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How ironic from my last posting, sat nav malfunction but got there eventually. Good to meet up with Julie, Glen and the guys. Museum was new and we had a guided tour with plenty of special attention. Good afternoon out well done Julie. Bob

Snap! I loved my cycle winged car, and I loved its performance, looks, the whole package. It felt good at speed and it felt good just bumbling along, and of course, watching the front wheels going up and down, turning and moving in front of you never got old. Except... Just like McDuff said, there's something about that view out of the windscreen on the clamshelled car that somehow transports me to another world, everytime I drive it. I fell for the clamshell look from the outside looking back at the car, I'd never actually sat in one, so during the build when the wings were on and screen in, for the first time, when I nipped up, (it was on stands) for a quick sit in, I was absolutely blown away by the view in front of me. I know they're not for everyone, but in a hobby car like these, or whatever car you eventually settle on, it's important that it stirs your soul; if it doesn't talk to you at some level, then you've not found your right match yet.

Thanks for that Smug, er I mean Scott . The mud flaps have had their first outing today, in heavy rain (roof on), on fast country roads, cattle grids and with some reversing too. Well, they made it home in one piece with the added bonus that I didn't get the occasional squirt of water in the face. I lost the 'cow poo' competition though because they stopped a lot of dirt hitting the stone guards. At the moment they are a success, time will tell as to their longevity, they could well be sat on the garage floor in the morning.

One of my pet gripes is people so engrossed in their mobile phones that they manage to miss life going on around them. Went to London last night to see Dawn French's one-woman show at the Vaudeville (excellent, top notch). From Marylebone onwards, I had to deal with swarms of idiots texting or doing whatever on their mobiles, which entailed me either shouting "Watch where you're going!" at them or shoulder barging them sideways as they came headlong at me, looking down at their screens and expecting everyone else to clear a path for them. But what happened at the theatre took the biscuit. At the interval, I went to the gents to finish processing all the red wine I'd been consuming, and two urinals down from me, a man stood relieving himself (I hope) while texting on his mobile phone with both hands - BOTH hands. I think that may be one of the warning signs that you need to put the phone in your pocket and go get a life.

Tested the notching setup at 30 degrees - a bit chattery and have to go fairly slow, but still good results (apologies for the array of notch pictures, I just love the shapes, haha). Also got a pipe vice which should stabilise things a bit for the angled notches... Did a few more test welds and battered the **** out of them. This was an early one with not quite as much penetration as I wanted - but at least the joint stays lovely and tight. Note this was done by holding the tube in place with a magnet, no pressure / force, and it hasn't moved or pulled at all, which I was chuffed with. Testing tightness of joints with a light: Sorted out a centreline for my build table - sprayed a big white line down the middle, grabbed some fishing line and pulled it tight, dusted a few coats of black over the top et voila! Also checked flatness - 0.1deg or less all round. Here's a boring video Bonus points to anyone who can name the song in the background... Chopped some tubes up - only a small amount of waste, less than I bargained for: Put some of said tubes in the milling machine and chopped them up a bit more: Jigged stuff up in a pretty pikey, but seemingly very accurate way: And here's how it stood last night: Did a bit more on it this evening after work: It's coming together surprisingly quickly - and everything has come in within 1mm on length and less than 0.2 degrees on angle, which I'm pretty pleased with given the Heath Robinson approach. Just got a couple more tubes to cut and notch for the main outline of that rear section, then it'll get taken apart, cleaned up, put back in position, tacked, and welded as far as I can in the jig. Once it's out, I'll finish off welding then it can be bolted back down again ready to start on the front end. Need to get a laser cutting order sorted out asap cos I'll be ready for all the wishbones to go on a lot sooner than I anticipated!

It was a fantastic programme but spoilt by the unnecessary voice of potential doom going on. What I was astounded to see was how the world changed. Just a few years after the Lancaster they were building the Vulcan, mind bogglingly different ( and a labour government doing it) as he said more than a quantum leap. Loved the way the lads were balancing the bomb on the crane by sitting on the front, not a hi-vis insight and a design that allowed the pilots to escape but the rest had little chance. It does seem sad we will never see it fly again when we waste so much money on vacuous projects now. Perhaps if they set their minds to it with modern avionics they could continue to fly it but we would rather give money to idiotic projects in outer Mongolia than to treasure an era when Britain was a great world power and capable of anything we set our minds to.

