Since my last post James has gone off to university - unfortunately the closure of Keevil has resulted in a reduction of airfield track days in the SW so we went on a Westfield Experience day together - an excellent day whether you own one or not.
Tricia and I have had plenty of blats over the summer, plus the trip to the Isle of Man with Martin, the Poole Harbour Sevens and trips with the Dorset Area WSCCers and finally the Bristol Classic Car Show (where we won the rosette for best club) have seen the car well used.
Malcolm and Dale from Wattune, also Dorset Area WSCCers, overhauled my gearbox fitting the BGHGeartech long 1st gear set, lubrication mods and upgraded lay shaft bearing. The gearbox had a modified lay shaft pin that wasn't compatible with the BGH gear set so had to be replaced along with the main gear shaft rear bearing. M&D turned the gearbox around in a couple of days once they'd got everything from BGH and now the gearbox is capable of 240 bhp/200 lbs ft and better suited to the Westfield with a longer 1st gear. I also upgraded the clutch, I stuck to an organic plate rather than a racing one as the car remains principally a road based car and also uprated the cover - overall the clutch is 40% more capable that the standard so will allow for an engine of ~210bhp which is way higher than I intend to go. I also bought a new quick shift gear lever and modified it to suit a Westfield and also changed the gearbox mount to a Vibra-technics one. Finally I replaced the bell housing with an alloy one that was 7kgs lighter than the original iron one.I picked up from a thread on the WSCC forum that alloy radiators required anti-vibration mounts so while the system was drained I fitted a set with a 20mm offset - luckily the hoses are all okay with the increased offset.
One of the Essex Area WSCCers developed BlinkStop, a means of automatically cancelling the indicators. As an "indicator" serial offender I decided to purchase the kit version and assembled it myself. An excellent piece of kit with comprehensive instructions, the assembly took about an hour and installation straight forward, again minimising changes to the Westfield loom just in case I ever want to go back to the standard setup. Final connection twas o add a wire from the brake switch to the BlinkStop as the box inhibits the cancel while the brake is on. I'd like to have the indicator, horn and launch control switches on the steering wheel with a wireless linkage so I can remove the steering wheel without any connectors - definitely a technical challenge and work-in-progress.
Having removed the scuttle to do a couple of minor gelcoat repairs I noticed that the heater matrix had a leak. After a bit of investigation on the forum it appears that the standard matrix can suffer leaks from the plastic manifold and an all metal classic mini matrix was recommended as an alternative. Fitting required a few minor modifications to the heater including an extra bracket. Refitting the scuttle I replaced the heater and wiper motor screws with engine bay bling and a new seal in an attempt to reduce water ingress......Finally the Dorset WSCCers are planning a European Tour for the last two weeks of June 16 so the deposits have been paid and plans need finalising..... I just need to get the car back on the road.
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