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Time to start ticking off "winter car work" boxes and one of the first is to build a taller and lighter roll bar for my Westfield. I had the standard three piece bar (a bit taller and with the two rearward struts with rose joints at the end.....is it called the "RAC" bar maybe?) and I wanted something taller to keep my race sanctioning body happy while at the same time taking some weight off. I built this using 1.500" x .120" DOM tube and it's fillet brazed together. It's 2 3/4" taller that the old bar and 9 lbs (4.1kg) lighter. Now it sits far enough above my helmet that no inspectors are going to give me a hard time. I'm 6'4" so it's hard to find a bar that's tall enough and that doesn't add weight. Tomorrow it goes off to the powder coater to get some color on it. Next it needs some rubber fuel hoses replaced....less fun that bending tube and brazing it together but no less important. Dave

Good morning - The question of which is stronger, welds or fillets, is an old one. Some will say that a welded joint is stronger than a fillet (assuming both are done properly) and this is hard to argue....but....one needs to look at potential failure of the completed structure and not just the joints and this is where fillets come out on top. The reason is, as stated above, the heat affected zone will typically cause a welded structure to fail adjacent to the joint. One needs to remember that a welded joint requires that the base material be heated to its melting point.....which in the case of steel is typically about 3500°F. This lowers the strength of the base material in a big way. If one does either ultimate strength or fatigue testing of a welded assembly it will typically cause the tube to fail adjacent to the weld in the dreaded heat affected zone (HAZ). Brazing on the other hand does not require that the base material be brought to its melting point. Instead it only needs to be brought up to the melting point of the filler being used. In my case here that is about 1750°F. This typically does not have a negative affect on the strength of the tube so when testing an assembly one can expect it to out perform welded joints in both strength and fatigue resistance. There is an additional issue - the temperature gradient of a welded joint is very short. The weld itself got up to 3500° but just a short distance from the weld it will be much cooler. This results in a stress riser of sorts in the steep gradient area adjacent to the weld. The brazed joint on the other hand isn't as hot but since it took much longer to form the joint the heat runs further down the tube away from the joint. This makes for a long gradient and much less of a stress riser. So why aren't all joints brazed instead of welded? The simple answer is time. A welded joint takes very little time compared to a brazed joint and when it's done it's done. A brazed joint requires more cleaning and prep and then one needs to remove the flux from it when done. It takes easily 3-4 times longer and time is money. But I have time and I'm a better brazer than I am a welder so it's my joint of choice. Fun stuff. Dave

I'm grounded as I've just come home to a broken fridge and I can't get a new one delivered until Sat. So I'll be removing and refitting an integrated fridge, whilst you're all out eating the contents of other peoples fridges and hopefully having fun getting there! the wife’s done a good temporary repair:

Sounds like a shaggy dog story to me 😀

Nice to talk to you at the Thames Valley meet on Sunday Carlie. Have you thought about an insurance policy against your image being edited to generate fake news?

I’ll be there.

I started building a Toylander Scout for my son's 4th birthday, didn't get it finished in time so it's still in the back of the garage. He'll be 26 soon, must get on with it.

Right, lots to explain here. First of all the car is ready for IVA but with work as it is I dont have time to get it through SVA before Christmas and i need space for a new project. New ZK Chassis, brakes, shocks etc etc 60 mile old ST180 Engine. Caterham Sump New Fuel lab regulator All stainless fuel hoses. Ford 3.9 LSD used Quaife QBE15 thats done 400 miles since total re-build, 2.39 First 0.87 5th New CG custom clutch. New Garrett GT2860 turbo Forge dump valve. Custom Stainless 322 Manifold Custom stainless exhaust including removable CAT - Exhaust alone was £3.5K! New Delta GDI4 ECU and custom loom New Ratec radiator and intercooler. Custom Stainless boost pipes. New AimMXS dash. New Carbon dashboard. K&N Filter. RAC cage New team dynamics on new 888R's New Tillet B6's (drivers side on runners) New Schroth Harnesses. Full Westfield SVA kit already applied everywhere, crash pad, nut coves, etc etc Engine runs like a sewing machine and is currently running a "base" map for SVA purposes, but the SCS lads have loaded another map which (with this turbo) should be good for 350 bhp. ECU also comes with traction and a map "switch". No idea on price to be honest. But this is one of a kind that needs IVA and a rolling road tune afterwards. If your interested PM me.

