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New here and interested in Scholar engined speed sport info.


Bungee

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Hello one and all. 

 

I'm Ben in Swindon and a prospective owner of a Westfield. A life long interested in kit cars (and all cars in general) and I think I might be ready to take the plunge.

 

I've searched "speed sport" on the forums and read almost every thread I found. Lots of information gleaned from reading between the lines of each threads original basis. 

 

I'm very interested in what I believe to be an original scholar engined speed sport. Does anyone know if the (30 odd?) scholar engined 1800 zetec speed sport (1998-2000?) had the same specs as each other? 

 

I'm looking for info really wether the following would have been gauranteed (or not) to be fitted to the scholar engined speed sport by people who've owned or seen one close up. 

 

ali uprights definitely/not always/never?

lsd's 7" or 7.5" if at all and type of lsd

arb's, yes/no/sometimes?

Mt75 or type 9

Caliper identity?

 

Any other information to help me confirm how original it is, changes possibly made during its life, how it should have started out will be a great help. 

 

I'm aware of the basic engine spec and how to identify but more info on the engine greatly received. 

 

And I do get the impression car specs could change week by week but thought that maybe the small run of, what to me seems quite a special Westfield, would be very similar throughout the run. 

 

Many thanks everyone and specifically to those who have taken the time to write up in the build diaries. Fantastic reading. 

 

Ben

 

 

 

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Welcome @Bungee

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5 hours ago, Bungee said:

ali uprights definitely/not always/never?

lsd's 7" or 7.5" if at all and type of lsd

arb's, yes/no/sometimes?

Mt75 or type 9

Caliper identity?

Welcome!

Not sure if you area sking the right questions... or if you will like the answers...

It all deppends of the whole package really or what you want the car for.

 

Ideally, yes to all the above. Regardless of what you want your car for...

But no reason really to discard cast cortina uprights. They just work and they are not that chunky.

 

LSD personally allways. A torsen or a viscous will help even on the road. However, again many people lives happily without.

 

ARB. As above. I rather have them to be able to dissconect them for the road and play with the balancr on track if I want. Again many cars  live happy forever without them

 

Type 9 for me. Is smaller and lighter, but if you are running high power, then you need a posh heavy dutty type9 to cope with it.  Nothing wrong with the mt75 tho, but the ratios are a bit weird and is bulkier.

 

Caliper identity? The car will stop basically with anything. From m16 to 4 pods wilwood setups... weight and pedal feel will improve in the posher versions but again, not a must.

 

Dont try to find out the specks of a kit car by its name... literally NONE OF THEM (even the factory build ones) are the same.

 

 

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Welcome!

5 hours ago, maurici said:

Dont try to find out the specks of a kit car by its name... literally NONE OF THEM (even the factory build ones) are the same.

^^^ what he said!

 

The number of times people say “I have a 2.0 Seiw ...” and think that identifies their car 😁

 

However, as Maurici says, even factory built cars with a given “name” could be different from each other.

 

But once you factor in 20 years of “upgraditus” you could have wildly different specs. 
 

As an example my car was built in 2015 and now only has the same chassis, tub, scuttle, nose cone, rear wishbones, prop, exhaust and seats from the car that passed its IVA. Yes I’m an extreme example to use, but it happens!

 

(edit - missed one - must upgrade that handbrake)

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46 minutes ago, Chris King said:

“I have a 2.0 Seiw ...” and think that identifies their car

Oh, yes, this is hilarious.

I have a 2007 2.0 Zetec, Can you tell me what boot cover I have to get?

🤣🤣

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Q - There's a 1.8 zetec on Pistebatrader, How much power will it have?

 

A - anywhere between zero and !!!!

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Yep, I knew two friends that both bought factory built Speedsports, many years ago.

 

One was blue, one was yellow, but other than that, from a distance both cars looked alike.

 

Then you got close and looked at details, and both were quite differerent, one was fully dry stumped, Willwood brakes, Stack Rev counter and loads and loads of detail refinements, the other though it had the same Rally Design wide track kit, was way more “stock”, in comparison.

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Hi Bungee and welcome!

 

Have you owned or just driven a Westfield (or other seven type) car before? I'm a relative newbie (less than 2 years) so remember all too well the exciting search for one!

 

The thing is with Westfields is that while two cars may look cosmetically similar, quite often they are very different beasts. Unless there's particular draw to the Speed Sport and Scholar engine, I wouldn't get too hung up on that. 

 

After only a few years of upgrading, fettling and fiddling most Westfields are markedly different from when they were built anyway. It's also unlikely any two were built to the same spec in the first place...

 

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12 hours ago, Bungee said:

I'm looking for info really wether the following would have been gauranteed (or not) to be fitted to the scholar engined speed sport by people who've owned or seen one close up. 


...so to answer your question, no you can’t guarantee that anything on your list will be fitted to the car you want to view. 
 

But don’t let that put you off - upgrades are contagious 😁

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Yup, you’ll need to view each car you look at on an individual basis; the Speedsport designation is potentially near meaningless now, I’m afraid, it’s been so long, that there’s no guarantee it’s still got any original parts, engine components included, or it may have all of them!

 

Engines blow, gearboxes get swapped for preferred ratios, (which in turn can lead to the rear diff getting swapped to suit the new ratios), and so on.

 

With Westfields, it’s condition, condition, condition. It overrules all the regular tin top buying practices of age/mileage, to a greater extent.

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11 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

Engines blow, gearboxes get swapped for preferred ratios, (which in turn can lead to the rear diff getting swapped to suit the new ratios), and so on.

You been following my build diary?

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Thank you everyone for your answers. Seems to confirm that although there was a very short run of scholar engines designated "speed sport" there could and most probably will be a variance in spec from one doped sport to the next let alone upgrades etc. This is a 2 owner car I'm looking at with the current owner having it for 20 years. I like originality and I'm told it is exactly as bought off the first owner, although of course it could of been fettled in its first 2 years. I'll value it on its individual spec when I see it and not put any kind of premium on it being a speed sport. 

Many thanks for all answers. 

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