Hi people, im from Didcot (south Oxford) and thinking of selling the tvr cerbera for a bec, possibly a westy megablade. Is there anyone near the area that would be willing to take me for a spin in theirs? would be much appreciated!!!
Liam

prob none of my business but that was the car i was going to have, why spend nearly three times as much on a westfield when you can have just as much fun,prob more in an mk!! mac1 etc!!!!!!!!!!!!

agreed, but are you going to offer the man a ride in yours to help him make up his mind?

if it was sva'd and he was nearer, for sure!!!
another thing that put me off westfield was that they seemed a bunch of miserable gits,very unlike 99% of the people i've met since owning an mk!

If I had a solitary £ for every person Ive given a ride in my BEC (BEC's) I could retire a whole week early.............

I think the 260 mile round trip is a bit far though........

i love scaring people

How about a bike engined mini, i am in Carterton, but you would have to wait till the weather gets a bit better!!

Kev..

My Indy's a CEC and likewise not SVA'd or finished for that matter although Oxford isn't that far. I have also found fellow MK'ers to be a cheery friendly bunch - which is nice

Toady1..

When I was choosing I visited MK and was allowed to take their old blade engined Indy out for a toot with the missus. I had a scream but the missus did nearly put the kaibosh on the whole thing I had to reassure her that fitting a car engine would make the whole experience much more enjoyable

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Nick

R1minimagic - that would be excellent! i used to be really into minis back in the 90's! Is yours a Z-cars conversion? I too only take the cerb out on sunny dry days due to lack of traction!

Kev R1 - i am considering other cars, but theres something about the westy that really appeals to me.

Nick205 - I may have to pop down to mk cars to test theirs out then, what was is about the mk blade that the other half didnt like? maybe i shouldnt take mine along with me then??? has the cec choice changed her opinion?

cheers for the help tho guys!

If you do manage to get up to MK, try and make it a Saturday morning. There's usually a good selection of BECs and most owners would be only too willing to take you for a spin

Phil

To be fair Kev the Westy is a very good quality kit and doesnt cost 3x as much as an MK/Mac1 if you have like for like spec. You could build a Megablade to a good spec for £12-13k or buy a second hand one a couple of years old for £9-10k. I seriously doubt you'd be able to build a same spec MK / Mac1 for much less than £8-10k unless you're a serial scrapyard raider in which case its not really a straight comparison as you'd spend shed loads longer building it and have a car with lots of second hand parts in it.

Im certainly not saying that the Mac1s / MKs / MNRs etc of this world aren't cheaper or as capable, but the price difference isnt as much as suggested (unlike a Caterham )

cheers

Chris

[Edited on 9/3/06 by ChrisGamlin]

"I seriously doubt you'd be able to build a same spec MK / Mac1 for much less than £8-10k "
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rubbish you can build a decent spec MK for around 5k using off the shelf new/recon parts then sell it fer a profit

quote:

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Originally posted by Taz Surfleet
"I seriously doubt you'd be able to build a same spec MK / Mac1 for much less than £8-10k "
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rubbish you can build a decent spec MK for around 5k using off the shelf new/recon parts then sell it fer a profit

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John I purchased the deluxe kit plus had the bike engine fitted by MK it came in at just under 3k the engine GSXR1100 was 450 inc wiring loom, rad, ecu etc. the wheels were new from ebay at 400 for the set inc tyres that leaves me with 1k for incedentals (and these include new disc recon calipers etc) ive problably gone just over 5k and that includes the quaife reverse box the only parts that came from the scrappy were the rear axle complete and front uprights which just needed a rub down and paint (touch wood)! if id gone for an R1 or one of the later engines now popular then of course my budget would be higher although you can pick blades up circa 250 on ebay now, thing that is amusing is that my standard locost is being built with everything of e-bay, total cost so far is approx £900 and Ive nearly got everything it needs !including 2.0dohc engine

[Edited on 9/3/06 by Taz Surfleet]

I'd genuinely like to see a breakdown of the cost of a £5k BEC MK Indy because I still cant see how you can build an equivalent spec kit of any kind for less than £7-8k. I found when I built mine that its all the little bits you forget about that add up and inflate the figure substantially, like dash parts (switches, lamps etc), trim material, seats, harnesses, steering wheels, gear knobs, filler caps, and consumables like glues, sealants, rivets etc etc.

Chris ill put a spreadsheet together for you, including what was Included from MK to be honest I thought what they did for under 3k was very good value, give me a few days tho !

