JohnCh

You mean like the guy in the dark blue/black Tahoe after we crossed into WA? -John

We seemed to run into a number of folks who didn't appreciate being passed by our cars. They would speed up after the first person had gone by in an annoying effort to prevent the rest of the group from following suit. Employing a blocking protocol like some of the UK guys use would have solved that problem. It also would allow more cars to get by in a short stretch which is useful when you are running with so many cars.

Here are a few top-of-mind suggestions for future tours: • Avoid metropolitan areas. Cities are nice, but security and traffic concerns dull that experience a bit for me. The small towns were more fun and added to the feeling that we were venturing into the great unknown. • As Stan mentioned, the small, casual motels have more charm, but I think one nice hotel mid-late in the route is kind of nice as a reprieve. • Drivers meeting at the start of the tour to discuss passing procedures. E.g. is it every car for itself, or is the process for the lead car to complete the pass and then block traffic for the next car and so on? I believe the UK tourers have procedures they follow which we may want to investigate. It might not be a bad idea to also agree upon a few hand signals for car-to-car communication. It would certainly be easier than trying to figure out at 70 mph what the heck other guy is trying to tell you with his creative hand gestures • A second support car that can keep pace with the Se7ens. As Stan mentioned above it was great having someone with a locking car who could stay with the group. I don’t think I would want the support truck and trailer to match our pace on some of those roads… • Get volunteers to research each day of the route including the destination to identify interesting things to do/see along the way, and possible restaurants or evening activities. Asking one person do all of this is crazy, but if each person did one day and put together a little data sheet then the effort is manageable. • Put together tour planning kit for participants to ease the burden for the organizer(s). This can be a living document that includes suggested tools/spares/packing lists, maintenance check list to be completed x weeks prior to tour, route book template, links to relevant research sites (hotels, routes, restaurants, etc), past tour logos to help jumpstart that design process, information on getting shirts printed (options, lead times, etc.), locations for photo sharing, etc. • To take Stan’s half-joking information sheet concept one step further, perhaps we print answers to frequent questions on the back of the tour T-shirts? -John

Actually I think Ed is the only person to attend all three major US se7en events: PNW2007, 7-7-7, and the one that started it all, USA2005. He should probably update his resume to reflect this achievement Big thanks to Gert & Rosie for organizing, Stan for handling some of the hotels, and Mike for driving the support truck. That last job had to be frustrating given he has a perfectly good Westfield sitting in the garage. -John

Is that Sturgis? Interesting...

A subject of dinner and beer conversations throughout the tour was "What's next?" A long tour like this is a lot of fun, but the length makes it hard for many people to commit, and joining midway can be difficult since we aren't always traveling through areas that have easy access. One idea that was tossed out was to find a central point where we set up base camp and then take day trips from there (much like 7-7-7). This makes it easy for people to join for any part of the tour and it can remove some of the Great Race feeling from some of the days. This kind of setup is also much easier to organize and makes for a great regional event. For those of us in the Pacific region, I think Northern California has a lot of potential. Great roads, no more than one long day of travel for people to join up or leave, and there are a lot of cool little towns that would make a great base camp. Perhaps this is the way forward? We could always supplement these with a national tour every 2-4 years? Oh, BTW...sorry for the hijack -John

Al, my car isn't that quick (it only has about 210hp). Now Ed's car...that's a different story -John

Doh! I just discovered that Canon doesn't make Vista compatible drivers for my camera. Oh well, it looks like no pics from me on this thread. :banghead: -John

The only other car I’ve owned that would qualify as a project was my ’69 Alfa Romeo GTV. Other than the Panasports, I never really touched the exterior, but did freshen up the interior and completely rebuilt all the mechanicals with an eye towards track days. The engine was a 2.0L with twin 45DCOEs, Electromotive distributorless ignition, lots of headwork, etc. Very fun car, but after I bought the Westfield I stopped driving her ( http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/images/alfa.jpg http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/images/sparco.jpg -John

Ever since my wife attended a drivers’ skills day with the Porsche club, she has been all over me to drive the Westfield. While I was out of town last week on business, she even took the 993 out a couple of times to “exercise it” for me. I have to find a better place to hide the keys… Then why are you contemplating a head upgrade? -John

The car looks nice! There are a couple if things you might want to do before pulling the trigger. First, I would check with your state’s vehicle licensing department to make sure there are no issues bringing the car into GA. Although it is registered in FL, that doesn’t mean much beyond that state’s borders. This is something I discovered when I brought my CA registered Westfield into WA. Second, I would go to the Locost (here and here) and Grassroots Motorsports forums (he has a GRM sticker on the car) to see if you can find any posts by the seller. You might uncover some problems he’s experienced, or find out that he did a great job building the car. Good luck and keep us posted! -John

The All British Field Meet is next Saturday at Bellevue Community College. Provided it isn't a rainout, are any local se7eners interested in meeting up ahead of time? A small group of us did this last year, so I am proposing that we do the same thing and meet at the Eastlake Tully’s near Chaplin's Subaru/VW at 11am (directions here) I've already sent a mail out to the local se7en owners I know, but I'm sure there are more of you out there! -John

I am highly disorganized and a professional procrastinator, but I’ll raise my hand anyway and help coordinate events in the Pacific Northwest. -John

Talk about bad timing. I just ordered my bullet cam on Wednesday and went over budget :banghead: -John

