Hi All, sorry for the question that i'm sure has been asked 1000 times.

After deciding to buy an already built kit car, circumstances have recently changed which mean I am hopefully in the next couple of months moving to a new home with a 26x11ft garage!

Therefore along with the help of my fater in law (a one time steel engineer and very handy with all things DIY/Car/electric etc) thought why not build my own.

I love the look and feel of an Avon but have been somewhat put off by stories of poor quality of the kit (especially bodywork).

Are Avon's as bad as some say?

Ideally I don't want to be touring the scrapyards for bits here and there and would prefer to buy a whole kit, even if some parts need refurbing :

So any suggestions on which Kit? and if you bought a particular one why?

Many thanks

MNR straight up!

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Originally posted by Daimo_45
MNR straight up!

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What do you want to do with it?

Race in the Locost class?
Race in another class, hillclimbs, sprints?
Mostly Trackdays?
Mostly Road?
All Road, need comfy seats, carpet, hifi.

Strongly in favour of BEC or CEC or undecided <shudder>?
Want/Need IRS.
Budget?

Most of the kits can do all of these (except Locost racing) but some are obviously more suited to one rather than the other.

Sorry should have said:

CEC, I know car engines - have no knowledge of Bike engines!

95% road fun, but a few track days a year would be good.

Budget, to buy the main Kit, Engine but not necessarily interior and niceties yet say £6k.

Showing my stupidity here: IRS?

iank is right, depends what you wanna do with it and what your budget is. I want something for wkends and a few track days for under 10K so I'm going for a MNR rt (inboard). I favored MNR for their fantastic customer service and influx of orders is testament to their brilliant build quality!

Go for bec more fun and easy to work on.

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Originally posted by unkle
Sorry should have said:

CEC, I know car engines - have no knowledge of Bike engines!

95% road fun, but a few track days a year would be good.

Budget, to buy the main Kit, Engine but not necessarily interior and niceties yet say £6k.

Showing my stupidity here: IRS?

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Originally posted by unkle

Showing my stupidity here: IRS?

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Originally posted by iank
Personally I'd suggest having a look at a Westfield basic kit (don't go hog wild with the shiny extras). Build it like a locost after that. Good quality and reasonable prices taking everything into account.

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Thanks, just been looking at the westfield brochure.

had to chuckle at the complete kit/modular brochure:

"All parts are provided new and the average customer build time is 120 hours".

yer right............. it'd take me that long to unpack it all!

Are they seriously suggesting if you spent 3 hours a day it'd be finished in 6 weeks.........

I enjoyed building my Mac#1. Nothing was a trouble to Mark and Colin when i had queries. Bought most of the bits from them - both price and service was very good.


As said above the same names will appear time after time as worthy to recieve your hard earned cash. There are too many posts about the others to get involved in but its best to make your own mind up and visit your shortlist at their premises if you can.


Where are you from? There is a get together being planned at Mac#1 on 3rd Nov so if weather is kind should be a good turn out of cars. MK and MNR are also not too far away.

Take your time to get the kit that suits you best. Rushing in can make the build a pain and years of ownership tainted.


Now is a good time to buy and strip your donor and get the bits ready.

Where in the world are you? If I was in your position I would want to be able to visit the factory easily.

If that doesn't matter then the best choice has got to MNR just for the sheer quality of the kit.

Cheers

Mark

see what i am building good kit but cant order or pay for bits on phone. so time you send cheque they bank it got to clear you seem to be waiting forever for your bits.

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Originally posted by unkle
Thanks, just been looking at the westfield brochure.

had to chuckle at the complete kit/modular brochure:

"All parts are provided new and the average customer build time is 120 hours".

yer right............. it'd take me that long to unpack it all!

Are they seriously suggesting if you spent 3 hours a day it'd be finished in 6 weeks.........

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I'm SE London/N kent so nearest is Caterham - but not exactly value for money!

Westfield is interesting one - hadn't really considered them as thought too expensive from a build rather than buy point of view, but actually not too bad, sure not the cheapest but still reasonable.

My father in law has got such the bug now he's off to see a westie! with a 1600 CVH engine just to see what they are like. I know he's going to love it and want to buy it and dump in a bigger engine!!!......which is always another option.....

[Edited on 23/10/07 by unkle]

Hi I am going to put a word in for the westfield camp. The cars are easy and straitfoward to build. You can start with the basic kit and then build the rest of it as you would any kitcar or you can buy the whole of the kit from them. So price wise it can be from as cheap as any of the better quality kits or as dear as your pockets will strech.

One thing that is a bit missleading however is the continual reference to the outstanding MNR quality. It is only as good as the rest of the kitcar world in the bigger market place such as WESTFIELD DAX CATERHAM RAW ect. It is however better than the likes of MK MAC#1 GTS LUEGO AIRIES ect.

