JohnCh's Westfield

[JohnCh]

I started to respond to Al's modifications thread, but then realized I may be better off just posting the whole story here. I’ve had my Westfield for over 6 years and about 20k miles. It began life as a crossflow powered, swept wing car and was featured in Road & Track in March 1996. About 2 years after I bought it, someone backed into the car in a parking lot and cracked the nose cone. What should have been a simple repair turned into a complete rebody and rebuild that took about 18 months. The Westfield features an unpainted fiberglass body with the color in the gelcoat. The color formula they used when they built my car included cadmium, which was subsequently deemed a hazardous substance. Consequently the new red was a different shade and a replacement nosecone wouldn’t match the rest of the car. After fighting with his insurance company for a month, they finally caved and sent me a rather large check at which point I completely rebuilt the car.

 

To date, the only items that are carried over are the frame, driveshaft, rear suspension uprights & arms, rear brakes, front uprights, fuel tank, wheels, and windscreen. Everything else was replaced with the aim of improving performance and the fun-to-drive quotient (i.e. more power, better suspension, and less weight). R&T originally weighed the car at 1409lb. I am unclear how much fuel was onboard at that time, but after the rebuild it was corner balanced at 1238lb. with 4 gallons in the tank. Power went up from 120hp to 190hp, and recently was bumped again to 220hp thanks to a cam and head upgrade. The car is so radically different now that I feel this is actually my second se7en.

 

The specs:

2.0L Duratec, ported head w/ Kent DTEC10 cams & stiffer valve springs, ARP rod bolts, Jenvey DTHTB w/90mm air horns

Emerald K3 w/Innovate Motorsport LM1 wide band 02 sensor, and larger injectors

Raceline water rail, flywheel and wet sump

AP Racing HD clutch & pressure plate

Custom 4-2-1 ceramic coated exhaust manifold and Raceco silencer

BGH long1st gear gearbox with their Westfield gear lever extension & short shift kit

3.62 LSD Sierra diff

Custom center console cover and instrument layout, including Motogadget tach/speedo/digital display unit

DRE sequential shift lights

Spa Alpha 270mm Steering wheel with buttons for turn signals/hazards, digital dash display, and high beams

Mog carbon fiber seats

Schroth Profi II ASM harnesses

Custom lexan wind deflectors and roll-up bikini top

Cat Motorsport wide track front suspension, alloy hubs, alloy 4-pot calipers, quick ratio steering rack, and alloy steering rack mounts

Avo shocks

Custom roll over bar w/ 3rd brake light

Custom locking bootbox lid to work with roll bar

Custom aluminum bootbox to increase capacity

Enlarged grill opening and adjustable ducting for the radiator

Spa mirrors

 

This is what it looked like when I bought it:

 

http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/images/westfield3.JPG

 

http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/images/westfield2.JPG

 

And this is what it looks like today:

 

http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/joshwesty-800.JPG

 

http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/updated_dash_05235.jpg

 

http://home.comcast.net/~cobar/updated_dash_05237.jpg

 

-John