I started to respond to Al's modifications thread, but then realized I may be better off just posting the whole story here. I’ve had my Westfield for over 6 years and about 20k miles. It began life as a crossflow powered, swept wing car and was featured in Road & Track in March 1996. About 2 years after I bought it, someone backed into the car in a parking lot and cracked the nose cone. What should have been a simple repair turned into a complete rebody and rebuild that took about 18 months. The Westfield features an unpainted fiberglass body with the color in the gelcoat. The color formula they used when they built my car included cadmium, which was subsequently deemed a hazardous substance. Consequently the new red was a different shade and a replacement nosecone wouldn’t match the rest of the car. After fighting with his insurance company for a month, they finally caved and sent me a rather large check at which point I completely rebuilt the car. To date, the only items that are carried over are the frame, driveshaft, rear suspension uprights & arms, rear brakes, front uprights, fuel tank, wheels, and windscreen. Everything else was replaced with the aim of improving performance and the fun-to-drive quotient (i.e. more power, better suspension, and less weight). R&T originally weighed the car at 1409lb. I am unclear how much fuel was onboard at that time, but after the rebuild it was corner balanced at 1238lb. with 4 gallons in the tank. Power went up from 120hp to 190hp, and recently was bumped again to 220hp thanks to a cam and head upgrade. The car is so radically different now that I feel this is actually my second se7en. The specs: 2.0L Duratec, ported head w/ Kent DTEC10 cams & stiffer valve springs, ARP rod bolts, Jenvey DTHTB w/90mm air horns Emerald K3 w/Innovate Motorsport LM1 wide band 02 sensor, and larger injectors Raceline water rail, flywheel and wet sump AP Racing HD clutch & pressure plate Custom 4-2-1 ceramic coated exhaust manifold and Raceco silencer BGH long1st gear gearbox with their Westfield gear lever extension & short shift kit 3.62 LSD Sierra diff Custom center console cover and instrument layout, including Motogadget tach/speedo/digital display unit DRE sequential shift lights Spa Alpha 270mm Steering wheel with buttons for turn signals/hazards, digital dash display, and high beams Mog carbon fiber seats Schroth Profi II ASM harnesses Custom lexan wind deflectors and roll-up bikini top Cat Motorsport wide track front suspension, alloy hubs, alloy 4-pot calipers, quick ratio steering rack, and alloy steering rack mounts Avo shocks Custom roll over bar w/ 3rd brake light Custom locking bootbox lid to work with roll bar Custom aluminum bootbox to increase capacity Enlarged grill opening and adjustable ducting for the radiator Spa mirrors This is what it looked like when I bought it: http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/images/westfield3.JPG http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/images/westfield2.JPG And this is what it looks like today: http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/joshwesty-800.JPG http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/updated_dash_05235.jpg http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/updated_dash_05237.jpg -John

There is a TRV17 for sale locally that I've inquired about. Glad to hear it does the job. Thanks, John

Gert, which Sony are you using? Thanks, John

Thanks Tom, I'll keep my eye open for that model. Mazda, if it helps, I only plan to use the setup on the Westfield and hope to have it in place for PNW2007 -- an official USA7s event!

Not sure this if this belongs in OT, so Mazda feel free to move it. Does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap (used is fine) Mini DV recorder with AV-in for a bullet cam and remote microphone, and either a LANC port (preferred) or small remote? I want to get a bullet cam setup for the Westfield and am trying to keep the camera portion under $250. On a related note, are there any camcorders that may fit the bill which anyone advises against purchasing? Thanks, John

I’ve never heard about the pedal box interference before, and there are left hand drive Duratec Caterhams out there. In fact Tom in CA has a great build site of his car that you should check out. As for the height, I’ve heard that only the 2.3L versions have the issue (the 2.0L is ~14mm shorter). Raceline makes a low profile cam cover that addresses the problem. I wouldn’t worry about the ECU. If you go for a popular unit like the Emerald, then you shouldn’t have a problem locating a starter map which will have the critical timing table done. The new Emerald also has a self mapping feature for the injection system. Simply hook up a Wide Band 02 unit like the Innovate Motorsports LC1, enter your target air fuel ratios in the appropriate table, and drive the car. It does the rest. I’ve just finished upgrading the 2.0L Duratec in my Westfield from 190hp to ~220hp (very minor head work, new cams & valve springs). It’s a great engine. -John

Congratulations! The crossflow is a great little motor, but they do have a tendency to mark their territory I see from the ad that Chris T built the car. You might want to check with him to see if the engine really is stock. It’s pretty rare for someone to increase the capacity to 1700cc and not also change the cam. It wouldn’t surprise me if you have a Kent 234 in there. As for redline, 6000rpm is the norm, but a lot of people (including me) run them to 6500rpm on a regular basis provided there is still urge to go beyond 6000rpm. -John

6 years and counting. -John

Gert, check out this cam install write up. It might be a good sanity check. -John

I’m with Al. I have a 2.0L Duratec in my Westfield that I installed using a combination of Raceline bits and some custom made parts. The latter was a result of my being a very early adopter, and not something you would face now that we have moved on several years. In addition to Raceline, SBD & Cosworth offer conversion and performance parts, and complete engines are available from all three plus Raceco. If you go with an Emerald ECU, then they even have engine looms available to simplify that process. The SVT head flows really well. In fact, I’ve heard that it flows a bit better than a stock early Duratec head (the later 2.3L heads from the Focus flow a bit better). However, you can increase the flow of the early Duratec heads very easily by removing a small tumble in the exhaust port. According to Ammo at Raceco this little mod improves flow by ~6%. Regarding the gearbox, if you go with a Duratec, then I think a 6-speed is overkill. In fact the owner of one of the earliest Duratec Caterhams in the UK actually replaced his 6-speed with a BGH 5-speed, because the ultra close ratios were wasted on the Duratec’s broad torque curve and he felt he was losing out by shifting all the time. -John

Hey Al, just wondering why you have negative points in your profile area? Does that have something to do with the fact that you posted photos of audio gear? Man this new software is sophisticated! -John