andyfiggy2002
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| posted on 27/2/12 at 08:26 PM |
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so it was just a bad contact, hopefully you can now get on & enjoy
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BigMac
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| posted on 4/3/12 at 07:38 PM |
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Right, engine is now starting reliably!
Spent an hour or so today going over everything, wrapping the loom and connectors up. Found the primary reason for it not starting smoothly (and
running 'lumpy' was the air hose going from the inlet air pressure sensor to the airbox was disconnected- tried sealing it back on but
it's not going to hold- am tempted to put a hose connector in and do it up with a jubilee clip, but by doing that I'm reducing the volume
inside the hose so it'll give a false reading. Still not quite sure how I'm going to do that- am open to suggestions!
I've also noticed that the relay box is making quite a buzzing noise whilst the engine's running; it was never that bad before the
rebuild. For the sake of £20 I'm going to get a replacement off the 'bay and see how it gets on, fingers crossed it's just a
dodgy/broken soldered joint.
With the bike engine seemingly running OK, I just need reconnect the dash switchgear and the electronics side of things is done. That leaves the
brakes (yes, quite an important system!) and a proper basic geo setup and torque tighten, then she's ready for MOT...
Here's hoping it's a quiet week in the office so I can motor through everything!
Thanks,
Ben.
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Steve Hignett
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| posted on 4/3/12 at 08:20 PM |
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Sounds good Ben!
Would be great to see you at Oulton some time soon...
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BigMac
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| posted on 29/3/12 at 09:37 PM |
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Evening, all.
Determined to get it back on the road now, following all this good weather we've had. Desperate to get it out to shows, meet a few of you guys
and definitely get it to CPoP this year!
Went back to the garage today to check she would still fire up... A little lumpy and took some persuading, but she seems to be starting relatively
reliably now. I think the cause is a loose vacuum pipe from the airbox, I must have split it when I was fitting the new one. Engine seems to run quite
lumpy if you move the hose away from the airbox and you can hear it sucking on air. Problem is, no sure how to fix it! The connection is made by two
flat faces (the pipe and the connector) meeting, there's no extrusion that you can push the pipe onto... Short of impact adhesive, I can't
think of anything! If I use a hose joiner, I'm limiting the volume that can be carried within the pipe, so that would give me a false reading?
(Correct me if I'm wrong there!).
Also turned my attention to the brakes, new Master Cylinder fitted, bled the system, better feel than before but still a very spongy pedal that you
can push right to the floor. Rear calipers have locked tight- you can push the car forwards and backwards, but you can't turn the wheels by
hand. I'm thinking it's the front calipers at fault, in my earlier, more naive days I split them whilst they were off the car. I put the
seals back in place, but I'm guessing they're letting air in on the pedal return. So two questions for people:
1. If I wind back the pistons in the rear calipers, will they be fine from there on in, or is there something more I need to do to stop them clamping
the discs without any pedal at all;
2. Do I mess around blanking off front vs rear and checking for leaks, or do I just take the plunge and get a new set of M16 calipers for the front?
I'm 80% sure it's my splitting them that's causing this issue now (Budget won't allow for 4-pots right now)
Advice/guidance on this would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Ben.
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BigMac
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| posted on 14/4/12 at 01:11 PM |
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Well, managed to get in the garage this morning and have a look over the brakes. Seems the front calipers could do with a rebuild, as the rubbers are
near perished and the pistons were seized. To be honest, I'm going to take the opportunity now to fit some Wilwoods up front, rather than buy a
standard set of M16 calipers, then upgrade later...
Rear calipers seem to be off a Sierra and don't look too bad, but as it's the braking system (and I'm not skimping on brakes!)
I'll treat them to a rebuild kit (or a newer replacement set if I can find some cheap enough). Looks like BiggRed have an order coming their
way!
Also checked the MC was ok by putting some bleed nipples in and giving it a go, solid as a rock so I'm happy that at least one part of my
current setup is working as intended!
Tried starting it up again the other day and it still struggles to get going... Once it's run for a few minutes it'll start and stop on
the button every time. I'm thinking it probably needs a good run to bring everything back into check? Am going to treat it to a new oil filter
and engine oil before I get her ready for MOT, me thinks.
Have also provisionally booked myself on the Locostbuilders bash, so I have a completion date to aim for!
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RK
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| posted on 17/4/12 at 12:00 AM |
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I don't think my previous comment was quite strong enough: this looks absolutely fantastic, Ben, and gives a lot of us inspiration. Thanks for
taking the time to post your progress.
