Newbie from Norfolk

[Phil Nelson]

Terrible news guys, fitted a new carburettor and went out for a drive and the gearbox locked up and it took both drive shafts with it. There was a brief screeching noise, like a fan belt slipping and then it locked up at about 50mph. The only gear I could get was first, so I drove a mile to the next exit at 15mph and then a couple of miles home with the hazards on.

The Drive Shafts must be made of chocolate and are really twisted, can't believe I got home!

I was going to replace the 4 speed with a Type 9 but I guess now I am entirely screwed ? The really awful thing is that I have just purchased 4 new 13" wheels and Toyo Tyres costing £700, plus the carb and a new crown wheel and pinion. 

[BugMan]

Fu3k, that's a b******d, think you were lucky you didn't through it off the road into a ditch 

[Wolfdog]

welcome

[Mole]

Not good Nel guess it's going to take some work getting sorted.. at least you weren't hurt.. hope you get sorted ok..

[bigals]

Ahhh I feel your pain . Hopefully you can get your car fixed without to much trouble . We have plenty of forum members who have had similar experiences and we all go on to actually rebuild better and stronger cars . Good luck with getting it fixed

[Thrustyjust]

How crap. You were lucky. Never know a gearbox to lock up. As for new driveshafts, I am sure someone will come to your rescue on here from the old school department. It will be back together better soon, so dont worry. Glad you are unscathed !! 

[GaryD1971]

Not a brilliant start to your Westfield ownership, but well done on getting home unscathed! On the grand scheme of things a gearbox swap along with new driveshafts is not the end of the world. Might not be a bad idea to give the whole car a thorough going over whilst you have it in bits just to check everything else is OK. Like Thrusty said above, don't worry, its repairable. 

[Phil Nelson]

Thanks Guys,

Yup, I was lucky as I was on a dual carriageway with other traffic, good job I have plenty of practice dealing with cars going sideways!

The gearbox is an odd one, I wondered why I couldn't push the car when I got home, but then discovered when in neutral the prop is still turning? Anyway the clutch and engine seem OK

Got the whole rear end stripped out now and the good news is that apart from the drive shafts it looks OK. At least Westies are very easy to work on.The plan was to change the final drive ratio to 3.54:1 and then use it this season before completely rebuilding/repainting it over the Autumn/Winter. The driveshafts are simply little propshafts, but the design is fundamentally weak and needs a stronger solution.

Mike Woods of "Mustard City Speed" is a brilliant engineer and great at this kind of thing, so he is going to sort it out for me, but he is busy until April, which gives me time to work through some of the restorations I had planned.

I like to create a web site for my vehicles so the full story is at www.10-42.com/westfield if you want to have a look.

[SXRORY]

Sorry to hear of your problems

Just had a look at your website.... looking good .... My only question it says you bought from a dealer on there, do you not have some recompense with this failure at all? 

[Phil Nelson]

Thanks for the suggestion.

Yes, that is an option that I am considering, but I need help to get the gearbox out to see what has actually gone wrong. I will also get an independent opinion on the cars suitability for sale.