Westfield Wide Body Turbo

[svensktoppen]

I agree….I’m finding it hard to look past it as well but realistically, how much will it cost me to get north of 250bhp in an NA K24?

You really don't want to go down the route of messing with a K20/K24. Complete waste of time and money and you will only ruin it.

Mr Honda built it right, it cannot be improved on. And totally bomb proof, you cannot break it. Not even if you try, lol - you'd have to fill it with nails or something 8.5k all day long, every day, no bother at all.

Best engine ever made, period.

On your car with straight exhaust and intakes you get around 225 out of the box from a K20. Without touching or replacing or opening anything, just a remap. K-Pro ECU, job done.

If you must have more power then supercharge it. A sensible supercharger will get you to a very reliable 300-350, again without opening or touching anything in the engine. Even keep the standard clutch.

A crazy supercharger will get you to 400-500, but then you start asking for trouble again.

 

[slickcell]

Good while it lasted! Nightmare for you, I’d have it burnt by now!

There’s a full Caterham 350bhp ecoboost setup for sale on eBay, get it bought.

ah man it was epic while it lasted! My head is completely done in now with it all. I have spent the most part of today back and forth with different suppliers of Ecoboosts etc and from what I gather, they're not without their problems either. Also, given that the exhaust is on the opposite side to this, they require a bit of fab work to get around the steering column. I have already enquired about that Ecoboost conversion on ebay for over £8k but Im questioning why he's selling it - is it another grenade like the rest of them, or more hassle than its worth?

I'm back and forth like a yoyo - I almost wish the Ecoboost on eBay that I had made an offer on earlier hadn't sold already so I'd have bought it and then at least I'd know what direction to move in. lol. Thing is, a reliable MX5 engine'd car at 300bhp is what I have wanted all along. The prospect of this is being pondered over again now since I am due to receive a box from BOFI on Thursday with £2k worth of replacement forged parts.......

Build engine and use it, build engine and sell a forged complete package/part it out and go ecoboost..... They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Going for a standard S2000/K series engined car is not on the cards - I am not saying they're no good or anything. That's just not what I want, period.

 

[gixermark]

No brainer…. If you are getting £2k worth of parts tomorrow…. Dust yourself down, and get it rebuilt…. Much quicker, much cheaper than any other option..

And You said it, that’s exactly what you want…… for the outlay, at least you’ll have given it a good shot.

 

[svensktoppen]

Stick to the Mazda and rebuild it.

You've been through the whole learning process. You know what to do now. And what not to.

A Ford at the same tune will be just as fragile. You'll just have a whole heap of different issues you don't know about and have to relearn all over again.

 

[FM155]

K Series is 45kg lighter than the MX5 boat anchor. I have a VVC K-Series here and have considered putting one in my MX5 along with all the other weight saving that I've been doing.

 

[svensktoppen]

K Series is 45kg lighter than the MX5 boat anchor. I have a VVC K-Series here and have considered putting one in my MX5 along with all the other weight saving that I've been doing.

Don't. Just don't. Seriously, don't

 

[S2K-Aaron]

Aww @slickcell gutted for you! I echo others comments. Stick with what you have and rebuild it.

You need to be able to enjoy it! You've already said yourself Ecoboost's have issues too so I think you know in your own head what the right thing to do is.

A K20 would be reliable and go well but what your building is what you want and it will go really ****ing well! lol

 

[FM155]

I'm halfway through building a VVT MX5 engine already so I'll see how that goes. The K-Series are a lovely engine as long as they aren't tuned too heavily. Mine would be fairly mild but the major worry is what the scrutineers may want to say. Engine swaps are allowed but I don't want to be having conversations with them about it. Still tempted, a 45 kilo weight saving is huge.

 

[BBSBOY]

Do you really think any engine will take the abuse you have been giving yours since day one? I genuinely can’t see an ecoboost lasting any longer than your mx5 engine. I’d go Honda, it’s prob got the best chance of surviving.

