Westfield part 2 - Track Harder

[Waitey]

So after having a great time at CSF, it got me thinking about tuning my Westfield.

I got on eBay looking for upgrades and then ended up buying another one......as you do, along with a trailer off gumtree. Good times.

Meet Westie part deux.

Engine

Rover 1800 K Series
· Scholar Evo 2 block (i.e. it’s got fixed diesel liners rather than ‘mobile’ Rover ones)
· Omega forged pistons
· QED lightweight Flywheel
· Helix clutch
· REC valves (26/29.5mm) with Colsibro guides
· Head modified under watchful eye of Dave Andrews (DVA Power) – for breathing and cooling
· Solid lifters with shims
· Piper 285 cams with vernier wheels
· EU3 head with wasted spark dual ‘coil on head’

Dry sumped using Pace alloy sump, pump (2 x scavenge, 1 x pressure) with Pace alloy tower tank
Jenvey Direct to Head Throttle Bodies with ITG filter
Emerald K6 ECU
Powerspeed 4-2-1 all stainless exhaust
All rotating and reciprocating parts were balanced by Steve Smith at Vibration Free
The engine was mapped by Dave Walker in February 2010 and producing 199bhp@ 8000rpm and 225bhp @ 8800rpm.
The engine has done 10 hillclimbs, 1 track day, 3 races and a few road miles since build.

Gearbox

Quaife alloy cased 5 speed Type 9 with Titan alloy bell housing
Straight cut, close ratio 2.04, 1.54, 1.21, 1.0, 0.87
Positioned to avoid need for selector extension
Rebuilt by Brian Hill at BGH Geartech and has done 5 events since then

Final Drive
4.4:1 CWP on a Quaife ATB – assembled by Brian Hill

Suspension

Standard Westfield with AVO dampers all round
All joints are poly-bushed, and dampers are rose jointed
Alloy uprights at front
Front adjustable anti roll bar
Front dampers rebuilt by AVO
Team Dynamics 15” wheels currently shod with Kumho V700 205/50/15

Brakes

Factory fit floor mounted adjustable bias brakes
Solid disks at Front grabbed by four pot alloy callipers with Hawk ferro-carbon pads
Standard drums at rear
Braided hoses all round

Chassis

Westfield race chassis (i.e. additional bracing, but thinner tube, compared to ‘road’ chassis)
Chassis manufactured in 1999 (so no need for a catalytic converter under MSA rules)
All alloy panels were etch primed prior to painting, and are bonded using PRC (aircraft panel sealant) as well as riveted

Bodywork
Westfield race (lightweight) body work – but has a few dings and scuffs
Playskool carbon aeroscreen, dash, rear deck and ‘diffuser’

Interior

Playskool glassfibre seats
Telemetrix Instruments on Playskool carbon dash

Safety

Lifeline plumbed-in extinguisher
Driver’s 6 point FIA harness by RaceLidz (PlaysKool brand)
Passenger’s 4 point Willans harness
Caged – full FIA race spec cage
History

The car has been sprinted and hill climbed and is believed fully legal for RAC MSA approved circuit racing and speed events in UK. 7 wins in its 15 outings hill climbing in the 1800cc category.

 

[Sir_Dave]

That spec reads pretty well!!
Good purchase.

 

[182Trophy]

Awesome! Balling hard with two on the drive!lol!
Bhp/tonne on this?

 

[Waitey]

Awesome! Balling hard with two on the drive!lol!
Bhp/tonne on this?

450ish.

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Me likey!

 

[Louis]

Amazing.

 

[cat171]

Excellent! Are you going to sell the red one now?

 

[Waitey]

Excellent! Are you going to sell the red one now?

I probs should yeah. I tried to sell it before without noticing the MOT had run out lol

 

[cat171]

Lol! Awesome!
This new one sounds like a monster

 

[Waitey]

@harvsurrey ....

@AdamR I guess you are the same one off WSCC?

 

[...]

oooh thats a tidy one

is it a narrow live axle though ?
Nice spec engine.

some work to be done still ,get rid of those drums, swap your wheels over and swap the carbon


also very useful its not on a q plate though it can have some mot drawbacks

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[leeds_182]

Baller.

 

[Waitey]

oooh thats a tidy one

is it a narrow live axle though ?
Nice spec engine.

some work to be done still ,get rid of those drums, swap your wheels over and swap the carbon


also very useful its not on a q plate though it can have some mot drawbacks

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Its on a weird custom wide live axel. I've never seen one like it before. It'll be staying as it is for a while, I'll decide after some track work if I want to change that.

I've got some new carbon arches for it.

I'm also currently looking for some 13" CXR's to go on it. 13x8 at the back and 13x7 for the front.

Yeah the none Q place can be awkward. It's just had an MOT though and its free to Tax which is nice.

 

[McGherkin]

Now we're really talking

You planning on competing with it?

 

[brohoward71]

Looks like a weapon, spec list reads like a weapon.
Very expensive way of tuning the red one tho :smile:
Must have cost a tidy sum ?

 

[Waitey]

Looks like a weapon, spec list reads like a weapon.
Very expensive way of tuning the red one tho :smile:
Must have cost a tidy sum ?

It cost less than the price of building an engine of the same spec for the red one. So as I see it, the rest of the car was free.....

 

[Waitey]

Now we're really talking

You planning on competing with it?

I'll track it next year, see how I get on with it, then look to maybe start sprinting in it.

 

[Daz...]

It cost less than the price of building an engine of the same spec for the red one. So as I see it, the rest of the car was free.....

Man maths at its finest right there!