Cheers. I wouldnt disagree at all that MKs kits are bloody good value, I just didnt think they were quite that good value

Just having a quick browse at MK's price list, and over and above the £2500 Deluxe Kit I totted up other parts on the list which I assume you'd need and that came to another £2,000+, so thats over £4500 without some major parts like engine, wheels/tyres and gauges etc, let alone all the little bits mentioned before.

[Edited on 9/3/06 by ChrisGamlin]

i have to disagree, a well set up mk would be no different to a westy, and as for build quality thats up to the individual!
mine will stand me at about 5k with a good spec!
lets face it at the end of the day we've all got square section steel chassis with a second hand bike engine in it! is this really worth 14k coz it says westfield on it?

my mk cost me 10k my m8s westy with the same engine cost him 14k ,if id known that before hand i would of built a westy,not just for the badge but becouse every thing fits ,you might just have to file the odd hole slighty bigger .i love my MK but i would say the westy is worth the extra.

quote:

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Originally posted by kev R1
i have to disagree, a well set up mk would be no different to a westy, and as for build quality thats up to the individual!
mine will stand me at about 5k with a good spec!

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You can quite easily build an Indy for £5K if you spend your money wisely. I tend to agree with Chris though on the comparison between Westfield and MK. Similar spec'd cars would see the Westfield coming in at 40-50% more than the equivalent Indy cost.

Phil

Yep I agreee with that, Locost derived kit can certainly be built cheaper than a Westie, ~40% sounds about right as you found out with your £10k build compared to a £14k Westie build.
I am genuinely suprised that you can get a BEC(?) MK of any description on the road for so little though, so it would be interesting to see a breakdown (and I might start thinking about building one!)

cheers

Chris

[Edited on 10/3/06 by ChrisGamlin]

all this and i thought the guy wanted to try one not work out how much they cost

Ahh but we're one step in front. After having a passenger ride, how could he possibly refuse to buy & build one.........

lol! yup....a ride in a bec, preferebly a fireblade engined car so i can see how well they go. Ive had fast cars all my driving life and now have a very fast cerbera, but due to costs of repairs/parts and ease to work on, i want to get a kit car. Its my 2nd car too so practicality isnt an issue. Its going to be used on track mainly, and sunny days! At the mo the cerb is only used on dry days so is a bit wasted imo, its a fantastic car, hence why i dont want to put it on track. Just want to see how a bec goes compared to the cerb really, its gonna happen, but i want to get a feel for what im letting myself into.

I would love to build my own one, but may be moving house within the next year, so a half built car in the garage would be a real pain 'ita' during moving, so will be looking to buy a 2nd hand couple of years old example, hopefully a westy megablade.

So...if anyone is near Didcot (50mile radius) i would love to come down and meet you to see your bec and get taken for a drive in it!!! many thanks in advance!

alright mate if Its any consolation I had a beautiful 300zx TT SWB with about 350bhp

went out in a BEC and the Z was sold within the week

now building an r1 MK

you cant beat that noise at 11,000rpm

and how quick they accelerate

the cerb is a league of its own anyway but these things are ballisitic on pull off etc and tracks

if your looking for a westy my m8 is selling his ,its mint ,he's done about 200 miles in it and the busa engine has done 500 i think he said.he's a mini man realy so he wants to sell it to buy a z cars mini,if your intrested i'll find out how much he wants

hi OX, it does sound like the one to have with the hayabusa engine in it, but it will probably be out of my price range that i want to spend, then again you could always find out for me and send us a pm/u2u or email if you like? cheers!

hellfire - i cant get your vids on your site to work, is that my pc of the website?

They work fine for me. Any vids in particular?

Toady if you do save as first ie right click etc then run they work by the way hell fire thanks for the vids am now back in the workshop after being inspired

tried that, ill give it another go! I went out in the cerbera today after giving it an oil and filter change, such a fun car to drive, im gonna have to get a ride in a bec soon to see if i should put it on the market!lol!

nope, wont work for me, comes up with the message 'windows media player encountered an unknown error' ??????

[Edited on 11/3/06 by Toady1]

could be that you need something like ffdshow to play the codecs etc. if you need a copy send me an e-mail addi and ill send you the software

cheers mate.

still needing a ride in a bec........anyone???

take a drive up to me if you want at the weekend ,if its nice weather you can drive it your self,but you'll have to leave me the cerb if you smash it up

MK Sportscars - Any Saturday

quote:

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Originally posted by OX
take a drive up to me if you want at the weekend ,if its nice weather you can drive it your self,but you'll have to leave me the cerb if you smash it up

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