 

[slickcell]

Aww @slickcell gutted for you! I echo others comments. Stick with what you have and rebuild it.

You need to be able to enjoy it! You've already said yourself Ecoboost's have issues too so I think you know in your own head what the right thing to do is.

A K20 would be reliable and go well but what your building is what you want and it will go really ****ing well! lol

Thanks mate. This is it - plenty of 350+BHP MX5 engines that are reliable. While I’m properly p*ssed off with this thing, a ‘known’ faulty part was the cause of my problem.

K20 would be great but won’t be fast enough and will require a sh*te load of work to get it in. I know the K20 for a start requires a dry sump to fit into the westfield. An F20c will be a slightly better fit with only a shortened wet sump but I’ll have similar issues with lacking torque. I’ll end up wanting to turbo/supercharge that (which I have already considered) but I’m fed up throwing money out the ******* window! Lol

Do you really think any engine will take the abuse you have been giving yours since day one? I genuinely can’t see an ecoboost lasting any longer than your mx5 engine. I’d go Honda, it’s prob got the best chance of surviving.

Yeh, I 100% believe that the engine can be built to take this abuse. Certainly built well enough to at least give me 5k miles of fun before I’ve to open it. Plenty of MX5 drift cars have been thrown together for a fraction of the cost and are being ragged everywhere in a chassis that weighs almost twice what this does.

So yeah again, I 100% believe that the engine will take the abuse I am giving it. I just need to get the formula right.

My question really now boils down to what engine direction will give me that robustness soonest.

 

[EF Ian]

I agree….I’m finding it hard to look past it as well but realistically, how much will it cost me to get north of 250bhp in an NA K24?

250HP in a K24 is easy, getting 280hp+ requires a lot of work.

A K24 block, with upgraded pistons and rods with a stock K20 type R head should see you 250HP, after that cams and valvetrain upgrades will see a lot of gains, more than this you will want flow work done on the head.

I hope to be able to build a high compression K24 some day aiming for 300HP NA.

240HP in my B20 feels great so I can't imagine what a fully specced K24 must feel like.

 

[slickcell]

Right so I had to get the ball rolling with one of the umpteen engine directions being thrown about so I picked up a 60k mile long block yesterday. There’s too much time and effort in everything done to date, to change direction now.


I got it stripped today and left the head, block and forged bits to the engineering shop this afternoon.
Machine shop work under way:

- Block decked, rebored to 83.5mm, bores honed and clearances checked against new pistons
- Cylinder head disassembled, skimmed, recut valves, 3-angle valve seats, grind in valves, washed, reassembled with new stem seals and Catcams uprated valve springs and then pressure tested
- Main caps and bearing clearances measured
- Rods measured and clearances checked

Be ready week after next

I also bought a set of micrometers and dial bore gauges so despite the engineering place doing all these measurements, I’ll be able to measure them myself as I’m assembling everything.

 

[svensktoppen]

Right path. You know what to do now, it will be back up and running sooner than you think.

 

[richie_mck]

Awesome, and I bet you’ll have it done and back running before I get two side indicators wired in

 

[IL]

Love your new Tools

Good luck, definitely the handiest route to go..

Run it in this time properly and enjoy the Turbo Midrange torque - there's less power at the rev limiter anyway!..

 

[FM155]

100% the right thing to do, itll be back running in no time!

 

[mark19]

Next week is no time!!

Happy days! Good to see your making progress so fast. Id have cried and burnt the thing

 

[rupertfinch]

Mazda, Mazda…etc

 

[EF Ian]

Right choice I think, makes sense, quicker, cheaper and less stressful than changing motor types and with the engine built well with better parts this time there should be no reason for any failures.

 

[slickcell]

Sooo….while the engine is being built and whatever else, I decided to give myself a break…..By buying another westfield.

I’ve had an itch to scratch in the form of some racing (Ni7s / Sprints / Hillclimbs) and never really wanted to do this in the turbo car.

