2001 SEIW for sale in USA - I'd appreciate your insights and expertise

[TallGuySmallCar]

Hello from Colorado, USA. I'm a petrolhead of the worst kind and have long been on the hunt for a kit car of sorts to build and drive. The demands of work and family make a Cobra or Exocet build unrealistic at this time, so this nearly finished Westfield for sale locally has piqued my interest:

 

2001 Westfield SEIW (wide) factory assembled LHD car. Rebuilt Ford Zetec 1800 fi engine and new Ford MT75 5 speed manual transmission. 0 miles on the car with clean TN title (as a 1964 Lotus Super). The car needs final assembly of all intake and exhaust components and replacing clutch slave cylinder due to leaking cylinder seal. I purchased this from the original owner who couldn’t complete it due to health reasons. I planed on completing my dream car but due to my move to AZ.  I’m out of state now and no place to work on it. It is time to let someone else complete this. Everything is there to complete this project including all fuel injection and exhaust parts. Top with side curtains included (good condition). The  Westfield has the locking boot (luggage compartment). The seats are still soft and supple and in good condition, even the tires are new, but out of date. VDO gauges with odo reading zero. Weather is quickly changing in Colorado so time is getting short to buy this for a winter project. This Westfield was over $30k new from factory. Includes modules one, two  and three from Westfield Sports Cars UK.

 

The asking price is $18K.

 

 

A few things I'd like your thoughts on:

 

1) General thoughts on this vehicle? It's 23 years old but has never been driven. The asking price is $18K, or about £14K. The Lotus 7 variant market in the USA is a tiny fraction of what it is in the UK, so there are very few comps for such a car.

 

2) I'm a tall guy: 6'4" and relatively svelte at ~210lbs. I do not fit in a standard-width Caterham, but I do fit in the wide SV. I'd appreciate thoughts on fit from those of you who share my need to do yoga getting in and out of these kind of vehicles.

 

3) "The car needs final assembly of all intake and exhaust components and replacing clutch slave cylinder due to leaking cylinder seal." I'd love your guess at the level of effort required based on this description and images. It looks like the clamshell wings aren't fixed. I'd want to switch to cycle-style wings/fenders anyway, as I much prefer that look.

 

4) What are the standard wheel dimensions? These wheels are very 2001; I'd prefer something different.

 

5) What color is this? Is this a standard Westfield color option or something custom?

 

I appreciate your input and look forward to it!

[Stuart]

Greetings and welcome.

The clutch slave is probably concentric and if so is an engine out/gearbox split job. The original concentric slave cylinder is long obsolete so you would need to find an equivalent and re-pipe it, probably with a remote bleed. The original also had a bespoke spacer glued (yes glued) to the release bearing so you would need to get one of these made too. 

 

It is a standard Westfield colour which I think is called Chrome Yellow 

 

 

[Captain Colonial]

51 minutes ago, TallGuySmallCar said:

1) General thoughts on this vehicle? It's 23 years old but has never been driven. The asking price is $18K, or about £14K. The Lotus 7 variant market in the USA is a tiny fraction of what it is in the UK, so there are very few comps for such a car.

IMO, rather strong money for an incomplete 23 year-old car, especially as there’s no guarantee it will run and drive correctly. Not going to say a price, but you could get a very nice fully built car of that age and spec for £8k upwards depending on condition over here.

 

55 minutes ago, TallGuySmallCar said:

2) I'm a tall guy: 6'4" and relatively svelte at ~210lbs. I do not fit in a standard-width Caterham, but I do fit in the wide SV. I'd appreciate thoughts on fit from those of you who share my need to do yoga getting in and out of these kind of vehicles.

 

You may well need to retrofit lower floor panels to reduce buffeting and keep your eyeline behind the windscreen.  Not an awful job but labour intensive and a car hoist / pit required in practical terms.  If you have big feet, driving shoes would be helpful.

 

58 minutes ago, TallGuySmallCar said:

3) "The car needs final assembly of all intake and exhaust components and replacing clutch slave cylinder due to leaking cylinder seal." I'd love your guess at the level of effort required based on this description and images. It looks like the clamshell wings aren't fixed. I'd want to switch to cycle-style wings/fenders anyway, as I much prefer that look.

Fitting intake and exhaust components relatively straight forward if you know how to use a socket set.  As @Stuart has indicated, the slave cylinder could easily be an engine & gearbox out job.  If you’re comfortable doing that (and luckily there’s lots of room to get it out), fine.

 

1 hour ago, TallGuySmallCar said:

4) What are the standard wheel dimensions? These wheels are very 2001; I'd prefer something different.

13” or 15” are the most common sizes depending on your preferences and how you like to drive the car.

 

I would also urge you not to take the seller’s word for it and check with Colorado DMV regarding the registration process.  There may be some difficult hoops to jump through.

[Peter (Monty)]

I think you will feel tall sitting in it, ideally you need to go and try it. I'm assuming it doesn't have lowered floors. I'm 6'3" and have the taller MSA roll bar and tall windscreen for mine to provide more visibility and headroom. 

 

Wheels are typically 13" or 15" diameter, 7" width. 15" has more tyre options available. 

 

If you swap to cycle wings, there will be holes in the sides of the bodywork from the swept wing mounting bolts, which on a ZK body like this, is a single large body shell. Some get around this by fitting flared side panels instead. 

 

 @Davemk1 might be able to comment on the specifics of Westfield ownership in the USA

 

Edit: @Captain Colonial beat me to it. I agree with his comments on price, given that it's not in running order

[dvd8n]

I'd be suspicious of the rubber components like brake seals and suchlike after all this time. You can see the disks are rusted.  I'd be changing all the fluids.   Does the engine turn over?  All that stuff will need gone through.  It'd be like recommissioning a classic.

