Caterham type car less than 1400cc engine??

[ED209]

Does such a thing exist?

Thinking a lightweight car with about 100hp from a moodern 1.4 might be a laugh. Also could be fairly cheap on the tax if the right age. Ideal for a low running cost sunny day toy?

[Bill]

You mean, apart from the 1.4k-series Caterham?

[ED209]

Bill said:

You mean, apart from the 1.4k-series Caterham?

well i do know nothing about them, thats why i was asking

[Bill]

Sorry to be facetious, but it made me chuckle

[Watchman]

Lots of bike engined kit cars around, including Caterhams.

[tim2100]

When my Westfield was first built we had a 1300cc X-flow in it. It was slow but kept up with many things upto 70mph.

[anonymous-user]

there have been quite a few sevens built with loony 1380cc all steel xflows which produce something in the region of 130 bhp but you will have spent a lot of money to get that, sure it will look fantastic and sound even better but a 1400 k-series and a bit of minor fettling will be cheaper, the same sort of power and easier to live with on the road...

[Codswallop]

GTM Libra can be had with a 1.4 k-series as well.

TBH, you can put any engine you want in most kitcars anyway...

[Nedzilla]

I had a 220bhp 1300cc hayabusa powered westfield.Tax was £120 a year,insurance was £240 a year and it would leave just about anything on the road for dead up to 120mph!!

[lankybob]

As said, 1.4 K series is the way I would go. Light, reasonable torque curve but then again I have bias opinions of these engines!

[IanMorewood]

A Westfield Megablade comes in a sub 1 litre and throws out 120ish HP.

[Grey Ghost]

I'd go with the bike engined option:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3831259.htm

Although this one appears to be on the far side of mental

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3826606.htm

[ED209]

So what are the running costs like on these bike engined cars? servicing etc?

Thinking maybe i could scrape 4k ish together by the beginning of next year for a toy.

[paranoid airbag]

well there's panda 100HP, but not really 'caterham style', smart roadster might be a good choice (0.7L turbo - can keep up with a tvr ), lotus elise another obvious choice depending on engine size. I may well be talking bks here, but I think the insurance companies who will deal with kit cars have caught on to bike engines, so going for a 1L fireblade engine may well be comparable to a much bigger car engine. Have a look at the kit car section maybe?

[Mr2Mike]

ED209 said:

So what are the running costs like on these bike engined cars? servicing etc?

Thinking maybe i could scrape 4k ish together by the beginning of next year for a toy.

You won't get much of a bike engined 7 for £4k.

[HustleRussell]

You could get a 1300 X-flow 'Locost' for £4k.

P.S. most 7-type kits use Ford 'boxes out of the Sierra or Escort. All Caterham 5-speeds are Sierra type-9 as far as I know.

[Some Gump]

doogz said:

Might be a stupid question, but what gearbox do the FR 1400 K-series kit cars use? Not aware of the K series being used in that layout in any other production cars?

ford type 9

[Bill]

The six speed box is Caterham's IIRC.