Reality is, I need a super lightweight (400-450kg), CBR1000rr car. I also wanted it to be road legal so I can do the odd test on the road, even though it would be an out and out race car.

So I hunted about and with a budget of about £12k, I couldn’t find much that really fitted the bill. I ended up deciding that I’d find a cheap car and send it off to a race prep place for a full race build. I found this….

It’s a 2005, road registered Westfield SEI - narrow body, live axle car. 1.7 crossflow engine with 10 months MOT remaining. It’s been owned for the last 20 years by a now 70-something year old guy. It was a factory built chassis that to date, has covered only 4600 miles. I got this car for a hilarious price - still can’t quite believe my luck to be honest. Leaves a significant budget left for an all-out build.

It’s being delivered next week and sent straight to Graham Moore Race Prep for the following work:

- Reposition front suspension pickups
- Make rose jointed widetrack front arms
- make + fit long link bars
- Watts linkage rear axle modification
- Mount CBR1000rr engine
- Mount gear shifter
- Weld in rollcage with door bars

Should I start another build thread? Lol

 

[svensktoppen]

Brilliant

Just keep them both here in one place!

Surely you can pull these apart and put them back together again in your sleep by now, no need to send it away

You may even find the bike engine car quicker. Very different beasts though, for different things.

You'll have a lot of fun with that. Enjoy!

 

[slickcell]

Brilliant

Just keep them both here in one place!

Surely you can pull these apart and put them back together again in your sleep by now, no need to send it away

You may even find the bike engine car quicker. Very different beasts though, for different things.

You'll have a lot of fun with that. Enjoy!

To be honest, I do enjoy the building. I absolutely can strip and rebuild in my sleep but I’d rather a professional specified and sorted all the geometry stuff for me, as well as the cage etc! I wouldn’t trust myself mounting a bike engine either - best left to someone who knows them inside out!

 

[Todd]

Sooo….while the engine is being built and whatever else, I decided to give myself a break…..By buying another westfield.

I’ve had an itch to scratch in the form of some racing (Ni7s / Sprints / Hillclimbs) and never really wanted to do this in the turbo car.

Reality is, I need a super lightweight (400-450kg), CBR1000rr car. I also wanted it to be road legal so I can do the odd test on the road, even though it would be an out and out race car.

So I hunted about and with a budget of about £12k, I couldn’t find much that really fitted the bill. I ended up deciding that I’d find a cheap car and send it off to a race prep place for a full race build. I found this….

View attachment 338845

It’s a 2005, road registered Westfield SEI - narrow body, live axle car. 1.7 crossflow engine with 10 months MOT remaining. It’s been owned for the last 20 years by a now 70-something year old guy. It was a factory built chassis that to date, has covered only 4600 miles. I got this car for a hilarious price - still can’t quite believe my luck to be honest. Leaves a significant budget left for an all-out build.

It’s being delivered next week and sent straight to Graham Moore Race Prep for the following work:

- Reposition front suspension pickups
- Make rose jointed widetrack front arms
- make + fit long link bars
- Watts linkage rear axle modification
- Mount CBR1000rr engine
- Mount gear shifter
- Weld in rollcage with door bars

Should I start another build thread? Lol

Brilliant, absolute mad man!!!

Yes, get another thread going to we can follow each progressing individually!

 

[Captain Starlet]

BRB sums your builds up . Fooked the engine, be right back with a better engine/car. Love it, I have to say your thread is top 3 members cars on rms. You should really YouTube your adventures.

 

[slickcell]

BRB sums your builds up . Fooked the engine, be right back with a better engine/car. Love it, I have to say your thread is top 3 members cars on rms. You should really YouTube your adventures.

Haha yeah, I thought the same when I saw the reg! To be honest, I regret not doing the YouTube thing when I started building the first car.

I might just do that - even for the ability to go back and watch all the madness/heartache years later.