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FINALLY. After shielding since mid-March I could wait no more. Blat in the hot sun to a country pub, a big burger and a pint of Peroni in the pub garden, just like normal. So good to once more drive my gorgeous baby and stretch her legs, to grin like a loon and feel human, even if it was technically two days early (screw it). Happy days that I wondered if I’d ever see again.

A couple of weeks ago over a (socially distanced) beer with a neighbour of ours he was moaning about the price of the servicing of his wife's Q3, turns out they had quoted 600 odd quid to replace 2 front wishbone bushes . Thats just the bushes in their housings, not complete arms. Anyhow after nearly choking on said beer I suggested he'd be insane to pay that. Bring it over and I'll change them and he could owe me a beer. In the end we decided to go for 2 full arms so all the bushes and ball joints all from lemforder for less than 220 quid. I recieved a box of beer as reward and was very happy at that. However they went one step further and bought me another gift which I thought very thoughtful and was well chuffed with, which is an achievement as my Mrs says im the worse person to buy gifts for.

A huge thank you to @Andy Banks , our freshly retired and illustrious former Chairman, for all your hard work on behalf of the club. You’ve done a top class job in both good times and bad, especially during this worldwide crisis. We also remember your sterling work before that and famously as the man who saved Stoneleigh at short notice and improved it several fold. Well done mate 👍👏 I hope you’ve found the experience to be as enjoyable and rewarding as I did, and I look forward to sharing a few jars, stories and laughs with you at Stoneleigh next year. 🍺🍺 Thanks as well to @John Dolan - Chairman for stepping forward to take on the mantle of Chairman. I know you’ll join me in agreeing that he’ll do a great job for us all and we look forward to the future - well done, sir. Best of luck to you! Just think - soon you’ll look just as handsome and distinguished as Andy and I (recent photo below):

Had my CXRs painted, so popped out to check they still work.

An interesting day today. Started well with some progress on the project to make another ignition key that will actually start the car. If you recall, I had one key with the immobiliser transponder and a 'valet key'. So, after a slightly false start, I extracted the contents of the EEPROM in the immobiliser module and passed it to the chap doing the work. He was able to extract the 'emergency code' from this data and using a rather arcane procedure on the car, I was able to input this code and get it to start...with the valet key. This is great news because it confirms the data extraction was correct, and also gives me the emergency code that I didn't have before. Never know, it might come in handy one day? Fiddled and faffed with a few small jobs then came to a what the devil? moment. I was looking at the front caliper hydraulic lines with a view to making them more secure where they bolt on. The OEM lines have a stub sticking out that locates in a plain hole in the caliper body to prevent rotation and the banjo bolt working loose. First step was to tap the plain hole and insert an M6 helicoil. Drill hole to right size for tap. Check...only as I was drilling, there was a weird buzzing kind of noise coming from the front of the car. Curious... Did the other side and it was worse. Prodding, poking, tapping etc and it got worse and worse. Then I realised it was coming from the relay unit at the front and most of the noise was coming from the horn compressor. By dint of some percussive detection, it seemed most sensitive around the main battery cable junction/megafuse block. Inspected that, nope, all solid. Then the horn blasted out so I removed the fuse to keep it quiet. Then I realised it was only the horn relay chattering.....and found the culprit. I'd left the horn push wire very close to the rim of the steering wheel and the smallest vibration was allowing it to make contact and buzz the relay. As I say, what the devil?? Anyhoo, 'fixed' that problem. Back to more important stuff, I decided I needed the wheels on and the car on the floor so I can finally sort out the string box. Got as far as getting the car on it's wheels, so wheeled it outside and fired it up. Treated the neighbours to a few minutes of the pitter-patter of tiny pistons I even managed to drive it back into the garage. Only snag is the clutch - had to adjust the pedal as I wasn't getting enough travel for it to disengage properly. Puzzled by that at the moment - I am using the OEM slave, and the master is the same size as OEM, but it's possible the pedal ratio is different, but I now have no way to check that and I didn't think to do so when I did have the Alfa pedals to hand. May have to get a larger master. It does feel rather light, so it might be as simple as that. I do have the spec for slave travel so will check that first. Could be as simple as just bedding in a wee bit. String box tomorrow. Probably! Front ride height is high, rear is low, so those are easy wins. The rest, not so much. One really odd thing...from the front, it looks as if the front track is massively bigger than the rear. It isn't. Presume it's the tapering nose that creates the illusion. Get a better idea once all the body parts are on I guess. Given it now drives, I suppose it is technically a car.

