pre lit?

[skydivepaul]

Hi,

looking to buy a used westfield after 12 years without one. I am looking for a fast road / track car for use on weekends, track days and sprints and hillclimbs. Need the car to be under 1700cc for the road going speed series class and i have seen a pre lit 1989 with a lotus twinc for sale not far from me. What are the main difference's between the pre lit and the SE / SEi?

if anyone knows of a good car for sale that fits the bill please let me know

cheers

Paul

[Luke_Eliasz]

Can i just ask what pre lit stands for?

I'm a newbie.

[Mark Stanton]

1700cc for the road going speed series class and i have seen a pre lit 1989 with a lotus twinc for sale

I think you mean under 1800cc        

Pre-lits are fine up to a point - and the point is if you break anything such as wishbones, chassis and body panels - which are far more difficult to obtain than those for the later produced cars      

Lotus Twin Cam would sound very nice though     a 1989 Pre-lit is that the year it was completed as Westfield were making the Se and SEi and SEi wides in 1989      

Pre lit and Se are quite similar(ish) - Sei has independant rear suspension

[skydivepaul]

pre lit stands for pre litigation, when caterham took westfield to court because the car looked a little bit too much like theirs. I know that some of the bodywork was changed like the windscreen pillars and i think the bonnet was changed from aluminium to fibreglass but i am not sure about the chassis and suspension differences if any. I am sure someone will out there will know everything about these.

[Mark Stanton]

Can i just ask what pre lit stands for?

Its an unofficial name given to very early Westfields made up till about 1987/88 - at which time they had a remarkable similarity to another car         .

Legal correspondence was exchanged and the solicitors all made a lot of money - at which time Westfield agreed to change their designs which were met with approval by all parties            

IMHO - with hindsight - it was a good thing for Westfield because they went on to develop their own unique style and product which looks far less "boxy"           and a proper independant suspension system            

[skydivepaul]

Cheers Mark,

not sure exactly when the car was completed, going to have a look at it this week. i built an SE in 1990 but had to sell it buy a house in 1993  

[Mark Stanton]

All bodywork panels were changed      a lot of the chassis geometry was updated especially for the SEi

Very early pre-lits were a combo of ali and fibreglass later pre-lits were all fibreglass      

I'm not sure it actually ever went as far as reaching a courtroom        I believe it was all settled without the legals earning anymore money    

[Pepi]

Post lit cars (is there such a thing) have ribs moulded into the outside edges of the rear and cycle wings and the bonnet  has lines moulded into the sides which blend rather nicely into the nose cone !!

[Thrustyjust]

The factory still have all the jigs for the wishbones etc,well they did when I bent my ones. I believe the chassis between the pre-lit and se are basically the same,just the panelling are different.I know both are a squeeze for my slender frame.

[Blatman]

I believe the chassis between the pre-lit and se are basically the same,just the panelling are different.

Not quite. A pre lit has a C******m style sloping chassis rail at the "door" aperture. A post lit Westfield has the "door" parralel to the ground, IYSWIM...

Not a major difference, but it's an easy way to tell...

I have a suspicion that the post lit Westfields has a bit of extra metalwork in there too, to make them stiffer...

[chazpowerslide]

There are "major" differences between the pre-lit and post lit chassis especially in the layout and geometery of the front suspension.

The pre-lit chassis are pretty much the same as the post lit one from the front bulkhead back with the exception of the sloping "door" chassis members, the rear of the transmission on the pre-lit chassis is horizontal where as in the post lit it slopes up towards the rear bulkhead.

There is also an extra vertical chassis member running down from the middle of the rear bulkhead to the middle of the transmission tunnel and the floor chassis members just infront of the seats sit a bit further back on the pre-lit.

The front suspension on the pre-lit features a shortend Escort rack which is offset in the chassis about 2" to the near side, the dampers sit a lot more vertical and the wishbones are angled up at the front mount about 5 degrees when viewed from the side.

The front geometery on the pre-lit rather less refined that the post-lit cars in terms of bump-steer, camber on turn, castor and camber change in compression meaning that the post-lit cars have better front end grip and enhanced steering feel.

There is also an additional chassis crossmember that runs under where the front pully would be.

The later narrow bodywork will fit a pre-lit chassis without modification too and is "much" cheaper than the pre-lit stuff.

HTH.

Chaz.