My Master Plan ??

[DaveMorton]

Hi All,

I have a plan which I should like to share with those with the necessary knowledge to see any flaws I may have missed.

At present I run a Mazda MX5 (A fine handling, reliable and practical sports car). Due to buying a second car for work (1996 Suzuki Swift Gti) the Mazda is now only a weekend car which gets used probably once a fortnight for a good country road thrash about and covers around 3,000 miles a year tops.

The problem is its too slow and too practical to have sat there unused for 13 days a fortnight (and their depreciating too quickly too). I briefly toyed with the idea of a TVR Griffith instead but then realised that that would i) stand me a fortune, ii) get used even less than the 5 and iii) cost a packet to run and insure.

So my plan now is to sell the 5 early next year for around £6500-£7000 and buy in the first instance a Tidy Late build Crossflow Powered Westy SeiW for around £5000-£6500 which will have to be a private sale. I've been buying KitCar magazine for around a year and this figure seems achievable.

I want to run this as summer plaything and then during the following winter I want to swap out the Crossflow for bike power (probably a blade engine as I can't stretch to the £3,000+ for a hayabusa engine!).

Can anyone see any reasons why this shouldn't work. The issues I have trouble with at the moment are :-

1) Will a Crossflow Westy be significantly faster than my tuned NA 1.6 Mazda?

2) Is a secondhand Westfield a good idea. I have a reasonable knowledge of servicing type tasks but haven't previously built a car from scratch.

3) What is involved in the swap to bike power. And how much am I likely to spend.

4) How much potential power/performance is lost buy using the traditional chasis/body rather than the light weight versions?

5) Is there a chance of fitting a vee twin engine in a westfield chassis? )

Sorry for the length of the post but hey I'm new )

Any help appreciated.

TIA

Dave

[Peter Cox]

At least I can answer a couple of questions...

1) Will a Crossflow Westy be significantly faster than my tuned NA 1.6 Mazda?

..."ohh yes", "and then some", "are you joking" are some of the replies I could suggest (and that's just for a bog standard, unmodified Xflow).

2) Is a secondhand Westfield a good idea. I have a reasonable knowledge of servicing type tasks but haven't previously built a car from scratch.

...I bought a 2nd hander (admittedly from a distant family member) and ain't regretted it. If in doubt, get a local, "knowledgeable", member to help you check it out.

3) What is involved in the swap to bike power. And how much am I likely to spend.

...I too am interested in doing this so I'll be watching carefully. Ed Hasler did something similar (not sure if it was Xflow) on a budget but I can't remember his website. A couple of guys on the 7's list have also done this (at least one via the factory).

[Nick M]

The bike engined conversion is eminently doable, but I'd be inclined to get a second hand car first (and you should get a good one for the figures you're suggesting) and then test-drive a bike engined one to see if it's really what you're looking for.  They're fine on track but don't always make very civilised road cars, especially if you fancy the odd long journey.

In many ways it is easier to build the bike engined cars from scratch as you're unlikely to get much support from the factory if you choose to convert an existing car.....

[Horsebox]

The bike engined conversion is eminently doable, but I'd be inclined to get a second hand car first (and you should get a good one for the figures you're suggesting) and then test-drive a bike engined one to see if it's really what you're looking for.  They're fine on track but don't always make very civilised road cars, especially if you fancy the odd long journey.

In many ways it is easier to build the bike engined cars from scratch as you're unlikely to get much support from the factory if you choose to convert an existing car.....

And the car engined ones dont make very civilised track cars

H-gate gearboxes!? sheeesh!

[Nick M]

I shall think of you as we're tearing down the roads to Le Mans in 5th gear pulling a mere 4,000 rpm...

In fact, I won't just be thinking about you - I'll probably hear your car screaming away behind us at a high-pitched and painful 9,000 rpm.....

Besides, these sequential boxes are just fluff, a fad, mere trinkets compared to our chunky, purposeful H pattern boxes with straight cut gears and nice close ratios !!

[Mark Stanton]

AND

One of the best sources for cars on your budget is the club magazine (not biased honest, well not much)

[Horsebox]

I shall think of you as we're tearing down the roads to Le Mans in 5th gear pulling a mere 4,000 rpm...

In fact, I won't just be thinking about you - I'll probably hear your car screaming away behind us at a high-pitched and painful 9,000 rpm.....

Besides, these sequential boxes are just fluff, a fad, mere trinkets compared to our chunky, purposeful H pattern boxes with straight cut gears and nice close ratios !!

Erk, we're in a rush to get to Le Mans then? 9000rpm in 6th gear is 120mph  

And as for close ratios, you dont know the meaning of the word!

Definitely need two Westfields... A V8 for Lemans, going for picnics etc and a bike engined for trackdays.

Cheers,

Horsebox

[Nick M]

Erk, we're in a rush to get to Le Mans then? 9000rpm in 6th gear is 120mph  

Best you get a bit of string to hold your hat on then !!!  

[mb893]

Dave,

Try asking about the bike engine conversion on the Yahoo BEC group.....

BEC

Couple of people there have done this on Westies.

Regards

John

The MegaBLADE site

[DaveMorton]

Thanks to all for the info.

I'm fairly certain that a Crossflow may be on the cards although it might be a save up and a Zetec instead depending on whether I could live with a bike engine in the future or not.

I'm going to try a bike engined car soon anyway ) I'm also considering a look out to Stuart Taylor at nottingham for a look at the Vee twin stuff their doing. I like the idea of the engine (sensible revs and huge torque) but not the bodystyles (modified midtec spyder or sylva phoenix). Might be swayed by the engine note though ;o)

I was thinking that as most of the weekend driving is twisty roads with occasional clear straights and all at sensible(ish) speeds that the high revs wouldn't be a problem. The Swift pulls 5,000 RPM at 80 MPH anyway which it quite high for a production car.

I let you know how I get on.

Dave

[Courtault]

Hello,

 

 

Isn't you,

[Courtault]

[Norman Verona]

1) Will a Crossflow Westy be significantly faster than my tuned NA 1.6 Mazda?

 

I'd say it will be faster but significantly is subjective. It won't be as fast at a 300 BHP Duratec but it will probably frighten you a bit.

 
2) Is a secondhand Westfield a good idea. I have a reasonable knowledge of servicing type tasks but haven't previously built a car from scratch.

You don't need build knowledge to maintain a crossflow. If the car is set up correctly when you buy it then cleaning plugs, points (if it still has them) and a tickle of the carbs is all you'll need for the engine. Changing brake pads, oil and filter is probably the rest for normal maintenance. As long as you have common sense and a feel for mechanicing the rest can be explained on here. If you're really stuck email me (in sig with a landline number and I can ring you back)

3) What is involved in the swap to bike power. And how much am I likely to spend.

Sorry can't help but others have

4) How much potential power/performance is lost buy using the traditional chasis/body rather than the light weight versions?

See Jen-Marie (Courtault). I know this car, he designed and built the body and it's very nice. He'll be at Stoneleigh, pop along and have a chat. His English is good and so it Nathalie (wife) (English that is, she lovely but I was talking about her English)

5) Is there a chance of fitting a vee twin engine in a westfield chassis?  )

See above.

 

 

Hope that helps.

[Deako]

Buy a cheap car to enjoy for a year. Add to your budget and then sell it for what you paid and look for a bike engined car, or another car engined one that suits your fancy.

You will be in danger of it taking far longer than you anticipated to convert and cost way more than you budgeted.

[Stuart]

Err - did you not notice that this thread is from 2001 and the contributors are no longer WSCC members?