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https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=71355

Scam, guaranteed

Scam, 100%. Wouldn't waste another breath on it.

Awesome fun over the weekend as 2 friends came up from Devon to spend the weekend in my garage. Both have lots of experience building their own Tiger, Westfield and Caterham, and several other projects. The timing was perfect, just at the point where I would need some help with the heavier components. Started out with a splendid home cooked curry on Friday night (thanks to my wife who is a great cook), then much standing around in the garage introducing them to the tool box and checking that we had all the parts set aside for each task. Saturday started with flipping the chassis over to add a few more lengths of slit tube to protect the fuel and brake pipes. Then loose fitted the loom but only as far as the handbrake towards the rear of the car - decided to thread the last section through when we'd put the diff in. You'll also see from the pictures that there are no panels fitted, so very easy access for all 3 of us to play. Then installed the diff. No real issues fitting the diff since we had 3 pairs of hands, although there was a brief angle grinder moment to take a smidge off one of the bushes so that the washers could squeeze in. We did balance the diff on a hydraulic jack so that we could get the height just right to slide the bolts into place. Hooking up the drive shafts was also straight forward, however at this point I needed to adjust the main rear brake line where it loops up from the tunnel to the t-piece. It was only a small adjustment of 15-20mm, but if I ever replace the brake lines I will do it with copper. Important to keep hydrated while working. Having fitted the right hand drive shaft I found a similar problem with the left hand brake line where it was too close to the shaft near the diff. Easier to move, replacing the pipe clip with a p-clip. Finished off by adding more slit tube so that it is well protected. Then onto fitting the wishbones and fuel tank frame. A little more tricky getting everything to line up, but 3 of us (and a soft faced hammer) it was soon done. Top Tip. We found that several of the threads on the drive shaft were all clogged up. It would have been far easier to run a tap through them before we had started to fit the shafts to the diff. We did the left hand side before going much further. Do this before fitting the shafts (see notes about the prop shaft later!). . Fitting the upright and in particular the captive bolts into the end of the drive shaft was easy enough once we had run the tap through. Remembered to apply the thread lock. Left hand side was straight forward, but when checking carefully we did find that we'd mixed up a few of the different sized washers. Easy to sort out as only the diff and drive shaft bolts were torqued up. We then moved onto the fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel filter, inertia switch and the fuel hoses. I'll post some more pictures later with the location of these, the fuel pump is at the back centre of the tank mounted on the chassis, just above where the inertia switch is fitted. This was about as far as we got on the Saturday, so on Sunday... We finished off the breather pipe for the fuel tank and few other minor adjustments, and then onto the front wishbones, and uprights. Having studied a few pictures we worked out which way up the upper wishbones should fit, and then bolted it all together. I think I've since understood that we have not put a thick bronze coloured washer in the right place - should be between the ball joint and the upright? Anyway should not be so hard to sort that out. We then moved back to fit the hand brake, cables, and prop shaft. Hand brake was easy enough, and again I will post more pictures of where I have routed the cables. Stalled when it came to the prop shaft as we could not find the right bolts, so that's just resting in place for now. I'm guessing that we will find the threads on the diff clogged up, and not sure I have the right tap to clean them out - fingers crossed. Before we finished off we thought we would fit the steering column, and while the top section was ok, found that I had the wrong parts for the lower section (should be single piece). Engine in before Christmas? Without much more to tackle we decided it was time to celebrate - it's starting to look like a car!

My tuppence worth: First box - standard type 9, short input shaft, standard ratios, crossflow 130bhp, 3.9 open diff - nice gear change, great on road, ratios didn't match up to cam so frustrating on track Second box - bought from Dave E and fully rebuilt with Quaife HD Pro straight cut close ratio gear set, ratios 2.39, 1.54, 1.21, 1, 0.87, LSD with 4.1 diff ratio and now standard XE 180bhp (ish). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Best 'box I've ever used, gear change is sublime and the long first is fantastic. It was built by Windy on here and the straight cut gears are no issue at all. Whine only really apparent in 5th but its fine, can still chat happily with passengers etc. I have heard others complain about s/c whine but I wonder if that's a build or gear oil thing? Anyway you asked for opinions and that's mine - you get what you pay for!

Won't be able to make this one John, promised Gwen a night out then realised it was our meeting night S'pose we'd best make up for it on x-mas do!

Yep, I will be there. Half hood now fitted, so i can now throw away the block and tackle required to stretch fit a full vinyl hood in cold weather :-)

I am surprised by some of the numbers. If anyone had asked me how many Westfields are out there I would have said 'about 10,000', which is backed up by a comment Westfield made in 2013 that suggested 12,000 sold in kit form or built since the company was founded. Add to that the fact that we have about 11,000 members....So about 1000 on the road is a surprising number, I think there are probably lots of inconsistencies on V5's and the government data search is wildly out in terms of real Westfield out there? We should do a member survey - a) Own a Westfield? and b) Is it registered? and c) If registered do you SORN it annually? Jim

Probably the fact that the majority of Westfields are home build with a very personal touch , so that the owners who are the builders, feel it as being his "own creation" Quite a big part of any finished Westfield kit is the builders own ideas assembled into a finished product which is stamped with the blood & sweat of his/her own efforts , he/she tends to own the car more and thus would feel reluctant to let it go to a strange home much more than a "pre assembled" production (kit?) car which could not possibly have the same bond with the owner Ohhh ! where's that "pauses to ring handkerchief out " emoticon gone to

I might well try and get over next year and try to spectate (and cut my grass) - if anyone needs local info or discount on Brittany ferries give me a PM as I'm about 45 mins from circuit

All true, hence my suggestions right back at the start, but if you read the OP's responses, he seems to have done that bit and is really after specific recommendations/experience of the products themselves, I may have read it wrong, but I think what he's actually after is more reliability info and "did it live up to expectations" type stuff. Having been previously dissapointed with an early fail on a reconditioned standard gearbox.

Controversy alert... I quite like my standard type 9 - except for first gear! And this is why John's questions are so pertinent. My C20XE has 165 ftlbs of torque, I do the occasional track day but blasting (or cruising) through the countryside does not require heaps of gearchanges because the Westy can pull itself out of slow corners really well. I've heard of ultra close ratio boxes with a 1st gear ratio very close to my 2nd so it does need thinking through carefully.

It does sound like a scam, could be perfectly genuine, but why risk it?

Look what has arrived. Ho Ho Ho I hope it does not blow off whilst I am driving.

Bump. Open to offers.