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BigMac
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| posted on 17/4/12 at 09:47 AM |
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Thanks RK, it's great to know it's benefitting people! 
All 4 calipers went off to Bigg Red yesterday to be rebuilt, decided that to do the same job on my own (including shot blasting and refinishing) would
be a comparable price but take considerably longer if you include visits to the shot blasters etc.
Once I'd taken all 4 calipers off the car, I was up for doing more work, but there's hardly anything left to do! Once the calipers come
back, they need fitting and brakes bleeding- it then needs a basic geo setup, car electrics plugging back in, a torque tighten and that's about
it. All-in-all, about a days work... Now itching to get the calipers back!
I'm just praying I can get it all sorted before the sun disappears for the year!
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BigMac
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| posted on 23/4/12 at 04:55 PM |
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Had a phone call today, all four calipers are fully refurbished and on their way back to me, hopefully should be with me for Wednesday!
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BigMac
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 01:07 PM |
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Time to get braking!
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yellowcab
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 07:26 PM |
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They look awesome! Bet you're chuffed with those!
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SausageArm
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 08:28 PM |
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Keep at it, lots of lurkers don't like to comment on things but they enjoy reading them, you've got a lot of views of the thread so people
must be taking an interest, even if they choose not to show it.
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BigMac
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| posted on 29/4/12 at 09:11 PM |
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Thanks for the good wishes guys... I'm well impressed with the quality of the calipers, glad I got them refurbished rather than bought new
ones!
Well, all four are now back on the car, should hopefully get time between work and uni to get them bled this week, then we should be ready to go for a
short pootle up the street, for the first time in nearly 2 years!!
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BigMac
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| posted on 11/9/12 at 09:13 AM |
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Wow, talk about a long time since I last posted...
So let's cut to the chase, it's still not finished- but it runs and drives! The last few months have been spent purchasing the first house
with Mrs BigMac. Couple that with an Open University degree and a rather time consuming job and I've had little time to dedicate to the beloved
Westy.
I had the first proper play last night and despite a slight struggle, it started fine (thank god). I've started flatting the $50 paint job back
ready for polishing- I have to admit that a flat finish looks good, without having to polish it up! That's where the majority of my labour is
going right now.
Other than the bodywork, finishing the car off is straightforward now- fabricate and fit brackets for the seats, speed sensor and reverse box oil
catch tank; put the wiring for the car loom back in and tidy the cabling (it's already all labelled, so it's literally just a 'wire
it up' job) and a rear wheel alignment.
I'm properly procrastinating on the bracket fabrication, as (a) my metal working skills aren't the best and (b) I don't have the kit
to do it! Still, I'll have to get it done, as I'm desperate for a drive before the weather takes a turn!
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BigMac
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| posted on 8/9/13 at 07:59 PM |
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Seems I've not posted in a LONG time; figured I'd best give everyone an update!
So it's finished, not MOT'd as of yet and probably won't be this year (not much point given the weather is now turning). There are
always things I want to keep doing with it, but it starts, runs and drives- so I'm considering it finished 
I still need to machine polish the $50 paint job- since it's been flatted it looks immense in Matte White, but I'm keen to give it a more
durable/desirable finish, so it'll be going gloss white over the next two weeks.
The bad news is that I'm going to have to offer it up for sale soon, as Mrs BigMac is talking weddings and will not doubt be talking MacMinis
following that. I'll be immensely sad to see it go, that said I am keen to sell to a member of the LCB fold if anyone is interested- at least I
know it will be looked after!
BigMac.
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ben2011
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 11:06 AM |
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Great pics, been following this thread for a long time!
[Edited on 23/10/13 by ben2011]
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hkp57
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 posted on 23/10/13 at 08:31 PM |
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10 out of 10 very clean well thought out re-build
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BigMac
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| posted on 17/11/13 at 11:54 PM |
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Thanks very much for the feedback guys, it's nice to see all the hard work being appreciated!
Decided that whilst it's off the road for the winter I'm going to be undertaking a few minor projects, namely getting rid of the Koso
gauge and doing a new dash using OEM ZX10-R clocks. Updates due soon!
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BigMac
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| posted on 25/11/13 at 01:08 PM |
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Time for a winter update...
Decided that whilst the car is up for sale, but the season is leading to no one buying, I'd undertake a little 'winter project' on
the Westy to keep me busy; this being swapping the Koso dash over to a set of original 06/07 ZX10-R clocks. Removing the need for the CBS wiring
module, as well as an additional speedo pickup.
