JohnCh

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

CD playback is a bit more modern. I have a Sony S9000ES CD/SACD/DVD player in the main system, although upstairs I have a Sony CDP 707ESD that was modified by Stan Warren (the “S” in PS Audio). That thing is built like a tank and still sounds pretty good. My vinyl setup is another throwback: AR-ES1/Merril sub chassis/upgraded motor/Rega RB300/Benz Micro Glider. I remember that one! Very cool! I think I still have my old NAD tape deck somewhere that is the opposite of that deck. It featured a manually removable dust shield instead of an opening tape door -John

That's funny. The amp in my main system is an Aragon 2004 Mk II. I never really thought of it as vintage piece, but given that it is driving Apogee Centaur Minors, I guess most of the system is considered vintage I convinced my wife to attend a recent Skills Day with our local PCA region and now she is hooked and wants to start doing track events. I think this means that I need to either find a cheap track car we can share (an old Miata would be perfect, except she hates them) or I need to pour some money into my aging 944 turbo. The latter could turn into a money pit, so I need to assess the situation before making a decision. Either way, it looks like I will have another project car soon. -John

Thanks Mazda! :cheers: -John

I built a shroud for the car prior to USA2005 since we would be going through the desert and I was worried about possible overheating. I actually found that the full shroud makes the heat soak a little worse because it elminates airflow through the engine compartment. Removing the top piece of aluminum helped a bit. -John

One of my Winter upgrade projects for Westfield (yeah I know, it’s already Spring) is to replace the cooling fan with something more powerful. Although the engine has never overheated, the temps rise very quickly at stoplights on warm days and the 12” Perma Cool fan struggles to bring them back down. I initially chose the Perma Cool because it is rated at a pretty powerful for its size 1650 cfm. The Spal 12” fan I bought to replace it is actually rated a little lower at 1630 cfm, but the motor draws nearly twice the amps (14.4 vs. 7.7). Today I did a comparison test to see if there was a measurable difference between the two. For the test, I took turns attaching each fan to the back of the radiator and then wiring them directly to the battery. To measure the flow (actually the suction) I used a synchrometer held to the front of the radiator. First up was the Perma Cool. Depending on location, the synchrometer registered between 7 and 9 on its built in scale. After swapping in the Spal and hooking up the battery, it was immediately obvious that it would better those numbers - it was pushing a lot more air out the back. With the synchrometer placed in the same location where it registered 9 with the Perma Cool, it now showed 12! So much for manufacturer ratings ;-) -John

This is going to be fun http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif

Sounds good Al. I'll simply satisfy my disparaging comment urges by including a little revisionist history when mentioning the Caterham/Westfield lawsuit http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif -John

"relatively unbiased" and "without disparaging comments" really limits the material I have to work with, but I'll give the Westfield blurb a shot anyway. -John

Al, Don't worry about damaging your Mass Airflow Sensor -- you don't have one http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif You are either running a Throttle Position Sensor (most likely) and/or a a Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor with the Jenveys. -John