Building one from scratch?

[techbod]

That's a great read - thanks for that link. Much food for thought.

[beng4]

Hi Guys,

I stumbled across this web forum a couple of weeks ago, and have just found the time to post. I am getting to the final stages of building an xi rep based on a repro chassis supplied by Malcolm Linder. I am using a GRP body- again supplied by malcolm- these will likely fit the westfield chassis if you Westfield owners are after replacement body sections and do not want to go via Westfield, All the ali pieces to the original S2 Xi design, have been fabricated. The car has a live axle from a midget, Im using an A-series engine and box (just can afford a climax at the moment....), all steering front suspension etc as per S2 Xi. The car is nearly there, Im currently waiting for my loom and then will connect it all together- fingers crossed! The intention is to put through IVA, Im sure this can be done- realistically at this rate Im probably another year off- It has taken me 3 so far, and has cost far more than originally intended, but not a great deal more than the westfield kit, which is what I was considering before I started aquiring bits and commencing the build.

Make no mistake though, this has been a real labour of love- If anyone is serious about doing similar please feel free to get in touch and Ill let you know where to get all the parts sourced from the UK. Making an eleven rep is possible but you must question your sanity before starting!

Ben

[sgrant]

Hi Ben,

Any photos? I'd love to see how this is going...

Regards,

stephen

[alleggerita]

hello all,

how about this route:
an old westfield pre-litigation. Dismantle all for its suspension, engine, cooling system, carbs, gearbox, brakes, wire loom, dash, exhaust, fuel and brake lines, etc
a Brotherhood round tube chassis
all Brotherwood GRP/ aluminium bodywork
multiple jumble hunts for bits and pieces like lights and covers, fuel tank, bucket seats, 15"(!) hubs, spoke wheels w/ Dunlop road/ racing tires
put this all together
Scrap what's left-over

The result is a replica XI on license plates with corresponding VIN and "Westfield" on the paperwork

What am I doing wrong?

[Westfield 129]

Well, it sounds fine. But why not just have Brotherwood find you the Stanpart front uprights and a pair of Lotus or adjustable upper arms, and have a real Lotus 11. So long as you want to use a Brotherwood round tube chassis, why not a better front end with a proper ball joint as well?

If I could, I would get rid of the Westfield's Spridget front uprights and kingpins in favor of the Stanpart pieces, even from an old Spitfire. You can use the upper A arms if you wish, or the single link with the anti sway bar. I am sure that Brotherwood would have something favorable to say about that setup. You might even want to use the Westfield S type front uprights. Anything but the old kingpins.

Oh, and I would build a better radiator, double pass, cross flow, with both inlet and outlet on the same side. Properly designed, the radiator would weigh about 1Kg, and cool about 3X better than the old 4Kg copper/brass spridget unit, and fit the chassis like the original Lotus 11 radiator.

Be careful with the weight, and it would come out at around 1040 lbs. Maybe less with a BMC A with alloy head and flywheel. Stick with an SP Components long first or CR 5 speed.

The hubs and wheels are over the counter items, and not expensive nor are they rare. The seats are not even expensive ,and are usually available from some Westfield XI owner that is too large to use them. The car you have will have the headlight buckets (new ones are plastic, and inexpensive). There are suppliers for the original type flat tail lights and chrome side lights, so they are not hard to find, nor are they particularly expensive. The LSD is pricy, mostly as you need to add racing axles, but then Peter May has those, too.

Much better than trying to jig up your own frame from scratch.

It sounds like a great idea. How much does Brotherwood want for the tube frame???

[beng4]

Nice idea, but also completely illegal ( in the Uk). This is now being clamped down upon in the kit car community (various threads on pistonheads) as is akin to using an old cheap dutton v5 to give an identity to any any other car, that would be difficult (but generally not impossible) to get through Iva. With more vigourous mots garages are looking out for this kind of thing and you risk your car being taken away and crushed as this is no better than cloning a car.

I thought long and hard about how I could get my xi on the road, there is no alternative but IVA im afraid. Okay its an expensive test and is a pain to get through, but there is nothing wrong with getting a car on the road with correct paperwork.

My car will be put through soon, as its running and driving nicely now.

Ben

[biggles]

Interesting posts guys.

I'm currently still researching the options for the 'rebuild a runner' path. The holy grail would be to find a spaceframe car such as a locost or westy 7 with a pre '72 registration to get the tax free status, but that's dreaming i reckon!

I've been working my way through google images looking for likely chassis, but haven't found anything yet.... One of the more promising is the tiger avon, but would need a rear end alteration to get the narrower axle in.

Speaking of axles / donors, the suzuki super carry small van has a slant engine with left side exhaust and the bedford rascal and its suzuki equivalent have narrow ish live axles. Other donors with similar track width would be reliant fox/kitten and if I remember correctly, Reliant SSi (might be wrong on this one though!). Potential there would be looking at 750 motor club Formula 750 for inspiration as they have Fiat fire engines in RWD config looking very compact....

Cheers all
Biggles

[LA 11 builder]

I am a Yank and so am not up on the nuances of British registration, but I thought that according to recent changes in regulations, if a vehicle was over a certain age, it no longer needed to be MOT'd. What if you bought a cheap old kit car with current MOT, applied for and recieved the age related MOT exemption, then attached it's data plate or the section of frame tube with the serial number to your chassis, never again to have it MOT'd since it was too old and thus exempt from inspection. Would you get away with it?

[biggles]

Nice idea, but would fall down the first time you drove past a police car which checks your vehicle data against the database, pulls you over because your
car looks nothing like the description attached to the registration, and then gets your car towed and crushed!!

No, the way forward if the IVA test is to be avoided is to use a 7 type chassised car that will fit under the eleven body without modification. I'm actually starting to think that an IVA test (at 400 quid) if it gets a tax free ID for the car (saving 200 quid per year road tax), would not be that bad an idea. I am thinking, use pod headlights through the front clam (with little spring loaded doors so you can poke them through) for the test. Carry them in the car with you but not attached. Use the 'driving' lights for everyday use (or just drive in daylight) and noone is any the wiser, and i'm not sure any regs are even contravened..... Re doors, who needs them? Fixed side panels and step over....

BTW, this http://www.rushhourtechnology.co.uk/bry ... g16b_1.htm

looks interesting if it works - a 95bhp slant engine and cheap as chips!!

[jonclancy]

TonyL has been round a similar buoy and I have confirmed that with my own research.

A tax exempt donor will not confer tax-exempt XI, as it is a kit of new parts (or some similar wording). Used to slip through, apparently, but the DVLA have tightened up this loophole in recent years.

As I see it: Get donor and use eng, gbox, axle = enough points to transfer identity for an AGE-RELATED plate. IVA car, register with DVLA and get issued age-related plate. Your original registration mark is surrendered. Pay the £120 RFL.

Brings up all sorts of questions about building a 5 speeder initially, etc.