Andy W STI

Hi Guys,

I'm weighing up my options and am thinking about a megablade as a weekend/trackday toy, anybody any experience of these?

would probably keep my '02 STI PPP as well.


Andy

Andy M3

I experienced one last night actually, followed me through the town centre and at mundane speeds it sounded AWESOME!!!! Totally recommended for posing purposes alone!

Dracoro

I've got a 2.016v westfield. Great fun, pure driving experience. Motorcycle ones good but can easily stall due to lack of power low down but nought to worry about I'd think. Be careful with m/bike engined car though, the components (clutch, gearbox, drivetrain etc.) were designed to carry 250kg, not 500kg.

Come on over to www.wscc.co.uk for all info you'll ever need.

Tim-Grove

My mate had one for about a year, absolutely mental motor!!

SJJ84

My mates just putting the finishing touches to his MK Indy powered by a R1 engine, gonna be a serious weapon when it's on the road.

Proby521

iTrader: (1)

Oi Tim, there are copyrights on those pictures!!! Yeah, that was my 'blade, built it myself, and cant recommend one enough. It will be the MOST fun you can have for the money. It would eat anything, and I mean anything, for breakfast! (well, up to 135mph, on a private road), that includes 600cc superbikes too.(In the dry!) Mine got described by spectators on trackdays as sounding like an F1 car. People were crowding round in the pits to see what the hell was under the bonnet to make a noise like that. Flames, pops, cackles, and a noise like you never heard before. mmmmm.......13500rpm, limiter, pop, bang, pull the stick, 13500rpm, pop, bang, pull the stick! You got me going now, lets get that garage built to put another in!!! If you want any specific info, let me know.

Proby.

Proby521

iTrader: (1)

Also, Dracoro, I never had any probs in 12 months of heavy use with any bike components, and it would be a bike engine all the way in another of mine! Clutches get eaten, but at about £50 for a kevlar race jobbie, and 20 mins to fit it, not that much of an expense. Does not stall because of low down power, but as your controlling a clutch lever with your foot that is usually controlled with your hand, you need a steady clutch foot. The clutch pretty much then feels like its 'on' or 'off' and no in between. Practice makes perfect.

Proby

Andy W STI

Proby You have PM,

Guys cheers for the info, any body else?

ninjacost

go for
it mate got a zx9r powered 7 ,do eat clutches but great fun,no probs with driveability never had a problem with stalling, just make sure you got enough revs before you let the clutch out,in my opinion
bike engined sevens are the way to go ,lightweight ,powerful,and engines relatively cheap to replace if you pop
them.

Proby521

iTrader: (1)

Andy, you now also have PM.

Proby.

Andy W STI

Took a passenger ride in the car this evening , It's very tidy seems very well built only a couple of K on it, will try to track down the chap that built it and get a bit more info on it.

Andy

billythekid

http://www.super7cars.com/Video/Super7.mov

right mouse save as. (its a Caterham not a Westfield though)

A friend of mine had a westfield with a black bird engine in it for a couple of years. I was impressed with the rear suspenstion and general build quality was good. Body work was a bit cheap though and the interior was a bit heath robinson. But IMHO its better to buy a used one as they seem to sell for about 10k, but if you buy a new one its going be be around 15 - 18k depending on spec.

If you have around 15k+ to spend then its worth looking at a Caterham as they are a bit more desirable and they also hold their value a lot more, a low mileage clean example might only lose 1k a year and once they get down to about 12k they just stop. I would look at buying a live axle car for about 12k, then taking the xflow / vx1600 out and putting a busa engine in.

Andy W STI

thanks for the link, Not sure on the drivers choice of jumper !!

Definately going to be less than 10K, Caterham is just a step too far!

Andy

billythekid

You should be able to find a good condition blade or bird for 10k. My mate sold his for 10k, and it had hardly been used, shame as it would have been perfect for you.

Andy W STI

Say I buy the Megablade and decide at a later date that it just needs more go (it's happened to me with all the my scoobs), can the blade engine be fettled to produce more, or is an engine upgrade to Bird or Busa possible without major work, is the existing Diff OK, I spoke yesterday to the guy that built the car I'm interested in and he spoke about the spec of the diff in it.

billythekid

The diff will prob be a 4.1 LSD. I would not worry about that too much as its most likely a sierra case etc, they will take 200bhp without any dramas and the bike engine is not going to put out enough torque to worry it either.

The gear box is where my concern would be, but there is not a great deal you can do about this cheaply.

The good thing about BECs is that you can replace the engine and gear box for very little money. The blade engine is tunable, but not really economical to try and get another 50% out of it. 10 to 20bhp extra should be easy though. Re-jet the carbs and drop the CAT.

