Westfield 10 year gestation!!
Discussion
Right everyone, i've just bought a partly assembled Westfield which for various reasons was bought 10 years ago but never completed!
Spec is:
Lightweight race chassis
Lightweight body panels
XE 16v engine on SBD throttle bodies,
paddle hydraulic clutch
Quaif alloy straightcut box
Willwood brakes
Cossie LSD
Stack race dash
Just ordered JK Composite race seats
Plays-kool full roll cage, front and rear anti roll bars, works bell quick release steering wheel coupling, momo steering wheel.
Westfield wide track kit and nylon bush set.
Plan to use car on track only so will be stripped out and as light as i can make it.
Heres a few pics of me collecting today
Timeline is to have completed by march 2012!
Ian
Spec is:
Lightweight race chassis
Lightweight body panels
XE 16v engine on SBD throttle bodies,
paddle hydraulic clutch
Quaif alloy straightcut box
Willwood brakes
Cossie LSD
Stack race dash
Just ordered JK Composite race seats
Plays-kool full roll cage, front and rear anti roll bars, works bell quick release steering wheel coupling, momo steering wheel.
Westfield wide track kit and nylon bush set.
Plan to use car on track only so will be stripped out and as light as i can make it.
Heres a few pics of me collecting today
Timeline is to have completed by march 2012!
Ian
Sorry I've been so quiet, working away in the background!!
So got the car home as you saw, then the wait began for the bits i'd ordered!
Ordered:
Westfield 'widetrack' kit (currently on offer near 2/3 normal price!)
Westfield full set of Poly Bushes. (not on offer, £160, owch!)
Full roll cage (safety safety safety!!)
Front and rear Anti roll bars
Quick release steering column boss and lightweight column top
Momo wheel
Race seats from JK composites (you can see them set in in some of the photos)
Lots of nuts and bolts!
Here are some photos of my progress over the last month
This photo shows the front wheel and hub removed to allow disassembly of the suspension and wishbones in preparation of fitting the wide track kit
This picture shows the widebody assembly loosely fitted and the ARB being fitted
Here you can see the fittings for the rosejointed rod which positions and acts on the ARB when the lower suspension arm moves. You can also see i have retained the std coilovers and this requires using the bkt supplied by westfield. A bit of drilling is required to secure this to the lower wishbone.
And here you can see the rose jointed rod in position. There are reverse threads either end to allow this to be ajusted easily on the car ;-). Also you can see the steerring rack extensions supplied by westfield, only problem is the rack is too long now so ill need to cut some of the threads off to bring the wheels back into position.
Next it was time to start thinking about the roll cage. The lightweight playskool cage i got is a direct bolt on to a normal chassis which has a bolt on rollbar but that would be too easy! my lightweight race chassis comes with an all welded RAC roll bar so down to B&Q for a grinder and some discs! Heres the welded bar
And heres the body coming off to let me cut it off (not easy to remove by yourself!)
So i got stuck in and cut off the old one (no pics as the red mist was down!! :-)) and found out that the roll cage would require some spigots welded on to the back of the chassis either side of the fuel tank, so a trip to Weld Pro later i was the proud owner of a small stick welding machine. The cage comes with some spigots which normally bolt onto the existing mounting brackets but i didnt have them so i welded the spigot pieces into the chassis. (again sorry no pics, i forgot!) Then when the body went back on i placed the roll cage and marked out the drilling required. Off with the cage and drilled all the holes as required then cage was mounted again and secured in position. Heres some pictures of the finished article!
While the body was off i dismantled the rear suspension to fit the Poly bushes and do a little bit of welding on the bottom wishbones for the rear ARB mount.
The petrol tank was removed before the grinding and welding (never been fuel in it yet but just for access). Here you can also see the rear ARB loosely mounted
And heres the bottom wishbone back on with the small bracket welded on and the ARB mounted
And the other side!
And finally the rear pretty much completed before the tank was reinstalled (apologies for the photo quality, obviously shaking with excitement!)
Next orders were for water hoses and fittings, that turned out to be a bit of a marathon. Last time i built a westfield i was able to buy a silicone hose set from westfield but they dont do them any more so it was back to the drawing board. Had to measure up myself and order individual fittings which should arrive soon. I hope they fit!
Doesnt look like much but theres been a fair bit of work so far. I'll not get to do any more until after the 5th Jan so im looking forward to that!
So got the car home as you saw, then the wait began for the bits i'd ordered!
Ordered:
Westfield 'widetrack' kit (currently on offer near 2/3 normal price!)
Westfield full set of Poly Bushes. (not on offer, £160, owch!)
Full roll cage (safety safety safety!!)
Front and rear Anti roll bars
Quick release steering column boss and lightweight column top
Momo wheel
Race seats from JK composites (you can see them set in in some of the photos)
Lots of nuts and bolts!
Here are some photos of my progress over the last month
This photo shows the front wheel and hub removed to allow disassembly of the suspension and wishbones in preparation of fitting the wide track kit
This picture shows the widebody assembly loosely fitted and the ARB being fitted
Here you can see the fittings for the rosejointed rod which positions and acts on the ARB when the lower suspension arm moves. You can also see i have retained the std coilovers and this requires using the bkt supplied by westfield. A bit of drilling is required to secure this to the lower wishbone.
And here you can see the rose jointed rod in position. There are reverse threads either end to allow this to be ajusted easily on the car ;-). Also you can see the steerring rack extensions supplied by westfield, only problem is the rack is too long now so ill need to cut some of the threads off to bring the wheels back into position.
Next it was time to start thinking about the roll cage. The lightweight playskool cage i got is a direct bolt on to a normal chassis which has a bolt on rollbar but that would be too easy! my lightweight race chassis comes with an all welded RAC roll bar so down to B&Q for a grinder and some discs! Heres the welded bar
And heres the body coming off to let me cut it off (not easy to remove by yourself!)
So i got stuck in and cut off the old one (no pics as the red mist was down!! :-)) and found out that the roll cage would require some spigots welded on to the back of the chassis either side of the fuel tank, so a trip to Weld Pro later i was the proud owner of a small stick welding machine. The cage comes with some spigots which normally bolt onto the existing mounting brackets but i didnt have them so i welded the spigot pieces into the chassis. (again sorry no pics, i forgot!) Then when the body went back on i placed the roll cage and marked out the drilling required. Off with the cage and drilled all the holes as required then cage was mounted again and secured in position. Heres some pictures of the finished article!
While the body was off i dismantled the rear suspension to fit the Poly bushes and do a little bit of welding on the bottom wishbones for the rear ARB mount.
The petrol tank was removed before the grinding and welding (never been fuel in it yet but just for access). Here you can also see the rear ARB loosely mounted
And heres the bottom wishbone back on with the small bracket welded on and the ARB mounted
And the other side!
And finally the rear pretty much completed before the tank was reinstalled (apologies for the photo quality, obviously shaking with excitement!)
Next orders were for water hoses and fittings, that turned out to be a bit of a marathon. Last time i built a westfield i was able to buy a silicone hose set from westfield but they dont do them any more so it was back to the drawing board. Had to measure up myself and order individual fittings which should arrive soon. I hope they fit!
Doesnt look like much but theres been a fair bit of work so far. I'll not get to do any more until after the 5th Jan so im looking forward to that!
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