Hello all! Chassis number question

[Gillinghampaul]

Hi, im new to westfields and pretty new to kit cars,

im looking at a few cars, do we know what the first parts of the chassis number should be? 

SA9WSL is this live axle and I at the end be independent? 

Also any idea on the differences in chassis between sports 2000 chassis and the megablade chassis? So I could identify which it is?

 

Many thanks

 

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

9 hours ago, Gillinghampaul said:

Hi, im new to westfields and pretty new to kit cars,

im looking at a few cars, do we know what the first parts of the chassis number should be? 

SA9WSL is this live axle and I at the end be independent? 

Also any idea on the differences in chassis between sports 2000 chassis and the megablade chassis? So I could identify which it is?

 

Many thanks

 

Welcome, you'll likely get an answer in Tech, rather than the start line. I've edited your post title to hopefully help.

 

[Gillinghampaul]

Thankyou, ill look at putting it in the tech section instead, im very very new to this forum!

 

Edit, i cant access much of the other sections at the moment,i dont know why

Edited 1 hour ago by Gillinghampaul
Update

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

10 minutes ago, Gillinghampaul said:

Thankyou, ill look at putting it in the tech section instead, im very very new to this forum!

 

Edit, i cant access much of the other sections at the moment,i dont know why

Some areas are locked down until you're a full member, you'll soon realise what a great club you've joined and the breadth and depth of knowledge it contains.

[Captain Colonial]

11 hours ago, Gillinghampaul said:

im looking at a few cars, do we know what the first parts of the chassis number should be? 

SA9WSL is this live axle and I at the end be independent? 

Also any idea on the differences in chassis between sports 2000 chassis and the megablade chassis? So I could identify which it is?

 

The format of the chassis numbers changed a few times over the years so there no definitive answer to that, although I’m sure you know what WSL stands for.

 

The chassis numbers won’t indicate if it’s a live axle or an independent as that information is not coded into the number.  A quick look under the back of the car will tell you.

 

Differences between the two chassis are rather subtle, so much so that it would be difficult to explain - a knowledgeable experienced Westfield enthusiast would be able to tell, but it wouldn’t jump out and scream at anyone else.

 

 

[Gillinghampaul]

Im looking at a car that looks to of been a home built sport 2000 in about 2001, but is now in megablade spec, it all looks good, i just expected to see a 1 or an i where the L is on the chassis number, and reg comes back as a sport 2000, not a megablade, engine number and chassis number all match stamped and logbook and the chassis in the engine area looks to be the same as megablade chassis i have seen, i know it completely possible for this conversion to have been done, it is a live axle, i was just hoping to find other evidence of it being a converted sport 2000 chassis that has been modified, unless sport 2000 could of been ordered from factory with bike engine mounts? 

Its a lovely car and im very excited to become a westie owner, and im almost definately being over cautious, but i am quite new so thought id see what the more experienced of you may think! 

 

Thankyou for the welcome so far too

[Euan Hoosearmy]

I've a homebuilt sport 2000 that's independent rear suspension. Sport 2000 was originally sold expecting a 2L Zetec Silvertop. So unless you have the original sales paperwork, it's going to be difficult to work out what was supplied from the factory vs changed after. Also the model description on the V5 seems to have more to do with what the builder put on the paperwork than anything else.

 

It's also worth looking at the bodywork, so you know what you're getting. Bodywork has changed a few times over the years. The simplest place to start is the bonnet....

 

If it's got 4 external clips holding the bonnet on, it's most likely "kit" bodywork.

 

If it's got two locating pins at the front of the bonnet and two clips at the back it's ZK bodywork

 

There's no better or worse, it's more that ZK bits won't always fit with "kit" bits, so you need to know what you have. There is a more comprehensive bodywork guide in the tech section which is worth every penny of the membership in terms of knowledge to keep a Westie running.

[Gillinghampaul]

There is very little to no original paperwork, original builder owned a few years then owned for around 20 years by current owner, its kit bodywork from your info too, i believe it was converted or built to bike spec by the first owner, 

Iv no reason to believe anything is wrong i have just heard you need to be carefull, the only things i noticed have been sport 2000 instead of megablade, and one of the "mot description" in a vehicle check said 1999cc so assumed it was a 2.0 at some point early on? 

Oh and the L instead of an i or a 1 on the 6 digit of the vin, but again quite easy to see how this was done, the builder might of used L to avoid confusion between i and 1? 

And from the helpfull replies so far, ill be joining as soon as i have bought the car!