Seven Type Car

[Justin S]

The wifes work colleagues husband is looking at building a 7 type car.Since I owned Westies for several years has come to me for advice. Now after a mate having so many problems with his new build westie ( now sold it after 500 miles, see black V8 for sale in classifieds at Hallmark cars) and various others in the Westfield circles having issues, I have turned him away from there and have mentioned others, especially MNR. Now I am personally unaware on their product and others, so am looking for help with making him decide on a route to take.Money is in the pot and as soon as his wife says the garage and house is smart ( long story, skip appearing this week end) He can look at options.I am chauffering him to Virginia Water for a nosey in the Lotus in a couple of weeks for the meeting, so anyone with a sevenish car there, help would be good too. Thanks.

[gingerpaul]

What kind of problems was he having with the Westfield? If he was unable to fix the the problems is he cut out for building one at all? I would have thought that a Westfield would have been one of the easier makes of kit cars to fix, unless perhaps it was electrical issues with the engine.

I would suggest that most makes of kit car will be harder to put together than a Westfield, other than perhaps Caterham. When I built my Rush I was surprised by the amount of stuff that didn't do quite what it was meant to, despite it being a well established car. Getting a decent fit on the bodywork was the biggest single problem I had but it took ages to get right.

[Justin S]

er, he had no problem building 2 westfields( good quality and is a machinist for a living), but Westfield had problems building him one...................crap bodywork, crap quality parts, engine that wouldn't tick over, fuel tank that didn't breath and if you opened the cap blew fuel vapour everywhere, rev counter wouldn't work properly, lifting gelcoat, terrible exhaust problems................It went back to Westfields for 2 months and he got it back and thought fk it, still not right and sold it to Hallmark.Personally I would have seen a solicitor, but he just wanted rid and lost a lot of money on it too.They never answered the phone and fobbed him off a few times, so the reason for not wanting this guy to build one.

[Snake the Sniper]

Point your mate to here for a view on most of the different brands of 7. There are sections for the main companies, except Westfield and Caterham as they have their own owner's websites. There are owners on there though.

[gingerpaul]

Ahh ok, that's fair enough then. I'd have gone to a solicitor too I think!

Locostbuilders is a great site and you'll get lots of help over there.

Obviously I'm biased but I'd recommend the Dax Rush, and you can fit V8s to them if he still wants one. There's lots of "fettling" to make them go together though. To be honest there are a lot of very good cars available now.

Depending on how soon he wants to get one the big kit car show of the year is in Stoneleigh in May. All of the manufacturers will be there and there are thousands of owners with their cars about that you can talk to. There are likely to be lots of cars for sale there too.

If you are tempted by a Dax Rush there is an open day on the morning of Good Friday which usually has a good turn out of cars and owners. That's in Harlow.

[singlecoil]

I've no axe to gring here at all, but I think that the game has moved on a bit, and mid-engined is where it's at now.

The car for me, were I going to build one for myself, would be the MEV, either the Sonic or the Rocket depending on how much bodywork I wanted.

[Busa_Rush]

singlecoil said:

I've no axe to gring here at all, but I think that the game has moved on a bit, and mid-engined is where it's at now.

Only if you like that kind of thing, it's a bit like saying that Strawberry jam is better than Marmite . . . it is if you like jam and don't like marmite

[singlecoil]

Busa_Rush said:

singlecoil said:

I've no axe to gring here at all, but I think that the game has moved on a bit, and mid-engined is where it's at now.

Only if you like that kind of thing, it's a bit like saying that Strawberry jam is better than Marmite . . . it is if you like jam and don't like marmite

What's not to like?

http://www.mevltd.co.uk/gallerysonic2.html

[gingerpaul]

Mid engined says Lotus Elise to me, or a Noble if you've got a bigger budget. If I wanted to build a mid engined kit it'd have to be an Ultima I think. Having said that, if I got heavily into track days I'd be tempted to look at a Radical or similar though.

For me to want to build a car it needs to fill a gap that no production manufacturer is currently filling. Caterham don't count in my eyes, or at least only count as much as Ultima do.

Besides, Caterham don't fit Rover V8s.

[singlecoil]

gingerpaul said:

Mid engined says Lotus Elise to me, or a Noble if you've got a bigger budget. If I wanted to build a mid engined kit it'd have to be an Ultima I think. Having said that, if I got heavily into track days I'd be tempted to look at a Radical or similar though.

For me to want to build a car it needs to fill a gap that no production manufacturer is currently filling. Caterham don't count in my eyes, or at least only count as much as Ultima do.

Besides, Caterham don't fit Rover V8s.

There doesn't seem to be a cost context here. My suggestion of the MEV bore cost very much in mind. I believe you can get quite a comprehensive kit from them, needing just the donor bits to complete, for under £5,000.

[gingerpaul]

singlecoil said:

gingerpaul said:

Mid engined says Lotus Elise to me, or a Noble if you've got a bigger budget. If I wanted to build a mid engined kit it'd have to be an Ultima I think. Having said that, if I got heavily into track days I'd be tempted to look at a Radical or similar though.

For me to want to build a car it needs to fill a gap that no production manufacturer is currently filling. Caterham don't count in my eyes, or at least only count as much as Ultima do.

Besides, Caterham don't fit Rover V8s.

There doesn't seem to be a cost context here. My suggestion of the MEV bore cost very much in mind. I believe you can get quite a comprehensive kit from them, needing just the donor bits to complete, for under £5,000.

That's a fair point. I just think tha mid engined sports cars are very well catered for by cars that already exist so it'd have to be something quite special to coax me away from one and over to a kit. If I was spending under £10k on a mid engined car I'd really struggle not to buy an Elise.

I've just remembered that I quite like concept of the Aeon GT3, but I just don't like the way it looks. A mid engined car with a 3 seater layout is a great idea and is unique in current production cars.

[Justin S]

I have pointed him to Locost Builders website and have mentioned to him about Stoneleigh. He wants to build a seven style, so no mid engined jobby.He is getting very keen, but I have advised on still doing more research on cars. He is not looking for a balls out race machine, just something for him and wife to 'meander' on a Sunday.He says that 130 bhp would be more than ample for what he wants.

[singlecoil]

Justin S said:

I have pointed him to Locost Builders website and have mentioned to him about Stoneleigh. He wants to build a seven style, so no mid engined jobby.He is getting very keen, but I have advised on still doing more research on cars. He is not looking for a balls out race machine, just something for him and wife to 'meander' on a Sunday.He says that 130 bhp would be more than ample for what he wants.

MK Indy would be a good choice, pretty straightforward and simple, nicely engineered, uses lots of standard Sierra bits.