Westfield build diary

[Davemk1]

So - I'll be building my Westfield in a month or so and your photos bring a question to mind...........after you have the engine dropped into place how do you get the car down off the work stands?

 

dave

[NVP66S]

So - I'll be building my Westfield in a month or so and your photos bring a question to mind...........after you have the engine dropped into place how do you get the car down off the work stands?

dave

 

You mean when it's heavy? Because there's lots of work to do after the engine is physically in place. The Flyin' Miata yellow car build diary shows them using the engine hoist to lower first the front then the rear. Their white car build shows them using a fork lift. Nice if you have one of those. I highly recommend studying that site for build info, and joining WSCC because they have lots of builders who can and do help answer questions. They're mostly RHD guys though and some of the problems I hit are due to WF not supporting the LHD customers in as much detail.

 

Now that you mention it, I've not seen a discussion on this over at the WSCC site.

Dan

[Davemk1]

You mean when it's heavy? Because there's lots of work to do after the engine is physically in place. The Flyin' Miata yellow car build diary shows them using the engine hoist to lower first the front then the rear. Their white car build shows them using a fork lift. Nice if you have one of those. I highly recommend studying that site for build info, and joining WSCC because they have lots of builders who can and do help answer questions. They're mostly RHD guys though and some of the problems I hit are due to WF not supporting the LHD customers in as much detail.

 

Now that you mention it, I've not seen a discussion on this over at the WSCC site.

Dan

 

Yes - just because of the added weight of the car with the engine in place. I would think that without it that 4 guys could easily lift the car off the stands and set it down but once the engine is in that would be a lot tougher.

 

I am a member of the Westfield forum and have not seen this talked about so it must not be that big a deal.

 

dave

[Klasik-69]

Number of ways to lower the car safely. Easiest is if you have a two post lift. Most don't have that luxury. A jack on the front end with as rack of wood if needed for the height will lift it off the jack stands, then Lower it onto lower position jack stands or blocks of wood. Repeat on the back until the car is down on its wheels. Engine hoist on front, then back, lowering it to a lower position each time until it's down. Easy to do if you take your time.

[escondidoron]

As mentioned above, a cherry picker is a very useful device for making such a task a one man job:

[xcarguy]

. . . . a cherry picker is a very useful device for making such a task a one man job:

 

. . . . . or two.

[NVP66S]

After the engine came the differential. WF uses the donor car for this. It bolts right in with little difficulty, although I did have to take it loose and reposition because I read the manual wrong. The driveshaft is custom made as it's about 10 inches shorter than the Miata, and it's a good idea to replace anyway. Halfshafts and uprights are straight out of the Mazda, but as I mentioned before, I had the wheel bearings replaced.

[NVP66S]

The WF uses the Mazda donor airbox/MAF sensor. It's relocated from the port side engine bay to in front of the engine because there *is* no port side engine bay. The Miata is huge compared to a 7 in this respect. A few minutes with a coping saw fixed that problem.

[NVP66S]

Next mounted the fan and radiator. The fan is from the Miata and the radiator is new supplied as part of the kit. We temporarily lowered the body in place. Looks more like a real car, but it had to come off again. This was about 2 weeks ago.

[NVP66S]

I got the kit in February and this thread is pretty much caught up to my present status. I'm in wiring hell at the moment. The Mazda donor version of the WF uses the Miata wiring looms. For a simple car like the Miata, it sure has a lot of wire.

[NVP66S]

Here's a photo of most of the wires not used. The bag has the loom tape and sleeving. First to go was the airbag wiring, then the headlight retractors, stereo (it was wired for headrest speakers), outside mirror motors, window lifts, etc.

[xcarguy]

NVP66S,

 

Because of your excellent build thread, potential builders who were once fearful will now be jumping in line to build a Westie. See what you've started?

Edited April 20, 2014 by xcarguy

[NVP66S]

Obviously, Manik needs to send me finders fees for all those additional sales. :jester: Seriously, I've logged 120 hours dismantling the donor car and refurbing the parts, and 160 on the build so far. This does not include manual reading, head scratching, ordering parts and tools, mulling the decision on which ECU to use, etc. WF says 120 hours, but I'm sure that refers to the complete kit not available in the US. I wouldn't have bought the complete kit anyway because I don't mind overhauling the donor bits but mostly because I'm cheap!

 

BTW, I haven't been counting, but it seems about half the time I get a Westfield banner at the top of the page and a Stalker ad the other half.

[subtlez28]

Here's a photo of most of the wires not used. The bag has the loom tape and sleeving. First to go was the airbag wiring, then the headlight retractors, stereo (it was wired for headrest speakers), outside mirror motors, window lifts, etc.

 

I can relate. I was working on a track focused, LS1 swap 84 Corvette a few years ago. I gutted the stock harness and was left with a large box full of wiring. It ads up.

[coffee break]

Here's a photo of most of the wires not used. The bag has the loom tape and sleeving. First to go was the airbag wiring, then the headlight retractors, stereo (it was wired for headrest speakers), outside mirror motors, window lifts, etc.

 

Can you say "Add lightness?"

[NVP66S]

This thread is fully caught up with my current build status. Working on wiring is time consuming and not much to show. The Miata donor has 2 big grommets feeding wire bundles from the passenger compartment to the engine bay. I decided to make and install a pair of firewall mockups and attach them where the Westie reuses them to penetrate the scuttle. Here are the left and right sides.

[Paul Hill]

You might want to consider plug and socket firewall connectors, would save a lot of hassle when servicing down the road.

[NVP66S]

You might want to consider plug and socket firewall connectors, would save a lot of hassle when servicing down the road.

Hmmm.... I hadn't thought of that. There are already too many connectors that were needed on the Miata but not here. For example the ECU has a 6 ft cable with connectors on both ends because the ECU was behind the passenger seat whereas on the Westie the ECU is under the scuttle.

[lg2k]

I built a Miata-based Westie. I think there are too many wires to bother with a connector through the scuttle. I considered cutting the scuttle all the way to the bottom to make it easier to remove wiring but in the end left it as is. To remove the wiring is not too difficult if you need to remove the scuttle later for servicing. I can run all the wiring into the scuttle from the driver side (left) and out of the scuttle on the passenger side. I even retained the ABS and can still do this. This leaves a big connector and quite a few extra wires. I did remove everything that was not needed from the Miata wiring and cut everything to size for the Westie as it looks like you're doing.

 

I love your mock-ups! Great build so far. I should have made a build thread when I built mine. I could have used the motivation.

Edited April 26, 2014 by lg2k

[NVP66S]

 

I love your mock-ups! Great build so far. I should have made a build thread when I built mine. I could have used the motivation.

 

Thanks for the motivation. The wiring is not fun, lots of fiddling, and not much to show for it. When xcarguy asked me to post a build thread, I thought it would be a bother without much benefit, but the comments really are helping my motivation.

 

I don't have photos from today's work because it's pouring down rain here in the desert and my shop is 3 miles from home and of course I rode my motorcycle to work today. Didn't want to get the camera soaked.