JohnCh

There is already a thread about this here. Please see post 11 from Mazda for the update. -John

Someone else reported spam from that same user, but he doesn't appear in the active or banned user list, so will need to investigate further. Mazda did install Spam-o-matic recently but it locked out a number of users and had to be removed. The hoster is upgrading us to the latest vBulletin software, which will hopefully allow us to install an anti-spam solution that actually works. -John

He did the same thing to someone else who forwarded me the message. StephenMt has been banned. -John

Will you please paste the message in a PM to me so I have a record and can take appropriate action? Thanks, John

To be fair, Mazda deserves the credit for restoring service. I was simply the messenger, and Croc helped uncover that it wasn't just an issue on my end. Therefore, we should honor Mazda by featuring some Frankenstein creations for sale, and Croc by eschewing my weekly threat to ban him -John

Sorry Croc, but I suck at multi-tasking, so don't have the bandwidth to consider your request. At the moment, I'm too busy debating your discipline for the implied comment below. :jester: -John (the power hungry admin)

It's not just for carbs This is also a great tool for synching individual throttle bodies. -John

You're mixing up prayers. It begins: "I believe in Westfield the Se7en almighty. Creator of IRS and the widebody and fashioned from glassfibre the choice of Colin Chapman. Suffered under Croc from New York who called it a Birkin and a boat but ascended into victory in dedicated race series across the world." I could go on, but then I'd have to move this whole thread to the "Politics, Religion, and Controversy" forum. :jester: -John

Fortunately for you I was raised a strict Catholic, and recall the nuns always harping on about forgiveness (and burning in Hell, but that's a topic for another thread), so... go to your room, say three Hail Westfields, two Our Westfield who art at Laguna Seca, and two The Westfield Fabricator's Creed, and provided you also supply sufficient beer credits, we'll call it even. -John

Croc, the hush you hear over the forum is the collective realization that you are in gross violation of Rule #3 from the Forum Rules Though Shalt Obey: I hate to end the year like this, but sadly your transgression leaves me no choice; it is with a heavy heart I must inform you that banishment proceedings against you have begun. I'm happy to reconsider reinstatement once you have paid an obscenely high fine and have sufficiently groveled before me to atone for your offense. That doesn't meet the bar of sufficiently groveling, and my PayPal account is still empty. -John

I have the Comp 2 on my '91 Miata. It's a very good all around tire, but it's a noticeable step down from an Extreme Performance tire, let alone a proper R-compound. The Miata was intended mostly for track, so for my first season I opted for the Yoko AD08 (extreme performance class). It was a fun tire on the street and even worked acceptable well in the wet, but when standing water and freeway speeds combined, the car became, well...scary. Enter the Comp 2. Since the Miata sees a lot more daily driving duty than I ever intended, I needed something that wasn't going to try and kill me during a Seattle winter. That tire does the job and I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again, but the dry grip is not in the same ballpark as the AD08, nor is the steering feel. The Westfield is fitted with RA1s, and previously R888s. I think the latter will serve you well. They stick just fine when very cold -- in my experience better than the Toyo T1-S I used to use for touring -- and when they get hot, the stick is incredible. -John

Now that I know your secret, I do feel kind of silly for previously thinking you had a hoard of minions tasked to comb the web each night while you slept. This process seems a little more accessible -- and will give me something to do on another wet, and sadly blat free, Seattle weekend... -John

I'm a big fan of the EVO 2, which replaced a PC680 in the Westfield almost 3 years ago. So far it' s been flawless (I just screwed myself by writing that, didn't I?) and has even started the car in sub-freezing temps on a couple of occasions. Both times I followed Ballistic's recommendation to first warm up the battery by running the headlights for 10 seconds. -John

Sadly that's more likely down to driver (in)ability on my part, than it is to differences between the vehicles -John