No pics, no problem 😉 - also a video from my visit at the weekend: I don’t need to tell everyone how cool this thing obviously is, and the standard of finish is fantastic, can’t wait to see this finished! And those wheels

Today in the North Yorkshire Moors.

Another day of fiddling and time wasting, although I did manage to get the exhaust on and fire it up again. The phone only seems to have captured the mechanical sounds, not the exhaust note...which is actually pretty good. You can certainly tell it's running an OEM ECU with DBW, the throttle response is way more sluggish than it could be. I'll try it again when I have the 'Sport Throttle Response' button reconnected (and pressed in). TBH, I'm not sure why I even bothered with a switch, I could have just wired it permanently ON...but thought it wise to have the choice. A still image of the final assembly.

After all the hours I spent making the body panels, they are getting used!! Still plodding away at all the fiddly bits around the engine & gearbox. Wasted ages today trying to track down some parts from the gear linkage that I had put somewhere 'safe'.... Anyway, it's coming along. Cooling system now almost finished, just the header tank to put back on then I can fill it up again and spend a week or two chasing leaks like last time. Clutch hydraulic system completed, filled with fluid and bled. Gear linkage completed and adjusted. Assorted bits & bobs put back on the engine around PCV and main intake areas. Wiring to engine put back and dressed (as well as I'm able). The gear linkage is from LB Specialist Cars (Stratos replica manufacturer). Last time I did this task I bought a DIY conversion from a mate that used the original Alfa cable mechanism, but modified to face the other way, and a modified MR2 gearstick. It worked fine and was cleverly done, but took a lot of tinkering, particularly as I wanted to add a reverse lockout to it. This time I just cheated and bought a known-good system. It uses the Alfa gearstick and bolts straight on to the gearbox. We thought the cables for the LBSC Stratos would have fitted too, but they turned out to be a wee bit long so LBSC made me custom ones. Craig at LBSC has been a huge help during this build - he designed the engine mounting support structure layout for me using his stock Alfa V6 engine mounts and incorporated the forward suspension pickup points for the lower arms into them for me too, then supplied laser cut parts so I just had to glue it all together. Part of the mount is visible in the picture below, the bottom left corner of the triangle. Engine now complete bar the exhaust and coolant header tank. Jobs for tomorrow. If I didn't already know there is room for the rear suspension, I'd be panicking about now.... That said, it really is quite snug.

Hello all, after much debate and almost purchasing a built car this week, through fate and slight impulse whist sat in the North Sea (Working) I thought sod it, Iam 40 next year. Let’s bite the bullet and build a Westfield, so I dropped Simon an email and sent over my deposit!... A mixture of very excited, and what have I done feelings are flying around my head this morning. I work week on week off, so have the time to commit to it. My dad has one too which I love working on and my lad is an apprentice mechanic, I love all things petrol so we should hopefully be ok!! 🤞🏼 Anyway, 12 weeks to prepare before collection and a tour of the factory. I will be sorting the garage and reading lots of your build diaries, also I thought I’d start my own. I have Module 1 and 2 on order. Then later on will get the last module to complete. I will share my progress along the way

New top bracket made in mild steel with radi in the corners- Steel bush pressed into Alternator lug All bolted back together and absolutely no rock on alternator in bottom bracket. Top bracket will removed and given a coat of paint after road testing

first problem free run out this year, didnt think to stop to get a photo with better background as i was enjoying it too much

Polishing and waxing complete. Even swept the garage out. Come on dvsa I'm itching to get out to play.

As you may well recall my father passed away late March after contracting COVID 19. Today I uncovered his 1957 Daimler Conquest Century and afternoon a bit of fiddling and fettling I got it running. Sounded really sweet once warmed up.

A few from the other night, her first every registered blat.

