Gareth Allan

Looking to buy/build a westfield type kit car, and looking for pros, but mostly any cons of the bike engine installation.

I know they are light and powerful, but how long do they last pulling 3 times the weight of a bike around? What are they like on the road everyday? How much do they really cost when you have to factor in reverse boxes, special diffs etc? What about cush drives and the like?

Any and all comments welcome.

Gareth

dingy

After helping with building one, i for sure would not bother with a westie, build quality is shocking.

Gareth Allan

I've only heard good things about westfiled - as they are one of the most established guys around i thought theirs would be (onr of) the best...

can you be more specific?

gareth

SCOSaltire

I think he was indicating that the build quality was shocking - as he built it

RichiW

[Edited by RichiW - 6/24/2003 10:33:32 PM]

dingy

Well, chassis is crap, not rigid, moves, quality of metal is poor.

Can't take 150bhp with braking it......

I'd say its sh1Te before we touched it LOL

evoviifan

there must be a reason why a lot of car magazines talk about caterhams and westfields in the same sentence these days...

And I dont mean funny sentences like:

"Caterhams are good and Westfields are ****!"

Top gear did a 100 best cars last year and they could not pick between the two makes. They are not that far apart in terms of build quality and the way they drive...only difference i can see is the badge and the price!

My westfield was fine build quality wise, but i am sure there are bad ones out there.

Back on topic...bike engines in kit cars...

pros
----
high revvin' crazy superbike sound track
sequential gear box
light weight
trendy at moment so easy to sell on at decent price if built properly

cons
----
lack of torque
engine will not stand the test of time due to the extra weight of the car and bike engines dont last that long anyway.
pricey to buy built kit car when compared to other engine choices

I am currently not sure which route to go...i am getting another westfield (sold my 1700 xflow about 6 months ago). I dont know whether to go for a V8 engine or a bike engine or a twin bike engine...the latter sounds dangerously silly...dont think the wife would let me get that one

at the mo i am veering towards the v8...should have some fun test driving a few.

v8 sounds the biz but i have heard they are scary in the wet??? But then again i heard that about all westfields and mine was good fun and easy to drive rain or shine or snow.

megabusa

IMO the only 'downside' to a BEC is the need for a device to create reverse drive; a reverse gearbox is crap, and electric motor propulsion means a big heavy battery, and is still crap.
That said, everything else about the cars is brill.

iguana

ref ya bike engines not lasting long anyway, well where on earth have you got that idea from?

All the fast jap stuff ive ever owned has racked up 40K+ of absolute bouceing on the rev limiter abuse with just regular 3k oil changes an still runs fine.

Couriers rack up over 200k on bikes with no engine probs & my mate who used it to commute had a 130k cbr6 that only needed new valves as the compressions were low and it still ran like clock work.

I would put my money on a bike lump out lasting a tuned xflow by a factor of at least twice posibly 3 times as long without a rebuild.

Only issues I know of are-

1-cornering g forces causing oil starvation but lots of dry sump BEC specialist can sort that for you & not all bike engines are affected.

2- blowing up the engine due to over revving on downchanges as due to 2 big sticky tyres gripping the road & a fair bit of weight the wheels cant slip & skid like on a bike.