Leaderboard

Thought I'd post a few pics from our Highland Tour. So far the weather has been great with a bit of rain today which was totally at odds with the dire forecast! happy days!

Nice to read a pro Westie article in my local rag (Stoke Sentinel). @Simon Westwood - Westfield Sportscars Ltd Who's let's him drive their car? Interesting that the digital edition shows a different car? http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/less-is-more-approach-to-finding-motoring-fun-on-today-s-roads-says-critic/story-30348481-detail/story.html

Mark Evans' Westfield build series is back to back on Discovery Turbo from 1.30pm today.

Today we are on the Orkney Islands. I found it a very moving experience whilst sailing over Scapa Flow as I thought of all the ships and sailors below us and also my grandad going to war. It is a place I always wanted to come to and so pleased I did. The ferry is brilliant and so easy to use but make sure book before hand. The sea was flat calm and looked stunning. Orkney is brilliant. We have spent all day touring the island and seen so many things I forget them all. Seen a few of the blockade ships as we drove over the Churchill Barriers and also the Italian Chapel. We visited a settlement and ...sort of church...and the buildings where over 1000 years old...It was brilliant. We took our cars through a town and practically brought thew town centre to a standstill. There is not much in the way of hills or "beauty" to look at but the island has a beauty of its own and is stunning. So happy to be here. Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days.

For those who dont think the south has much in the way of scenery Taken near my mates house. It must terrible to think he has this to look at everyday. Well,just ticked over 1000 miles in the car today ( well 1065 to be precise) and its all settling in nicely

Sorry, John; went to my friends at TFD in Uttoxeter this morning. They are dealers in both Bosch and Makita. Ended up spending much more money than I first had in mind. Bought a combi set, ie 2 drivers, one is a drill/screwdriver/hammer driver, and the other is an impact driver (so I can now change wheels on an F1 car!!), all in a box, with 2 battery packs and a charger. I went for the Makita rather than the Bosch simply on feel and looks, coupled with my experience of the mains drill which I purchased early in my XI build programme. The chap I spoke to at TFD assured me there was nothing to choose between them so far as he was concerned, and the prices were, on a like for like basis, similar. So now I''m about £125 poorer than I thought I was going to be, all because of you chaps urging me to spend more than I had in mind!

Looks like you're having a wonderful time, very pleased for you all, a great inspiration.

Yes Dave, adhesive finally gave up the ghost after 19 years. My nice, shiny, unblemished arches are now no more (well one of them anyway) and will have to be bolted on in future. The colour is Sunburst Yellow and Westfield have a 6 week lead time. Rather than repair the one that jumped ship, it might be quicker, cheaper and easier to change both of them for black non-Westfield ones from somewhere else. I can change them both for less than the cost of one from Westfield. Still, it was a great run and nothing worse happened. Thanks to Ali for sharing the embarrassing pics.

And a few more.

Ditto ... but it's still nice to have the full lot on the SKY box when there is nothing on except Dancing on Pop Idol

oooh, in true Westfield style, can we meet at the toilets please sir? and then you can show us where the sex shop is on the way to Fradley. It has to be at the toilets because you will be in the company of the Westfield Incontinence Society. The conversation is nosediving already, what on earth will tomorrow be like??? Lots of silliness I think.

Thanks for the heads up ... it's also being repeated from 21:00 on the same channel if anyone misses the 13:30 showing.

Trouble is "value" is very subjective. You would do worse than buying through this forum. I know the variety of cars is limited, especially over the summer months but normally cars go for "the right" amount which is about as close to value as you're going to get relatively speaking. Otherwise you need someone with you when you view which isn't always easy or convenient.

I'm obviously bound to say this because mine is so similar, but that's a beautiful car, well done rescuing it! Looks a well sorted car and a very fair price as well, whoever buys it will be well chuffed and rightly so. GLWTS!

And how many kit cars have I seen with the speedo either not working or disconnected!

The Sport E rebuild has continued but not quite as I intended. The Sport Turbo body that I wanted to use didn't work with the 17" rear wheels also the bonnet, once fitted, didn't quite reach the scuttle. It also needed new rear lighting so in the end I opted to repair the old classic tub and replaced the smashed rear arches, nose and bonnet with less smashed parts which I then repaired and painted. What a difference a huge amount of effort and expense makes to the look of a car! That's supposed to be irony - basically I'm glad to see the back of fiberglass and paint! It's Kawasaki green BTW. In this pic.the wheels are odd.The rears are 15" with T1Rs and the front 17" R1Rs. Initially I'll use the 15" T1Rs all round to calm the car down and make it more predictable first time out. With the 15" rears and no gearbox, the top speed should be limited by motor rpm to around 100mph - enough for now. So anyway I'm on the home straight now. I'll cover the electrical side of the rebuild in another blog. A couple of interesting points though. First I did keep the Sport Turbo scuttle and dash. This was mainly because being so tall (6'2"), I kept hitting my knees on the underside of the old dash panel. The new dash is quite a bit roomier as can be seen in the picture. I only had the main dash moulding - the instrument cluster and hood were missing but this didn't prove to be an issue. I needed to mount the Race Tech dash etc so I built a new dash face panel from ally and covered it with fake carbon. It turned out better than I had expected. For racing there will be an emergency kill switch in the bottom circular hole. I've replaced the 12V battery with a smaller one, take a look at the following photo. This shows the battery progression from the original lead acid to the latest lithium battery. According to the specs the small battery is good for a starting current of 150A - only 2.5Ahr though. This was £125 on eBay. It weighs 500g. Ideal for the electric car since it only needs to power the 12V system at 2.5 amps for 5-10 seconds while the main high voltage battery switches itself on. However it should power the car for about an hour without the main battery. I'll also fit an Anderson connector for a 12V charger so it doesn't go flat while I'm messing around with the main battery off and the computer plugged in. I'm now well into the wiring. This is more familiar territory for me so the end is in sight......hopefully.