Woke the neighbours at 5.15 this morning but the drive throughout North Wales was so worth it. One of those mornings where everything was just perfect, weather, twisty B roads, very few cars about, westfield running sweet.... 150 miles then back home for breakfast at 9. The cloud just visible above the first hill was very dense and completely covering Bala lake. Dropping down into Bala I needed headlights and wipers as visibility was down to about 30 feet. Soon climbed back into the sun on the far side.... This is what a Summers morning is all about.

Loaded onto trailer ready for journey back home, Outside Barony Castle Hotel after great weekend on Lowlands Mystery Tour, over 200 miles covered yesterday, thoroughly recommend this event, hopefully another one next year.

As a young man I was a professional cyclist and I've earned my living all my adult life in the bike business. I ride nearly everyday. The number of serious incidents I've personally experienced over the decades is shocking....some are due to people just not paying attention (the advent of the cell phone has made my life notably more dangerous) and some are due to outright aggression on the part of the driver. At the same time I've seen absolutely awful behavior from cyclists....riding with complete indifference to others around them. Riding 3-4 abreast around blind corners just inviting issues from drivers coming up from behind. Purposely being in the way to exert their 'rights' to use the road. There are plenty of a-holes on bikes just as there are in cars. And that's my point - a certain number of people are just jerks and some of them drive and some of them ride bikes and some do both. In the end it's the speed differential between the two that highlights the issues. If I'm out for a blat and there's a jerk in front of me in a car I'll almost never notice it as he's moving at about the same speed....but a jerk cyclist will be easy to spot as you come up on him. What's interesting to me is that I know some cyclists who are road hogging jerks while on bikes and then they get in a car and crowd and scream at riders who they feel are in their way. What's the common denominator here? In the end it all boils down to being respectful of other road users regardless of the machine they are using. As the years have gone by I've seen this respect deteriorate in a big way. We just don't give a damn about other people the way we used to to the point where we resent others merely existing and being on the same road. It's as if we feel something is being taken from us personally if others are allowed to enjoy the same space. It's not a zero-sum game where if others enjoy the road that I'm going to lose my enjoyment. It's also not a matter of skill or education. All drivers go through real training (unless you are in the USA where all you need to do to get a driver's license is fog a mirror) and there are plenty of bad drivers out there. It's a matter or respect and courtesy toward others from both drivers and riders. I would ask that drivers look at the rider as their kid or spouse and you'll find that giving them a bit or room will come easy....and I ask that cyclist think of every driver as a person on their way to the hospital with a medical emergency. Cut each other some slack....give others some consideration and space. No one 'owns' the road and has more right to use it. It's a public resource. Be nice to other people. Treat others as you'd like to be treated and don't be 'that guy'. Thanks for reading. dave

I recently received this picture of my SEiGHT from John Eales of JE Developments, from when he raced it with its 5.2 lt. engine back in the day. Looks like fun.

Summer sunshine and finally unSORN....

Winnats pass today what a great day to be driving round the peak district. Out with my daughter we had a brilliant day and yes that is a 2CV actually making it up Winnats pass.

Still no bodywork...work. More furtling. Funny how I forget all the small jobs that still need doing.... Had to modify a box spanner in order to be able to adjust the headlamps after they are wired up, so that took a wee while. Then I made a couple of 'lumps' (forgive the technical term) to prevent the banjos rotating on the front calipers. Then I felt an urgent need to fit the rear panels. No idea why, just did. The light units are fog & reverse. Stop, tail, indicators and reflectors live on the arches. I wanted to put all the lights on this rear panel but they wouldn't meet the IVA requirements if I did - too far from outer edge. Speaking of IVA requirements.... can anyone tell me definitively if it's OK to have main and dip filaments lit at the same time (regulations wise)? I know it's not ideal for bulb life. Only I didn't realise until right now that the donor Alfa didn't switch off dip with main. I can modify it if needed, but would rather avoid that if I can. I'm hoping the numberplate lamp will be OK too. No direct light visible from behind, but some indirect. Could always print a shroud, or another version of the bracket to hold it at a more acute angle than at present.

