NVP66S

Before going to bed, I have to at least start a post on the WF kit. Here are the 2 crates that came from Britain. And here's the body shell with the powder coated chassis waiting for all the stuff to be attached.

We pulled the cams off for polishing. Also, after bead blasting the exhaust manifold, I took the die grinder and smoothed off some of the Mazda weld beads.

The engine got a new set of front stuff including water pump, idler, & belts. Ditto new clutch, throwout bearing, etc. In addition to the engine, I overhauled the brake calipers and derusted and painted them.

xcarguy asked me to do a build diary, so OK, here goes. I actually started with the donor car in October and the kit arrived in february, so the first photos will come fairly rapidly. The version I chose uses the '90 to '97 Miata donor, and I managed to find a '97 with a good drivetrain and poor body. Here's what a Miata looks like with the interior mostly stripped. Pulling the engine required removing the radiator but the front chassis stayed in one piece.

In most cars, the horn button grounds the single wire, which grounds the relay coil. Therefore the other end of the coil needs to be hot 12V. Similarly, one of the relay contacts needs to be driven by 12V, with the other going to the horn(s), as the horn itself usually has one side grounded. Caterhams may be different though.....

There's another type of compression gauge that would tell you a lot more before tearing into the engine. It's mostly used on light airplanes but you can buy one on ebay. It has 2 gauges with an orifice between. You hook it up to shop air and look at the difference between air pressure in vs air pressure out to the orifice. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cylinder-Leak-Down-Tester-Leakage-Leak-Detector-Engine-Compression-Tester-Gauges-/331135195891?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item4d19321af3&vxp=mtr The additional info is you can hear where the air goes. Bad rings and it goes into the crankcase. Bad or non-sealing valves and you can hear it in the manifold(s).

When I bought my Mazda-donor Westfield kit last year, I asked Bill Cardell of Flyin' Miata how many he had sold. "About 20" was the answer. Keep in mind that's just the Mazda based version of one model Westfield. Manik in Texas is the importer and they handle the other models including the bike engined 7-type cars (Mostly Megabusas) as well as the other car engined cars including the S2000 model and the various Ford and Cosworth versions. The Seight is no longer marketed, but people still build their own. This does not include Westfield's other models also from Manik in the US, such as the Lotus XI replica based on the Spridget donor, and the track-only XTR.

A friend of mine in Atlanta has one. Mostly his wife drives it around town and they put 4 tanks of gas in it last year. They love it. Volts are heavily subsidized and the lease price is in line with similar non-battery cars. Their question now is to buy it or let the lease run out. He's not a 7 guy, but I figure his Panoz is enough to get your ears. .... well, OK, he sold the Panoz and bought a Mini.

New guy gets to ask without losing points..... What's the inside joke about "Storker"?

As far as I can tell, the Chaparral 2J raced in 1970 and the Brabham in the video debuted in 1978.

No log, but I have a thread going on the Westfield Sports Car Club site. Here: http://forum.wscc.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic/105056-dans-mazda-seiw-build/ I didn't start a build thread on this site partially because it's mostly Caterhams/Stalkers/WCMs and mostly drivers rather than builders. I don't have a lot to talk about *driving* the car as it ain't on the road yet. And the time factor. I'm playing hookey this morning on the net instead of working on my build.

Heh, here's my contribution. Funny in another way and needs some explaining. P&G sold untold millions of boxes of soap with this photo. The model playing the young mother went on to a very famous career. That's Marilyn Chambers.

Nah, this is the car intended to go onto the trailer. I'm now 5 weeks into the build. The tow vehicle is a Pontiac Vibe, AKA Toyota Matrix. Even with the optional 180 HP engine, it's kinda light for that duty. And, yes, I have been following the thread on tow ratings of cars. Interesting thread, that.

xcarguy: You asked for photos. I picked up the trailer yesterday. Yes, that's my Miata shown for scale, and no, it's not the tow vehicle. I bought the Aluma 212 trailer used from Bonander in Bakersfield and had them add proportional electric brakes. I've only towed it empty so far, but it tracks very well on smooth roads and bounces a lot on the rough. Those side rails are not side rails. They are the ramps pinned in place. The short ones are for ATV loading up the sides of the front, and the long ones are for the rear.

