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Its been a long year.....


Rob the Red Top

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That was an expensive month with a new forged short motor, and replacing all the front uprights, hubs, wishbones and bushes..  Engine back in an running.. I don't want to think about the total cost but it will be worth it....

 

Spent so far this month... Far too much again in March and its not over yet :cry:……..

Well March is turning out to be a bit of a nightmare... Discovered the slight oil leak on the axle was from the mounts welded to the axle (keep it in place and prevent torque twisting it) so I had to replace the case as well as the planned crown wheel and pinion, bearings etc.. So basically I now have a brand new axel with a 4.1 Burton crown wheel and a Quaife LSD... Gearbox refreshed with new seals and serviced, oh and some strengthening added to the underside of the chassis to cover the extra power.... Just waiting for the engine to return and we should be fully up and running... Hooray..

Another busy month.. New radiator and oil cooler fitted just in time too remove the engine and gearbox which are are now out, as is the rear axle. Fitting new pistons with a re-bore, new shells, balance etc. The gearbox has a slight leak on the main seal so that's being replaced and I'm fitting a breather just to be safe. The axel had badly fitted bracing (very poor welding that resulted in some oil weeping) so I've thrown the case away and invested in a replacement along with a new 4.1 diff and a full set of bearings and seals... The exhaust was a bit of a pig to fit and required some re positioning of the engine and some stressful cutting of the bonnet. This should give good gains in booth power and torque along side the other engine work that I have carried out... To improve the rear I have fitted some graphics (well I will do once its all back together) and a couple for the sides of the bonnet... Car has been renamed as 'Triggers Westie'

Nearly at the finishing post (for this year anyway....)

 

 

Spent last month £950 so far this month £240 on dyno time, but a new dif arriving Sunday so going to go up a bit..... March is going to be painful with change of pistons, hone and new bottom end (just to be safe) oh and the gearbox refresh and some seals replacing..

 

Well its been a long year of Westfield ownership and I feel I have come a long way with my first rebuild since 1984 (which was a Mini).

I started with a tatty but sound Westfield that I intended just using on track.. Butt as they say best laid plans and all that- and so it began.

 

I had it set up on the dyno and sorted the Geo out and all was well for my first track day at Blyton. Was a bit disappointed with 176bhp but my feeling was the exhaust was too restrictive,  but I still had a good day even though it was way to over geared; I didn't touch 5th once. Still managed to gel with the car and to my surprise I pretty much cleaned up and wasn't passed once the track dried out...

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

I had a second event at Donnington (after removing the windbreak and fitting a double bubble Aero screen). And it was still suffering from over gearing and 5th wasn't touched.. Still managed a sub 1.30 lap with a passenger so I wasn't that unhappy.42969634172_7150ca5649_k.thumb.jpg.5ba62d33b7aec4b9334fd6098d0eba0b.jpg

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

This engine just popped up and I couldn't resist it... If only I had known what I was letting myself in for…

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

but after hours of fettling and swearing I did eventually make progress and thought the work was completed... Spent half a day at Northampton Motor sport and try did his thing... The new engine only produced 209bhp with the ram air on and 215 with it off.. He did suggest with the way we strapped it down and with the low tyre pressures it was closer to 220/25bhp.It was so much better, and it took some setting up.. I did change the dif from a 3.9 to a 4.7 and stuck a Type 9 SC gearbox in to cope with the extra power.. Didn't realise how much work this was going to be... More fabricating...

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

I decided to work on the body in line with my plan, and when that was completed sort the missing power issue out...

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

Bodywork was sorted and professionally painted, new seats, scuttle place, pedal box, battery and box...Modified the prop tunnel and had to move the gear lever back 6 inches to clear the dash.. I fitted 13 after deciding I didn't want to stay with 15s...

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

So we stripped the head off so it could be ported and the new cams fitted... What we did discover was the ports had been polished but very little else had been done and they were at 23.5mm. it also transpired that some of the exhaust valves were leaking and two were very slightly bent.. We replaced the valves, ported the head correctly and re seated all the valves etc... We also discovered that the ITB's where out of line and this was also rectified as this wouldn't have helped with the mapping..... Should all be good to go on the dyno on 4th of Feb..

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

1 hour ago, NickBW said:

Great read... thanks

Thanks... Its been hard work, but almost there with the big stuff...

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Great work Rob, which will pay dividends when you get it out on the road and track.

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TAFKARM

Posted

Couldn’t believe the first pic was the same car I saw in your garage, great work sir!

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Chris Broster - Bristol & Bath AO

Posted

just a quick question, how is the digidash connected?

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jonjh1964

Posted

10 hours ago, Chris Broster - Bristol & Bath AO said:

just a quick question, how is the digidash connected?

Chris, Depends what type of digidash - my ETB Digidash uses similar sensors to the analogue gauges but some of the more sophisticated ones use CAN bus or ODBII although is some cases there are adapter to allow the use of standard sensors.ETB digital sensors

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Chris Broster - Bristol & Bath AO

Posted

Cheers JJ, interesting that it comes with sensors. I was about to buy an oil temp sensor to replace sump plug but might hold off. New Digital Dash Display will be next winters project!

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

On ‎07‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 07:52, Chris Broster - Bristol & Bath AO said:

just a quick question, how is the digidash connected?

Its connected via a lead to the dash and then into a box on the gearbox tunnel... To be honest I'm going to invest (I use the word invest loosely) in a stack system or similar. 

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

Well so much for the job being almost over.. It seems I have the wrong pistons and they need to be changed as the compression ratio is too low for the cams... So time to bite the bullet and have the whole bottom end rebuilt with new Omega Pistons and re bore as well as changing all the shells etc... Seem to have a small leak form the gearbox main shaft so that's getting sorted along with a new 4.1 dif as the 4.7 is too low for my requirements.. Might as well replace the half shaft seals while I'm at it ...

 

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

Amazing how much better she looks with a bit of a polish...

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Westfield Chesil Parts Dept

Posted

3 hours ago, Rob the Red Top said:

Amazing how much better she looks with a bit of a polish...

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Looks stunning in that colour!

You've been very busy.

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

Just now, Westfield Parts Dept said:

Looks stunning in that colour!

You've been very busy.

Its been a slog, but I'm getting there...

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Westfield Chesil Parts Dept

Posted

Looks wicked, doing something right. Enjoy your weekend.

Regards

Patrick

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

Remover the radiator yesterday and to my horror I discover it weighs about 15kg.. New lightweight one ordered. On a positive note the scrap value is quite high:d:d...

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

Another busy month.. New radiator and oil cooler fitted just in time too remove the engine and gearbox which are are now out, as is the rear axle. Fitting new pistons with a re-bore, new shells, balance etc. The gearbox has a slight leak on the main seal so that's being replaced and I'm fitting a breather just to be safe. The axel had badly fitted bracing (very poor welding that resulted in some oil weeping) so I've thrown the case away and invested in a replacement along with a new 4.1 diff and a full set of bearings and seals... The exhaust was a bit of a pig to fit and required some re positioning of the engine and some stressful cutting of the bonnet. This should give good gains in booth power and torque along side the other engine work that I have carried out... To improve the rear I have fitted some graphics (well I will do once its all back together) and a couple for the sides of the bonnet...

Nearly at the finishing post (for this year anyway....)

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

It lives .... And now it's officially a Red Top :)

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Rob the Red Top

Posted

Engine completed and very happy with the results...

 

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