I know - that surprised me. Apparently it’s only motorhomes and caravans as they have their own loos and showers? But we did see tents on the beach front at Applecross - maybe they were “day tents” - anyway sorry to divert the thread so here’s another pic (mine’s in there honest!)

Decided to make the car a bit different with some strips. Work carried out by the talented Mr Pid with a bit of help from me. I always like the colours of the Jordon F1 cars. So this is why chose this colour scheme.

The joys of sticking a private plate on mean that whilst I don’t have the physical V5 yet, an online check shows the car is registered and taxed!!!!!! Plates have been on for a while now so it was just a quick call to @A-Plan Insurance THATCHAM to swap it onto a road policy under its new reg and it’s good to hit the road. Except I can’t as I have the kids today!!! Oh well maybe tonight it will get it’s first run out which gives me the afternoon to triple check it all.

What a day......!!!!

High in the hills looking down on lockdown land 😭😭😭.

Evening chippie run out to Mersea Island with @Kevin (Mr T) and Jim @Fat Thor

As a way to pass some time during my furlough, I have invested in some cutting and pressing gear, along with teaching myself how to use open source photo editors and illustrators. First result, my "Pre-Lit Pop Art" tee shirt.

It has been much, much, much too long since I have made any progress on the rebuild of my Dad's beloved Wezzie. I can now however let you all know that the rebuild is 100% underway. I have pennies ( the missus believes ) to not only get it started but hopefully see it finished. With the help of a couple friends and my Dad's friend, whom helped him build it originally we have her fully stripped and of to the chassis shop. Here are some pics of the strip down. My Dad had her running dual fuel with an LPG tank here which was amongst the first to come out. It was certainly very tight in there, so time to get the gearbox decoupled ready to lift the engine. Luckily we have an overhead crane in the shop to help with the heavy lifting With the engine and box free we could move onto the wiring harness and all the interior. With no immediate plans in place for getting the chassis straightened, we decided to leave the rear axle on so that we could wheel round the shop should it be in the way. As you can see the damage to the chassis is quite extensive. Since this picture was taken we have removed the rear end and taken it for repair of which I'm hoping to have some pictures of tonight. Whilst it is away for repair I have been learning what I can from the forum and ordering parts ready for the rebuild. So far I have ordered new wishbones, bushes, fasteners, ball joints and nose cone from Westfield, and I've managed to pick up replacement headlights, brake master cylinder and shocks from Ebay. My next plan is to go down the workshop to clean and organise all the parts I removed ready for installation. I can't say how excited and relieved I am to finally have this underway, despite the lack in progress since my last post, it has always been in the back of my mind itching away my sanity. I hope you all reading and following my progress. See you back on the road soon 😄

Just talking to Jonathan who has a Westfield Pre Lit. It used to have a trusty crossflow but many years ago he put iwhat he believes was the very first blackbird engine in a Westy. Possibly the first bike engine? Not sure. Amazingly this car has over 100,000 miles on it! His first blackbird engine did 70,000 miles including tours of the alps many times over. So for those who think our cars don’t do long miles or that bike engines can’t tour - or that blackbird engines don’t last - here’s proof!

From my other post but after the conversion from carbs to fuel injection the last job was a session at NMS. 196horses with about 176 at the wheels. Pleased with that. Just need to fix a breather issue with the fuel tank and she'll be ready for some real fun.

