A few Westfield & megablade questions

[williamball]

Hi,
just acquired a mega-blade, so I'm sure to have lots more questions soon. First lot are:

1) some parts of the bodywork could do with a touch-up. The car is the yellow Westfield gel-coat. Is there an off-the-shelf car spray colour that's a reasonable match?

2) it's got a cracked glass in one of the headlights. I phoned Westfield but they said the lamps are only available as complete units [at £80 or so]. Is there a way of replacing the glass only?

3) I don't have the build manual. I can work out the engine servicing from a Fireblade manual, but is there any regular/scheduled servicing required on any parts of the chassis apart from brakes/pads/brake fluid etc?

4) What are the best tyres [on 13" rims] for dry use max stickyness, dry use best track day mileage, and wet use. Any suggestions on tyre pressures also?

5) Finally, any other hints and tips about Westfield and Fireblade-engined ownership much appreciated.

Thanks

WB

[Mark B]

WB,

I have heard that Halfords are offering a paint matching service and they can even put the paint into an aerosol - haven't tried this before, but got to be worth following up on?!?!

[Graham.J]

Hi I'll try and answer all the questions I can so.....

1)Try the halfords Paint matching service, a friend of mine had it done and said it was good!

2)I don't know if yours are the same as mine but mine are a sealed unit so no you can't just replace the glass, as I said yours may be different but I'd have to buy a new lamp!

3)Can't help you on that one!

4)I'd go for Yokohama A032R they're £65 each and are great I'm buying a pair for Sprint Racing next year, they'll be my 'slicks'. Go to either www.bookatrack.com and look around for the tyre service bit or click the tyrefinder link thing sometimes after a post on here! Not sure about tyre pressures!

5) Can't help you on that one

Hope some of this has helped! Have fun!!!

[grahambell]

Hi William,

Re. the broken lens - sod buying a complete new unit for £80! You should be able to fit new 'lamps' in your existing pods. Lolocost (see www.lolocost.com) were selling 7" sealed beam units for only £10 a pair, which are OK if you're not intending to drive in the dark much.

If you are, you'd be better off with a pair of Quadoptics, which are a damn sight brighter. Brown and Gammons the MG specialists did them from £30 a pair about a year back. Check current prices at www.ukmgparts.com

Alternatively, you might be able to liberate one from a dead Mini in your local scrapyard.

[Graham.J]

Regarding the tyre buying (wont let me edit the original post) try www.buyatyre.com

Regards

Graham

[craigalsop]

Willie, are you gonna bring your new motor on Saturday? I'm sure we could overlook the fact that it's not a TVR

[joost]

4) What are the best tyres [on 13" rims] for dry use max stickyness, dry use best track day mileage, and wet use. Any suggestions on tyre pressures also?

5) Finally, any other hints and tips about Westfield and Fireblade-engined ownership much appreciated.

4) Also take a look at Avon ACB10 tyres. It has more grip. The Yoko is cheaper and lives longer. You have change the camber with a ACB10, because it is a crossply and not a radial (032).

5) Enjoy it!

[williamball]

Thanks for the info. As regard to tyres, it's had Yokohamas on it in the past, but currently it has Avons on it. They are labelled 'Avon Formula 3 w185/530 R13', plus there's '0173m' marked, plus 'competition use only'. Am I right in thinking these are proper 'wets' [they look like it from the tread pattern]. Any comments on the suitability of these tyres. If I switch back to Yokohamas will the suspension settings remain the same?

Thanks

PS Craig, I'll be taking the Cerbera along, but all are welcome to pop back to the house [it's on the way back from Kirkcaldy anyway] if you want a looky see at the 'blade.

WB

[derekandrewjones]

Hi William

I know you have had quite a few answers on the Bike Engined list but thought I would add a couple here as well.

