Changing swept wings to cycle wings?
Discussion
How would I go about doing it? Is it easy? Where to buy cycle wings? Will the old wings leave marks?
Its this car I want but I hate swept wings!!!
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/342475.htm
Its this car I want but I hate swept wings!!!
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/342475.htm
Edited by DMRider_10 on Saturday 19th January 00:43
Yes, it's easy. You can buy cycle wings from any number of kit car manufacturers, not least Westfield themselves (and the Westfield wings will have the 'flange' aroun the outer edges to match that on the rear wheel arch - normal 'plain' cycle wings from anyone else would look a little odd).
BUT, the swept wings are attached by a row of bolts that run along the lower edge of the wing moulding in a diagonal line up the side of the bodyshell, so if you convert to cyclewings you will be left with a row of boltholes. You would have 2 sensible options:
1) Leave the holes, but fill them with bolts or blanking grommets, painted to match the body colour. Cheap and easy but a little unsightly.
2) Fill the holes properly with fibreglass and respray (if the body is in self-coloured gelcoat, you might have` to do a complete respray, because even if yo match the colour now, red gelcoat has a habit of fading, so any touching up would become patchy over time). The patching of the fibreglass is not difficult, but it's time consuming, and you would need to pay for the respray unless you ae experienced with a spray gun yourself.
To be honest, unless the car is perfect in every other respect, I'd wait for a cyclewing car to come along if you definitely wnat cyclewings - there are plenty of Westfields out there!
Swept wings have their advantages, though - you don't get anything like as much spray and muck thrown up at you on wet roads - and don't worry too much about the dire tales of front-end lift from swept wings; it's not noticeable at the sorts of speeds a Seven reaches. I wouldn't use swept wings on a competition car, but on a road car I rather like them!
That looks a nice enough little car but not especially cheap. It's an almost identical spec. to my first Westfield, which I bought (and later sold) back in 1990 as an almost newly completed kit with about 1500 miles on the clock for just under £4K. The 'pre-litigation' Westfields are becoming slightly collectible, but for a post-lit car (like that one) I'd suggest that inflation and depreciation due to the car's age should have just about cancelled each other out - I'd be looking to pay about £4K again, even assuming it is in pretty much excellent condition.
BUT, the swept wings are attached by a row of bolts that run along the lower edge of the wing moulding in a diagonal line up the side of the bodyshell, so if you convert to cyclewings you will be left with a row of boltholes. You would have 2 sensible options:
1) Leave the holes, but fill them with bolts or blanking grommets, painted to match the body colour. Cheap and easy but a little unsightly.
2) Fill the holes properly with fibreglass and respray (if the body is in self-coloured gelcoat, you might have` to do a complete respray, because even if yo match the colour now, red gelcoat has a habit of fading, so any touching up would become patchy over time). The patching of the fibreglass is not difficult, but it's time consuming, and you would need to pay for the respray unless you ae experienced with a spray gun yourself.
To be honest, unless the car is perfect in every other respect, I'd wait for a cyclewing car to come along if you definitely wnat cyclewings - there are plenty of Westfields out there!
Swept wings have their advantages, though - you don't get anything like as much spray and muck thrown up at you on wet roads - and don't worry too much about the dire tales of front-end lift from swept wings; it's not noticeable at the sorts of speeds a Seven reaches. I wouldn't use swept wings on a competition car, but on a road car I rather like them!
That looks a nice enough little car but not especially cheap. It's an almost identical spec. to my first Westfield, which I bought (and later sold) back in 1990 as an almost newly completed kit with about 1500 miles on the clock for just under £4K. The 'pre-litigation' Westfields are becoming slightly collectible, but for a post-lit car (like that one) I'd suggest that inflation and depreciation due to the car's age should have just about cancelled each other out - I'd be looking to pay about £4K again, even assuming it is in pretty much excellent condition.
Thanks for the in depth answer. There seems to be a serious lack of westies under 5k at the mo and I assume its only gonn get worse the further into the year we get. That car is perfect for me as a first westie and me being 21 with insurance etc BAR the wings lol. I hate them with a passion! They make a otherwise sporty looking car look sooooooo old! I dont think I could live with the row of grommets, or have the patience to get it resprayed (I wanna drive the bloody thing!) so maybe your right and I should wait. Btw from researching and scanning the usual places for ads over the last few months, I dont think the price is too bad, assuming its in as good nice as it looks 4500 for that would be sweet I reckon
There are very few cars for sale this time of year, because everyone knows the market is pretty slow. You'll have a much better choice come spring time. Come summer, you'll typically find 70+ cars listed in the PistonHeads Westfield Classifieds section, instead of the 22 that are showing at present.
The spec of that particular car - live axle and 4 speed box - is nothing exceptional, so I'd stick by my earlier comment that I wouldn't want to pay more than £4K for it, no matter how good the condition was. It's a buyer's market for Westfields at the moment - there's not much money around and the market for 'Seven' type kit cars is just about saturated.
Be patient and wait for the right car.
The spec of that particular car - live axle and 4 speed box - is nothing exceptional, so I'd stick by my earlier comment that I wouldn't want to pay more than £4K for it, no matter how good the condition was. It's a buyer's market for Westfields at the moment - there's not much money around and the market for 'Seven' type kit cars is just about saturated.
Be patient and wait for the right car.
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