I shall sign this thread off with a short report on the "holiday". Arrived and loaded the boat, no requirement to teach me how to drive it after the question "driven a boat before?".... "errr yeah, several the largest being 4500 ton submarines" We pottered off and before long the mother in law says "the dog needs to have a walk", "where are we?", "can you lift the dog on/off" "where are we now" and repeat. First night, the domestic water pump that was situated under our bed ran continuously....... until I found the fuse, that was then followed at regular intervals through the night with "can you switch the water on" after every visit to the loo..... and they not once managed to arrange a pee at the same time. "can you lift the dog on/off" Then the shower hose in our bathroom fell apart and got stuck in its storage tube, this rendered it entirely useful for washing hands but not at all useful for having a shower. "can you lift the dog on/off" I forget the specifics due to self medicating with lashings of beer, wine and spirits but after a day or two of not seeing any town or village that required more than 10 minutes to explore, I got the "is there anywhere to walk about and sight see/shop/go to the pub?", so I pointed the boat at Great Yarmouth, "can you lift the dog on/off" and when we arrived told the boatyard where we were for fixing the defects, a half day lost in Great Yarmouth Yacht Station waiting for a fixer person fit a new pump & shower hose, finished off by a walk about in biblical rain, Der Hund got so wet that he looked utterly miserable and he smelled worse than a moldy rug as he dried out, and to ice the cake so to speak, I got an ear bashing from everyone except Der Hund because the ladders on the quayside (being a tidal part of the river) were difficult to use. The following morning we left Great Yarmouth behind and motored all day to Wroxham, "can you lift the dog on/off" etc...(the equivalent of crossing the Atlantic in a 747), 10 chip shops, a toy store, a small supermarket and the worst pub meal ever. Overnight stay punctuated with "can you lift the dog on/off" etc... The following morning whilst I waiting for the marina staff to pump the effluent tanks I decided to give the outside of the boat a clean with the mop and some mild detergent, something that had been missed by the hire company before we collected the boat...... nothing too strenuous, just a gentle mop and microfiber to get the crud off...... tanks pumped, breakfast at a local cafe followed by a short motor downstream to a nice looking pub called "The New Inn" the plan was an early mooring and walk about, "can you lift the dog on/off"..... almost immediately I got assaulted by a grumpy swan, it didn't seem to like getting a slap when he went for me (totally unprovoked, it decided to attack just for fun) anyway we booked in for dinner with the warning that there was a limited menu..... Limited my rear..... superb food and great beer, oh the beer was good, did I mention how good the beer was? I seemed to have found a state of happy that no amount of "can you lift the dog on/off" was going to destroy, and I was soooooo looking forward to getting to bed..... however my "cleaning" of the boats exterior seemed to have removed the crud that was sealing the cut out in the roof (assuming from a re-fit of the engine) and our bed was now the same moisture content as the swamp that is Norfolk, and there was a steady trickle of rain water adding to it by the minute. "can you lift the dog on/off" Engineers called again (couldn't fault the poor lad who had to come and sort it)"can you lift the dog on/off" the roof re-sealed in the hoofing rain, the engineer had to go back to the boatyard to get us some non swamp bedding and we pulled out and made up what should have been a double bed in the saloon, however, this "bed" was never intended to be used following a downgrade of the boats passenger capacity, so some of the bits that made up the mattress were missing, I attempted to sleep in what I can only describe as a trench until the Sage (who is a slight thing) rolled over and the whole thing collapsed faster than an economy under COVID...... twenty minutes of teeth gnashing "can you lift the dog on/off" and the Sage suffering from hysterical laughter saw us sleeping on the floor with Der Hund, he's lucky I didn't evict him, his bed was comfier than ours, I woke up with Der Hund snuggled up to me, I drank several cups of coffee ate a bacon sarnie and promptly set about returning the boat early, but of course there was the "can you lift the dog on/off" even the drive home in our T5 camper was punctuated with "can you lift the dog in/out".... It's been a couple of days at home now, I'm feeling a little better thanks. Nem..............

My new stripes. Done by the talented Mr Pid with a bit of help from me.

Nice quiet drive through the country to the petrol station.

Despite having more time off than I've ever had I've really struggled to get any garage time! I have been chipping away the last few days at a few jobs. Firstly I've had a weep from the heater matrix area. I had thought it was just the silicon hoses needing nipped but it still persisted. So the full dash strip out commenced . The mrs stuck her head around the door at one point when the whole lot was in bits and did point out that the car had been finished a few weeks ago. I did tell her she wasn't being helpful . So was expecting it to be the joint where the pipes join but no seemed to be in the matrix itself can see the orange staining. I had toyed with building the freewheel over and over again as I still have the iva retest to get through. However at the test the examiner asked me why I hadn't fitted a decent steering wheel, I did say I wasn't sure it would've passed. He said as long as tbe spokes had a radius he wouldn't have batted an eyelid. Ive read and read the regs and have come to the conclusion I shouldn't have a problem. Even more so as it wasn't a fail point either. Anyway its done now and very happy with it (apart from the cable ties which have now gone) Also made up a new centre console and wired up the heated seats and the USB socket. I may well add rotary heater and bypass controls at a later date. The first version included a mount for the EWP controller screen, it looked great but the lcd display had a weird viewing angle and wasn't great from the drivers view. So then a 2nd version. Also fitted the switch surround as kindly designed and printed by @corsechris and the dash bezel which was a collaborative effort from @Paul Aspden The 2nd and @EBD Engineering looks well smart. and the much Improved drivers eye view of the dash. Can see every corner of the dash fully now even with the indicator buttons. Just need the dash pad back on now. Once I can find where I've put it for safe keeping......