 

Why is there no handbrake?  Why is the hood bow on the screen and not the hood?  What's up with that right wing?  What else is the seller glossing over? I suspect that there are lots of bits and bobs to do over the intake and exhaust.

 

This could be a fun project but $18k is way too much money.  The seller's dreaming IMHO 

 

David

[Stuart]

Reading the ad again I'd be suspicious entirely. If it was factory assembled then there would've been no mention of build modules 1,2&3. If the seller is spinning that then what else? 

[dvd8n]

2 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Reading the ad again I'd be suspicious entirely. If it was factory assembled then there would've been no mention of build modules 1,2&3. If the seller is spinning that then what else? 

 

You're right here.  I read the ad again too and it's heavily implied that all there is to do is the intake, exhaust and clutch but it doesn't actually say that....

[Stuart]

@dvd8n is that the hood strip or a black screen surround in alloy uprights? If the latter then that's another point to it not being a factory built car 

[dvd8n]

2 minutes ago, Stuart said:

@dvd8n is that the hood strip or a black screen surround in alloy uprights? If the latter then that's another point to it not being a factory built car 

 

I'm pretty sure that it's the hood bow.  I suppose it's not a bad place to store it but it does mean that the weather gear fitting's not been completed.

 

D

[Captain Colonial]

Also, where’s the rear number plate supposed to go?  No mount, no light… I don’t want to wee on anyone’s parade but the more I look at it, the more I think $18k is way out of line.

[jaykay42]

... it's like one of those "spot the difference" set of pictures:

1 seat in 1 picture, no seat in others

No windscreen wipers?

Bonnet held on with tape?

 

Probably a very good reason - pictures from various stages in the built phase? - but difficult to assess anything from that. It certainly needs current set of photos as a starting point. 

[Davemk1]

Hey - my name is Dave and I live in Bozeman, MT. I have a 2014 Mega S2000 that I built from new. I am also 6'4" but I weigh 180 lbs.

 

I seriously doubt you'll enjoy the fit of the car without dropped floors. I would expect that you would look over the windscreen as much as you would look through it... and that kind of thing gets old very quickly...I did that with another Seven (Birkin) for some time and it's not good!

 

My chassis has lowered floors and I took the seat sliders out from under the stock seat and mounted it directly to the floor and this made the fit OK. Not great, but acceptable. Later I took the fairly thick stock seat out and put a carbon Tillet shell seat in and mounted it as low, and as far back as it could possibly be and I now find the fit to be good. Would I take a tad more leg room if I could get it? Yeah but it's not a problem. I looked through the windshield and I fit in the car with the full weather gear on pretty well. I didn't fit well with the weather gear and a helmet however.

 

You'll also find that your head is far above that roll bar which can't be good. It's a bolt on part and you can of course get a taller one but it's something that would need to be addressed.

Over time my car has evolved and I no longer run a windshield but use an aero screen instead. Much better sighting and much, much less wind buffeting. I also made a taller roll bar that is comfortably above my head. I use my car on the road (just rolled over 20,000 miles in it) and I autocross it seriously doing 20+ events a season. I drive it on the road with road wheels and street tires and I compete on wide wheels and sticky slicks. It's very good fun...if you fit in the car.

 

If you ever want to try sitting in my car for fit just let me know. When these cars are well built and properly sorted they are a real driver's car. I love mine.

 

Dave

[Rob Hunter - Club Secretary]

Hi and welcome!

 

I'm 6ft 5 and normally in the 220-230lb range (depending on how many donuts I've eaten then the wife isnt around 😂). I'm quite "big boned" too, 36 waist and 48 chest. 

 

My first Westfield was a flat floor SEIW with a windscreen and it was a tight fit. I did a few mods like taking the runners off the drivers seat, added a quick release and spacer to a smaller 280mm steering wheel (for knee clearance), small footrest for clutch foot, etc. to get more comfortable. Even with this, the roof was a challenge (my head touched it so never used it), the top rail of the windscreen was in my eye line especially over brows, and my knee room was marginal....

 

It will depend on how long your body and legs are as to how comfortable you'll be and how to adapt the car. Long legs make knee room the challenge, a longer body makes the visibility through the screen more the issue.

 

Despite the tight fit, I still did a few thousand, very fun miles in the car before I traded up.

 

My current car has lowered floors and an aero screen which I find a lot more user friendly. I do have to use the normal seats though as I'm not blessed with the snake hips needed for the carbon/grp buckets 😂. I could probably do with sitting a little lower as I get a little helmet lift above 110mph but its only noticeable on track.

 

In terms of price, I don't know the US market too well but know prices are higher that side of the pond. I saw a nice US registered and running 1996 xflow SEIW for sale for $30k on USA7's earlier this year for example!

 

Wheels will normally be 15 or 13 inch (hardly any tyre choices in 14" these days) in 6, 7 or 8" width. PCD will be 4x108 but offsets can vary so best to check what it has and use that as a guide. Most people go for 185, 195 or 205 section tyres, there are plenty of options from road tyres to semi slicks.

 

The website https://www.willtheyfit.com/ is really useful.

[Captain Colonial]

1 hour ago, Rob Hunter - Club Secretary said:

I saw a nice US registered and running 1996 xflow SEIW for sale for $30k on USA7's earlier this year for example!

*starts looking at costs to ship The Wench to America…*

[Kingster]

1 hour ago, Captain Colonial said:

*starts looking at costs to ship The Wench to America…*

It’s the same for Lotus. Over here a decent low miles S2 Exige is £30-40k, yet over the pond the same car is $60-80k (or more)