The spec list is ridiculous though, I can see why you done it.

 

[Knuckles]

450ish.

Did lol.

That's just pure excess

 

[Waitey]

Did lol.

That's just pure excess

The aero slows them down a lot though. I can't see it doing over 125mph. Should be quick though. It's geared for 60mph in 1st, so 0-60 will be fast!

 

[Knuckles]

The aero slows them down a lot though. I can't see it doing over 125mph. Should be quick though. It's geared for 60mph in 1st, so 0-60 will be fast!

Flol! I know itll not be a top speed monster but I bet it'll get to its top speed like something not right.

 

[Scrooge]

The red one looked quick right enough, this will be silly, enough to keep you entertained for a while no doubt. Your wheels and the carbon on that and it'll look great too!

 

[JB21]

I'd be happy to just drive a Westie for a few laps on track never mind owning 2 of them, fair play :up:

 

[...]

The aero slows them down a lot though. I can't see it doing over 125mph. Should be quick though. It's geared for 60mph in 1st, so 0-60 will be fast!

i would look at switching the aeroscreen on track for visibility and aero i found the fluke carbon lip (caterham style) worked better and i tried both

i had about the same power to weight as you and could pull into the 140's at spa .

the biggest aero help other than the screen is to flat floor the engine bay and get a rear diffuser (just a minimal cover is best )

that stops the 2 big aero drag parachutes (air into the diff area being the worst)

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Mr R.]

We need vids. [emoji106] [emoji41]

 

[Christopher]

Great buy! Like you said, probably cheaper than doing it all yourself to the first one.

 

[Waitey]

Great buy! Like you said, probably cheaper than doing it all yourself to the first one.

100% if I bought an engine of this spec from Minster Engines and the like it'd be £12k.

 

[Silent_Scone]

8krpm.

Sold. Lol from a K series no less

 

[Waitey]

Tonights progress.

Went through all the stuff which came with the car. Found a GoPro! Awesome.

Also found this....... Wouldn't be a K series without a head gasket set....

I also trial fitted the 13's. They are 3.9kg a wheel lighter, a pretty good saving of 11.6kg unsprung. Which doesn't sound much but its 2% of the cars overall weight!

Rear needs a higher profile tyre to look right but that won't be a problem.

 

[Herr Flick]

 

[Darren S]

Very nice!

 

[...]

Tonights progress.

Went through all the stuff which came with the car. Found a GoPro! Awesome.

Also found this....... Wouldn't be a K series without a head gasket set....
View attachment 1333711

I also trial fitted the 13's. They are 3.9kg a wheel lighter, a pretty good saving of 11.6kg unsprung. Which doesn't sound much but its 2% of the cars overall weight!

View attachment 1333712

View attachment 1333713

Rear needs a higher profile tyre to look right but that won't be a problem.

View attachment 1333714

profile looks fine just get some 8" rears thats what I did

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Martin.]

8800rpm!!! Jeez. When I was looking for an Elise I thought the K series lumps were no good. Clearly they are lol

 

[Silent_Scone]

8800rpm!!! Jeez. When I was looking for an Elise I thought the K series lumps were no good. Clearly they are lol

A lot of their bad rep (not all) comes from the decision to put them in freelanders. 1.8 16v tugging along a fat man and his dog in a car that weighs the same as a small house. Pop.

 

[Mr R.]

A lot of their bad rep (not all) comes from the decision to put them in freelanders. 1.8 16v tugging along a fat man and his dog in a car that weighs the same as a small house. Pop.

Well that and the standard head gaskets where w**k.

I think when BMW bought them out they re designed the gasket?

 

[Silent_Scone]

Well that and the standard head gaskets where w**k.

I think when BMW bought them out they re designed the gasket?

Yeah, they would have done mate. I've heard changing it on the VVC engine is a bit of a pig, too

 

[...]

In some ways the K series was ahead of its time , however its also had some major design flaws , that came about due to keeping the weight down
The list of issues

Thermostat design that allowed shock cold temp water to head
Poor quality gasket head gasket
Manufacturing problems that gave liner heights set wrong
Plastic dowels used as cost cutting measure but offer poor location
Low overall coolant capacity due to compact light design .

In the Caterham R500 they were a standard 23bhp , with a little more if on roller barrel throttle bodies , yes they would rev to 9k if you wanted as well however , its not cheap to get decent power , it gives less torque for a given power and the issues above rendered it just a bit too fragile . The life between rebuilds as stated by caterham for an R500 lump was 3k !! and believe me they need it .

we have not owned a single k series car that has not gone pop (owned 4 ) elise x 2 exige and MGF , so yes its a fragile engine but can be good .


My car pictured above has a zetec in at 230bhp , if i built another it would be duratec , but even then those engines built correctly to those sort of powers are not going to see much change from 12 to 15k

 

[Waitey]

The main benefit of the K series lump is weight.

My full dressed engine and gearbox weighs less than a bare Honda K20 block!

Still being full Ali does have its issues as Harv has pointed out.

The only original Rover part in my engine is the crank, and even that was machined and balanced!

 

[Darren S]

Got to say, the K-series that's powered the Lotus 340R I've driven a few times has been bomb-proof. It had the extra Lotus approved package that took it to around 190bhp and has been given death everywhere its been.

It makes a rotary engine sound smooth on idle - it really is that lumpy. But once opened up, its raw, loud and screamy - exactly the type of engine you want in a car like that.

 

[...]

The main benefit of the K series lump is weight.
My full dressed engine and gearbox weighs less than a bare Honda K20 block!

a duratec is only 10kgs more to be fair , and a fair more modern engine with less issues .