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Afternoon All. So I picked up my first Westfield last weekend. It’s a very clean and tidy car built as a retirement project. See photos. It’s picked up a nickname already in my household. No prizes for guessing. Thank you again to all the people I talked to about what to look for with a first car. I think I’ve made the right choice for me and my intended use. Car is a 2011, 2.0 Zetec Blacktop, Type 9 gbox, Omex, single throttle body, lowered floor and pretty much as standard as you can get otherwise. Couple of things I either was unaware of or not prepared enough for / didn’t notice before buying the car. Keen on any opinions. 1 - only driven it in ‘fresh’ autumnal days but the dials seem to fog up quite quickly. Is this normal? Makes sense that they do but after only 5 miles there’s visible condensation. 2 - cold starts on injection engines. I anticipated a bit of TLC on carb engines but modern ish injection with an ECU I thought would be more robust. A 10degC start after a few days in the garage and it did need the throttle poked and for me to get in and going to be happy idling. I’ve not really got any history from the seller (was a classic car dealer) on the pedigree of the calibration the car is running but a couple of cold starts in a warmish showroom were fine. No issues when driving and warm. 3 - longer down time / storage tips? As weather gets pants it will live in the garage more between uses but anything recommended to make spontaneous outings not disappointing? Other than that the car is everything I hope it would be and more. Thanks Dan

Showing the Cobras up at the Motorist this morning.

Daughter was flicking through my pics last night. She asked me if all Westies get their own colour coded bins?

18psi is the normal most used tyre pressure. If you’re keen on seeing what it’s like to hydroplane, pump them up to 30psi and drive on a wet road and you’ll soon find out what looking at the world sideways through your windscreen is like.* *Do not do this!

She can leave her hat on

Would love to but better not. You wouldn’t want a lumbering Range Rover in the convoy. Besides, Clare will be with me in her finery ready for our meal at The Bentley Brook and apparently she doesn’t want ‘hat hair’ whatever that is!!

Snapped in steel!

Monthly meet for a natter and a pint, usual venue, The Crown Inn Bridport DT6 4AX from 19.30.

I seem to recall another bit of advice on tyres is to inflate them by an extra 50% over winter. Just don't forget to let them down again come spring!

Nice looking Westfield! Regarding the issues with cold start: fuel injection shouldn't struggle with this so it points to a potential issue in the tuning for cold-start enrichment. At colder temperatures the ECU should be adding more fuel until the engine warms up. The colder it is, the more enrichment needed. If it is struggling at 10C then it will likely be even worse once temperatures drop. I'm not familiar with the software for that ECU, but cold start tuning is actually very easy. You do need to ensure the engine is properly cold though so you only get once chance to do it per day. Adjust the enrichment as the engine warms and then extrapolate down to lower temperatures. You may need to adjust the idle valve too. If the software is available cold start tuning is definitely something you can do from home.

It's OK thanks. I think I'm going to replace the clutch basket and everything else in it. I've had 45,000 miles out of it. Just rebuilt and replaced almost everything in the engine might as well keep going and have a new engine..

Have a great day@jonjh1964 @Bigfoot & @Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO

Have a great day @jonjh1964

Yep, see you soon.

Starting to get to the shiny bits of the rebuild now… This afternoon was cutting out the CF dash and test fitting it to the scuttle. White dials looking really good against the CF!! Dash courtesy of @Rednop1

Decided to roll the tax on for another month and needed a break from the kids half term, so quick blast out

Been tinkering with car today. Had a little dash for a picture

Probably my last run of the year in the Westy. Took it up Zig-Zag hill near Shaftesbury (a Dorset version of an alpine pass!), then to Guy Ritchie’s airfield for a nice slice of cake.

I must admit I don't sorn mine, if rather be able to go for a run on an occasional bright day.