Bike engine Westfields

[James-06gep]

I’m on the verge of taking the plunge into a bike engined Westfield.

It’s for road and track.. but more towards the track end.

My question is what should I be paying for a well sorted car? There isn’t a huge number of them around, and even less of them for sale at any given time.

I’m after something with a cage installed, decent seats and harnesses, good brakes and preferably some carbon fibre parts.

Is there a lot of price difference between the hyabusa/ blackbird/ r1/ fireblade equipped cars?

I’m seeing a big range between sub £10k and £15k++.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[jdwoodbury]

I think for these sorts of cars its buy on condition, I would expect the 'Megablade' to be slightly cheaper than the 'Megabusa', also if you break it the Fireblade engine is much cheaper to repair. I would look closely at the clutch action, they take a lot of abuse on 500kg car and it can be difficult to take off smoothly, if you have not driven one before you may feel like you cant drive initially. Also look for an electric reverse if at all possible as they are much more reliable and smoother/easier to operate. On the plus side cars are sold by enthusiasts, I would put out the feelers on the Westfield Owners Club forum and on Facebook groups.

[Furyblade_Lee]

jdwoodbury said:

I think for these sorts of cars its buy on condition, I would expect the 'Megablade' to be slightly cheaper than the 'Megabusa', also if you break it the Fireblade engine is much cheaper to repair. I would look closely at the clutch action, they take a lot of abuse on 500kg car and it can be difficult to take off smoothly, if you have not driven one before you may feel like you cant drive initially. Also look for an electric reverse if at all possible as they are much more reliable and smoother/easier to operate. On the plus side cars are sold by enthusiasts, I would put out the feelers on the Westfield Owners Club forum and on Facebook groups.

There is no issue pulling away / hill starts / traffic with a BEC clutch, within 10 minutes the action is completely normal and intuitive. If it isn't then there is is an installation issue, it is not the clutch....

Any used replacement Fireblade engine on that vintage is going to be iffy now, budget 1k to get a replacement engine refreshed before you put it in!

Megabusas are "mega", one of the best ever BECs I drove was a Megabusa built by guy who built race bikes, the car was sublime and fast as hell......

[Thevet]

Hmm post removed, meant to say that I have a blackbird engine needing a home for no reward, it's not an advert just a request to clear some space.......apologies if this is outside the PH rules x

[James-06gep]

I’ve managed to line up a viewing of a car on Saturday.

Original mega chassis now running an R1 engine. A short spec is:

Refreshed and resprayed 3 years ago.
Almost every carbon fibre part available it seems to have
New Westfield suspension
Reverse box
Tillett seats/ nice sabelt harnesses
Msa approved full cage
Compomotive wheels/ semi slicks
Omp plumbed in extinguisher

Does anyone have an idea what I should be paying?

[jdwoodbury]

I would guess the original kit would be about 20yrs old (as this is when the factory was advertising bike engined cars). I would say between £10-12k depending on condition...not many around so its a difficult call, pay what your happy with.