Depends on what you want. If it's a se7en replacement, then I'd argue air cooled is better. ignoring specials like the GT2 & GT3, 911s have become more civilized and a little less involving to drive as the years progress, with a particularly large inflection point occurring with the launch of the water-cooled 996. Depending on your point of view, that's either a good thing or a bad thing. If you're replacing a se7en, then it might be the latter. I've had my 993 for almost 8 years. I also cross-shopped the 996, which at the time was effectively the same price, so the decision really came down to preference. After driving several examples of each model, I determined that the 996 was the better car. It has significantly better HVAC, more interior room and luggage space, it's quicker, gets better gas mileage, and pollutes less. That said, I bought the 993 because for me, it was the better experience. It was more engaging to drive, and consequently put a bigger smile on my face. YMMV. Go drive various models and see which you like best, and also visit rennlist.com to sift through the forums. Very friendly people and lots of great information. Oh and regarding the snow comment, the 964 & later cars are available in AWD :-) -John

When Jesse was having trouble joining the forum, I helped him under the condition that he makes a post stating that Westfield makes the best se7en. Now before anyone jumps all over me claiming abuse of power (Croc), in my defense, this is the first time in my life that anyone has actually done what I've instructed. No one is more surprised by this post than me :jester: Oh, and welcome to the forum! -John

Hi guys, I shared a few emails with the seller when he was having trouble joining the site to post the ad. This was done via his work email address which is a very well known company, and he paid the $20 membership fee to make the post in this section, so no reason to think he isn't legit. He might be having access issues again or not receiving reply notifications. I'll reach out to him and let him know about the interest. Thanks, John

One option is to get a wide piece of thicker aluminum stock, bend it into a bracket that matches the scuttle back-bottom angle, and then attach both throttle assemblies to it. You could also weld in some webbing for added strength or to simply allow use of thinner aluminum. Shouldn't add too much weight and will help keep the relationship between the two throttle assemblies pretty rigid. -John

Sorry, poor writing on my part. To clarify, I was planning to play with the map yesterday. However, when starting the car, the symptoms had once again disappeared. It was fine when cold, when warming up, and when driving a short distance. Therefore, there was no point in adjusting fuel or ignition tables since there was nothing to "correct." -John

It gets better. I decided to play with the fuel and ignition maps. The plan was to rev the engine into the lean zone and then start adding/deleting fuel and ignition timing via the Live Map screen to see what happens. Well guess what? The car is once again operating perfectly. This marks the second time it's fixed itself. I love intermittent issues... -John

Thanks for the additional responses and sorry for the delay, but work got in the way this week. I checked a few things yesterday and the plot has thickened. Additional mapping from cold to hot shows that the injection and ignition corrections are working as expected. The new wrinkles are the WBO2 is now suspect and the issue has started to affect idle. When trying to do a free air calibration for the O2 sensor prior to the test drive, the Innovate went through the normal process, but instead of stopping when it hit the free air target, the AFR just kept climbing. I finally switched it off after a few minutes when it broke the 60:1 barrier. Mapping was consistent with previous sessions with AFR very lean at light throttle, but normal when approaching 1/2 throttle and above, including at higher rpm (ran to 5000-5500rpm a few times). My gut tells me the readings are directionally correct, but may the numbers themselves may be off by some percentage. About 1/2 way through the drive, the engine started hunting at idle, and sounded like random misses. Fuel pressure check shows it's correct and stable when revving the engine with the car stationary. Given how the car sounds at idle, I'm beginning to suspect the ignition system. I've had to change the coil pack in the past (similar idle issues) so may try that next. If I have time today, I'll also check engine compression and perform a leak down test to make sure something more ominous isn't at play. -John

I used one on my Alfa, but unlike the one you linked to, it covered both sides of the crank and supposedly helped to stiffen the block. It was done as part of a major engine build, so I can't make any comments on effectiveness, but it didn't cause any problems -John

Yep, definitely a head scratcher. But then again, I never do things the easy way If a sensor is failing, it should cause the injector to "correct" which is a loggable channel with the Emerald. I hope to have time this weekend to try that. -John

The map I'm referring to isn't the default map that came with the ECU. It's the map I've been running for 4 years that was done on a dyno. I simply uploaded the version stored on my laptop in case the map in the ECU had somehow become corrupted (long shot, but only took a couple of minutes to test). -John

Nope, ruled that out too. I uploaded the original version of that map to my ECU yesterday and the results were the same. -John