So far I've managed to remove the old dash and CBS module- both which sold quickly to guys on here. This in turn has funded a replacement ZX10-R
loom and an original set of clocks from a 20k mile bike, in great condition.
When the loom first arrived, I found that it was from a Euro spec bike, so had additional wiring for two o2 sensors and an immobiliser system. As
I'm running a US spec loom, I've had to go through the diagram and remove the unnecessary cabling; keeping everything on the loom that was
only strictly necessary. Funnily enough, having spent so much time with the 10-Rs wiring diagram over the past 2 years, I was perfectly comfortable
doing everything. Now armed with more experience than the first time I did this, I removed the disused connectors and left plenty of cabling, doubling
the ends over and sealing with heatshrink- just in case I ever need to put everything back! Much better than my approach 2 years ago where I simply
cut the cabling out and chucked the stuff (which I could have sold!!) in the bin.
So I managed to convert the loom over from Euro to US spec and plumbed it in on Saturday afternoon for a quick test. Given my previous success with
electronics, I wasn't hopeful everything would work. Needless to say, connect everything up- twist the key and what do you know- the throttle
bodies set themselves, fuel pump primes and the dials come on- so no immobiliser issues at least! That said, the error light did come on, but that
will more than likely be down to the fact I'm not running an exhaust butterfly valve actuator, which throws up an error code if the wiring is
open. A quick scour of eBay should get that sorted, though.
So next steps now are to route the loom properly, then start wiring in headlights, tail-lights, brake lights etc. The FIA master switch is also going
in at the same time. Should keep me busy for a few evenings!
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BigMac
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| posted on 27/7/14 at 11:05 PM |
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Hello All
A long time since I've posted on here, but a quick note to say that now the car is fully completed after all this time, it is for sale!
It's been fully finished and shakedown/tested by a local motorsports specialist, as well as just flying through it's MOT on Friday with no
advisories. Taxed as of Friday afternoon, it's ready to go!
I'll post proper/full details up here shortly along with the latest pictures when I collect the car from the specialist who's been looking
after it.
MOT: July 2015
Tax: Jan 2015
Price: £15,950 o.n.o
Location: Cheshire, 10 minutes from M6 J.16
If you are genuinely interested in buying, please do drop me a U2U and I'm happy to discuss further or arrange a viewing.
Thank you,
Ben.
[Edited on 27/7/14 by BigMac]
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BigMac
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| posted on 28/7/14 at 05:40 PM |
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Hello All!
So having collected the car today, I've finally managed to get some much better pictures and also write a proper ad. The full details can be
found on both Car and Classic and PistonHeads:
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/westfield/other-models/fully-refurbished-carbon-kevlar-2004-westfield-mega-r/2667012?isexperiment=tru
e
In terms of pictures:
Thanks,
Ben.
[Edited on 28/7/14 by BigMac]
[Edited on 29/7/14 by BigMac]
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Rosco86
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| posted on 31/12/14 at 08:42 AM |
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Cracking rebuild mate, how do you find the zx10?
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BigMac
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| posted on 31/12/14 at 10:40 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Rosco86
Cracking rebuild mate, how do you find the zx10?
Thanks very much, it was my first venture into the world of mechanicals, so couldn't go anywhere near the quality of what you're doing
with fabricating up your own chassis!
The ZX10 lump is definately a bit of a monster in such a light car, albeit driving a car with a bike engine does take some getting used to. It took me
a good few hours of driving to get to smooth, slow speed changes and using the clutch properly. Power delivery is great- a very linear delivery that
just gets frantic the higher up the rev range you go. I use mine on the road and barely touch the throttle- every now and then a nice clear stretch of
road opens up and I can give it full throttle- it surprises me every time, it never really stops surging forward even when you get near the
limiter!
You may not notice overly much when you track yours, but it obviously lacks torque lower down which means it only really starts to sing past 4k rpm or
so. Not much of an issue when you're moving, but trying to pull away quickly you can get a little bogged down off the line until it really
starts to rev. I stuck a GiPro on it with the ATRE function which has helped, but I'm thinking of getting it on a Power Commander and a proper
map to make it a bit more road car friendly.
If your car is predominantly going to see track use I'd get a baffled sump from Andy at AB Performance as well as an Accusump with a manual
valve and uprated clutch springs. Judging from the work you've done so far on the car though, I'd go as far as to say you're
probably way ahead of me on that one!
[Edited on 31/12/14 by BigMac]
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