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34996

General Discussion Area / Re: Question for Kevin, or anyone else who cares!

« on: 01 May 2007, 14:00:35 »

The 5V head on the 1.8T doesn't need any work.

That's true enough. There's hardly any metal on it to remove!
Last time I visited my local engine machining place they were trying to re-valve a 5v head.  Should have heard the language!

Kevin

34997

General Discussion Area / Re: Question for Kevin, or anyone else who cares!

« on: 01 May 2007, 10:58:42 »

The engine which appeals to me in a Westfield is the V8

They're very popular at the moment. I'm not 100% sure. They sound tremendous but they're also fairly heavy (although the Rover V8 isn't much worse than something like a Pinto), and I think that takes the edge off the handling. They also need to be driven carefully, in comparison to a 4 pot with similar power, because there's enough torque to spin the back wheels from idle in most of the gears.

They're also lazy engines that don't really like revs, and I'm not sure that suits a little sports car.

I must admit, whilst I've not got the tape measure out yet, I've been idly wondering if a GM V6 will fit in there. That might be a good compromise between the two. Anyone know what an X30XE weighs?

Kevin

34998

General Discussion Area / Re: Question for Kevin, or anyone else who cares!

« on: 01 May 2007, 10:18:58 »

If it's between the RH and the Westfield MX-5 SDV I'd go for the Westfield every day.  I'm trying not to be biased here but if the prices are in the same ball park I think you'll find that the difference in quality is quite marked. Quality of the kit has a big influence on ease of build too.

However, I'll have a snoop at the RH stand this weekend and see what they're like.

You need to blag a test drive in the MX-5 based kit! Then you'll really be hooked.

Oh, and I know what you're saying regarding Ford stuff. TBH, though, Emma has had an MX-5 for 4 or 5 years & 80,000 miles and I do the servicing on it. I wouldn't know how easy it is to work on because nothing has ever caused trouble. I change the oil & filter, the air filter, the coolant and the plugs and nothing else has ever needed touching.

Kevin

34999

General Discussion Area / Re: Question for Kevin, or anyone else who cares!

« on: 01 May 2007, 09:53:33 »

life doesn't start until about 1.8bar

Boost's not everything though. The more boost you NEED the more heat you're going to have to get rid of, the more lag you've got, etc. I would still pay attention to porting the head nicely and ensuring the induction system works well.

I know a guy with a Cossie Westfield. He bought it running 300+ BHP at 2 bar or so IIRC. Had been tuned by just turning up the boost and chipping. It felt very quick but the power all came in with a bang at about 3,000 rpm with loads of overboost. A tuning package designed to appeal to the MAX Power brigade.

He ported the head, fabricated a better inlet plenum, fitted a smaller Turbo, a decent charge cooler, put a proper mappable ECU with boost control on it and mapped it on a rolling road. It now makes more power than it did before at just over 1 BAR and because it doesn't have to wind itself up to silly bost levels, it's much more responsive and doesn't bite (important in a Westfield!).

Kevin

35000

General Discussion Area / Re: Question for Kevin, or anyone else who cares!

« on: 30 April 2007, 23:00:40 »

So 350-400hp would be enough?

Can you ever have enough?  

If I were going for more power I think a turbo would probably be the way to go.

A mate of mine built a Dax Rush with a Cossie turbo in it. In theory it had 270 BHP but that's from a Cosworth chip vendor so take it with a pinch of salt. It was running about 1 bar of boost IIRC. You could boot it out of a corner in 5th and just wait for the turbo to suck you up the straight to the next corner or you could drop it into 2nd, thrash it to 7k in each gear and embarass the bikes. ;-) Either way it loved it.

It did 35 MPG on a run and was absolutely bullet proof.

I think my Zetec is OK for the moment though.

Kevin

35001

General Discussion Area / Re: Question for Kevin, or anyone else who cares!

« on: 30 April 2007, 22:34:39 »

A few more ideas:

http://www.tigerracing.com/
http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/
http://www.daxcars.com/
http://www.stuart-taylor.co.uk/
http://www.sylva.co.uk/
http://www.gtmcars.com

Kevin

35002

General Discussion Area / Re: Question for Kevin, or anyone else who cares!

« on: 30 April 2007, 15:53:40 »

I think you get what you pay for in general. The more expensive kits come pretty well finished meaning you don't have to do that much work to tidy up from the manufacturing process, you just have to bolt it together into a car.

Cheaper kits that I have seen don't come as well finished or as accurately made, so you might find yourself tidying up edges and even trimming areas where the panels don't fit.

You also need to think about what you want at the end and what type of build you want to embark upon.

Some kits are based on a single donor car, the idea being to break a car and use as many parts from that car as possible. The RH is one of them. This seems like a good idea at first until you consider the engine you'll end up with. You can do a lot better than a Pinto or CVH these days, but this will be the choice you have if you base it on a sierra. Other parts from the single donor won't be ideal, but the kit will have been compromised to use them. Of course you can use parts from other cars, but as you deviate from the single donor costs and time will be added.

Consider also if you'll want to refurbish every part from a donor and use it. To do so saves money but will take much more time. If you see yourself buying refurbished parts and otherwise deviating from the single donor path, you may as well throw away all the compromises that this involves and build something that draws on the best parts from several donors.

Consider also the use it will get. Do you want something to polish and display on concours? Something to use mainly on the road as something "a bit different" to drive on sunny days? Or, do you want a track day weapon?

