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This thread's gone a bit quiet, so here's a cutaway

I’ve built and run a Sport 250 with standard 2L Ecoboost.(252 bhp, 270 ft lbs). Been on the road some 2 1/2 years and covered 9.5k fun filled miles. As Dave says the engine is mated to a Mazda gearbox and diff. i enjoy driving it, it’s a relaxed tourer with plenty of grunt two up plus luggage, or fun for “spirited” driving or on track. With the torque available your very rarely “in the wrong gear” IYSWIM. As per Mr Stoats comments the 2L Ecoboost is certainly not a high revving engine (in standard form anyway!), it does provide considerable torque from low revs (circa2k), and max power in the region of 5.5k. The issue of cooling when on track is currently a concern myself and some other 250 owners have. However, on the road in this country I’ve found it’s ok to date. However IMHO it can be a propel a Website rapidly once you get used to it, the limiting feature in my case is driver ability/self preservation! From my experience of group runs, there’s no such thing as a slow Westie, irrespective of “bar talk” power figures. We’ve an Xl in our area powered by a venerable (admittedly well tweaked) A series engine that takes some keeping up with in cars with in the region of twice the power! WF now sell starter kits for Sport 250 as well as others. Could be a way to get a reinforced chassis to suit whatever “lump” you decide to fit. In summary, I’m pleased with my choice of car/power unit, but there are a host of their options available. Think a lot depends on whether you want power “out of the box”, or prefer to “tinker” to achieve what you think you want.

This is spot on, as you can see from my previous post I am obsessed by revs, compliance and temperature control. I am consciously biased in this direction and unconsciously biased to creating a really usable reliable car at the expense of maximum power. It would really annoy me if I only had five laps in the car before cool down is required, others seem fine with this. So work out what you want from the car and seek out like minded members of the forum for advice.

One note of caution, well, sensibility, really, when it comes to advise! It’s always worth remembering, that someone’s advice will often tell you more about them and how they use their car(s) than anything else. If that’s similar to how you will, fantastic, their advice will work well for you. If not, then factor in how much what they’re saying may be quite unconsciously biased away from what will actually suit you.

One thing to remember is that the while the turbo engines offer a lot of grunt they do this in very undramatic fashion. I will be hated by the Ecoboost 2.0 fans here, but I gave though to replacing my C20XE with one and my conclusion is in standard form it drives like a diesel. Flat torque and power dropping off in the 5000 RPM range. While my C20XE is feeble torque wise with the modifications I have it loves revs, but most of all it shrieks and howls with this making me smile. In short it is much more of an spectacle to use hard as opposed to the Ecoboost. @Dommo's Mazda setup would be my choice as the turbo charger has not got in the way of having a the ability to rev and as such is a brilliant compromise if power is your target. As above these cars are not all about the power, go have a go in several variants before making a decisions. Also if you want to do long stints on track you need to consider cooling and the more power you make the more heat you have to deal with. My car for example will empty a tank of fuel on track, even on a 30 degree summers day, with all temperatures and pressures stable. But we are all different and opposing approaches are allowed 😄 With reference to comfort you can also run very complaint suspension on these even on track, you can see this on AdamR's videos where on his very (very) track focused machine soaks up bumps while staying flat and does not patter patter like most 'sporty' road cars. I mention this to try and illustrate that unlike the road cars of today you do not need monster power and girders for dampers to have a fun and hugely rapid machine.

@the stoat I have to agree with you, I came from 12,000rpm with low torque to the ecoboost and it was massive difference in engine characteristics. It took a lot of getting used to and i do miss living life in the max rpm band but after some clever mapping and after getting used to the ecoboost characteristics the Torque out of the corners is totally addictive (so are the wooshy twirrly turbo noises) Id say that light revvy high RPM engines suit a 7 the most Given the choice id possibly go for a mega S2000, these must be a good all-rounder (ive never been in one)

I agree about bias on views, every Westfield I've seen is different from the next, engines, gearbox ratios, LSD's, wide track or not, damper and spring rates, weights, tyres etc. It just depends on what you use it for and what your own tastes are, fast road, touring or track (or a combination!). My first westie (a 2.0 blacktop on twin 45's with 160 bhp) was massively more dramatic to drive than my S2000. Due to its setup it wouldn't do anything below 3000 revs then go bananas as the diff gearing was so short. It was easy to spin the rears in the dry in 3rd gear... In the wet it was sideways more often than not! My S2000 on the other hand will pull 6th from 30mph without hesitation and, despite being almost 50% more powerful and 100kg heavier, has loads more traction and lateral grip. I was almost dissapointed initially due to it being so bl**** competent! Now I'm getting used to it, it's ability to cover ground and suck in the horizon is epic, but mine is predominantly used for the road rather than track.

I glad i'm not the only one, people keep spewing out this media derived nonsense about Swedens approach being better, etc, etc, blah, blah, but never actually presenting the very obvious reasons why. It's not helping the situation and it's causing people to think it's ok to act in defiance of the lockdown, which in turn just drags the whole thing out for longer than needed.....

Absolutely. I had a ride in a Lotus Exige and it was a spine snappingly harsh ride. My Westy by comparison was like a limo - and despite having a lot less power felt much quicker.

