Davemk1

I don't know what is used statewide but here in southwest Montana no salt is used to my knowledge. One of the big draws to this area is fly fishing and there real concern about what road chemicals can do to the water and the fishing.......and no one wants to risk the big cash fishing brings into this area. It's fun to see 40 year old cars still on the road being used as daily drivers and while the paint is faded rust is extremely rare. We are technically a high alpine desert in this area so the humidity is very low and desert dry so even wood doesn't rot let alone metal. dave

We are lucky that in Montana they do not salt the roads - they put sand and gravel down on corners but nothing on the straights. So there is no worry of corrosion being an issue. I have driven my Westfield over short sections of hard packed, snow covered roads and it's doable and novel for the first 200 yards and then is just seems silly. I think if I had real snow tires on the car it could be fun if there weren't other big cars out there slipping around on all season tires (they suck in all seasons!). But winter is ski and fatbike season and spring will be here soon and I can drive the car the way it's meant to be driven - hard. dave

Living in Montana I'd never drive my car if I waited for warmth.....but I draw the line at snow covered roads. dave

If it dies suddenly that tells me it's electrical. If it was the fuel pump I would think it would sputter for a few seconds as the fuel pressure dropped too low to run. It sounds like a bad coil or an intermittently bad ground. Good luck!! dave

When it dies does it sputter to a stop or does it die suddenly while running normally? dave

I have been loving it for over a year and a half - about 5500 miles on the car since I got it on the road. I look forward to the ITB's adding just a bit of midrange grunt. dave

Why of course I'm still waiting for you to send me one! I have ordered a set of Omex ITB's specifically designed to work with the Westfield. The throttle response is supposed to be very quick and it looks like I'll see about a 15-20 ft/lbs bump at 5000 rpms and 15hp over most of the curve. Should be nice. It won't have the extreme bump that a blower has but it will have better throttle response and keep it legal for my SCCA solo class. I'll know in about 4-6 weeks how it all works. dave

Good question - it's the standard Westfield logo but I don't know the origin of the sunburst design. Maybe it's an homage to all the sun they see in England?........maybe not. I'm sure there could be more Sevens in the state that I know of but to my knowledge there are three - two Birkins in the northern part of the state and mine Westfield in the southwest. That makes 147,000 square miles and three Sevens. I see many exotic cars online and in magazines that have MT plates that I'm sure have never set a wheel on the ground here but no emissions testing makes it a desirable place to register one. I wonder how many Seven's are registered here? dave

Hello All - I just wanted to show off the die-cut Westfield decal that Manik recently had made. I wanted to fly the Westfield flag a bit higher and the big logo certainly does that. Lots of mechanical upgrades and some weight reduction happening this winter and I'm very excited for spring autocross season to come. Happy New Year! dave

Bring-a-trailer has a few listed - http://bringatrailer.com/search/?s=westfield dave

I've lusted after the Eleven for so long and would love one but fear that being 6'4" tall would mean there would be more of me sticking out of the car instead of being in it! I have a Westfield Mega S2000 that I fit very well in so life isn't all that tough dave

For something simple like this I would just go to your local Ace hardware and buy the rivet puller they sell there. It works fine and it's cheap. I wouldn't want to pull hundreds of rivets with it but for general repairs they work more then fine. dave

Not many great days left in the season before the snow takes a firm hold but today was stunning. dave

You know Len?! Very cool. I hope he's feeling somewhat better now - Please give him my best. dave

It's that time of year - snow is forecast for tomorrow which means the road will all be sanded so even if/when the snow melts the corners will all be gritty and slippery. So despite the fact that it was only 43° today I went out for a blat through Bridger Canyon and out to some of my favorite roads going to Sedan, Montana. The drive was just about 70 miles and it ended all too soon. I'd better get to work now! Dave

I'm looking forward to more details on the Omex/Honda throttle bodies with some dyno numbers. dave

Cool stuff. I'm a bicycle framebuilder who has a decades long relationship with Reynolds and their top guy Keith who is named in the article. I use Reynolds tubes exclusively on my bikes and they make many of the tubes I use just for me and to my specs. I can see no reason why they can't cut the chassis weight by 10% while making is stronger at the same time....no doubt in a true space frame there are a long of places the tube walls could be significantly thinner and since they should be in tension of compression only they can deal with the stresses well. I know Westfield uses Reynolds tubes on their wide track front A arms with great success and expect that this kind of thing will spread. The only problem is that the cost will go up in a serious way. DOM steel tubes are as cheap as dirt but good high strength butted steel isn't....not even close. dave

Very Nice! Dave

2014 Westfield Mega S2000 - 1375 lbs with a brim full tank. dave

Have you spent much time in a Seven? I love mine and use it a lot but it does take some time to get used to how low and exposed you are. If you by chance haven't spend much time in one then I would catch a ride in one and do it in the type of traffic you might see on a commute and see how it feels. It's not for everyone. FWIW - my wife loves my car on a country road or the autocross course but will not get in it if we are headed into any traffic at all. dave

If they offered that for sale it would make my very short list. dave

How much is involved in fitting a Duratech? Obviously exhaust and motor mounts.....ECU I assume also. It should would be tempting to have the simple grunt of a Duratech and have the exhaust on the other side. dave

Bummer. Thanks for making my place a stop. I hope you enjoyed your time here before heading off into the heat. dave

Cool car - what size/brand rubber are you using? dave

With the live axle car you can improve things in a HUGE way by getting rid of the stock control arms and putting in arms with rose joints on the end. They benefit the car it two significant ways. First is that you get ride of a large amount of stiction so that the axle can move up and down with ease and not have all those rubber joints adding resistance. This will help keep the rear wheels stuck to the floor which of course is a challenge in a live axle car due to the unsprung weight of the set up. Next is harder to explain......the rubber bushed ends in the stock arms rotate in a barely acceptable way but they do not allow the car to lean to one side very well. This is due to the ends not wanting to let the axle come out of plane with the chassis. Off the cuff this would seem to be a good thing as it helps keep the car from leaning as much.......but it's really not a good thing as it acts like a very stuff anti-roll bar (sway bar) and it does a vey good job of over-weighting the outside tire and nearly lifting the inside tire. This means one tire (inside) is doing very little work and the other tire (outside) is trying to do too much and can't handle the load. The combination of the two is a car with a rough and bouncy ride that does not feel connected to the road and when pushed at all in a corner it tends to snap oversteer and wants to go backward into the shrubs. I owned a live axle Birkin years ago and it was tough to drive anywhere near the limit and then I replaced the crap control arms and the car came alive and felt like it should. A much smoother ride and a higher limit if traction .......and......and easier time approaching the limit. A win-win-win. I bought mine from a guy who made Birkin parts named Woody and his business was in Vacaville CA. I don't recall the name of the biz. Good luck and have fun. dave