If I were doing it again?

For a track day car I'd probably go for a bike engined seven style car or a powerful tuned 4 pot (Ford Duratec / VX C20XE / 1.6 Ecotec). I'd maybe venture towards an Audi 1.8T.

For a road car I'd seriously consider Westfield's single donor kit based on an MX-5 (Donor car with a more lively engine, lightweight parts throughout and fun to drive in the first place). Either that or I'd use a Ford Sigma engine (little Zetec from the Fiesta / Puma, seriously light and loves to rev). Or I might consider trying to shoehorn an X32SE into one for a bit more of a cruiser ;-)

For a polisher I'd go for something with a bit more bodywork to it than a Lotus 7 style car. Maybe a Cobra or Healey 3000 replica. It'd rude not to have a V8 in a Cobra.

For a money no object all rounder have a google for the Ultima... I was speaking to someone at Le Mans who's not allowed to go to Belgium any more thanks to one of these. He did try (and succeed) to run for the border after getting clocked a little over the limit (205 MPH).

The main thing is to see the cars in the flesh and decide what you think. Look at a RH against a Caterham and you'll see where the compromises have been made. It's not a slim, svelte little car, it's got a bit more lardy to accommodate the Sierra running gear underneath unmodified, whereas the Caterham uses mostly bespoke suspension parts. There are other manufacturers who are at various points between these two extremes.

Most manufacturers will give to a factory tour, talk about their kits and give you a test drive in a demonstrator. Westfield will happily throw you the keys to a demonstrator and let you play for half an hour or so. Others prefer to take you out and scare you.

It's a shame you're not around at the weekend because at a kit car show you will find so many shapes and sizes of car it'll really open your mind.

Cheers,

Kevin

35003

General Discussion Area / Re: 1000 members means

« on: 02 May 2007, 22:37:17 »

Around  3 MOTs per day 8-)

About 10 million miles a year

12 1/2 members leaving per year

 :question :question :question

As in shuffling off this mortal coil and going to change the great rocker cover caskets in the sky?

Makes you think...

Kevin

35004

General Discussion Area / Re: Trade Card & VeccyB Discs/Pads

« on: 02 May 2007, 16:55:42 »

I've had an advisory for a worn set of brake pads before, and the tester said his opinion would be to fail it but he couldn't above a certain thickness and they measured slightly above that.

They needed changing, no mistake, but weren't what I'd consider dangerous. This MOT centre are reasonable, too, so it's not like they would be trying to get work out of it, or just being miserable.

I agree that if they can't see the pads, they can't fail it.

I suspect that cars have such a long service interval these days, if their owners bother, that they tend to ask themselves if it will last until the next MOT!

Kevin

35005

General Discussion Area / Re: I learnt summat new today!

« on: 01 May 2007, 16:50:21 »

Those wind-in type calipers are a total and utter PITA

The Ford calipers I have on the Westfield are this style. Fabricated a tool last time I did mine (in a hurry) and ended up losing most of the skin off my knuckles as well. Will buy the proper tool next time, and no mistake.

They work OK until the handbrake self-adjuster siezes and then no amount of turning the piston will wind them back in. Change the brake fluid regularly (which reminds me...) and it will prolong their life. They are a total PITA to rebuild too.

However, The Omega handbrake mechanism is not without its' disadvantages, and this style of caliper adds very little weight and uses the same friction materials as the main brake (so they bed in nicely and don't just rust up).

Kevin

35006

General Discussion Area / Re: I learnt summat new today!

« on: 01 May 2007, 09:40:25 »

I've never got on with those one man bleeding kits. I always find air gets sucked in round the bleed nipple threads.

If it has to be one man an EasyBleed seems to work OK but it involves a lot of faffing. This involves pressurising the reservoir using the pressure from a spare tyre. Once you've got that sorted out you just open each bleed screw in turn until air stops coming out. Don't let it run out of brake fluid, though, as I found out once. It undid my good work very rapidly when I started blasting compressed air through the brake lines  

SWMBO is now quite well trained in pedal pumping so I don't normally have to bother.

Kevin

35007

General Discussion Area / Re: facelift V pre facelift

« on: 30 April 2007, 23:19:56 »

I do not like the window switches in the facelift

Neither do I. Every time I need to wind down the driver's side window I get the switch for the rear window instead of the front. It's been like this for 4 months now. Local car park attendants all think I'm nuts.

Was even worse before I treated the rear one to a bit of PTFE spray because I'd be battling to get the damn thing back up again!

Good job I don't use car washes really.

Kevin

35008

General Discussion Area / Re: Scratch remover lotions and Potions

« on: 01 May 2007, 12:07:30 »

OK. Liquid it is. Thanks very much.

Kevin

35009

General Discussion Area / Re: Scratch remover lotions and Potions

« on: 30 April 2007, 23:30:23 »

G3. Absolutely cannot beat it.

Would that be the paste or the liquid? Or doesn't it matter?

Kevin

35010

General Discussion Area / Re: Ronnie project 2007/2 another update

« on: 01 May 2007, 11:04:13 »

In many ways propane is a much better fuel than petrol

I agree. It's potentially a very good fuel for tuned engines. I think some guys on the Megasquirt list were talking about liquid phase injection. Not been following it recently though. Shame there's not enough commitment to it for anyone to build an LPG-Only engine. With every man and his dog popping up with the fuel that's the answer to the world's problems the only thing it guarantees is the continued use of petrol!

Kevin