Hey everyone,

I have just joined the Haynes forum and this one to aid me in building my roadster. Below is a little bit of info on me and my project.

My father in-law has an old westfield (been sitting in storage for 10+ years - can see it in the photos) and I am currently stripping it down and re building it up. But when it's finished my brother-in-law will probally take ownership of it. So I came across 'The book' when searching the Haynes website for a Serria manual to strip and rebuild the 2.0L Pinto powering the Westfield - but decided to scrap the Pinto and put in a 2.0L Zetec instead, but that's another story.

well I was set on the idea of building my own car along side my In-laws westfield. I have only been welding for a few months (MIG) but I feel confident enough to have faith in my welding now (been practising like a madman). I have an engineering background but at only 25 years old don't have too much experience so I'm learning as I go along.

I bought the manual and have just started the base board construction from 2440 x 1220 mm 22mm thick MDF supported by a frame of 75x50mm wood. Atm it is resting on a table but before I begin cutting metal I have 100x100mm fence posts to chop up and make proper legs with.

Here are a few photos of my progress so far. Only started yesterday but worked the whole day to get this far. God this is going to be a long haul hehe. Starting to measure out the jig working to a 0.5mm tolerance:

Oh and I have a habit of completely tiding my garage / tools before I close down for the night, but during work theres tools everywhere though. These photos were shot after I had tidied up. I HATE spending an hour to try and find any tools I require the next day.







Got home tonight and finished building the jig with only one dimension out by 0.5-1mm so now awaiting the steel to arrive.
So a hello to everyone and I'll keep you updated on my build.

Jason

Well done there, you've come to the right place.

You will find everything you need to know between here and the lunatics on the Haynes forum.

Whats your location?

Good luck,
Steve

Awesome workshop. Youll have some envious followers here.

Dont worry about the lack of experience. I just cut up my old book chassis and the welding (though looked suspect in places) was actually very sound.

If there is anything you need (Car related or not) invariably theres an answer to be found on here.

Good luck, and Welcome.

Make sure you don't weld near the Westfield. Keep it well away, not just covered up.

Welcome. is that the base of a lion rampant flag I see.

Looks great. Good luck with the build.

As said, be very careful with the Westie- any weld spatter or angle grinder sparks will melt straight through the GRP.

Also, the ends of your table look unsupported, make sure it's not 'drooping' downwards. Be a pity to start out with a warped chassis!

Best of luck!

James

Thanks all for the kind welcome. Tomorrow I am going make up 8 100x100mm legs form spare fence posts and put the building board on proper legs. I'll wheel out the Westie (and bikes) into the drive way before I start, Thanks for the tip as I would have just started welding away, whoops.

Yes it is a rampant Lion flag. My new garage/workshop was too bare so bought some colourful flags to brighten the place up as I start on my journey of collecting 'must have' tools. I don't have many tools atm but I am buying and 'aquiring' them as and when I need them.

Also updated my location, lol got pulled up on that one over on the haynes forum too hehe.

[Edited on 25/4/11 by Northern Joy]

We are just down the road Welcome to LCB