Popular Post MHB1991 Posted January 14, 2019 Popular Post Posted January 14, 2019 150 Days Firstly, I feel I need to apologies to all of you that have kept up with build blogs whilst actually building your cars! I had every intention of doing so, I just never found the time with building the car around work! Fortunately for me there were a number of builds taking place and I take my hat off to you all that kept up with your build blogs! Almost all the questions I asked myself or issues I came up against were covered somewhere in one blog or another! So thank you! My Westfield journey began back in December 2017, when a visit to the Westfield factory was all I needed to place an order for an FW Special Edition kit. I went down the modular route, so ordered Modules 1 and 2. With a few “upgrades”, including the LSD & heater to begin with. Upon returning from the Australian GP I picked up the first two modules at the end of March 2018. The story that’s been told a few times. Nice big Luton van up the M40 to Dudley and then brought a chassis and a load of boxes back! Trying to build the car between F1 races proved frustrating, but looking back it was also a welcome forced break. Any issues I came up against I was able to research from the hotel room at the next race. By the time I arrived home I had an idea of what I was going to do. That said the early days went really well, the build came together fairly quickly. So much so that come the May bank holiday weekend I found myself at Stoneleigh ordering Module 3! Taking full advantage of the discount on offer at the show I ordered module 3. The discount seemed to be an excuse to again order some extras – diamond stitched seats, LED light upgrade (excluding headlights), wider rear wheels to name a few. By the end of May, I had pretty much run out of bits to bolt to the car, which in a way was a good thing as I spent most of June and July on the road with work. So there sat the car in the garage under cover. Fortunately, it was soon August, a delay with the bodywork meant Westfield delivered Module 3 for me. With it being the F1 summer shutdown for two weeks it was full steam ahead with the build! Bodywork was built up and all fitted and the same week it arrived. Again I have to thank the excellent build blogs as I thanks to reading ahead, making a few notes and reading everyone’s tips I felt I was ahead of the game. August came and went and the car was looking like a car. Which was fortunate because between mid-September and December I was only actually in the UK for 12 days. These 12 days were well spent ‘tinkering’ and ‘fettling’ days. It was December before I really got back on with things. It was then I thought I needed to get my act together and sort out IVA paperwork! Once submitted I was offered an appointment at Bristol on Friday 11th January. For the first time of my build I felt like I had an actual target. The stress levels went up a notch, little things like not having a momentary fog light switch and a rocker switch for the fan that didn’t light up. All little things that can be found out working through the fault and possible causes. Westfield especially Ian were really good with getting parts to me quickly to aid the fault diagnosis/replacements parts. Friday 11th January, IVA Day. I was really nervous for the day. I’d hired a recovery truck and a friend came along to give me a hand. Took a bag full of tools, and a box of spares/foam/conduit you know the normal stuff! It was a 5am alarm for a 5.30am leave from just south of Oxford. The weather was dry and we arrived at Bristol at approximately 7.30am. Enough time to warm the car up, get it off the trailer and have a last look over. I went over to reception and was directed to the IVA lane and told to drive the car over and the inspector would be along shortly. The inspector came over and introduced himself and had a cup of tea with us, we spoke about the build. Everything went really well, with a minimal amount of work required at the test. I removed the boot box, pedal box cover, added a single cable tie to the wiring behind the dash and tweaked the headlights. The inspector played his cards really close to his chest, but I had a feeling it was going well. We seemed to be flying through the tests. Before too long we were outside doing the noise test, then off the inspector went, did a lap of the warehouse in it. He brought it back and said right feel free to drive it back around and load it up onto your trailer, which I did. He said he needed to go through the brake calculations and he’d be out soon to let me know the result. Me and my mate loaded the car and just stood anxiously waiting for him! I daren’t go in and bother him. So we waited for about 15mins (Perhaps he was having a cup of tea as well)! Needless