Tyres - I have settled on 2 sets, I have some Yoko 21R's for road and wet track use and then have a set of Avon ACB10's (ex race ones picked up for very little) for track use. As long as you don't put much camber / toe-in for the Yoko's then the ACB10's can cope ok but you will find the ACB10's are just not suited to road use as they tramline a lot and have very stiff side walls.
(21'r - 205x60x13 all round although slightly over tyred on the front)
(ACB10's - metric equiv of 185x50 front and 205x50 rear and then can go right down to slick whist still giving very good and progressive grip)

Pressures are difficult and very subjective. I tend to run about 16-17psi on the fronts and 18-19psi on the rear after a few laps on track for both sets.

What makes more of a difference to the balance will be ride height and damper settings. Trying getting the rear of the blade to be at least .5" higher then the front when you are in the car (plus passenger if you are like me and almost always have a passenger onboard on the track). It will help with weight transfer for breaking and turn in, also stop the front going light at high speed corners.

Have fun and email me if you like so we can chat, you can't fail but enjoy these cars

[juansolo]

1) some parts of the bodywork could do with a touch-up. The car is the yellow Westfield gel-coat. Is there an off-the-shelf car spray colour that's a reasonable match?

Unless it's really bad I wouldn't bother as unless you paint the whole panel/car, it will look odd. If it's really bad swap the panel.

2) it's got a cracked glass in one of the headlights. I phoned Westfield but they said the lamps are only available as complete units [at £80 or so]. Is there a way of replacing the glass only?

As someone has already mentioned, they're sealed beams so you will need the whole unit. Use this as an excuse to swap them out with smaller, cheaper 5" lamps.

3) I don't have the build manual. I can work out the engine servicing from a Fireblade manual, but is there any regular/scheduled servicing required on any parts of the chassis apart from brakes/pads/brake fluid etc?

Depends what you're doing with it. For road use just go with standard bike-like service intervals on the engine. Your pads will last years, fluid - swap it every couple of years.

If you are tracking it it's a completely different story. Oil changes every couple of trackdays, pads will still last forever because it's so light but you'll want to bleed the brakes regulaly and swap the fluid about once a year. Keep a very close eye on your oil/water levels and make sure everything it tip top mechanically before, during and after any track excursion. You'll start wanting to change things like diff oil every year if it's a plate LSD or every couple if it's a TORSEN style. No idea for a viscous...

4) What are the best tyres [on 13" rims] for dry use max stickyness, dry use best track day mileage, and wet use. Any suggestions on tyre pressures also?

Tyres are consumables best to treat them that way

As an all round wet/dry sticky tyre look at the Yoke A021R's. They're the same compound at the A032R but with more tread blocks giving decent water shiftage.

A032R's are awesome tyres, very sticky even from cold but a tad scary in the wet. For longevity get them in S as opposed to SS. Softs are quite sticky enough.

ACB10's Effectively crossply cut slicks. As mentioned before you will need to get your geometry altered to utilise these properly but they can be awesome and probably the most progressive sticky tyre you can buy. However they are a no compromise track tyre; in the wet they are shite, they need to be warmed up properly to do there stuff and the more they wear the less grip they have. They are very durable though and can take serious abuse. They are also incredibly light which dramatically will reduce unsprung weight over the likes of the A032R.

After all that, I run 32R's because they are the best compromise. The ACB10's, brilliant though they are, have very stiff sidewalls that makes their on-road ride quite jarring. The 32's have great grip from the off and ride the road well also. If you want to run ACB10's I'd recommend getting a second set of cheap rims and using them for track only. Bung some cheap as chips Yoke A539's on your other rims for the road and general airfield abuse.

With all the above tyres (apart from the A539's) I strongly recommend you make sure your oil system is up to the conrnering and braking forces these tyres produce. Luckily a 'Blade is nice and cheap to replace but it's best not to have to do that.

5) Finally, any other hints and tips about Westfield and Fireblade-engined ownership much appreciated.

As mentioned before, be paranoid about everything when on track, especially somewhere like Donington with some very high speed corners. Check the oil between sessions. Always do warm up laps to get everything up to temperature before thrashing it. Always do a cool down lap to get everything back to a sensible level after a session.

GET AN RAC ROLLBAR! If you haven't already got one.



Enjoy it!