Thing you have to remember is that the little 900cc engine weighs naff all, so although it only has 130bhp its still going to be very quick, and the handling will be superb. If you want a bit more power then a Bird is the way to go forward IMHO. 165bhp, weighs almost the same as the blade too.

Are you going to be using it as a track car or for the road? They can be a bit awkward to drive on the road due to the very low torque when in traffic jams or waiting at lights etc . Once you are rolling there is no problem though! On the track you will need a 911 GT3 or 360/F430 to keep up.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

I had a 2.0 Westy a couple of years ago; it was an absolutely brilliant car when it worked, but spent half its life sitting in little bits in the garage surrounded by a pool of oil, water or whatever else it had decided to leak that week.

My advice to you would be to try as many cars as you can, and trust your gut instincts about whether a particular car is a good one or not. I should have been put off buying mine straight away when I noticed it had odd tyres, and that the engine wasn't properly warmed up after a test drive. I ended up in a whole world of pain, which could have so easily been avoided if I'd simply bought a car that was built properly in the first place

The bike engined cars are fantastic if you like the idea of a high revving motor with an F1 soundtrack - but I'm a sucker for torque myself. I'd like another in a year or two, preferably a V8 this time

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

When I bought my Westfield, I considered both the blade engine and the VX engine. In the end decided the car engine route was best suited for me, since I was to be driving to and from the track, as well as using it for occaisional blasts on the roads.

IMO BEC are great track only cars, but a well tuned VX is great for both road and track.

Mine is up for sale soon, you're more than welcome to try it for a comparison

Gixerman

Andy

Just in case your interested, heres the ad for my Blackbird engined Striker which is for sale. Bought from Andy Forest of this site a few years ago!!!

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/72710.htm

Regards

Tony

Andy W STI

Gxerman, The stryker looks nice, but Surrey is a little far for me to travel from NI to check out a car!

I have little doubt the car I'm looking at is well built, the chap who currently owns it looks after it very well and the chap that built it has built quite a few.

It would primarily be a track/weekend car and I like the idea of a bike engined car myself a I'll sell my seldom used 600 Bandit if I do get this car.

Thanks for all the help guys

MooseRacer

VX or Zetec (or indeed Duratec) engine was best suited for me - ie track/back road blat/summer evening jaunts.

2.0 redtop on throttle bodies, decent tyres, shocks and springs and AP brakes = not a lot to touch it (including BECs)


I love mine


http://www.mooseracer.pwp.blueyonder...ie/westie5.jpg
http://www.mooseracer.pwp.blueyonder...ie/westie7.jpg
http://www.mooseracer.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/engine.jpg
http://www.mooseracer.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/veypor.jpg

Proby521

iTrader: (1)

The Diff is from a Freelander nowadays in the bird/busa, the blade has plenty of go in it, (when you think its breaching 300bhp/ton), an engine upgrade is possible from blade to busa, but not as straight forward as just popping it in. Prop shaft lengths, engine mounting cradle, then you got all the wiring loom & ecu etc.

Proby.

darren f

I really seriously thought about a bike-engined car prior to buying / building my Caterham. The only thing that swayed me away from a BEC was the noise level issue- just be aware that if it is a track-day tool you may have to do some work to get the noise levels down low enough for some tracks (esp Bedford, Donoington, Goodwood and Brands on some occasions). I'm pretty sure some of the BEC-guys from the Lotus 7 Club can only do 'noisy days' at some circuits.

billythekid

My, more Blat Chatters over here

Andy W STI

Nice car moose!

Still not decided on if I should go for this car or not!

There are a lot of kit cars out there, but westies do seem to hold their value beter than most (apart rom caterhams of course)

What should U be looking for if I go back and take this car for a proper test drive?

Andy W STI

I've gone for a 2 ltr zetec 9000mls should pick it up at end of week
1996 cosworth lsd and gear box running about 190BHP,
tuned by racetek (anyone heard of them) with a dunnel ECU, any comments/advice?
Haven't ben able to contact any previous owners through 118118.

Andy

billythekid

Nice.

Now you need to join www.bookatrack.com forum

Not wanting to teach you to suck eggs but if you have not driven a 7 before you can PM some good instuctors for road and/or track.

midget1500

nice one andy - get it, then get yourself over to kirkistown for a few track days

see you there

steven

billythekid

Ahh. forgot you are in NI. Simon Bell is your man.. http://www.nise7ens.net

Ray_li

they seem like great car and I'll love to have one but I'll be worried about safety. Seems like **** all to them if you're in a crash.