We’re in the process of organising our annual “tour” and looking to see who’s interested in joining in. Very much at the planning stage right now but to make this as “do-able” as possible we plan to go Thursday to Monday so that it’s more of an extended weekend rather than “you want a whole week away with your mates” but you still get 5 full days blatting 😁 At the moment, dates are flexible and will be decided depending on what suits the most folk who wish to come. Possible Thursday dates are June 4th 11th and July 16th 23rd 30th. If you’re interested please post on here within the next couple of days stating if there’s any dates for you within the above list of possibles. The format will be similar to other recent short tours: initial booking of premier inns / travel lodges as far as possible in advance with full cancellation refund option right up to 1pm on the day. This means you can express initial interest even if you’re possibly not going to be able to make it . Once we have an initial list of interested parties and specific dates we can look into costs etc. Currently 7 are signed up for any of the above date options 3 Westfields, 2 Dax, 1x Caterham and a BMW soft-top! We’re an inclusive bunch up here and all are welcome 😁 I reckon we’ll also get a Fury, a Luego and at least one more Westy @KennyP so should be fun! This was last year’s route - this time we intend to head further north up to Ullapool and beyond as we have an extra day in the mix.

OK so the majority of those who expressed an interest (most off-forum) can do Thursday 16th - Mon 20th July. So we now have my mate Paul (who has done dozens of Highland Tours in his Dax) looking into hotels and prices for those dates. Will report back when we know more.

Would be good to see you again Gary Brian, the Borders is our playground - so might see you around regardless 😁

Speak to club sponsors, 3J. Very good service.

interesting thread. I have Willwood Powerlites and have been using Polymatrix E which have been fine but felt there was room for some improvements. Looking at Marto's comments made have a quick look at the rally Design web site and there is some interesting graphs showing the different Polymatrix compounds if they are to be believed. https://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=6597 Sorry slight thread drift and may not be any good for your calipers. Ian

Take a photo and post it.

Nice "Booze Cruise Eurotunnel trip" yesterday. Calais Wine Superstore (others are available) offers a deal where you spend £250 and get a free ferry or Eurotunnel return journey. My order was £250.74 that's 126 bottles of the really good stuff at £1.99 a bottle. Also bought some 5L boxes of red at Carrefour (other stores available) at 9.10 Euros each taking our total to 162 equivalent 70cl bottles. That's our wine sorted for wet January. (Not all shown in this image, white already in the fridge.)

The yellow one looks great.

Oh dear God! Well at least you were moving up, and there's not many that can say that with a Marina!

Ha ha. Westy is SORNed and in pieces. Roof on the Porsche still broken so it’ll be T-shirt weather again. Might even go full @6carjon and get my legs out! 🤢

The strength thing seems to be a really contentious one; the only conclusions I can draw from studying its real world application, (as opposed to what was taught in materials science sections at Uni), is that a Mig/Tig joint seems to be reasonably consistently strong over a narrower failure range, (unless done to an appalling low standard, whereas a brazed joint can have much more of a failure range, depending on the quality of workmanship in the joint. The one thing I know in this instance, (following Dave and his world renowned cycle frames on FB), is that a brazed joint by Dave is likely to be the equal of any, and not something I'd even think about, just like I wouldn't on a brazed Caterham of Ariel Atom chassis from Arch.

In which toy 😉

@Steve (stevel) - Lancashire AO I have just read the story of the accident and can see that you have stepped away from Westfield ownership. Obviously got my work cut out for a few months but once this is back on the road or track you’re more than welcome to have a blast.

Parent’s Marina but at least it was a 1.8 and mechanically brilliant. Wrote it off 3 times on no fault accidents Golf 1500 LS. Brilliant car. Could easily beat the poncy XR3’s from Technical College to the A3 at Tolworth. 1st company car was a Mini Metro then Red Montego then two tone Montego then an Astra as a temp car waiting for a Rover 620i Omega 2ltr Then I got a proper job and 1st Discovery 300 series Green Then self employed but hooked on Discoveries - Gold Series 2 Dark Blue Series 2 Silver Disco 4 now a Range Rover HSE - fantastic car. Nothing will stop it. Snow, water, mud..... It even has a TV and a fridge! Just what you need living in the middle of nowhere.

Hi Gary Its 22nd and 23rd August 2020

I’m Paul Aspden!

I've got a few parts from him, but I think he still has the tub available

My new hobby is playing with wood, I’m currently making Toylander Landrovers with my students at school.

I don't mess about 😎

Here she is