JohnCh

I'm not sure that scenario is possible. As you can see in this photo of my car in front of a full size pickup, very little of it reaches as high as the grill :jester: http://www.throttle-steer.com/uploads/1/1/0/8/11083275/5000557_orig.jpg Sean, I attended that show in Pacific Grove 2 years ago. Had a great time and strongly recommend it to anyone attending Monterey car week. -John

Thanks for posting the photos. I can't believe I live near Seattle and have never heard of this event until your earlier post. It's now on my calendar for next summer. Thanks, John

I think I may have pulled a muscle in my finger banning all those guys... -John

Congratulations Dan! And of course now that the build is done, you can begin your journey down the slippery slope of modifications -John

:confused: But I thought all someone had to do to blast by you on track was to wait for you to perform your famous impression of a farmer plowing his field?? :jester: -John

It's great to see that the car has effectively stayed in the family! :cheers: What are your plans for the cars? Are you keeping both and setting up the yellow car for street use, or selling that one and planning some tweaks to make the new car a little more street friendly, or simply taking a wait-and-see approach? As for changing your handle, I think it will be easier to simply paint the new car yellow :jester:

So many possible responses, but I can't think of one that won't put me in the awkward position of having to ban myself. -John

Westfield has sold many thousands of cars over the past 30+ years, and even have (had?) one-marque racings series in two countries, yet very few have made there way here. I think part is down to the distribution model in the early-mid '90's when they had a good opportunity to help shape the market in the US. The distributor wanted to sell turn key cars, and his quality was...well, let's just say it wasn't up to my standards. Manik has done a great job since taking over several years ago, but sales of any new se7ens in this country have been pretty limited since the recession hit. Also, for some reason, very few of the new buyers seem interested in forum participation. As for the Purple People Eater, it sounds like the car is destined to end up in Minnesota -John

I'll refrain from commenting on the color (but I want to, I reeeally want to). The engine is probably the Cosworth YB which uses the Pinto block topped with a Cosworth twin cam head. Westfield offered a turbo version in the early to mid 90's, called the Zei220, that I believe was essentially the engine from the Sierra Cosworth. The non-turbo version was pretty popular in the day, since it bolted in with factory pieces, and offered a lot of power potential thanks to the head design. The downside was weight. -John

I think most of us here can empathize with that statement -John

You can modify the factory boot lid to work with the RAC roll bar. Cut the lid into 3 sections, and make cutouts in the outer 2 to allow the rear stays to pass through. Attach those to the lid's base frame with silicone. Put the hinges and locks on the center section and you're all set. There is also a lot more storage space available in the boot area if you fabricate one out of aluminum rather than use the factory item. Because the factory piece drops in place and the tub flares out, it misses a lot of available space. There are photos and write-ups on both of these on this page of my website. If you decide to pursue either approach and have questions, just shoot me a PM. BTW I'm really enjoying following your build -John

You might want to consider moving the battery to the other side of the engine, or on the shelf in front of the scuttle. Heat shortens the life of the EVO2 and they state not expose it to temps over 140F. Heat wrap will help, but it looks like you'll still be very close to the header. -John

I have MOG seats in my Westfield. They are beautifully made and very comfortable. Good to see you guys here! -John

Does the SVT engine use a different oil pump? I seem to recall the redline on that is about 7300, not sure where the actual limiter is set though. -John

Unfortunately that Kumho is no longer available in the US. I've run the R888 for back road and touring use, and wouldn't hesitate to go that route again. It works really well except in heavy rain. Personally I prefer the RA-1, which has a slightly softer sidewall (10% according to Toyo), but they are no longer available here in 185/60-13, so you'd need to go with 205/60-13 all around. -John

Work got in the way for me, so I won't be making the trip back East. -John

Closing this thread, so we keep all the responses on the primary thread here and don't fork conversations. -John

Looks like you had another autocomplete issue with that post, but I fixed it for you :jester: -John

+1 for Knobmeister. I bought a Team Voodoo knob from Joe several years ago and had him engrave the Westfield logo on it as well as on an aluminum horn button I supplied. Great work and prices. -John

Did a search and found the post Manik reference's here. It's 6 years old, so pricing is out of date, and the Caterham wheels have since changed, so not sure how those weights compare to their replacements. -John

I didn't receive numbers 2, 3, 10-12. Someone posted last Wednesday that they didn't receive 2 & 3, and someone piled on the next day to add that 1 was also missing for them. As for activity levels, other than the mails above, the only other messages I've received over the past month+ were the weekly activity reports. Not much going on over there... -John

I agree with Dave. To take it one step further, placing the Lotus badge on something like a Caterham, Brunton, WCM, Birkin, or Westfield is actually a disservice to those manufacturers. They have each put in a lot of work to design and build their version of the classic 7, so to have someone rebrand it a Lotus must be maddening. -John

Here's mine. I clustered the tach/speedo, oil pressure/temperature, and water temp gauges behind the wheel, and placed the fuel and voltmeter in angled bezels in the center. http://www.throttle-steer.com/uploads/1/1/0/8/11083275/6515473_orig.jpg -John

Klasik, are you sure about that time? I don't have that issue, but I do have the Sep '99 issue when they next implemented that test (for British cars no less!). They reference the Aug '96 test and listed much slower times. Found this online at their website which shows all the times they've recorded over the years. The top 10 are below. BTW they did test a Superlight R in '99, but it was only 190hp and took 17.4 seconds. And as for EVO, yes, great British magazine. They also have a lot of content, including videos on their website -- it's a great timewaster. -John

Here's another option for those of us without a Lotus http://www.throttle-steer.com/uploads/1/1/0/8/11083275/9073187_orig.jpg -John