[juansolo]

Forgot to mention, sizes. Lots of people overtyre Caterfields IMO and they really don't need it (unsprung weight again). I personally use a 13x6 rim size and 185x60 tyres for the Yokes or 185x50's for the ACB10's. Great balance and plenty of grip. Unless you have over 220 bhp this really is all you need. Over that you want to be looking along the lines of 195's on the front and 205/225's (still on 13" rims) at the back depending on how much poke you have.

[williamball]

juansolo
thanks for the reply. I do have a spare set of rims, that appear to be off an RS2000, or at least they look like it. In an earler post I mentioned it's got 'Avon Formula 3 w185/530 R13' tyres, and I really don't know what they are. I'm guessing they're wets as they have lots of tread. Presuming they are, than I guess I'm looking for A032s for the dry then.

The car will be used on track days, buy I've being using the Cerbera up until now, so fairly used to regular fluid changes etc.

You mentioned watching the oiling for the corners. This is may main fear on a bike engined car, and part of the reasoning behind a fireblade is that the seem to be a bit more reliable than some [I think]. Anything I should be watching for as a tell tale sign that all is not well in the oil department - before something goes bang preferably.

Oh, and another question, now I'm getting to the bottom of tyres [if I can find out what the Avons are], what pads do folks use on track days? The car has solid disks and ford calipers. I know with the Cerb I ended up with Ferodo DS3000. What would you fit on a megablade [or similar] for the most 'hard on brakes' circuits?

Thanks

WB

[juansolo]

You mentioned watching the oiling for the corners. This is may main fear on a bike engined car

This should be a concern for any tracked Caterfield with sticky tyres on them. Basically keep an eye on your oil pressure guage if it starts getting very low on braking/cornering consider having extra baffling put into your sump or a windage tray of some descrption (or both) or going all out and dry sumping it. The thing with the Blade in it's favour is that it's very cheap to replace (in the scheme of things) therefore it might not be economically sensible to dry sump it as it's likely to cost far more than the engine is worth. You never know, it might not be an issue but it's worth keeping a close eye on that and making sure there is plenty oil in it before going on track.

I am understandibly paranoid about this after lunching mine in a big way by fitting sticky tyres and really getting the hang of Donington. As I say though, you could probably swap your engine two or three times for the price it's cost me to get the engine rebuilt and dry sumped.

and part of the reasoning behind a fireblade is that the seem to be a bit more reliable than some [I think].

They do seem to be one of the more reliable options and there are loads of them out there.

Anything I should be watching for as a tell tale sign that all is not well in the oil department - before something goes bang preferably.

Oil pressure gauge. It can also be really helpfull to fit a very bright warning light as it's difficult to keep an eye on the gauge at the points that the pressure dives without a passenger to do it for you.

Oh, and another question, now I'm getting to the bottom of tyres [if I can find out what the Avons are],

Use 'em and see what they're like. If they're crap, decimate them on an airfield.

what pads do folks use on track days? The car has solid disks and ford calipers. I know with the Cerb I ended up with Ferodo DS3000. What would you fit on a megablade [or similar] for the most 'hard on brakes' circuits?

You will seriously struggle to overheat your pads or boil your fluid on a Caterfield (unless you leave your handbrake on after a very heavy session that is). As the front wheels are effectively open they get a hooge amount of cool air to them. Also don't panic that the brakes look weedy. remember you're only stopping 450kgs not a lardy Trevor. Those brakes will be well up to the job and once again, significantly better for keeping unsprung weight down.

As for the pads. See what the ones fitted are like before swapping them. FWIW on our VX which probably has the same brakes as yours, runs EBC Green Stuff at the mo' We're experimenting to see if they have better feel than the Mintex that we were previously using. As it is we didn't have any issues really with the Mintex just that they felt a bit lifeless.

[progers]

1) some parts of the bodywork could do with a touch-up. The car is the yellow Westfield gel-coat. Is there an off-the-shelf car spray colour that's a reasonable match?

There is no need to respray. The Gel-coat can be rubbed down (using Wet'n'dry of varying grades) and then polished up using a good cutting polish and lots of elbow grease. Have done this on stone chips and while a fair amount of effort (and panic when you see the initial results of the sandpaper !) it works well. This was recommended by Westfield.