I'm going to see this.....

[murfet]

Has anyone seen this car or can point me out a few things I should be asking about?

www.findit.co.uk/cars/westfield/780660.htm

It is a very high powered 4.6 V8 Westie with John Eales engine, low - but very agressive - miles. Perhaps some of you know the guy / car and have some advice. I have never owned a kit car before, but have owned a Cerbera, so I'm used to the power - if not the weight.

Any help much appreciated

David

[enginearin]

i got my dax inspected by a classic car valuer, as i have little mechanical knowledge. paid £125 i think (can't remember exactly) but whatever it cost it was well worth the money.

I would not buy a second hand kit car without help unless you know what your lookin for.

[enginearin]

by the way. the car sounds very impressive

[murfet]

Do you have any contact details for someone suitably qualified? Or are there any suitably skilled people in this forum willing to view the car in London for a "suitable" fee? Beer and possibly sandwiches included.....

[murfet]

Not sure if I should post a picture here since the seller only emailed them to me. What do you think Mr Moderator?

I would like to as it is *very pretty*

>> Edited by murfet on Tuesday 2nd September 14:13

[Graham.J]

Blank out the numberplate if it's showing and stick the pictures up.

Sounds like a good buy

>> Edited by Graham.J on Tuesday 2nd September 18:02

[murfet]

Here are the pics:

www.activa-uk.com/pictures/1.JPG

www.activa-uk.com/pictures/2.JPG

Here are my concerns:

I am wondering if it is too mad for me? The amount of road use / track use I want it for (80% road) is likely to make me need to make some changes - springs / windscreen / tyres, plus the amount of tune dialled into the engine might leave me with more spanner time than driving time. This is definitely not me, as I am mechanically incompetent.

Pretty as she (or is it he?) is, am I setting myself up for a fall?

Terry Nightingale has said he will look over the car for me for a small fee, which seems like money well spent. Do you have any other thoughts?

David

[docevi1]

One very tasty looking car hmm, might be a bit too extreme for road use mind!

[Busa_Rush]

I suspect you'll get used to the power and after a year it'll seem tame :-)

[murfet]

What is the likely cost of new windscreen / wipers/ bottle for this, second softer springs so it doesn't straight line on all the lovely twisty roads near me and thirdly normal but grippy road tyres for this ultra-wide track 15*9 15*7.5 set-up.

And seriously guys....is a V8 in this tune going to need a lot of work doing on it every time I go to Tescos?

David

[Mark B]

Murfet, that does look like an awesome car, I think you are right to be concerned about the power/road holding for road use.

It will be an awesome car that is likely to be one of the fastest road cars on the planet. But, having owned two kit cars, the fun factor on the road is having a car you can easily drive fast everywhere. Yes, you want a little bit of the 'danger' factor in their, but this think is likely to be bloody hard work, loads of engine breaking and lack of traction are bound to cause you heart stopping moments.

Having said that, it will be a hell of a blast to own it........

[murfet]

Mark B do you mean engine *breaking* or engine *braking* - I have had experince of both with my TVR and the first I can cope with a lot better than the second. Admittedly a Cerbera is a lot less likely to swap ends on you than a shorter wheel base car, but I am not likely to slam down the box under braking with 6,000 revs at every downchange because that is a sure fire route to the next hedge.......as for engine breaking - I had my Cerbera for 3 years and didn't have it for 6/7 months of that as it went on it's holidays to Blackpool and / or the dealer. This is what I am trying to avoid which is about my question about the tune of this John Eales V8.

I am thinking that with softer settings / springs this will be much easier to drive. How badly wrong am I?