to say he appeared with a pass certificate and congratulated me on a well-built car. Over the moon was an understatement! I couldn’t believe it! A year of doing a bit here and bit there had resulted in an IVA pass! I’m still on cloud 9! Therefore, with the added benefit of having a mate who was also driving the recovery truck for me… you know where this is going! We pulled of the M4 at Swindon and found a layby! Thought I might as well take advantage we had the truck! The car was insured on the chassis number, so off it came and I drove the last 15miles home, in convoy with my recovery vehicle! It wasn’t needed the car drove like a dream! This thing really is going to be all about smiles per mile! The only squeaky bum time at the IVA test was with headlights. I’d aligned them on the garage door and the LH light really wasn’t far away. Literally a little tweak forward and we got the right pattern. We really struggled with the RH one and I genuinely feel it was the discretion of the inspector which meant he didn’t fail it. Just strongly suggested I get in touch with Westfield to see if there was a fault with the unit itself. We did everything possible to try and achieve the correct pattern, it just wasn’t happening though. At the time of writing this I’m waiting for Westfield to get back to me. So hopefully I’ll have an answer soon. I spent the weekend making a start on the registration paperwork, letting Westfield know so they can get my Certificate of Newness in the post! All being well I’ll be able to get a few miles in before work gets busy! Once again I apologies for not keeping a built blog. I just couldn’t face starting one then having to abandon it/not keeping it up to date. Equally you all deserve to know that another Westfield is on the road! Plus, I honestly couldn’t have done it without the brilliant build diary’s/blogs a number of you have kept! So guys like BugMan, MrMgoo, Chris Brading, Insuranceman. You don’t know me but I feel like I know you! Thanks for all your brilliant blogs. They were so helpful whilst I was building my kit. I had a count up on the calendar of how many days I was in the UK to be able to work on the car last year and it’s around the 150 mark. Hence the title 150 days! As a post IVA treat/celebration I’ve brought myself the Momo steering wheel kit and quick release steering boss! These cars are never finished! I will post a few photos later! 16 Quote
Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO Posted January 14, 2019 Posted January 14, 2019 Well done. I found using a build thread and documenting it along the way helped keep me sane and overcome the various hurdles. But what works for one doesn't always work for another! Quote
tc3nitro Posted January 14, 2019 Posted January 14, 2019 Congratulations, great looking build and the best colour Quote
Chris Brading Posted January 14, 2019 Posted January 14, 2019 Very good report! I hope you used my guide as a what not to do! Quote
Thrustyjust Posted January 14, 2019 Posted January 14, 2019 Is that Bristol for IVA ? Looks a great car, well done Quote
Gary Taylor Posted January 14, 2019 Posted January 14, 2019 Congratulations and you’ve a great looking car there, and am excellent write up to Quote
Mighty Mart Posted January 14, 2019 Posted January 14, 2019 Nice one mate. Your enthusiasm shines through in the write up. There are faster, better looking and certainly more expensive cars out there, but smiles per mile cannot be bettered in value for money... Mart. Quote
Alan Cutler (Adge) - Dorset AO Posted January 14, 2019 Posted January 14, 2019 and congratulations, you've built a fine looking car. Hope you get to enjoy it when you're in the country. Quote
SXRORY Posted January 15, 2019 Posted January 15, 2019 Great write up and congrats on the car. Areyou a mechanic for F1 then? Sounds exciting Quote
Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup) Posted January 15, 2019 Posted January 15, 2019 What a brilliant write up. Quote
MHB1991 Posted January 15, 2019 Author Posted January 15, 2019 Thank you so much for all your kind comments! SXRORY, yes I'm a gearbox tech for an F1 team. So spend most of my year away! Back for a few days here and there between races. Thrustyjust, yes Bristol for the IVA. Inspectors we're really helpful! 2 Quote
Thrustyjust Posted January 15, 2019 Posted January 15, 2019 8 hours ago, MHB1991 said: Thank you so much for all your kind comments! SXRORY, yes I'm a gearbox tech for an F1 team. So spend most of my year away! Back for a few days here and there between races. Thrustyjust, yes Bristol for the IVA. Inspectors we're really helpful! You seem to be somewhere between me and @Chris Brading in home town ? Always good to have locals ! Quote
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