GLBaxter

Actually MV8, I’ve taken a good hard second look at that whole airbox mechanism. I can make a different base plate, slide it down about an inch, basically remake the base plate and then squash the foam element, and I think it will all fit under the existing hood. As I said, I’m pretty good at fiberglass so I can restore the hood basically follow the same steps that you suggested above. Net result is the car will have proper filtration, and the hood will be restored to where it was originally plus it already had a hole due to the old Webber so that will get filled in as well. I’m starting this next week and when I’m done, I promise I will send photos out for everybody’s comments, including yours. Regards, Greg

After I cut the opening in the hood, I kept the fiberglass pieces in case I wanted to replace them, but I discovered that there was only less than 1 inch between the original hood and the provided inlet horns which would have been very restrictive in any case, so it appears that the opening is in fact needed. My plan is (I'm pretty good with fiberglass) is to make a hood bulge with the opening facing backwards and use the same "Pipercross" foam filter. True, this is not an ideal situation, but I could not see another way to use the same carbs / inlet horns and the original hood. I still have the original opening to glass over anyway, so I still have a lot of glassing to do regardless. I'm fairly confident that once I've done all the glassing and fitted everything up, it will look fairly good. One concern I do have is matching the required paint to the original gelcoat and the inevitable aging of the respray. More pictures to follow. W.R.T. the radiator fins, true, they need straightening which I can easily do with the radiator comb. I have no idea how they got hammered, but that's an easy fix. Thanks for the feedback.

Well All, I pulled the trigger, contacted DanST and bought a set of bike carbs for my Westfield. Along with the carbs, I got a 3D ignition setup and the necessary trigger wheel, 36:2. I haven't mounted the Nodiz ignition yet, my next project, but I have the carbs installed, working and rarin' to go. OK, so it was not all that smooth as the first set of carbs didn't have the throttle position sensor (TPS for short), so I returned them and DanST sent me sent me pro gratis a different set of Mikuni's. FYI, DanST has been great to work with as was Emerald3D with the trigger wheel items. Do NOT use Brand's Hatch Performance. I sent them over $300 in early Feb which they gladly accepted but have yet to respond to any of my subsequent emails. That issue is going to PayPal for an ultimate resolution. MOST disappointed in those shysters. As you can see from the images, the carb installation was fairly straight forward and once I sorted out the fuel, coolant and throttle connections, the carbs worked right out of the box. Most happy with the carbs other than having to cut up my hood (bonnet, whatever?). The Xflow is actually a fairly torquey engine and with the new / refurbished carbs, the throttle response is quite good with no stumbling, lagging or air flow starvation. My Westy (Rufus, for those who need to know how I refer to the little SOB) did leave me stranded. I went to my local gas station and as I was getting ready to pull in, a coolant hose let loose and sprayed me and the car with anti-freeze. Not only that, but there was a semi that was blocking the entrance. He finally moved allowing me to fill Rufus up and then pull into a spare parking space. My go-to buddy showed up about 30 minutes later and I got a tow home, tail safely tucked between my legs. I pulled into my garage, sorted out the coolant issue and ran a good half hour with the temperature nailed to 80 degrees C. Most satisfied with the temp, the drive and (finally!) the weather. All in all, a good day! I've uploaded three files. The w/out Weber's shows the engine compartment with the Webers removed. I taped off the inlets as this was done after receiving the wrong set of bike carbs while awaiting the new set. Getting items sent from across the pond can be (and usually is!) time consuming. The Rufus with the Mikunis shows the carbs installed. A most pleasurable image that still gets my heart racing! A truly gratifying image. The Rufus "hole in the hood" shows the inevitable side effect of having four smallish carbs pointing up and out at an approximate 45 deg angle. It was a bummer to have to hack up my nice, clean hood, but they would not have fit any other way. If anyone has any suggestion to the contrary, I'm happy to entertain suggestions. At any rate, it's a done deal and the only question remaining is the treatment of the hood itself. I'm considering a scoop over the carbs but have not decided on the configuration yet so I'm open to any ideas. Regards, Greg