big clean before the first blast of this year today

some tidy set up's here is mine

Dashboard is back from the trimmer

Road testing Dads pinto. Runs lovely. Thought I’d snap out local castle!

Strange things happen at car meets, small plastic bags of springs and nails appear on the breakfast table, better than the small foil packages we were handed last week! full of homemade flapjack not drugs I might add. Thank you Andrew for helping to fix the windscreen wiper, which thankfully/unbelievably we didn't need today. Breakfast arrived, I tried something a bit different, posh pancakes. Anyway, here we are at The Bull I Thorn, BillyPee came too in the Porsche but he was too posh to park with us, take note @Andy_R, you will have to park with him when you come. Bagpuss has a new camoflaged alternator bracket. Bonnets Off, a must at a car meet, especially off that wonderful Honda lump Next up it was time to motor, away from the tourist hot spots the roads were empty and we barely saw another car on our way to Wetton OTR We arrived at Wetton and parked in our usual spot And then Photo Bomber Bill came with his Porsche, take note again @Andy_R, I don't want any of this naughty behaviour from you! In the cafe there was more naughty behaviour, from me this time, I seem to have become a 'cake magnet' oops Trifle, now where in the world can you buy trifle, mmm it was lovely, mmm it was Glen's too, but he is a good husband and shared a little bit with me. The Invisible Man was first to leave Cool Box Bill admitted that he was calling in at Tagg Lane Dairy on the way home for big tubs of ice cream, now there's a good idea! Andrew and us took a route home through a fairly busy Matlock Bath. The day didn't end there for Glen and I though, we had a new Coolex radiator waiting to be fitted at home. I knew I would drop my Allen Key in that dish of old antifreeze, and blooming heck, I did. Slippy, slimy stuff, tastes horrible too. We ordered a radiator with Epoxy Resin on, the bobbins were from Westfield. The job was soon done After a good burp it was time to take a test drive in that lovely evening sunshine. The ambient temperature was 19 degrees, so still warm, with empty roads I could get some speed going and the temperature stayed at 80 degrees, remarkable don't you think. Thanks to those that came, I hope that those that couldn't make it enjoy the photo's and maybe we will see you next time. @RobH72 that was an epic day yesterday so I am not surprised you couldn't make today but Wales, oh how lovely Wales is, lucky you.

That grin when it's a beautiful day, you find an amazing road and you're in the Westfield 😁😁

Drive up round some of the reservoirs of South Wales. Hardly anybody about, lovely roads, gorgeous weather, car running sweet and a flask of tea. Perfect morning out.

A phone call from WSC today had me zipping along the M54 to collect these (considerably smaller) beauties: I think it's fair to say that the new versions are a pretty good colour match, and considering that the old, wider wheel arches are 12 years old, they're brilliant. Huge thanks to Simon and everyone at WSC for providing the replacements. I also picked up a T9 gearbox mounting, so I'm just about ready for bodywork to go on, and engine to go in.

I had a spare hour this afternoon so I decided to populate the dashboard. I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

Thanks for all the ideas chaps - much appreciated Also, while I'm here - a blatant plug for Coolex.... I called them on Monday afternoon - ordered a 55mm rad, but it needed to use my existing engine-side Spal fan, rather than the fan that Coolex supply (no point in replacing something that didn't need replacing...). They ordered a Spal fan in, modified the mounts on the rad and shipped the radiator in time for me to receive it yesterday lunchtime - truly excellent service and just the sort of supplier that deserves exposure to the WSCC membership. Damn good price too 👍