R1 STRIKER Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Having owned several kit cars over the last 5 or 6 years I am planning on building a westfield, all being well starting later this year. The car in question will be a track only car, built as light as possible, aero screen and cage. My dilema is which engine to use this time? I built my 1st kit car, a RAW striker with a 1.6 toyota 4age. I then fitted this with performance cams and a home made gsxr throttle body conversion. This made a respectable 161bhp on the rollers. Then we converted this to a 2003 injected R1 engine. loved it like this but got the bug to buil another. The next car was to be the track car I always wanted. A track only Raw striker with a 20v toyota 4age. Collected all the bits, started the build and then whilst on a job with a friend, payed a vistit to caterham! That was it, we both signed up for the caterham academy! late 2007 we had 2 caterham academy kits delivered and although I shouldn't say it on here, we had a fantastic time building and then racing them in 2008. With those cars gone it's now time to lok for a replacement. Having built those, the plan is to now build a westy. So, this is where i'm after your advice. I've tried bike and small car engines, pleased with them both. But whats the engine of choice for a westy? So far in my mind I'm down to 4. Megabusa, duratec (2.o or 2.3?), trusty VX red top or the wild card, Honda S2000? Would appreciate your opinions, this is a track only car!! Many thanks Ben. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Everall Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 You could buy my 2.3L Duratec and have instant mega power and all the bits to fit in a Westfield of proven record SEE AD IN PARTS FOR SALE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samcooke Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 S2000. All the revs and gears of a busa, all the reliability and tractability of a Japanese hatchback, cheaper than an equivalently powered Duratec. As far as I'm concerned there is nothing better for a lightweight car - unless you have £10k+ to spend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Seconded. S2000 is tall though, so a dry sump is pretty much a must. But even with the expense of a dry sump and installation "variables" it's still gotta be pretty good bang for buck, and allied with the reliability as noted by Sam, it's hard to argue against one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffC Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 trackcar easy one that, value for money at around £1500 to buy an engine/box a standard 1300 megabusa is proven to be a lump quicker on a circuit than standard duratec/vx and s2000 I have laptimes at various circuits Ive driven and busa comes out top everytime If you are going down the car engined road imho it would be duratec everytime but you would need to upgrade the standard engine to increase power to get anywhere near what a standard busa can do, nothing against the vx engine though that would be my 2nd choice but having been up against 3x Honda s2000 powered kitcars and passengered in 2 that would definatley not be my choice of engine , for me they perform in a westy pretty much the same as they perform in the s2000 car all revs and no go supercharged is a very different story mind they go very well but again that is gonna stretch the budget prepares to be shot down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F20 Powered Rush Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Almost bike engine revs, + oil tight, down side heavy, tall, needs to be on a ford gearbox as Honda 6speeder = 45kg. Have a mate with one in a Striker which he built 6yrs ago goes and handles well. I have one in a Dax Rush dry sumped and jenveys very usefull as a road car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thos Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 If I had to start from scratch I'd build a Megabusa. Currently having a 4AGE I'm tempted to change the engine for somthing bigger and see it as follows: Duratec - lots of off the shelf stuff for easy install (engine mounts, bellhousing, exhaust), but needs work to make more power F20/S2000 - if you're going to bother of making up engine mounts/exhaust, finding bellhousing, then may as well go for the K20 which is supposed to be better again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F20 Powered Rush Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Have to agree with JeffC value for £ = megabusa. Not sure i would agree with the K20 being better, It is certainly much lighter and not so tall, I know of a few exige owners who are on there 3rd/4th engine. Usuall result is a rod through the side with a s charged engine, or piston breaking up, but these cars are running a high track millage, with a very handy driver, hence the aray off after market pistons and rods available for this engine which needs to be considered when building an engine which will be s charged. So the final engine build cost is close to a Duratec. Where the F20 has virtually no piston / rod failures running a s charger. When you compare a standard K20 piston/rod to a standard F20 piston/rod you can see why. But yes there are far more K20s running a s charger out there than F20s. So for a Sprint car or Track day car with a correctly built K20 engine running a s charger would be quite a weapon of choice, if you dont want a bike engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Everall Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 If you twisted my arm you could have my kit for £7500 and its got dry sump sytem, complete clutch, throttle bodies, wiring harness and ecu, exhaust And its got a genuine 283 bhp and 212 ft lbs of torque and great reliability Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenko Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 If you twisted my arm you could have my kit for £7500 and its got dry sump sytem, complete clutch, throttle bodies, wiring harness and ecu, exhaust And its got a genuine 283 bhp and 212 ft lbs of torque and great reliability Stop it, Stop it, Stop it.........£7500! - That is serious power / weight for that money.....snap it up!....Wish I could!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenko Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Now then....Have you considered a CVH?...... I'll get my coat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R1 STRIKER Posted January 26, 2010 Author Share Posted January 26, 2010 Wow, lots of replies there! Terry, would love to but not starting the project just yet. loks like you've had some fun in your cars. We did meet when you bought some OZ wheels off me a few years ago. It's a difficult choice with so many good engines around. Busa is prob top of the list so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhc Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Lots of people say the S2000( f20) engine is tall ,yet it will go under a standard Westfield bonnet. Its also said to be heavy, yet it only weighs 87klgs with a sensible clutch and flywheel. Just play to its stengths, 9000+ revs, reasonable torque,178ft lbs. Mate it to a gearbox with proper ratios and a final drive that will compliment both gearbox and engine. And most important put all three in a car that weighs less than 500klgs. This will give you 500 +bhp per ton surely fast enough for most Westfield owners. I maybe biased but I consider that J.D. (job done) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Everall Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Ben The Superleggeras are still going strong on Paul Pocklingtons car. The standard Busa is good but is nowhere near the power of my Duratec or the even Honda power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveD Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 civic type r ,you can lower the cam change unlike the s2000 and is a better engine imho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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