Leaderboard

After owning my Westfield Sei with a crossflow engine for three years, and after spending a lot of time thinking, meditating, and stressing over whether I should restore it or upgrade it by swapping the crossflow engine for a Zetec or Sigma, I’ve finally decided to start by restoring and upgrading the chassis, body, interior, and other parts. I’ll also restore the crossflow engine and see if, with all these improvements, the car brings me enough satisfaction. As the car stands today, it has a lot of problems. For starters, there are some fumes coming from I-don’t-know-where, but by the end of a drive, I always need a shower. The braking system isn’t working properly, the pedals have too much play and move around — which feels a bit dangerous. I’m also quite short (1.65 m), and I can’t reach the pedals properly without a cushion. On top of that, the electrical system and switches look old, and the speedometer doesn’t work very well. So as you can see, I have a lot of work ahead of me. So here is my build — or better said, restoration — diary. I’ll start with the electrics, and I’ll try to complete each task as I go, while also doing some things in parallel to shorten the overall timeline of the project.

May 1st, 2023 Spend: £0.00 A lovely spring weather evening called for a spontaneous trip with my son and daughter. Pulled over at Althorp estate and got few nice pictures. May 11th, 2023 Spend: £270.00 After I replaced my front wishbones I knew I needed the wheel alignment checked and so I booked it in with Northampton Motorsport. Was very surprised to learn that the car only weighs 680Kg. I expected it to be a lot more given the size of the engine. May 13th, 2023 Spend: £0.00 Attended the Westfield-Chesil factory open day. A great turnout at the new facilities in Bicester. May 23rd, 2023 Spend: £0.00 It's the Annual National Drive your Westfield to Work Day(Week) and as the organiser I obviously had no choice but to visit the office. However, on the way back, about 12 miles before reaching home I noticed my right front cycle wing dancing around. As it turns out, the cycle wing stay had broken off. I managed to limp home and drop the thing off at Precision Welding who has done lots of bits for me in the past May 27th, 2023 Spend: £15.00 Cycle wing stay repaired, painted and fitted again May 28th, 2023 Spend: £0.00 Since having the alignment done, my steering wheel was no longer straight when going in a straight line. But as the boss was tight fitting, I had to fabricate a steering wheel puller. This was my first time using the welder I got for my birthday 2 years ago and after practising a few lines, I was confident enough to start. It's not the prettiest of welds, but it has worked a treat, and the steering wheel is back on straight. Last month: £ 5102.23 This month: £ 285.00 ----------+ Total: £ 5387.23

This is the old roll bar, time to go.... old roll bar removed and holes made in bodywork for rear stays: MSA bar arrived and ready to fit :-) roll bar fitted easy compared to the real one!