Popular Post Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO Posted September 5, 2019 Popular Post Posted September 5, 2019 (edited) So you want to go on a road trip around Europe for a couple of months. You have 3 vehicles: A nice, comfortable lexus IS200 estate. Mazda bongo campervan with full interior conversion and pop up roof. Westfield that's just passed its IVA after nearly 5 years of building. Let's be honest, despite the lack of heater, questionable weather resistance, and general noisiness, would it ever be anything but the Westfield? Doors and half hood on, my new steering wheel with quick release boss fitted, and a little practical storage added. Found a neat place to mount my jack in the engine bay. Very simply a strap riveted to the panel over the gearbox: I unfortunately didn't realise until after I'd cut chunks out of it that my boot box was for a short range tank, whereas I've got a long range one so I don't currently have a boot box. Only a plastic top which looks like it doesn't come off. This actually works out quite well, because it means I've got a place to secure my tools when road tripping. I made up a little frame from some aluminium box and angle section and riveted it in in front of the fuel tank. This holds an aluminium case which is good for the basic tools. Then my big socket set sits nicely on top of that. Other than fitting number plates when I get some post from the DVLA, the car is ready to go on a big road trip... And go on a big road trip it will. I've been keeping a little quiet about this as I was terrified of anything going wrong, but at this point, I've done everything I can. Pretty much as soon as I have registration plates on the car, I'll be hopping on a ferry to Holland, before driving to Germany, then Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and off down to Eastern Europe for a few weeks before coming back across the Alps at the end of October. The initial plan was for this to be a 3 month trip with me in the westie and my friend in his MX5, but unfortunately my build took longer than I had expected, so I've missed the first leg up through Norway to the Arctic circle. Once I hit the road, I'll be covering some pretty big miles every day to try to catch my friend up in Finland. Once I've got registration plates, it will literally be a case of finding somewhere to get my ride height sorted and wheels aligned, and then I'll be off on the ferry the next day. I'm hoping to get NMS to sort my alignment as they're not that far away from me and know Westfields, but if anyone has any other garage recommendations for alignment around the Midlands/Warwickshire, let me know! Edited September 19, 2019 by AndrewOBW Split to separate thread 10 Quote
CarbonWest - Chris Broster - Bristol & Bath AO Posted September 6, 2019 Posted September 6, 2019 What a fantastic baptism of fire you have planned! I can't wait to read the blog on that and definitely a Westfield World article in the making...hint, hint! Best of luck. 2 Quote
Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup) Posted September 6, 2019 Posted September 6, 2019 Sounds fantastic. Would be interested in your route up through Norway and ferries etc. We looked at going but I struggled with the actual logistics in Norway. 1 Quote
Mark (smokey mow) Posted September 6, 2019 Posted September 6, 2019 That sounds epic the run to the IVA test and back should at least give you some confidence in the reliability of the car and build. When I was building mine I'd always said that when it was finished I would drive it to LeMans, so sure enough a month after it was completed I set off on the 1200 mile drive across france. 4 Quote
Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO Posted September 10, 2019 Author Posted September 10, 2019 Some post arrived today... Just need to get some reg plates made and mounted now! Annoyingly, I've got a crazy busy day today and tomorrow moving my tintop and a load of my stuff back to Ireland on the ferry tonight so I won't have a chance to drive it until Thursday. Fortunately NMS have been good enough to slot me in for alignment on Thursday afternoon, so with the last few bits to organise after that and a day or two to shake it down, I'm aiming to get a ferry from Harwich to Holland on Sunday morning, hopefully get to my brother's place in Düsseldorf for Sunday night, Denmark Monday, and on to Sweden by Tuesday. Ambitious, I know, but where's the fun in taking it easy! 6 1 Quote
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted September 10, 2019 Posted September 10, 2019 Mad as a hatter, but what an utterly fantastic plan for its first proper trip! Quote
Dommo Posted September 10, 2019 Posted September 10, 2019 That trip will need a write up all of its own! Quote
Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO Posted September 12, 2019 Author Posted September 12, 2019 Day one with registration plates fitted and the westie is in getting some love! Unfortunately my rear springs are a bit too soft and are ending up spring bound when setting the ride height so new springs on the way! To be fair, the car is about 80kg heavier than I was expecting when I ordered the suspension originally. Might have to take a drive up again in the morning if we don't get it all finished today. I say "have to" as though I won't be out driving the car again tomorrow morning anyway! 1 Quote
Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO Posted September 13, 2019 Author Posted September 13, 2019 Well that's certainly a lot better! Pretty close to what AdamR recommended for baseline settings. The "before" measurement below was done after the ride height adjustment and new springs went on, so isn't really any form of representation of what I went in with initially. As with all the other references Northampton Motor Sport have on here, I have to say they were fantastic. They were able to slot me in before the weekend despite how busy they were, and Chris did a great job with the car, despite it being difficult at times (the diff brackets didn't want to line up with thr damper mounts after we swapped the springs over and took a fair bit of effort to get back together). Everyone was really polite and helpful, and they had some absolutely fascinating machines around the workshop. Really great to see the place! Went for a little drive last night too, and was very quickly reminded of just how much I'd changed the rake of the car! My headlights were almost pointing at the floor! So I gave them a tweak back up when I got home. Will take a look again tonight and see if it's in the right place now! The car certainly feels completely different. Having read all of the threads in tyre choices lately I'm slightly regretting picking NS2Rs. I'm used to driving cars where I can find the limits of them pretty easily, withiut really pushing all that hard. With the westie, the limit of the car is so much further than where I've been able to go in the past, which, while it feels great, it's a little unnerving not to know where it is! Some road tyres might have been a better call for letting me get to know the car better. Or maybe a couple of track days will tell me what I need to know! 1 Quote
AdamR Posted September 13, 2019 Posted September 13, 2019 You'll find the limit soon enough Andrew, and it'll still be manageable and controllable. No ARBs I and a nice alignment does the job well. Glad you had a good experience at NMS, setup looks spot on 👍 1 Quote
Dommo Posted September 13, 2019 Posted September 13, 2019 6 hours ago, AndrewOBW said: The car certainly feels completely different. Having read all of the threads in tyre choices lately I'm slightly regretting picking NS2Rs. I'm used to driving cars where I can find the limits of them pretty easily, withiut really pushing all that hard. With the westie, the limit of the car is so much further than where I've been able to go in the past, which, while it feels great, it's a little unnerving not to know where it is! Some road tyres might have been a better call for letting me get to know the car better. Or maybe a couple of track days will tell me what I need to know! I found the NS2Rs gave a bit more feedback once they'd been used a bit, it'll be interesting to hear if your thoughts have changed at the end of your mega road trip. I need to get my car setup again over winter. Wanting to use NMS so hopefully they forget how much of a PITA the diff brackets are by the time I book in... Quote
Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO Posted September 13, 2019 Author Posted September 13, 2019 35 minutes ago, Dommo said: I found the NS2Rs gave a bit more feedback once they'd been used a bit, it'll be interesting to hear if your thoughts have changed at the end of your mega road trip. I don't think it's even a lack of feedback, more the fact that I'm used to getting feedback that the tyres are struggling a hell of a lot earlier. With my car being so light, and the tyres being so sticky, they're just not struggling, which is throwing me a little bit! It's probably just in my head, but hopefully I'll get a bit more of a feel for them over the course of the ridiculous miles I'm going to do in the next few weeks! I'd say once I've had time for a proper drive in the wet, I'll get a bit more of an understanding of how they act too. 38 minutes ago, Dommo said: I need to get my car setup again over winter. Wanting to use NMS so hopefully they forget how much of a PITA the diff brackets are by the time I book in... Haha, as long as you don't need an unplanned spring change to get your ride height sorted out they shouldn't have to touch the diff brackets at all! Quote
Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO Posted September 14, 2019 Author Posted September 14, 2019 Touring mode enabled! 7 Quote
Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup) Posted September 14, 2019 Posted September 14, 2019 Please try to post pictures on your travels. What an epic adventure you are going to have. 1 Quote
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