, which has given me a nice weight saving over the previous wheels.

Next up I noticed the radiator was getting a little worse for wear and I plan doing track days with it so changed that out along with all the pipe work for a larger aluminium radiator.

While I had the coolant drained I've given the engine a flush out, new coolant, new oil, new oil filter, new iridium plugs.

Next I've fitted a rear view mirror

Next jobs are to change the brake fluid, diff oil and the reverse gearbox oil.

I must admit I'm enjoying tinkering with it just as much as driving it, but need save a few jobs for winter and get driving it whilst the weather is good!

I need to try and get alot to some meets now