unkle
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 posted on 23/10/07 at 12:23 PM |
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Which one?
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
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Daimo_45
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:26 PM |
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MNR straight up!
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:30 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Daimo_45
MNR straight up!
Which one, RT? and reasons......?
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iank
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:35 PM |
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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.
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:39 PM |
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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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Daimo_45
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:41 PM |
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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!
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gordon
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:45 PM |
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Go for bec more fun and easy to work on.
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iank
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:49 PM |
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quote:
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?
Not stupid to not know stuff. Stupid not to ask or worse pretend to know when you don't
IRS = Independent Rear Suspension (as opposed to DeDeon or Live Axle).
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.
All things are fixable with the Avon, but read the Tiger section before plunking down cash.
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:49 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by unkle
Showing my stupidity here: IRS?
Independent rear suspension - doh......
it'll defo be Car engine for me gordon, you never know though, if i'm succesful building the car engined one maybe next time.....!
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 12:57 PM |
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quote:
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.
Agreed - the basic kit is competitive in price with the better Locost offerings (i.e. not a lot more when you add up all the must-have extras). Very
good customer service. Downside is that accessories and add-ons can be very expensive.
Otherwise look through this forum and get a view of the big names - you will find some that are always recommended (MNR, Mac#1, plus others) and some
that continually earn complaints and grief (no names from me!).
The main problem is usually that some companies can make good kits but have no idea about running a business. Sometimes it's the other way
round. In a few instances you get both product and business sense...
HTH,
David
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 01:01 PM |
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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.........
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DarrenW
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 01:10 PM |
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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.
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mookaloid
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 01:10 PM |
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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
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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gordon
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 01:28 PM |
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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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iank
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 01:39 PM |
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quote:
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.........
It's probably on the optimistic side, but I'm finding sourcing+ordering+waiting takes days or weeks (months if you choose the wrong
supplier), cleaning+refurb+painting donor parts takes hours while bolting bits onto the chassis takes minutes. Having clean ready to bolt on stuff
means things can clip along very quickly compared to most of the low outlay routes most take here.
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 01:39 PM |
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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]
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procomp
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 01:44 PM |
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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
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kendo
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 02:03 PM |
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Basic Westfield
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?
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 02:12 PM |
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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.
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D Beddows
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 02:44 PM |
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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 
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 02:56 PM |
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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.
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kendo
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 03:08 PM |
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I'm quite surprised.
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iank
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 03:11 PM |
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quote:
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.
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.
Zetec and CVH have very similar blocks IIRC so there shouldn't be many problems - probably just some new engine mounts and some plumbing A
Vauxhall 2.0 XE is a bit more faff to fit, but a lot more powerful. Sigma 1.6 (Zetec SE) is another current favourite, though again being a bit more
of a faff. K series are also good in these cars. All that applies to any kit BTW not just Westfield.
A 1.6 CVH engine will provide an entertaining ride for a while before any upgrade.
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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unkle
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 03:21 PM |
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quote:
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.
I know what he's like though, no sooner will I have parked it in the garage and turned the engine off it'll be in pieces anyway!
I did own an XR2 many moons ago so at least I'd know a bit about a 1.6 cvh for a while!
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mookaloid
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| posted on 23/10/07 at 03:35 PM |
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quote:
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
Fair point 
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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