David

[Mark B]

murfet said:

Mark B do you mean engine *breaking* or engine *braking* - I have had experince of both with my TVR and the first I can cope with a lot better than the second. Admittedly a Cerbera is a lot less likely to swap ends on you than a shorter wheel base car, but I am not likely to slam down the box under braking with 6,000 revs at every downchange because that is a sure fire route to the next hedge.......as for engine breaking - I had my Cerbera for 3 years and didn't have it for 6/7 months of that as it went on it's holidays to Blackpool and / or the dealer. This is what I am trying to avoid which is about my question about the tune of this John Eales V8. I am thinking that with softer settings / springs this will be much easier to drive. How badly wrong am I? David

Sorry Murfet, you are right, I meant Engine 'Braking'.... It is not the short wheel base I would be concerned with, it is the weight of the car. My old seven used to want to lock up the rear under braking and down shifting, obviously more so in the wet. (Mind you mine didn't have a brake bias valve - so this car shouldn't have this problem as I assume it has)

I don't know what kind of driver you are, do you heel and toe? If not, you are likely to suffer from the rear end getting very unstable on down shifts. The V8 is not a hugely heavy engine, but does weigh more than the normal 4 pots which makes the rear typically unstable, especially when you consider the amount going on internally which will drag through the transmission.

Murfet - Can I suggest when you go and see the car you get the owner to take you out on a typical B road and drive it hard, see what his driving style is like and whether this matches yours.....

Also, changing springs and dampers will improve things, but who is going to advise you on settings, or are you planning to do this yourself?? If you are going to do it yourself, you may spend a lot on differnet springs, etc.

[bertie]

I know I'm probably going to get shot for this, but IMHO a V8 doesn't belong in a 7.

In a 7 you want a light weight , high revving engine not a V8.

The Westfield SEights I've followed on track go thundering down the straights and tippy toe round the corners frightened to death of the back end comming out.

Not my idea of fun.

[enginearin]

Murfet,

Speaking to TN'gale re inspections is probably the best i can think of, my contact was in south wales anyway.

If your worried about the ferocity of the thing for road use, dont be. My dax has a 300hp 300lb/ft cosworth turbo engine and i drive it everyday rain or shine.

I admit that the rain is a bit hairy with big power, big wheels (245/45/16 rears) and light weight. in actual fact i don't even try to go quickly on the road in the rain!!

I find that, with such a fast car, i am always backing off on the road, it just too quick. thats not to say that i dont boot it about the place, it just means that if i didn't back off i would be doing well over 100mph in seconds. best to find the twistiest road you can so that the speed stays down but u still get to use the power.

IMO that car looks stunning. do it!!!!

[murfet]

Ta all

I am driving it back to back on Friday with a more normal V8 - 250 bhp, road set up....it's cheaper and altogether less mad - relatively speaking of course.....I'm sure you have all gone through what I'm doing now....just how mad can I go....could I really handle it...yadda yadda...some of you are more conservative than others, some are more....well.... mad......! But that doesn't make any of you wrong...

As for lightweight engine vs V8 I have always been a shove in the back, lots of noise merchant more than high corner speed so I guess it suits me fine, not everyone else. If I was on the track I would hope to have the back hanging out quite a bit on the corners - not the fastest way round, but for me the most fun..!

[bertie]

As a big V8 fan, and I know where you're comming from, I've had a good few TVRs myself, how about a Cobra replica?

[murfet]

I did toy with the idea, but they didn't seem quite me. I have seen some monster engined ones in California which sounded fantastic, perhaps I should pencil in on for next time, or when I get a bigger garage!

[chumley-warner]

I went and drove the two, back to back, 250bhp SEight and the 300bhp monster, I was very surprised at the difference, and I cannot believe they are only 50bhp and 150kgs apart.

The monster was as it says on the tin. The standard V8 was a frightened rabbit by comparison. Still it was a great car, but my biggest fear - is this too fierce for the road was not there, the suspesion whilst very very firm, did nit make teeth rattle, the noise was - well noisy - apparently 300 bhp is a conservative estimate - 320 is more likely. Put in not very nuch weight, I was overtaken by at least three milk-floats during our little run - it was very slow - but central london performance figures really shouldn't be publicised here.

Suffice to say the 0-100 of 8 seconds dead - I believe it - without doubt.

More info when I actually pick it up....can't wait!