Caterham 7 kit
Discussion
Me and my lad are thinking about building a caterham/lotus 7 kit car
What are everyone’s opinions on the following
Westfield
MK
Tiger
Any other makes?
We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
What are everyone’s opinions on the following
Westfield
MK
Tiger
Any other makes?
We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
I have no experience, however I have heard that GBS are very good.
I believe they came from the remnants of Robin Hood. They changed their name because RH had a bit of a bad rep, but since those days they have totally redesigned all thier cars and I havent heard any bad experiences. They do an MX5 based single donor car.
From memory Tigers have relatively tight cockpits. I'd suggest once all this rubbish is over then get yourself to a show (probably best is Stoneleigh in August) where all the major players will be. This will give you a good opportunity to sit in the offerings from everyone and see what is available.
I believe they came from the remnants of Robin Hood. They changed their name because RH had a bit of a bad rep, but since those days they have totally redesigned all thier cars and I havent heard any bad experiences. They do an MX5 based single donor car.
From memory Tigers have relatively tight cockpits. I'd suggest once all this rubbish is over then get yourself to a show (probably best is Stoneleigh in August) where all the major players will be. This will give you a good opportunity to sit in the offerings from everyone and see what is available.
I have a Westfield, I know people with both tigers and MKs.
Because they're all hand built they can be either amazing or complete dogs breakfast. If you're buying, buy the best you can regardless of make. If you're building it's down to your skill, but I'd say that like for like the quality and ease of build would be Westfield, the Tiger then MK in terms of the least amount of fiddling required to make it fit.
Just one thing to remind you, the caterham lot will tell you they're all crap because they aren't caterhams, even though they've never driven one. Ignore that, caterhams can be good or bad too, but you just pay a lot more money for them.
Because they're all hand built they can be either amazing or complete dogs breakfast. If you're buying, buy the best you can regardless of make. If you're building it's down to your skill, but I'd say that like for like the quality and ease of build would be Westfield, the Tiger then MK in terms of the least amount of fiddling required to make it fit.
Just one thing to remind you, the caterham lot will tell you they're all crap because they aren't caterhams, even though they've never driven one. Ignore that, caterhams can be good or bad too, but you just pay a lot more money for them.
Sirob69 said:
Me and my lad are thinking about building a caterham/lotus 7 kit car
What are everyone’s opinions on the following
Westfield
MK
Tiger
Any other makes?
We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
To begin, you are wanting a Caterham/Lotus 7 type car not a Caterham/Lotus 7What are everyone’s opinions on the following
Westfield
MK
Tiger
Any other makes?
We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
That out of the way, I'd agree with sociopath to a point. There are some very well built and extremely potent Westfields.
Westfield AFAIR come as a collection of bits and you may need to source many parts yourself that is definitely the case with the lesser kits.
Caterham tend to come more complete, even in kit form and some are fully factory built.
Caterham are a LOT more expensive to buy, a Westfield could cost almost as much if you buy expensive parts.
Caterham tend to have a higher resale value and old ones tend to hold their price level or in some cases are increasing "in value".
(Caterham 7 built 1991)
Skyedriver said:
Sirob69 said:
Me and my lad are thinking about building a caterham/lotus 7 kit car
What are everyone’s opinions on the following
Westfield
MK
Tiger
Any other makes?
We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
To begin, you are wanting a Caterham/Lotus 7 type car not a Caterham/Lotus 7What are everyone’s opinions on the following
Westfield
MK
Tiger
Any other makes?
We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
That out of the way, I'd agree with sociopath to a point. There are some very well built and extremely potent Westfields.
Westfield AFAIR come as a collection of bits and you may need to source many parts yourself that is definitely the case with the lesser kits.
Caterham tend to come more complete, even in kit form and some are fully factory built.
Caterham are a LOT more expensive to buy, a Westfield could cost almost as much if you buy expensive parts.
Caterham tend to have a higher resale value and old ones tend to hold their price level or in some cases are increasing "in value".
(Caterham 7 built 1991)
Just to add, Westfield and Tigers are also available factory built if you want to spend the money.
Mine wasnt factory built, but was obviously built by someone with OCD, I bought it second hand , 12 months old with 3000 miles on the clock.
If you're interested in buying not building and are concerned about buying privately, then Toybox cars are the major goto for westfields. It's where I got mine, and they're supremely helpful (obviously it costs more than private) .
The colour scheme is my fault
Ambleton said:
I have no experience, however I have heard that GBS are very good.
I believe they came from the remnants of Robin Hood. They changed their name because RH had a bit of a bad rep, but since those days they have totally redesigned all thier cars and I havent heard any bad experiences. They do an MX5 based single donor car.
From memory Tigers have relatively tight cockpits. I'd suggest once all this rubbish is over then get yourself to a show (probably best is Stoneleigh in August) where all the major players will be. This will give you a good opportunity to sit in the offerings from everyone and see what is available.