All, Thanks for all the feedback. I've decided to go with a Nodiz 3D ECU which seems relatively easy to install, then a bike carb setup. I'm still going to bang on the Webers, but I've seen many references to them going out of tune rather frequently and needing screwing around (literally) which frankly just annoys me. The bike carb and upgrades ECU seems to be the proper setup for updating my somewhat upgraded Ford Xflow engine. I'm not really looking for massive HP/TQ boost with this engine, just better drivability. I'm saving that for a future upgrade with a (probable) Duretec and some goodies on top of that. Near term, I just want to spend some time driving around my stomping grounds here and enjoying the car with my wife. Yeah, I'm losing some performance, but saving appx $3K in cost, so a good swap IMHO. n Any further thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Kudos to JohnCh and IamScotticus for their suggestions. Greg P.S., Driving 4 Answers did an extensive series of vlogs on upgrading his Mr2 Toyota w/ bike carbs. Worth checking out.

Now THIS looks very interesting. Thanks, I have some web schlepping to do now.

Seriously, you have/had a fine stable of cars. I've got a Porsche Boxster S, Special Edition that my wife drives and a few interesting mounts in the past. Driving the Boxster and the Westfield back to back are completely different, no comparison (except the obvious ones). I've decided I'm going to hammer on the Webers until I get them working acceptably well, then order up the ITBs and take my time. I've read some horror stories about noobs installing the ITBs and not knowing exactly what to do. Now, again; I'm not a complete idiot, I mean other than owning a Type 7, but when I did get to drive it, it was a blast, so better to enjoy even the carbs, then upgrade to ITBs. Your comments are spot on and greatly appreciated.

John, I went to throttle Steer / home / Email the Web Czar, and nada. Clicking on it did nothing. Selecting Open link in a new tab did open a tab, but again, nothing. I did like the reference to Murphy's Irish Cream Stout though. Good stuff.

Hi John. I've read and re-read your experiences on Throttle Steer w.r.t your Westy et al, especially the Rebirth, Specs and Upgrade sections. A couple of questions that we can discuss here or on a PM, your call. I'd prefer a PM as I can be loquacious, and I don't want to bog this thread down too much. Regards, Greg

MV8, thanks for the link. I've spent a considerable amount of time on my laptop looking at various videos and textual feedback episodes on doing the conversion and I will check out your link. Yes, it is a bit of a PITA (pain in the ass), but I like the idea of doing the changeover myself. True, the gains may be minimal, but it's my understanding that Weber's are not a set and forget option. I guess I'm just silly that way.

All, I'm thinking of replacing my troublesome Weber 40 DCOEs with ITBs, specifically the Jenvy variety. I like the idea of fuel injection and tunability, but looking for specific advice / information is lacking. Has anyone done this and in general, is this something that can be done by a fairly technical, retired engineer feasible? I would really appreciate some feedback on this. Also, the car is located in N Va, so are there any good wrenchers that can be recommended?

Congrats on getting the 99 Caterham! I've bought a 1997 Westfield about 6 months ago w/ a 1.7L Ford Xflow and two Weber 40 DCOEs. Just finished the rebuild on the carbs and doing the final tuning on the carbs now, but with temps in the 30's, where I am, not able to spend nearly enough time in the garage. I too am 73 and can get in and out the Westfield w/ relative ease. Great fun! You should post a picture (or N) of your car. Been working steadily on it for the last 6 months. Your 210 on the compression test measures appx 14.5 to 1 compression ratio. Must be one hell of an engine!

