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At Stoneleigh 2018, I bought an 8-channel FreeWheel system from Mike at @Kit Car Electronics. I'd only had the car for a few weeks and having to use dash controls for everything irritated me. It was always going to be a winter project, so the box went straight onto the garage shelf. Roll on a few months and the car was tucked away in the garage for winter. I started and completed the steering wheel button arrangement. Roll on a couple more months and I thought I'd better get cracking. So - off comes the dash and the scuttle to reveal a horror story of wiring. It all worked, but when a previous owner had fitted Savage dash switches, the standard wiring loom had been quite severely chopped about and replaced with only three colours of wire. Even worse, when I pulled the dash forward, most of the connectors to the Savage switches came off - none were labelled.... Over the next couple of months, with some encouraging words from this forum, I gradually sussed out the tangle of wiring and got everything working again (and labelled for future reference). So - the next task - working out where to splice in the 20(!) wires for the FreeWheel receiver. We all know that the FreeWheel system is the go-to solution for Westfield owners (and presumably quite a few other kit car and race car groups too). However, it was only when I started to ask questions that the true value of the FreeWheel system became apparent - it's Mike! He put up with a string of lengthy emails from me, trying to understand how / where to make connections without frying the car's electrics or having the horn sound in unison with the hazards. I've had last week off work to complete the car (I also bought a few carbon bits from Mark at Carbon NV) and yesterday, everything was completed. I just have to clean six month's worth of garage dust off the car and I can go out and enjoy to great Easter weather So - a huge thanks to Mike at @Kit Car Electronics - without his help, I would probably have given up and paid an auto electrician to come and do it all for me (and in doing so, I wouldn't have learned anything about the car's electrics - I now feel pretty comfortable with the spaghetti behind the dash). Cheers Mike - I owe you a beer

Wonderful drive through the New Forest this morning Burley was very bendy

My friend Graham has been out and about today. I just thought this picture said it all. Graham did say to me at one point before he bought his car that he "just didn't get it" Looks like he has "got it" now.

WooHoooo! It lives!

With the arrival of the warm weather I got up early this morning and headed for some of my favorite North Wales roads. In all I did 180 miles getting back home for 10am via, Llangollen, Horseshoe Pass, Ruthin, Cerrygydrudion, Betws y coed, Ffestiniog, Bala, Penybontfawr, Oswestry, Wittington, Ellesmere, Whitchurch. As many on the forum will know there are some great roads up here but horror of horrors SOME IDIOT HAS INSTALLED AVERAGE SPEED CAMERAS on the A543 section of the Evo Triangle. I know it's been rumoured for a while that North Wales are cracking down on some of the more favoured B roads but flippin heck. There are currently 3 sets of new gantry cameras on the 7 mile section, bright yellow, pointing both directions, mounted on very high galvanised poles so care is needed not to exceed an average of 60mph between consequtive cameras. Clearly you can still enjoy the road once you're aware of the camera locations and deploy a bit of sensitive braking but the road has lost a lot of its attraction. On-line law enforcement articles cite 4 deaths in 3 years on the stretch, a statistic that you cannot really ignore. Its such a shame that the reckless activities of a minority has repercussions on the majority. I'm all for safety on the roads but there are very good open stretches of the A543 where the visibility and road conditions can be driven safely at high speed. I guess high speed however is a relative term for some. Thank goodness that the rest of the run-out had no more new cameras (that I saw anyway).

Not just for carboned up race cars Both wheel and dash switches are on the Freewheel!

Well this sounds like an advert, so I might as well cheekily mention that I'll have a demo kit(s) with me at Stoneleigh if anyone would like to see- I'll likely be hanging around the marquee most of the weekend

Full cage, screen, spare wheel, dog net. Our cars sure are unique to each of us love it!

Naah - where’s your sense of adventure

Yesterday.... also Cotswolds

I think most of our cars have plenty of ways to immobilise themselves, without actually needing an immobiliser to do that job

Bronco body painted first white, then masked and painted yellow. Tape then removed.

Lap of the Cotswolds this morning with this wonderful weather!

Have to say this club and it’s members, including and especially me, are indeed fortunate to have Mike as a member. I’m so pleased to see how his business has blossomed. If you told me there was a nicer, more clever, and harder working man than Mike in the club, I’d get you sectioned. I thank him every time I’m in my car.

In the majority of cars, 60mph average is probably too fast. However, in something like a Westfield, particularly a well sorted and powerful one, there is a trick you can use if you really want to. Take a picnic with you, and stop at a convenient point between each pair of cameras, and have a sandwich or a bag of crisps, and maybe half a cup of coffee or a cold drink, then carrry on until the next stop. You are very unlikely to average 60 mph then!

A sad day for me but glad it has gone to a good home via the forum. Thanks to Maurici for a smooth sale! .

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

Dry crimped is the proper way of doing things, but must be properly dry crimped, with the right type of terminals. Soldered connections, I’m afraid, just risk storing problems up for the years to come. (Solder does have its place though).

damn - spoke too soon - can't get the car started The fuel pump isn't priming and there's no voltage to the fuel pump fuse on the bulkhead - any ideas where I should look? Yet again, the hacked wiring is causing me issues - the wiring to the immobiliser connector (two white/red, two green, two white) has been chopped about and replaced with.... eight black!! These all feed into the Autowatch immobiliser, so I can't really work out what's what. That said, I have no reason to believe this is the issue. I've had the engine started in the last couple of months, so I'm pretty sure I must have disturbed something simple - I think I'm going to pull all the earth cables apart and check the connections. This is the only thing I've changed (I had multiple earth eyelets on the battery, so I've replaced them with a thick earth cable inside the scuttle with a common earth connection). Ah - the joys of kit car ownership - I was really looking forward to a blast in the sunshine.... EDIT - dodgy earth found - fuel pump now priming While I was at it, I also managed to pull out a wire from a relay holder - it was only dry-crimped into the connector.... I've pulled the relay holder apart and soldered it properly. Just got to put it all back together again now

Just 18 weeks away. This promises to be a great, full day's driving over some scenic and squiggly well-planned southern Scottish roads. For those who shy away from the usual club run that can seem a bit 'frantic', this event is driven at your own pace, but by no means on your own. A lunch stop, fuel stops and a route that crosses over itself means the social element is still there. Since planning this event, a similar day out now on the calendar (the Thames Valley Orienteering Event) has so far 18 cars signed on - so the concept has plenty of merit. August the 24th is the 'Up Norf's version. Don't be shy, give it a try .....any questions, ask here or PM me. Where to chaps?? Join in to find out!

Also, don’t forget that Freewheel doesn’t just work with steering wheel mounted buttons. You can use one with just dash mounted buttons, (connected to the transmitter, as normal) and get all the benefits of the Freewheel logic/switching, like timed indicators, fog lamp control etc. It works so much nicer than the standard rocker switches, like this. If you want, you can even have two transmitters on the one Freewheeel, so one transmitter can do the dash buttons, and a second on the wheel could replicate the buttons you want close to hand, as well. Like indicators and main beam change over. Its so flexible, that it really is down to your imagination what you can do with it. Plus of course, there is the new version, that adds a variable rotary control switch, too!

I bought the Odysseu PC625, very happy with its performance after 2 years.

TBF, I’ve seen slower Westfields.

Coming along nicely.

Job jobbed... that was a monthly petrol budget, right?

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....)

Hartside - sadly the cafe is still a shell...