I admit I wear my motorcycle branded jacket, but I plead necessity, your Honor. It has all the right armor in all the right places.

Heh. Here's what the car looked like 2 weeks ago. The trailer will be here comfortably before it's needed.

I was planning to grab the wheels with 2 custom straps through each. In other words, grab the wheel, not the tire. But the discussion is moot now. I went to see the dealer yesterday and he had a nice used (almost new condition) Aluma A212 with ramps. It has a 79" X 144" deck and is rated for 3000 lb. I'm about to call him to buy that one and have him install electric brakes. Thanks for the comments. Dan

According to the dealer, electric or surge brakes are available on the 6810T that I'm thinking of ordering. It doesn't show that on their web page. The price included the electric brakes and tilt options. And yes, Kitcat, the Westie is 11 ft long, but the wheelbase is 7'7" and I was thinking of letting it hang over a bit. If they had a 6812, I'd go for that. I like the 68" width better than the 77" width because I would use it for general transport of furniture, building materials, etc and the 77 inch bed is 8.5 feet wide outside the fenders, a handful in town. (Hey, I like small cars ) The 6812H looks good at 510 lbm. I might go for that.

I just got a quote from an Aluma dealer. $2462 for a model 6810 with electric brakes. That's a 440 lbm empty weight flat bed. http://www.alumaklm.com/single-axle-utilities/item/11-6810-utility-trailer.html

Well, I was also planning to cheat and trailer it to TN or KY and drive it the rest of the way. :driving: The trailer is a given because I'm building it in CA but the company I work for is moving to West TX and I plan to trailer it there for titling and registration. As for my screen name, I normally commute on my Honda 599 and I'm a member of the 599 forum. So if you flip NVP66S upside down.... yeah, I know it's corny. Now I gotta go work on it some more. Dan

I only received my Westfield kit 2 weeks ago, but I have a goal of driving it there. Gonna be a busy 3 months. Dan

Yeah, but he also explains in the next paragraph, so you don't spend the next hour working on it. Personally, I think the computer graphic makes it *harder* to figure out. It's less obvious that the inner circle is skidding.

I was there yesterday. There was a youngish guy trying to answer questions (most of their activity was around the Cobra cars), but apologized that the Caterham line is new to them and they don't have all the answers yet. They plan to sell only completed cars, no kits. Prices start at $58K. I'm not really familiar with getting to the fairgrounds, so I pulled into a slow moving lane of traffic with a Plymouth Prowler in the rear. Yep, that was the line to get in the gate.

Is there anyone on this forum who has a streetable Westfield and lives in So Cal, Arizona, Nevada, or West Texas (I go there on business) and who is willing to talk in private? Visiting a car similar to mine would greatly help the build process. I ordered a Mazda donor version of the kit in August and the kit is due to hit the Port of Los Angeles in late Jan. I bought my kit without ever having driven one. I visited the factory last February but there was too much snow and ice for me to even ask about a drive. Then made the 800 mile trek to visit the US source for Mazda donor Westies in August. That's Flyin' Miata in Colorado and they have one there to drive. But it lost oil pressure a few hours before I got there. Flyin' Miata has a customer list but is hesitant to share confidential owner information and I respect that. Thanks, Dan

Is there anyone on this forum who has a streetable Westfield and lives in So Cal, Arizona, Nevada, or West Texas (I go there on business) and who is willing to talk in private? I bought my kit without ever having driven one. I visited the factory last February but there was too much snow and ice for me to even ask about a drive. Then made the 800 mile trek to visit the US source for Mazda donor Westies in August. That's Flyin' Miata in Colorado and they have one there to drive. But it lost oil pressure a few hours before I got there. Flyin' Miata has a customer list but is hesitant to share confidential owner information and I respect that. Thanks, Dan