New owner - Hello! and a few questions...

[Turbonator]

Afternoon all! 
I picked up my first "7-Style" car yesterday, a 1998 Westfield SE in extremely nice condition (19k miles) running a 2.1 Vulcan Pinto on twin Dellortos.

I drove it back from north Wales to Derby, aprox 70 miles, and my god, i hurt when i got back!!!! (Roof UP, it was looking like rain)
That fuel tank is small isnt it!

Current issues noted:
- The rev counter is playing up, it's a VDO one - sometimes it reads fine but as soon as i put the lights on, it started to read erratically, around double the actual rpm.

- The diff is quite loud, It's a Sierra based build so assume its a standard Sierra diff. Is this normal?! It sounds a bit like a straight-cut box. maybe an oil change needed....?

- Its painfully loud (I don't mean exhaust) - I had a massive headache when I got home, it seems very "droany" at certain RPMs

Note: bare in mind that i have had a few TVRs and similar so i do like a good loud excaust! but this isn't a pleasant loud at all.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Turbonator

[Kevin (Mr T)]

Tacho could be low battery (just had a similar issue), but sure others might offer alternative suggestions. 

You are pretty much sat on the diff and I have heard that with wet weather gear up, the effect can be accentuated. 

General noise? Well mine runs a crossflow with twin Weber 40s and I can honestly say that the induction noise can become a drone if you sit at a steady speed. My solution on this one is to alternate between cruising and going like a bat out of hell!

I would try to make your local meet, so that you can make some direct comparisons. 

Welcome and good luck.

[DonPeffers]

Welcome to the club.

All kitcars are very noisy with the roof on so have a trial run without it after checking the diff oil level--EP90 GL5.  From memory diff holds 0.9 litres of oil.

Regarding the first drive home I collected my car from the factory in Dec 2013 and (without the roof up) drove it the 300 miles north to bonnie Scotland. Thankfully weather was kind and I was younger and dafter then.

Good luck.

 

[Turbonator]

Oh and best of all... this is going to have to be my daily car for a while, rain or shine - until i get my mini on the road again.

Luckily I only work about 3 miles from home.
 

[Andy Banks]

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Welcome!

99.9% of Westfields have no sound deadening/absorbing at all. (Carpets and vinyl trim don't really count, not the sort fitted to Westfields, anyway, it has only a very small effect.)

In addition, most of the sources of noise, vibration and harshness are a. Very close to you and b. Relatively firmly mounted, even when they do use rubber bushes. The diff in particular, it is mounted on metalastic rubber bushes, if it's the Sierra diff, but there's not that much isolation in them, and the diff is barely more than a foot fro your head, with only a few mm of aluminium and possible a couple of mm of carpet between you. So you will hear it, in a way you just don't on a production car.

That said, do check oil levels etc, it's always difficult when you've nothing to compare against, to know how loud is loud! Is it normal loud, or extra loud, indicating a possible problem. (Getting along to a local meet helps here).

Yes, they are noisy with the hood up, if going any distance like that, i.e. More than twenty minutes, I'll use ear plugs, I then find it relatively comfortable! (Though many don't, to be fair).

Twin carb, or individual throttle body set ups, along with a relatively short and unrestricted exhaust can have the odd frequency where they just drone, agin, the pursuit of performance removes the little niceties, like airboxes etc that help reduce this.

If it's going to be a continuing problem though, solutions are available. Bigger silencers, track day style, and airboxes, that completely cover the intake trumpets can all make quite a difference.

It just depends how the car is going to be used, really.

[Stu Faulkner]

What part of Derby are you from?

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

[Turbonator]

48 minutes ago, finkangel said:

What part of Derby are you from?

Hi - Melbourne actually (didn't put that as it confuses people...!)

[CraigHew]

I think your rev counter / lights on issue is an earthing issue.

[Stu Faulkner]

3 hours ago, Turbonator said:

Hi - Melbourne actually (didn't put that as it confuses people...!)

I'm in Swadlincote so your fairly local. Give me a shout if your stuck for anything. 

[Martyn Vann - Warwickshire AO]

Hi and 

I have a similar engine spec to you and am fairly local (Tamworth). I use my car most weekends, usually around the Peak District, anything between 150 and 300 miles and I can confirm the noise is normal so invest in ear plugs!

Hope to see you at the Derby and Notts meet at the Clock in Shardlow, first Thursday of the month or join us when we are out and about with Julie in the Peak District 

[alexander72]

welcome - superb engine choice by the way 

[jim_l]

The tank can seem smaller than it is if the fuel gauge is not correctly set up.  The usual tank is 29 litres (about 6.5 gallons)  and should probably be getting you 140 or 150 miles even if your fuel economy is in the low 20's (and pro-rata) but it does depend very much on how you drive, mine sounds great in 4th and spends more time there than it should.

They are a pain to fill up so you don't want to do it more often than you need to, it will be worth getting to know what the gauge is telling you and getting used to it, carry some spare fuel for a while and find out how many miles are left when the gauge hits 'empty'

 

 

[CosKev]

On 10 April 2017 at 16:58, Turbonator said:

Oh and best of all... this is going to have to be my daily car for a while, rain or shine - until i get my mini on the road again.

Luckily I only work about 3 miles from home.
 

 

Buy a push bike to get to work if it's only 3 miles!