Westfield 1800 MX5 SDV - New Weekend Fun Toy

So in January I got rid of the M135i, as I just wasn't using it and it was bleeding money. I decided I still wanted something to enjoy at the weekends. The M135i was an astonishing car and I down another in a heartbeat!!!

So it had to be RWD, cheap /performance and pretty depreciation proof.

A mate of mine was looking at Westfields since last year, and I've always been a huge fan of Lotus 7 style kit cars. A Caterham r500 was out the question due to very high prices, so I decided to look at Westys too.

I happened upon this car, it's a Mazda MX-5 based Westfield and as soon as I saw it with it's insanely high build quality, I had to have it. Loads of CF bits on it, rebuilt engine. Everything still looks new in spite of it's 2010 build completion. It had covered around 9500 miles when I purchased it, and was still in winter storage.









It's a lot of fun.

If I ever destroy the lump, I want to fit a high revving VAG lump of some kind on TBs.

 

Looks fun Luke!

1.6 or 1.8?

Does it have the mx5 'box in it too?

 

Cheers Gary. 1800. It's got the MX-5 gearbox and torsen LSD.

 

Looks great Luke

I bet its fun to drive.

 

Sounds good, the engines are quite revvy and the 'boxes feel right on them, much better than an old Sierra/Cortina based running gear!

 

One of my best friends 8 doors away also just got one. Zetec based on carbs with MT75. Summer blats out should be fun.

Of him, his mates and me there are now:
Ultima GTR Can Am
Lotus 2 Eleven
Noble M12
KTM Xbow
And our 2x Westys

 

that is very nice, id love to own something like that one day..

re future plans, forget TB's, stick a big snail on it, so it goes like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUl-4BPLgfQ



either way, i bet its mega fun to drive.

 

Fantastic !!! a mate of mine had a normal mx5 and that was a hoot, in that shell it would be even better

 

Turbos don't really suit 7 kits. There's also very restricted engine bay space, so if you go FI huge chunks of bodywork need gutting out. Same can be said for TB trumpets, but generally looks less severe. I had considered a 1.8t engine conversion. There is a company doing bell housing adapters for the MT75 box.

 

Any engine bay pics with the bonnet off?

 

I need to take some higher res pics.



This one is an earlier pic during build. It's since had cf cycle wings and other bits done.

 

Looks very nice Luke. The car does look very clean and very nicely put together.

 

Cheers Trev. Looks tiny in my garage too.

 

looks great

 

My dad has a 1700 super sprint caterham is awesome, maybe a little basic compared to that engine but back to basics!! I`ve told him we need to convert to mappable ign and itbs

 

Apparently the factory version of my car with full interior etc and a 1600 mx5 engine is only 550kg. So mine should be around that, I've got a carbon fibre dash and no boot box, but I do have the long range fuel tank which can hold around 50 super u/l.

 

Removed the carbon cannister from the engine bay today. Tidies it up a bit. Took the opportunity for a few higher res pics.

 

Great looking car - build

Call me `anal` but not enough protection for my liking.

 

Not much side protection, but the chassis go through proper impact testing.

I'm considering a cage with side bars, but want to retain a full windscreen rather than going aero screen.

 

That's a tidy build


I see its already got the coolant re-route (back to the Mazda 323 layout) which will help keep the engine fit.

Sounds like the donor was a '94 Eunos like mine - if you don't mind a bit of fettling then the short shift kits make the gearchange even more impressive (my mate has a type 9 in his Duratec Westfield and the gearchange makes me cry)