I believe they came from the remnants of Robin Hood. They changed their name because RH had a bit of a bad rep, but since those days they have totally redesigned all thier cars and I havent heard any bad experiences. They do an MX5 based single donor car.
From memory Tigers have relatively tight cockpits. I'd suggest once all this rubbish is over then get yourself to a show (probably best is Stoneleigh in August) where all the major players will be. This will give you a good opportunity to sit in the offerings from everyone and see what is available.
Good advice here! Definitely worth getting to Stoneleigh as and when it happens!
Westfield (according to their website) still offer a single donor kit based on the MX5 as do GBS. These, AFAIK (no expert) are both based on the mk1 MX5. MK does a single donor kit based on the mk2. There's also the RoadRunner SR2 which can be either.
In reality, I'm not sure how much difference there is between the mk1 & mk2 MX5 and whether kits can be adapted either way, other than the engines & gearboxes being interchangeable.
Good luck with your build, whatever you choose!
In all honesty in today’s financial climate I would suggest you buy a used one you like, cheaply, drive it around for a bit and see what you like / don’t like, then completely strip it down and rebuild it.
Other than that, The GBS MX5 donor kit is lovely, bombproof mechanicals which you can turbo / supercharge easily at a later date.
Other than that, The GBS MX5 donor kit is lovely, bombproof mechanicals which you can turbo / supercharge easily at a later date.
Sirob69 said:
Any other makes?
We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
Hi there,We are looking at an mx5 based or zetec we will use it for mainly road driving with an occasional track day
I’m 6ft tall and medium build
I’d appreciate people’s guidance as it’s a bit of a minefield
I would definitely take a look at GBS.
My thread on the car I built and own is here if you want to take a closer look
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Regards
Tim
Furyblade_Lee said:
In all honesty in today’s financial climate I would suggest you buy a used one you like, cheaply, drive it around for a bit and see what you like / don’t like, then completely strip it down and rebuild it.
You could do a lot worse than this and it's what I did and stick with, because I enjoy driving it and while working on it as part of that, I would rather drive it, do a bit of work, drive again, then spend two years building a car that at the end of it is worth slightly less than the cost of the bits!Although it really depends why you are building it, some never plan to use it after, just set it, others are making it to use.
The more you spend on the kit, the easier it will go together into something nice, but the more it will cost you! I like the look of the MNRs, which is part of it, the MK is a nice car and has a big bike engine following, the Westfield is probably the sweet spot of of cost to effort, but I'm likely biased having been a wscc member for ten years now.
Daniel
I've spent the last 6 months stripping a donor Mk2.5 MX5 and comparing kits. I was hoping to make a decision at Stoneleigh so got to wait a little longer till I know the exact kit I am going for.
However the options I've found that use a single MX5 donor are: Westfield, Roadrunner, MNR, MK and GBS. I'm pretty tight on budget so I've discounted Westfield and Roadrunner as they come out about £2k more expensive as a base cost (there might be more in the resale value of a Westfield though).
The other 3 are very similar and comes down to personal preference really as they all comein at about £6k for an intermediate kit to bolt your donor parts on.
I've refurbed my donor engine, prep'd the wiring and sent the chassis parts of for refurb and I'm £2400 in, but made £1000 on the donor. £10k on the road seems to be a reasonable budget but the sky is the limit.
For reference the base MX5 parts for Mk1,2 and 2.5 are pretty much the same with some changes in specs but if you use one donor there should be no problem with any of the kits I've seen.
Hope that helps.
However the options I've found that use a single MX5 donor are: Westfield, Roadrunner, MNR, MK and GBS. I'm pretty tight on budget so I've discounted Westfield and Roadrunner as they come out about £2k more expensive as a base cost (there might be more in the resale value of a Westfield though).
The other 3 are very similar and comes down to personal preference really as they all comein at about £6k for an intermediate kit to bolt your donor parts on.
I've refurbed my donor engine, prep'd the wiring and sent the chassis parts of for refurb and I'm £2400 in, but made £1000 on the donor. £10k on the road seems to be a reasonable budget but the sky is the limit.
For reference the base MX5 parts for Mk1,2 and 2.5 are pretty much the same with some changes in specs but if you use one donor there should be no problem with any of the kits I've seen.
Hope that helps.
Hi
I have just finished building an MK late last year on the RX5 platform using a mk2.5 sport with a friend.
We thought it looked well engineered when we compared them all at Stoneleigh. Mk have also been very helpful during the build, but of course I’m sure the other companies are equally helpful I’ve just not had experience of them.
Ours has been built for trackdays, but we decided to get it IVA’d for the occasional road use, and TF at the ring.
The IVA process adds a lot of time to the build, and as someone has mentioned. It’s not a bad idea to buy an old one. Run it and then strip and refurb it to how you want it.
There are a lot of little fabrications that need doing to build your own and of course sometimes they take a lot of your time.
It’s a very satisfying feeling however to have built your own car, and get good comments during IVA from the inspector. As there will be a few questionable moments during the build process.
