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Trying to keep up the progress since Christmas I’ve been in talks with a couple of people about both the roll bar fabrication and also a couple of jobs I will need doing in the engine. I’m prioritising pulling together the parts needed for this as the engine gearbox and chassis work are the first three that need to be completed before I can reassemble the car. It’s such a tight fit in the engine bay that I need to fit these first and then assemble everything else around them. the latest job completed is the inlet manifold. I’d made a mock up using SU’s for hen I gas the exhaust fabricated but after some thought and a few conversations with race organisers I’m switching back to Weber’s for ease and simplicity. The car was run with both over the years and series regulations require me to run the car in a period specification so It was a choice between either twin 1-1/2” SU HS4’s or a single Weber Carburetor. When I bought the car it was fitted with the Weber on a crude manifold. This was a prototype but far from ideal and despite the tubes having a reasonable diameter the hose joiners reduces this to little over an inch. This made its way to the bin quite soon after I got the car so it’s time for something better. There was no chance of getting anything off the shelf since the engine orientation is so different to the Hillman imp so I had to start from scratch and given the problems I’m having getting parts made right now and looking to save a bit of money I thought I’d have a go myself. First off we start with a drawing and then onto fabrication. my welding skills are slowly getting better but cosmetically still not perfect, but luckily most were to be dressed smooth any how. Just a coat of paint needed now.

Hi Guys Just joined back up having been away for a good while. Sadly my westie has not seen the light of day for a few years now following on from a 'quick rewire and some small improvements! As ever things got deeper and deeper until i just ran out of steam. Fast forward past a whole bunch of getting nowhere fast and my enthusiasm has returned! I hope to have it back on the road this year. Still plenty to do but i'm really enjoying it now. Nice to be back at it. Cheers Rich

Having been a long time lurker I thought it about time I joined up. I am somewhat ashamed (given I have never joined) to say I have had the car for 13 years so far and have virtually rebuilt the whole thing in that time. I have always been into odd British sports cars and spent 12 years rallying , hillclimbing and sprinting an old Triumph Spitfire, which although a dreadful car to have started with as a competition car , was after a while quite good. I got the Westy some years after retiring from racing as it was always the type of car I could never beat if we ending up in the same class. A five minute test drive told me why this was !!!. Its a 1994 SE Narrow body, with the mighty crossflow, which was rebuilt by me about 3 years ago and now goes pretty well. I have recently added clamshell wings as having rebuilt the car with the old school look the wings were the last thing to complete the appearance I was after. Many of the mods and add on's won't be to everyones taste but I like it. I have just tried to join up as a paid member and followed all the paypal stuff checking out as a guest, but because I don't own a mobile phone it wont let me proceed with the purchase because it does not recognize the home phone number ( even when you choose the home number option). I have tried many times in the past with other purchases and this isn't the first time I have come across this issue.. Is there another way of inputting my card details away from paypal please?. I know not having a mobile these days is a bit odd, but I just do not want one. I do have lots of pics, but given its 13 years worth I will have to sort them out a bit -and get them to the 500k file limit. Richard.

Hi Andrew, Yes mine was a MK3, i got it needing a full resto which was done and did the car show scene for some years, got bored of standing about in fields so stripped it down again and went racing with it. Took many years to get the rear suspension to work properly, extra radius arms was one well worth mod, as well as altering the position of the spring mounting within the uprights. I dont have many pics as my racing days was pre - internet and digital cameras, I do have one pic I bought from an event photographer which hangs on my wall seen below. All bodywork was eventually swapped for my own fibreglass panels, although the bonnet and GT roof was the Ashley conversion from back in the day. Used to run 62 odd seconds at Loton which is where the pic was taken... although I see now you cant take the line I did in 1997, cany recall the corner name, but the 90 left before Triangle corner. Richard

I checked and Rover.Laser.Pushy is a real what3words location (near Alice Springs, in the land down under 🙃). Somewhat humorously, it sounds like my original answer when I do my Sean Connery impersonation. 😬

Having just advertised my SEi in the for sale section, I'm delighted to say that it didn't take long before I was contacted by three different members regarding buying the car. The deal looks to be going through this week. Great! However, as a warning to members selling cars/parts, this morning I get an e-mail from an anonymous person in France (their e-mail was tagged 'Envoyé de mon iPhone', which is a bit of a giveaway, although it could be from one of France's former African territories, of course!) offering to send me £500 immediately and then offering me DOUBLE what I had the car advertised for. No questions about the vehicle, no request for more photos, no discussion. The e-mail address ended in 'earlsclassics.com' but when you visit that site, although it purports to be a classic car dealers, the website is little more than a template page, with no details, no phone number, etc, and an address that turns out to be an incomplete provincial industrial development. So, rather than giving away bank details, address, phone number etc, I'll do business for 'less' money with a WSCC member in the UK, thanks...

Thank you. Here is a pic, quite an old one now, circa 2015. You will have to imagine swept wings and a rear exit exhaust, since the weather hasn't been good enough to photo the car outside.

Easy. Rover laser nunney... what3words to Scott's location! P.S. nunney was substituted... it was another name for a cat (I guess it might be rude depending on the context). Its a good job finding Scott's location is not a matter of life and death!