cant get them will have to find a new way

see you at Earls Barton on Wednesday then

You should know better than to ask for advice here on power tools, Stephen - you'll always get pushed upwards

Next time you're down here there should be another on the road I'm nearly there!

sorry they dont seem to be showing will follow up with them when i figure it out

Last lot for tonight.

also new member welcome matey hows the new engine set up we did going

Erm not quite, you're keeping the gearbox and changing the rest of the car...

Well that's me folks home today what a great holiday with fantastic companions, it was a heavy heart as Geoffrey, Ali and Gail left for Orkney and Bob, Lorna and myself wished we were leaving with them a few pics from my last day, I've enjoyed every minute and a big thanks to Geoffrey for organising it and to everyone when my troubles struck enjoy the rest of your trip

No backsies.

Hold on a minute. Grizzlee said it was just a gearbox change.

I am sure your navigator could find it ok! However, we could meet at the sex shop just along the A5 from the services or at the toilets on the services, your choice? Around 9.30?

Again Welcome, also from a recent new boy

from Essex

Nice looking motor....

You will like it here, do you already have a car, we love pictures

I'm the AO for Northants and we meet every 2nd Monday (this month it's the 12th) at Sywell. There's a bunch of us also going to the Earls Barton classic car meet this Wednesday. I suspect you're closer to the North Oxfordshire area meet though... Calling @Gary (KugaWestie) - North Oxfordshire AO to the boardroom

As Dave said, I'd look at this.... No detailed engine spec, but an easy 180ish without too much work. (As mine) Many overlook 1.8 zetecs in favour of 2.0, for imo maybe misguided reasons!

Pish..................... you can go off people you know...................

Glad to see your saggy rear has given you a good view. If you had the rear set up correctly, all your camera would be looking at would be tarmac

I do think cars on here with a few exceptions, tend to be a wee bit underpriced really. But usually, in the nicest possible way, we love them so much we want to see them go to other club members! Theres a very nice looking red 1800 Zetec just gone up in the classified section, which to an initial glance has the true give always of a genuinely fastidious build apparent in the photos, without the need for (sometimes) spurious engineer built text. (Don't underestimate the 1.8, it's a very sweet, revy engine in a Westfield.) The car seems to be a good price and come with a good selection of extras/options. But of course, that's my value judgment. A real track day fan, or sprinter etc, would look at it and see the work/money required to make it into a track nail, and think it was poorer value! And that's the big problem where such personal elements are involved. We can argue on here about whether black isn't really just white with the lights turned off, so getting agreement about a very subjective issue just isn't going to happen. The best thing to do is to try and see as many cars as you can, regardless of whether they're for sale or not. It will give you so much more of a feel for what to look for and what's important, (including what's important to you, and what isn't), and that will help you evaluate cars that are for sale, much more easily. Especially as once a car moves on from its builder, it doesn't take too many changes of hands through non-technical owners for the Chinese Whispers to take over and for the actual Spec to get distorted or lost; it's not deliberate, it's not people trying to mislead, it's just people buying a nice car that aren't familiar with the terminology or the greasy bits! If in doubt, Toybox is an excellent source for second hand Westfields, all be it, you will obviously pay a dealer price. Alternatively, buy through the club, but if possible, and within budget, try to buy from the builder, that way you will get first hand info on exactly what everything is!

Nice, I can't imagine that'll take long to sell.

Soon after I got mine, I sent the speedo away to be recalibrated as it was too fast, reading 80 when I was doing 70, so I had the odometer adjusted back correspondingly by about 300 miles. There then followed a summer of solid rain and the car barely moved until the next MOT the following year. I now have a MOT history on the car where it appears I went backwards 54 miles one year...

We were thinking of Fradley Junction for lunch and cake!

A man needs a hobby, Gary. You need something to keep you busy!!

That looks lovely and great value for someone. GLWS.

Agreed, Dave! Every time I get a new-to-me kit car: alignment (check spring rates, ride heights and bump stops), remap, set up driving position (throttle and clutch travel, brake pedal position, seating position and steering wheel reach) - always totally transforms the car. Even if you know this has all been done recently, your driving position and pedal setup preferences are very unlikely to match the previous owner.

Truer words are rarely spoken! It does seem to have got better in the last ten years, at least within the club, but still in the mind of the car owner at large, petroleum heads included, there is this strange acceptance that all sorts of things should be ignored or turned a blind eye to, BECAUSE ITS A KIT! No, no, no, no, it doesn't have to be that way! There's really only quite a small number of things that are different due to the cars origins, and handling is most certainly not one of them! Standard recommendations for all new kit owners, unless you know they've already been done: Get a good professional geo set up done, get the engine set up on a rolling road, by someone that knows the engine type, and then just keep on top of regular preventative maintenance, and you will be astounded at how some cars especially are transformed.

It looks worth the starting bid to me. what I don't understand though is why forum members always talk down the price of other cars for sale yet then when the time comes they complain that their own cars wont sell for half the cost of their investment or make the price they want Unfortunately all this type of topic does is devalue the brand

Last lot of pictures for tonight.