Have a look in the download archive, Westfield World 4th edition, page 10, alludes to the then chairman setting up the WSCC in 1987.

I'm near Tain, as seen in your last map. I stopped at the commando memorial this summer. I felt a bit guilty when people started looking and photographing my car

In all seriousness this is one well sorted, smart, fettled and incredibly capable westfield. Good luck with the sale Tricky - be good to see you in the future mate. GLWS... James

Yep, there will always be passenger seats for you and your lad at meets!

you can sell the car but please dont leave the club we love you!

A very interesting discussion. At 62, my first choice was a BSA M20 motorbike, which combined a bit of history with a totally new ride experience (I had never ridden a motorbike before!) However after 7 hours of bike lessons, during which I managed to fall off regularly, breaking small bone in my foot, I reluctantly decided you probably can't teach an old dog new tricks, and retired to lick my bruised ego ! Then I thought about a Westie, and found a well looked after example last year. It was well sorted and gave me a great intro into this new world of basic performance motoring. But left me a little underwhelmed by the performance of it's 1600 CVH, with single Weber. I think 0-60 was a little over 7 seconds, and I hankered after something more. So when Tricky's 1900 CVH came up for sale, I took the plunge and , as documented elsewhere in these pages, swapped the engines, and a great deal more besides. It is now approaching roadworthiness and I hope to take advantage of all this "upgraditis" when the weather improves next year. Brought up on the usual diet of MGs and Triumphs , a few Yanks and with goes in Jensen Interceptor and more recently Audi A6 etc I look back fondly on all of them . But after modifying/tinkering with the Westie I feel more involved, and sat behind the wheel blasting along on a warm summers evening through the fenlands of East Anglia looking out over the clamshell wings and long nose , I am reminded of cars 70 years before, but a blip on the throttle and I am transported back to the present day as she reminds me what driving should be all about! Great fun.

give it a blow job with hot air gun

Plugged in an OBD2 reader if the engine management light comes on to see if that gives any clues as to what to check?

Chit-chatty forums?

Good luck with the sale Richard

Thank you for the cow poo award Julie! I would like to thank the cast of thousands that helped us to achieve this award, most notably the cows!!!! BTW I think we won the noise in the tunnel award too

Proper precision stuff, don't forget you will require a small root gap to allow said penetration to emmm penetrate. The joints look like some of the most well set up I've seen, and I've seen a few. Excellent stuff well done the gap could be 0.5mm or more at a guess but check the manuals otherwise you will end up with fillets rather than full penetration. Its all in the preparation. TIG welding by the way is a bit harder but after a bit of practise someone with your talents could master it especially with the newer sets which gently feed power in to strike up the arc, I've seen some proper clowns be able to TIG so the kit is more user friendly these days. MIG shouldn't be a problem either. Keep up the good work Bob

We made our way to Ilam Hall, we were not allowed a photo shoot there today because of the scaffolding on it so we parked on the road and walked over to the cafe. We had a little cow poo competition as usual, and the winner today was.....wait for it.....Martyn and Sue, well done, Ilam After lunch we went to Tissington Hall for a photo. This entails blocking the entrance, which is not normally a problem, but today the Hall was occupied. Just as we were all getting in position a rather expensive looking Range Rover came out of the Hall. 'Oh crumbs' I thought, we will get told off for this, play it cool Julie, smile a lot and apologise profusely, you might get away with it. A lovely posh lady and her mum were delighted to see the cars and, get this one, apologised for being in the photo, how nice were they I ask you? Bioman did a nifty bit of manouvering and she went on her way, leaving me to get the photo. Me, yes me, it was decided that there was no point us all getting wet when just one person could, mmm, right, I will let you all off with that one. We then went to the Bentley Brooke Inn at Ashbourne for a warm and a dry by the real fire (picture please Bioman) before beating the fading light home. Thank you everyone for coming today, you are all amazing and very good fun. If little girls like Brooke (see cow poo picture) can Westfield on rainy days then surely all you big boys can too.

you need to carry stuff like hi-vis vests etc in case you break down in some European countries so as it's been suggested, consult a reputable source. Oh, and a phrase book or app

Hi a bit more info would help Engine ? Ecu ? Have you got compression ? Have you got a spark ? Have you got fuel ? Looking like ignition slip or less likely a inlet valve sticking Maybe some fresh fuel might help You would be better checking ignition timing before adjusting anything