Here’s a link to our build manual for the IVA test. I don’t regret a minute of it now, and it’s a thing of evolution! Which should keep us out of trouble.
http://www.mksportscars.com/media/wysiwyg/pdf/mk-i...
I have just finished building an MK late last year on the RX5 platform using a mk2.5 sport with a friend.
We thought it looked well engineered when we compared them all at Stoneleigh. Mk have also been very helpful during the build, but of course I’m sure the other companies are equally helpful I’ve just not had experience of them.
Ours has been built for trackdays, but we decided to get it IVA’d for the occasional road use, and TF at the ring.
The IVA process adds a lot of time to the build, and as someone has mentioned. It’s not a bad idea to buy an old one. Run it and then strip and refurb it to how you want it.
There are a lot of little fabrications that need doing to build your own and of course sometimes they take a lot of your time.
It’s a very satisfying feeling however to have built your own car, and get good comments during IVA from the inspector. As there will be a few questionable moments during the build process.
Here’s a link to our build manual for the IVA test. I don’t regret a minute of it now, and it’s a thing of evolution! Which should keep us out of trouble.
http://www.mksportscars.com/media/wysiwyg/pdf/mk-i...
carl911rugby said:
Hi
I have just finished building an MK late last year on the RX5 platform using a mk2.5 sport with a friend.
We thought it looked well engineered when we compared them all at Stoneleigh. Mk have also been very helpful during the build, but of course I’m sure the other companies are equally helpful I’ve just not had experience of them.
Ours has been built for trackdays, but we decided to get it IVA’d for the occasional road use, and TF at the ring.
The IVA process adds a lot of time to the build, and as someone has mentioned. It’s not a bad idea to buy an old one. Run it and then strip and refurb it to how you want it.
There are a lot of little fabrications that need doing to build your own and of course sometimes they take a lot of your time.
It’s a very satisfying feeling however to have built your own car, and get good comments during IVA from the inspector. As there will be a few questionable moments during the build process.
Here’s a link to our build manual for the IVA test. I don’t regret a minute of it now, and it’s a thing of evolution! Which should keep us out of trouble.
http://www.mksportscars.com/media/wysiwyg/pdf/mk-i...
Great summary.I have just finished building an MK late last year on the RX5 platform using a mk2.5 sport with a friend.
We thought it looked well engineered when we compared them all at Stoneleigh. Mk have also been very helpful during the build, but of course I’m sure the other companies are equally helpful I’ve just not had experience of them.
Ours has been built for trackdays, but we decided to get it IVA’d for the occasional road use, and TF at the ring.
The IVA process adds a lot of time to the build, and as someone has mentioned. It’s not a bad idea to buy an old one. Run it and then strip and refurb it to how you want it.
There are a lot of little fabrications that need doing to build your own and of course sometimes they take a lot of your time.
It’s a very satisfying feeling however to have built your own car, and get good comments during IVA from the inspector. As there will be a few questionable moments during the build process.
Here’s a link to our build manual for the IVA test. I don’t regret a minute of it now, and it’s a thing of evolution! Which should keep us out of trouble.
http://www.mksportscars.com/media/wysiwyg/pdf/mk-i...
For ref I very much did the other route, and bought a £3750 Westfield SE ten years ago, and have performed slow rolling maintenance and spec adjustment over the last decade iteratively taking it from a slightly tired by very presentable and drivable car with a 1.9cvh on dissy and carbs needing new dampers bushes and seats, to a finely fettled well sorted fast road and autotesting car with electronic ignition, 2ltr blacktop, and fuel injection plans for this winter or next.
Daniel
In these current different times. There is nothing quite like a good haggle.
Some of these companies have seen a great loss in sales.
You may feel Westfield are outside your budget, but try making an offer. Your obviously happy to shop else where but would prefer a westy. This puts you in a strong position as you have nothing to loose, at worst they will say no !
Ring them up, tell them how much money you have and tell them specifically what you want ( do your homework and have a complete list ). You never know !! Purely depends on their circumstances at that time.
Some of these companies have seen a great loss in sales.
You may feel Westfield are outside your budget, but try making an offer. Your obviously happy to shop else where but would prefer a westy. This puts you in a strong position as you have nothing to loose, at worst they will say no !
Ring them up, tell them how much money you have and tell them specifically what you want ( do your homework and have a complete list ). You never know !! Purely depends on their circumstances at that time.
A quick update.....
I’ve paid MK a visit and was very impressed with the product and the options plus the prices seem very reasonable.Neil and Shaun couldn’t of been more helpful as well.One things that keeps on coming back to me is that I hear a lot of people say that ask GBS for various items and they just say no we don’t make that anyone had that problem?
I’m going to visit GBS at the end of the month so I’ll see what that’s like
I’ve paid MK a visit and was very impressed with the product and the options plus the prices seem very reasonable.Neil and Shaun couldn’t of been more helpful as well.One things that keeps on coming back to me is that I hear a lot of people say that ask GBS for various items and they just say no we don’t make that anyone had that problem?
I’m going to visit GBS at the end of the month so I’ll see what that’s like
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