I've been terrorizing the streets of Leesburg, Va. with my Westfield. Everywhere I go and stop, I get peppered with questions about the car. It's fun, most people if not all really like it. I've put over 400 miles on it so far and it's always taken me somewhere and gotten me home, so that's a definite positive, however, the carbs are in desperate need of a good tuning, re-synching, etc. Even so, the 1.7L Ford Xflow seems to be a good engine. The car is not blindingly fast, but it is quick and makes a hellish sound when on full song. All in all, a fun drive and yes, I DO fit! So I took my Westy to a "tuner" to have the oil changed and the 2 Weber's tuned up. It sat in his shop for over a week and nothing had been done. I grew a little frustrated and took it home. My local mechanic will change the oil and I've decided to give the Weber's a go. I'm an engineer and have spent some time under the hoods of various transportation devices and generally have had good luck with my hands. I bought a couple of Weber rebuild kits (the real stuff, not the Chinese clone parts) and will be pulling the carbs off, cleaning, inspecting, reassembling, tuning, etc. Wish me luck. Failing with the Weber rebuilds is certainly possible, so should that unhappy occasion result, I will then go with ITBs. That is another story.

So, are you going to pull the hood off and show the mighty ITBs for us to drool over? Mine (a 97 FYI) does have a 1700 but w/ 2 Weber side drafts. They're tuning up is number 3 on my list of ToDos, done the 1st two (almost!). Any idea what kind of rear wheel HP you're getting out of your setup? I like it a lot, but as per usual, I could use another oh, say 200 HP or so. Yeah, I'm dreaming a lot but what the hey, it can happen? Also, is that a stock muffler and if so, does it have any acoustic filler still in existence? BTW, all should go to JohnCh's ThrottleSteer blog. He's got a nice (though way too short) video of himself launching his Westfield w/ a slightly modified Duratec. It's impressive.

Ah, a little late to the party, but here it goes anyway. I recently bought a 1997 Westfield SEiW that appearance wise is quite attractive. It's bright red with a light tan interior, special seats from Westfield and a recent ceramic coating which improves the looks enormously. OK, so I'm a sucker for a pretty car, but then who isn't? I live in N. Va, and the car was located in Iowa, so I had a heck of a time getting it to the house. I decided to rent a U-Haul car carrier, which weighs 2200 lbs. That, and the car (appx. 1300 lbs) add up to 3500 lbs. I drive a Toyota Tacoma, so while I was well beneath the allowable capacity, I also had to figure in the mountainous regions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, W. Virginia and western Md. The Taco did fine though the mileage plummeted, but it handled it OK. It was NOT a fun 16-hour drive especially since I started at appx. 4 PM. I made it home though safely and the car was unharmed. Mechanically it's a nice 7, but it does need a little work. The carbs (twin Weber 40 DCOE's) have not been tuned nor sync'd in quite a while. Now that is something that I can sink my teeth into. I'm a retired mechanical / software engineer (a lot of us on this forum!), so two kits are on the way which is right up my alley. The car is leaking a little oil which requires a lift which I don't have. I'm letting someone else take care of that for me. Also, the muffler is essentially a damn near 30-year-old glass pack, so any fiberglass packing has gone the way of the dodo. Still looking to get a Raceco muffler (silencer to you Brits), but so far, I've not received any feedback from them in spite of my persistent efforts. I am nothing if not tenacious. I finally got the thing registered and have my tags and title on the way, but I'm allowed to drive around on a temporary tag. It's a blast to drive and all sorts of thumbs-up, miles and the like. For having a researched 120 HP, it's actually quite lively, though very loud. Bottom line, like most of you guys (and gals?), I'm smitten with it and look for reasons to take it out and run some errands, necessary or not. My friends think I've lost it, but I'm still grinning like an assassin, but this is a normal response to the 7's. While this was built by Westfield in 1997 and subsequently imported, it's certainly not a new car, but then used ones tend to have their own personalities, so I plan on getting used to this one over time, something that I'm sure I will enjoy. More to follow! Greg

Greetings Maccor and JohnCh, It is true, I'm afraid. I have purchased a 97 Westfield SEiW. I'm on my way to Iowa to pick it up Monday. The 2003 Caterham SV looks like a cracking nice car, but alas, not for me. Good luck with your car, I'm sure it will move in very little time. Regards, Greg