I'm lucky enough to have a Mega S2000 and a 1.6 Sigma powered Westfield. Polar opposites. The Sigmas full engine and gearbox probably weigh less than the S2000 engine alone. The Honda gearbox weighs a lot more than the Fords 'box, indeed, it's almost half the weight of the Sigma engine! Such things make a colossal difference to the feel of the cars on the road. The Sigma is half the power of the Honda car, but on tight twisty roads an S2000 will have to work damned hard to keep up. Yet on a fast circuit, the Honda will power away on the straights, and hold it on the bends.

The spacer is made on one of our 3D printers.

Yes me too if only to see who has the fullest fridge of beer and wine 😁

Firstly sorry for the long post: Folks let’s not complicate this. The reason for the poll is several fold but is mainly just to gauge how people feel about competing this year should lockdown be lifted. Im sure many of us can’t wait to get out on track again, but we also have to consider that some people may feel differently and it’s too late in the season to compete in a full championship due to other commitments such as self employed businesses catching up on lost work, or others may have a lack of finance due to being furloughed etc etc and won’t turn out at all this year, so this is what we are trying to gauge. Firstly the immediate concern is the Blyton Weekend as clearly there is financial commitments for club in relation to it. We are obviously dependant on MSUK resuming permits in order for Motorsport to take place but even if they do, we don’t know if officials, medical and breakdown crews will still be available, ( or willing) without which we can’t tun. After all it’s no use committing to running the Sprint event if we have too few entries for the reasons above. The track day is an important part of the weekend for members and the speed series drivers as has been pointed out as many of our volunteers attend the track day the day before, but things are that odd at the moment the track day could go ahead and not the sprint or vice versa..... who knows. Let’s hope it both....before we all go stir crazy 😝.We will no doubt run a further survey once we have a better idea what’s happening. Of course IF we do run the sprint we will always be grateful to anyone who is willing to help out with marshalling etc etc especially if they have attended the track day the day before and are making a weekend of it. The purpose of the poll of registered competitors is also to gauge whether we are going to have a meaningful championship going forward, with plenty of people turning out for the remaining rounds as this obviously has an impact on the awards do at the end of the year. There is a lot of uncertainty at the moment and I’m aware that Terry is in contact with other clubs to see what their plans are as this also affects our championship too. If we can get an idea how many people will be turning out this year, this can be fed back to the other clubs as they are in a similar position to ourselves. So if you are a registered contender please complete the survey. If you are not then please feel free to indicate whether you will be attending any of the speed series rounds either for a track day, to volunteer, or even just to spectate. Thank you and stay safe.. Mark Anson SSOT.

He has just done a couple of bits for me. My cam cover had been done before but was beginning to look like a crackle finish. He explained it hadn’t been done properly. He baked it to remove the oil. Then primer coat, colour coat and finally clear glaze. Now looks brilliant. Can thoroughly recommend him. He is still open. You can post it to him and he posts it back.

I had to ask how they were supposed to fit together and quick as a flash a set of adaptors turned up from @Westfield Parts Dept or Ian.

Apart from swapping the word “yellow” for “red” (and 2018 for 2014) - I could have easily written the above post!

It's a very valid point - as a relative newbie (bought my Westie in April 2018), I've looked at many other Westies and thought "...don't like that..." For example, I have an aeroscreen - I've sat in a few cars with a windscreen and wondered why it was worth bothering (especially when I hear stories of needing wipers on both sides of the glass when it rains...) I've seen cars with "plush" interiors - doors, roof, carpets, heaters, even a stereo(!) Mine is completely stripped out - doesn't even have interior side panels to the tub. I've sat in cars with soft, squishy seats - I prefer my composite seats with very minimal padding I've seen cars with chrome bits - I much prefer powder-coated black. I've seen cars in most of the colours of the rainbow - I prefer my very un-subtle Chrome Yellow Because of the infinite "customisability" of Westies, your choice of car will be very subjective, but still achievable. Even if you want something a bit left-field, you;ll probably be able to make it work, as long as you have the time, patience and money. Welcome to a whole new world of individuality, backed up by one the very best online communties I've ever come across

Been streaming Ist Ist 'Architecture' album while I work today so thought I'd accost you again, with another track...

Another excellent “in a nutshell” comment - and one that explains why so many of us love our cars!

That powder coat dude in shropshire is worth knowing about. I'd be sure to use him if & when I need it.

Factory cars now have Mazda rear diffs, rather than Ford, this includes diffs supplied for kits as well. Diffs and gearboxes can be supplied new by Westfield, to comply with getting a brand new age related number plate. (Ecoboost engines can also be supplied new, if required).

A reminder for this weeks virtual meet!

Alas, that’s part of the problem of specialising with the basic car, and chasing bigger power figures. Etc. The Westfield Mega S2000/Sport 250 chassis uses Westfields widest transmission tunnel design in order to fit the physically big gearboxes of higher power engines. It was originally designed for the Ford T5 box, in a slightly different chassis, and used with Cosworth (Sierra) engines, V8’s etc, before being incorporated into what was originally the S2000 chassis, (which has a huge gearbox). A side effect of this, is that the drivers side of the cockpit, at the footwell end, is the narrowest of any modern Westfield. As others have said, you have to watch the higher power thing, as all the chassis and peripherals bing beefed up really hits the overall weight, which in turn, also starts bringing the power to weigh ratio back down. Just something you have to factor in.

Post-lockdown return to work travel cartoon from Matt in The Telegraph.

Comparing Sweden with the UK is a difficult thing.... Sweden is twice the size of the UK with just 15% of the population, they are naturally more "socially distanced" than we are

Not really a recent photo.. but captures the lock down mood.. 😞

Was over 11 years ago but if it helps.... 🤣