At this rate you will make a professional screeder, as with most things it is worth a little extra time and effort to properly prepare, the end results will be great. I laid my garage floor over 20 years ago, although had to tile the mid section for the wife( not buried under, which she can confirm😨) and it is still looking good.

These scams have been around for donkeys years. I sold my old MkII Escort in the early 00's when the internet was young. The fella posted his £5000 cheque for my beaten up rustbucket £500 Escort made out to my agent, a Mr Hugh G. Rection. Also asked for proof of ID by holding up a sign with the date and a code word, and a flipflop on his head. It was fun winding scam artists up back in the day. If something on the internet appears too good to be true, it probably is.

Progress. Dash is half cut to fit now, but i am pleased to say the carbon bonnet it on with aerocatch fittings. I need to lift the carbon scuttle a touch to tighten the bonnet down a bit but i am getting there now! Just need OMEX to post me my ECU back!

Could do with a bit of a wash

Following @Snags suggestion of cutting the floor back to a square edge, I got myself a diamond grinding cup this afternoon. Not having used one before I was a bit nervous of how it would cut, but I need not have worried as it was very controllable. I did have to take the guard off the grinder to use it, but thats no big bother. I then set to with a spirit level and marked out where a 5mm gap appeared by rolling a 5mm drill bit about under the level. Where it snagged, I drew a mark and carried on across the floor in 6" steps. Having spoken Instarmac's tech team, they also said I could use the HD Top down to 3mm over the existing layer. This may not sound like much difference, at only 2mm less, but it means that I only had to cut back a relatively tiny amount of the existing layer due to the exposed step in the floor. So what I feared would be a massive ballache was only 45 mins work in the end! The cut back section was then given its first coat of primer in anticipation of laying the correcting layer tomorrow.

Carcoon needs higher pressure for winter...

Tried a few on that list. If I was in the market it'd be an M240i. Some of them have had the LSD specc'd by the original buyer but not many. I'd definitely be fitting a Quaiffe ATB to the back of a non-slippy enriched version and if that is what ends up being purchased, I'd factor that in right at the start of any price negotiations. My rationale is the M240 is (in my head) a post-modern Mk2 Escort...

Thank you Mark, much appreciated. All done and signed up. Cheers Rich

Have booked with msv..had a credit to use up..and it gives me a target to get the car back on track by then..ready for a bright hot march spring day!

Ahh, Pushy Galore!

Count me in dude 😁

Sorry, is this to eat the Coy, or look at them?

Well you already knew how sad I am!

General rule is to send a query via the platform you are advertising on(not by your emal), usually as you say they are automated and cannot handle the reply, if they do not answer your query they are not bonafide. Normal rule applies "if it sounds to good to be true it probably is false".

Noted and done! As a journalist/editor, my e-mail is pretty much in the public domain, but not too bothered as I can block messages easily. However, I'm amazed that people are still trying this on these days. But I guess if they automatically send out several thousand such 'offers' at the click of a mouse, then maybe, just maybe, one or two people might fall for it. As for returning to the fold, I'd love another Westy at some point in the future. Having grown up in the 1960s when Lotus 7s were the bees-knees, I have always had a hankering for one. Well, genuine Sevens are out of my price range, and Westies are far better value than Caterhams (how to start a war on Facebook...). So let's see what the future holds!

& light!

Im not a big fan of carbon, but that looks great!

The filter had a good wash out before starting it up to move it. Can a car get silicosis?

Hi all, Thanks for all the comments and feedback. Look like there's quite a few who are keen to do something along these lines and so I will plan to get something in the diary as soon as the restrictions allow - so watch this space. I see that a lot of the other ares are having virtual meets via Teams or similar. Is this something that you think that we should have a bash at? If there's any interest then I'm happy to set something up for an evening over a beer? Better than watching more repeats on Dave! Let me know what you think and we'll go from there. Thanks, W

Think I'm set on the M2. Had a personal video viewing on the Yaris and I'm not convinced. The Porsche is too high risk. If I went for the M240i I'd want the LSD and so the M2 comes with the diff, better brakes, better suspension and I love the look of it! Negotiations start this week!

We have a decent number of track day regulars. Except the southerners, who only do Snetterton.

Jeez and they let me do it! 🤣

Couldn't resist it....🤣🤣

Just a thought. Given club expenditure will have been far less than anticipated this year, why can the club not donate 2k (of membership money) to the charity?

Hi guys, I’m after/found another engine package (fireblade)so I’m seeing if there is any interest in my current engine. Toyota 4age 20v blacktop 1600cc rebuilt in 2016 by myself, 185bhp (NH motorsport mapped) pistons, rods etc, I have a full spec written down with recipes. Quaife type e alloy cased box with hot rod ratios, noisy in 2nd (bearing?) it runs fine. 2 spare engines, another blacktop 20v but unknown condition, and a silvertop 20v which used to be in the car, 159bhp. Omex 600 with all wiring. Spare starter motors, alternators and any other part that’s in the garage related to these engines! 185bhp engine is still in car and can be heard/seen running. Im thinking in the region of £3000-£3500, I can upload pics if needed.

Booked & sleeping on @Mole field.