stephenh Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Did you used to write technical manuals for "diggers"? If not, then you aren't who I thought! ;) If you become a fully paid up member of the WSCC we could pm each other, but I cant pm you now, and dont want to put anything on an open forum which would identify names or addresses to the world at large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjwood23 Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 No, not me - I'm a building services consultant. Although writting manuals for diggers sounds far more fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Almost as fun as building Westfields Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenh Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 No, not me - I'm a building services consultant. Although writting manuals for diggers sounds far more fun! Agh well, you have the same name as someone I know, and you seem to live in the same area. You are still welcome to a ride in my Westfield some time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIG Brother Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Hi and welcome along. I think the first thing you will need to ask yourself is what exactly do you want from this car? Will it just be a road car with maybe 2 track days a year, or will you be looking to take on a few more track days etc? I have a mx 5 kit myself. I have to say I enjoyed building the car and the whole experience it gives you when you complete it. My only criticism now is that after owning the car for 2 years is now when it comes in search of more power. Which in all honesty is what a lot of people go in search of after a while. The mx based options for performance upgrades is quite limited when you compear it to that of say a duratec or vauxhal engines. There is very little 'off the shelf' power hikes for the engine. The main one being to gain the power with the mx5 is going along the turbo charged / supercharged route. This itself is a lot of work and quite exspensive. There are not a lot of companies that do bolt on parts like what you get with the other engine options. And if they do, again this tends to be very exspensive. If I was to ask myself now as I am at the point where I want more power, would I have originally chose an mx5 bases kit. I would have to say no. It was just the fact that I all ready had the MX 5 which I stripped to build this that I went this option Now don't get me wrong I love the driving experience I get with mx based kit. But when I have a day car that currently has more power and go, I start to want some thing a little more power for the weekends. And I don't have much scope for upgrades that don't cost the earth. So just sit down and think about what you will want the car for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjwood23 Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Thanks for the replies guys - really appreciated. TIGbrother - the car will be weekend & occasional track days. I understand about the power issue - one of the reasons I was considering the 1.8. I also accept that the zetec/duratec/VX route will provide easier tuning options etc. One thing I did consider (and someone may be able to advise if this will work...) was going the zetec route but keeping the OEM ECU, Injection etc. (with modified plenum - there are a couple available) and getting a 'piggy-back' chip/ecu. Complete zetecs seem to be available for peanuts (relatively) at the moment. Thanks again Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Weeeeell, I can see why you'd consider that route. But Individual Throttle Bodies, (ITB's) are one of the most popular "first" upgrades for a very good reason. They're also one of the dearest upgrades until you're into the esoteric race spec engine parts and gearboxes etc. Unless you go down the bike ITB DIY route, upgrading to Jenvey etc ITB's can easily set you back in the region of £2000 by the time it's been mapped etc. It will almost certainly cost much less to get a car that's already done. (The OEM injection system, IIRC, also imposes other compromises, like a three piece steering column, with some nasty angles in it to clear the plenum.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjwood23 Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Weeeeell, I can see why you'd consider that route. But Individual Throttle Bodies, (ITB's) are one of the most popular "first" upgrades for a very good reason. They're also one of the dearest upgrades until you're into the esoteric race spec engine parts and gearboxes etc. Unless you go down the bike ITB DIY route, upgrading to Jenvey etc ITB's can easily set you back in the region of £2000 by the time it's been mapped etc. It will almost certainly cost much less to get a car that's already done. (The OEM injection system, IIRC, also imposes other compromises, like a three piece steering column, with some nasty angles in it to clear the plenum.) Thanks for the info. Not really looking to spend £1000's on upgrades - hoping to build something with reasonable performance (baring in mind they don't weigh a much 150/170 bhp should be plenty!). Is this still the case if you use the modfied/aftermarket plenums like the ones GBS or Bogg Bros supply? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark (smokey mow) Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 FWIW I had a quote last year for fitting ITB's to my Mazda engine and it was around £1800. Rick's right that Ford and VX are better supported for the tuning and performance parts but it all depends on what you want from the car and how you see any upgrades going. For me, mine is 90% a road car and 10% track, so the stock plenum and ecu gives a very useable and driveable car for touring, in comparision I also drove the westfield 1600 Sport demonstrator and that was a lot more tempremental to drive in the Kingswinford traffic. When I felt the need for a bit of upgraditus last year BLiNK worked their magic to get me some more horses. There's also a few options I've looked into with reprogramable ECU's that are plug and play directly onto the mazda loom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Should add, just for clarity, my comments referred to the Zetec on OEM plenum etc that the OP mentioned, NOT the Mazda engine! If, and it's a big if you're fairly confident that you'll not want to do huge amounts to the car, (or are happy with the idea of trading up cars rather than modifying), then for anyone wanting the minimum of tinker time and maximum driving time, I would say you need to keep the car and it's components as close as possible to how the original manufacturers intended them. Personally, in the current WF line up, I would say by far the best way to do that is with an MX5 SDV car. A standard MX5 engine, (or lightly tuned), as fitted in a Westfield, seems to be much less of a compromise than a boggo standard Zetec. (Not having a pop at Zetecs! ) It's only if you plan on steadily developing a car over time, or want to buy into an already developed car that a multi donor vehicle starts to make more sense. The important thing, is that either route will be bags of fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterm135 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Not really looking to spend £1000's on upgrades - Thats what i said........................................... and it was a LIE! I'm scared to look at this winters upgrade receipts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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