RE: Westfield SE: PH Used Buying Guide

[CraigJ]

Great cars, mine has a 180bhp 1.8 Zetec. Will be supercharging it over winter with a Jackson racing kit.
Been a race/hill climb car for most of its 21year life.
Factory built SEW.

Edited by CraigJ on Wednesday 21st November 20:56

[Equus]

vanman1936 said:

Do those roll over bars provide decent coverage to an average height driver with a helmet on.....look a bit low?

There's a lot of misunderstanding of how roll bars work, in practice, anyway.

Unless you are very tightly harnessed in, you don't stay stuck firmly to your seat so that the mandatory 50mm. of clearance to your helmet is preserved while you sit there inverted!

The main practical benefit of a roll bar is not to ensure enough clearance that your helmet never touches the ground; simply to ensure that there's enough space for you to remain uncrushed by the car (and maybe with enough room to crawl out) if it comes to rest inverted on top of you .

Fortunately, the chances of rolling this sort of car are pretty low, anyway, but if safety is your prime concern, better steer well clear of them - no ABS, no airbags, no side impact protection worth speaking of...

[LooneyTunes]

The standard roll bar can indeed be a bit low...other options are available though.

There are some properly mental Westies out there... superchargers, Cossie YB’s (both n/a and turbo), even AJP8 powered. I don’t use mine as much as I should, but wouldn’t be without it!

[s10mph]

Short of fitting a full cage, you can buy a half cage now with a few inches to spare heightwise. Other options are to lower the seat, fit a different seat or lower the floor if it is not already done. Tallest driver in the Westfield forum is 6' 5" that I know. Almost anything can be achieved with 7. Type car.

[Fury1630]

"Make sure the exhaust is in good nick and has a catalytic convertor if the car is registered as 1992 or newer."

Not so

The requirement for a cat was based entirely on the age of the engine fitted at SVA / IVA. So my 2009 Fury has no cat because it was SVA'd with a crossflow. Now it has a 2004 Zetec, it still doesn't need a cat because the emissions on the V5 are based on the requirement at SVA.

[anonymous-user]

They are race approved in most cases so , yes.

You might donk your head a bit as you get thrown around.

[Dracoro]

s10mph said:

Tallest driver in the Westfield forum is 6' 5" that I know.

I’m 6’4” and just about fitted in my old one (SEiW of course)
In fact that’s the main reason I couldn’t consider a Caterham as, at the time, their SV had only recently come out so was way too expensive. Westfields meant I could get a 7esque car.
So much fun to drive and a well setup one is pretty much every bit as good as a Caterham. Worth noting that some Caterhams aren’t brilliantly setup so whichever (Caterham/Westfield/etc.) you get, check them out well.

[R400TVR]

I seem to remember a test in Autocar and Motor in the 90's of the SeigHT 330, fitted with a TVR V8. Apparently it went sideways at 140mph easily! Then spat petrol over the windscreen from the bonnet vents.

[Snapper35]

How I miss my SE. Had it from 1989 to 1997 - then had a brain freeze, sold it and bought the biggest load of junk created. An MG ‘F’. After 8years I knew every nut and bolt. Only ever wanted the X-flow to deliver that which Mr Ford designed. 96 bop. Single Weber and a vacuum gauge gave me around 43mpg. Toured Scotland and took two trips to Le Mans. Magical memories. (P.S. I went up in my loft and found a new spare off-side wing, a ‘’power bulge”, and a bonnet vent. All in red. Strange souvenirs.)