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Took Westy out yesterday ( rude not to ) noticed half hood ( canvas ) had some mould spores, must of been a little damp when i put it away last time. Cleaned with half white wine vinegar and half warm water, sprayed on and scrubbed with a toothbrush ( the wife's not mine ) It"s like new... just thought i would share for those who didn't know.

Those of us stylish owners with excellent classical taste who have swept wings on our cars do not suffer from these issues. :

Cheers Barny To say it's been tough is an understatement

Ok, here are some photos. Before anyone asks, yes, I do have some carpet in the garage (sad) and did not build the car in my sitting room (which would be cool!). The first photo shows the hole I had in the sump. Tiny, but big enough to dispense oil all over my garage floor.

As above, 7s are brilliant. I've seen two friends move to Lotus and regret it. The big thing is you can drive steady in a 7 and still enjoy the drive with friends. Anything else you have to drive fast because you are in a "racing car". Plus the general public love a seven.

Hi Just checking in to say hi (and to check my account is working properly...). I've just completed building my FW Special Edition (new factory kit with 2l zetec engine) and thought it was high time I joined the club. The build was relatively painless. The main issue was finding a pin hole casting defect in the raceline sump. It was replaced of course but I fitted it myself. The upside was that I got to use my spanners on the engine a bit more than I had expected! Time will tell how well I did. Anyway, IVA passed recently (again, painlessly enough) and I sent the registration paperwork to the DVLA yesterday. No doubt I'll now have a tedious wait before I can get out on the roads. I look forward to getting expert input on the issues that I will undoubtedly encounter in the future and hope to meet some of you on the road one day. Cheers Nick

Dave, you hit nail on head about my experience. Like a boat! Agree I'm lucky enough to own a reliable duratec powered module built Westie. Difference is I didn't build this one, so great as it is, somehow a Westie you built is a bit more a part of you! Even tried to buy the original Westie back, with a blown head gasket! No go though To summarise, performance per pound, a Westie is difficult to beat. Depreciation is almost zero too. Westie will never be practical, but if when you do drive it, the rewards are always better than a more refined tin top! Andy

Correct David Jason if you want to run your ZZR's next year and carry on improving your times then you will be in class C. If your still eligible to run as a novice then you'll have novice target times and will continue to compete with all your mates in the novice championship and for novice class awards, hope this helps.

and to think nobody knew until you told us!

I read it that you can enter Class C Jason, And compete in Novice Championship against a calculated Target Time for Class C Novices.

Forgive me if I regularly call in to see it taking shape! :)

..electric blanket

take the lock off all together and have a dash mounted ignition key or switch

Some good initiatives in there under difficult circumstances. Well done SSOT With regards to the crank ruling, whilst I understand it, I would have thought it more sensible to not allow decreasing capacity (shorter stroke) rather than increasing capacity? Not that it affects me but I see Ian D is affected which seems a shame.

Spot on guys, efforts appreciated

Looks good but finish it off with U channel with small amount of silicone to hold it in place

Before I bought mine I was looking at many 'sports' cars. 7's are the only ones that really are so different to me - the rest are just cars. Last year I met a chap who owns a Le Ferrari, a Konnessiggefvfgvgseg, Porsches galore, a GT40, a Zonda and a 320 Caterham. The one he has most fun in he said was the Caterham as it scared him and was so different. That said a lot to me.

Yes, Novices can run in any class and will have an easier target time than the experts in the same class

I finished off my last update thinking I might have the engine in before Christmas... read on. To start with a small update from last weekend. Ian sent over 4 M10 x 1 bolts for the propshaft, and the single piece lower steering column. Trial fitted the steering column and then removed it in readiness for fitting the engine. Propshaft was not quite so straight forward. I did then find that the holes in the diff were really clogged up, and there was no way to get the bolts in without damaging them. Bought a Tap (from Amazon as I could not find a local supplier in Watford) and soon cleaned the threads out. It looked like resin so I guess it was the remains of threadlock that were not cleared out when refurbished. After that it was easy to fit the bolts with some fresh threadlock. When drilling the holes for the gearbox mount I found that the mounting plate was not central in the tunnel. The dimensions for the holes are based on the location of the slots in this plate. Not being sure how to interpret this I called Mark and he advised that the 2 mounting holes should be 115mm forward from the front face of the tube across the bottom of the tunnel and just behind the plate. Measured carefully and drilled the holes. Crossed fingers and toes they are in the right place as the advice in the manual if they don't align is "fettle them out with a round file". There are a few other tasks that I could have then moved onto, but the next big task was obviously the engine. I was a little nervous about this, so I talked to a few pals at the Herts Beds & Bucks meeting to pick up a few tips, and revisited a few of the other build blogs. The support from this club is simply fantastic, and a big thank you to Keith for lending me his engine crane. So on Saturday I started to prepare. First task was to check that all the suspension bolts were nipped up. Inserted the bronze coloured washers under the nut on the inside top of the front uprights. I'd checked with Mark at Westfield where these should be fitted, and I'm fairly sure this is correct. Dropped the chassis down from the build stands onto axle stands. This weekends tool purchase was 2 x axle stands, on special offer at Halfords. Rolled the engine up to the front of the car. My garage is on an incline, and I tested how easy it was to control the crane and engine before it got anywhere close to the car. Gearbox mount on the gearbox. I then stood and contemplated where to put straps and chains so that I could safely control the angle of the engine and gear box. The manual says that the balance point is just behind the engine on the bell housing. That does not look likely, and it is not the balance point, I estimate that it is 8cm forward from the back of the engine. In the end I put the main load bearing strap where the manual suggests, and I also put a safety chain through the eye plates, so that this was slightly slack. I put a strap horizontally around the middle of the engine, tied to the main load bearing strap to stop it slipping. To control the angle I put a strap and ratchet to tension it at the front of the engine. When the engine is hanging over the engine bay it really does look like a really tight fit. Some welcome help from Amanda, my better half. Her task was to look after her fingers and keep the right hand engine bearer away from the brake pipes. The manual does say to remove this bearer, but I'm sure I've read in one of the build blogs that is not really necessary. It was not a problem, and Amanda still has all her fingers. The only draw back with using the ratchet strap to tilt the engine is when you want to ease the tension. There is no ratchet back. I rigged up a rope looped over a beam in the garage and under the gear box. This was enough to adjust the angle of the engine so that the propshaft would engage. With the propshaft engaged it was easy enough to slide the engine back, and hey presto the gearbox mounting plate was located directly above the holes. No fettling required. To get the left hand engine bracket and the bearers lined up took to bit of fiddling, raising the engine and then slotting in the bracket, and nudging it sideways to get the right hand engine mount over the slot in the chassis. Then it was in and all I needed to do was torque up the fittings. Now that the engine is in I can start to see how everything else stands, especially the loom location. I'm looking forward to the next stage, plenty to keep me busy over the Christmas period. Once again many thanks to Keith for the loan of the engine hoist - I'll be in touch to arrange return!

Val dont worry about the class structure - just go and have fun mate :-)

If you're happy with a longer route, I would head home by turning off at Garve and heading to Ullapool then south again to your destination. Dingwall to Ullapool is one of my favourite roads, and Ullapool's a nice town. Or even start by heading south to Kyle then Inverness, Conan Bridge, Garve, Ullapool then south again. To be honest you can't really go too far wrong just getting in your and driving!

Yes but only on a Saturday night