If it is of any interest WESTFIELD are holding a trackday at bruntingthorpe on SAT 27th where there will be a whole host of westfield's in various models and state of tune. And i am shure you will get a passenger ride round by a westfield owner. Remember westfield are the market leader in this paticular sector of the kitcar market and there is a good reason for that.

HTH cheers Matt

I've heard it said about the basic westfield kit being a good start point quality and price wise. Does anyone know what the price is and what you get?

if you go on the westfield website you can download the brochures. Your supposed to register but can get straight there from here:

http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/thanks.html

The multi donor kit starts from £2250 inc vat, single donor from 2450 inc vat.

If you want to go new then your talking from over £15k for the 6 modules.

Looking at that brochure, for a CEC a Westfield takes some beating doesn't it! - £2250 inc vat for a live axle SE starter kit is a bit of a bargain!! especially considering everything will fit together AND you'll be able to get through to them on the phone should you have to. Not to mention it will probably be worth more than a lot of the competition once you've built it........

Sound like I'm on commission don't I

must admit after initially discounting them as I thought they were towards the caterham prices, they now are heading towards the top of the list! and as you say resale value seems in general to be much higher.

If I went the westie route though I can see i'll spend a lot of time in breakers yards though which I was trying to avoid.........

My FIL is now trying to persuade me to buy an already built westie and upgrade it, engine and the like.

Assume with a bit of modding you can switch from a 1.6 CVH engine to a 2.0l zetec or similar? If so that may well be the way to go.

I'm quite surprised.

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Originally posted by unkle
My FIL is now trying to persuade me to buy an already built westie and upgrade it, engine and the like.

Assume with a bit of modding you can switch from a 1.6 CVH engine to a 2.0l zetec or similar? If so that may well be the way to go.

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Originally posted by iank

If you want to drive more than build FIL seems to have a sensible head on his shoulders. Just check it's been screwed together well.

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Originally posted by procomp
Hi I am going to put a word in for the westfield camp. The cars are easy and straitfoward to build. You can start with the basic kit and then build the rest of it as you would any kitcar or you can buy the whole of the kit from them. So price wise it can be from as cheap as any of the better quality kits or as dear as your pockets will strech.

One thing that is a bit missleading however is the continual reference to the outstanding MNR quality. It is only as good as the rest of the kitcar world in the bigger market place such as WESTFIELD DAX CATERHAM RAW ect. It is however better than the likes of MK MAC#1 GTS LUEGO AIRIES ect.


HTH cheers Matt

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oh dear, think i'm in love..................

1996 P reg (built from all new parts) Westie SEI (Widebody) 1.6cvh - looks in very very good condition. Full weather gear, red, leather blah blah blah. Up for £6950 but reckon he'll take an offer...................

hhhhmmmm...............

Hi if you find you are needing any paticular westfield info or help you could try the WSCC FORUM They may even be able to shed light on the history of any car you are looking at purchacing. Not to mention that they have a verry good club scene with allsorts of local meets. And a good magazine also.

Sorry i will take my Westfield hat off now. So how do we build this car for £250 again .

Cheers Matt

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Originally posted by procomp
Sorry i will take my Westfield hat off now. So how do we build this car for £250 again .

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quote:

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Originally posted by procomp
Hi if you find you are needing any paticular westfield info or help you could try the WSCC FORUM They may even be able to shed light on the history of any car you are looking at purchacing. Not to mention that they have a verry good club scene with allsorts of local meets. And a good magazine also.

Sorry i will take my Westfield hat off now. So how do we build this car for £250 again .

Cheers Matt

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Cheers for that, i've registered and posted, amazingly there are no meets in Kent of SE london!

[Edited on 24/10/07 by unkle]

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Does anyone want some of my popcorn before i scoff the lot???


As has said before i dont believe there is anyone here that can give a definitive answer as to which kit is best. Very few people are priviledged to be in the postition to have first hand experience of them all (owning and building) and even if they were they wouldnt have tried all of the various permutations. Every one has good points and bad points and every person has a different view on what they want and if the bad points are an issue or not.

Best advice is to come up with a short list and visit the factories and try and get a ride out in a car. If you dont like any then fine tune short list and try another couple. I couldnt wait to buy my kit but the best advice given was be patient. Hardest part of selecting was doing the comparisons as the kit packages do differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. Sitting at ome it was impossible. After visitting MNR, MK and Mac#1 it became a lot easier and the short list was quickly shortened to MNR and Mac#1.


Rather than looking at what is included in the package and what the initial costs are, decide what you want out of the car and then pick the one that best suits. There is very little in it if you look at pure price. However total cost is another thing entirely. I havent been able to put a price on having parts available when i want them, great customer service and free refreshments.