Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

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Lauren
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Lauren »

Supercharger light is on the rev counter.
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

Well, yes. Either way, I spoke to Ronnie a while ago and he said they're from the US. That's good enough for me :thumleft:

I could put the original clocks back in, but at this point I'd have to increase the readings to account for the additional 5-6k miles I've put on the car in the last year. Better in my mind to keep the original clocks intact as proof of when the changeover took place.
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Lauren »

I just wasn't sure (still not) whether US speedos have a Km/h scale on them.
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by JD »

Good to see you and the car. It sounded rather good as you drove off. I took mine for a nice smooth, sensible run up and down a deserted Rugby Road after I left and it felt almost perfect; just need to get rid of those soft, vague Toyos. How was your run home?
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

JD wrote:Good to see you and the car. It sounded rather good as you drove off. I took mine for a nice smooth, sensible run up and down a deserted Rugby Road after I left and it felt almost perfect; just need to get rid of those soft, vague Toyos. How was your run home?


Sorry bud, only just spotted this! Good to see you too :thumleft:

Drive home was good, apart from the torrential rain, and I haven't had a single dry day to give it a good run since ](*,)

But, the pulley kit made a good, noticeable difference to the power (and SC whine!) and the Whiteline ARBs have made it feel far more planted through the corners. I'll give it a good pasting around Bedford in a few weeks to give them a proper test :)

Glad you got yours sorted in the end :)
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

Quick job today...

Start:

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And, after an hour or so of gentle swearing...

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Not perfect, but OK for an 'in situ' job. Anyway, it's now gone off to the bodyshop to have all of the horrible rust cut out of the roof and fixed :D
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by pistol pete »

Ohhh then it will be completely original :cheers: :-# :lol:
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

Er.... yeah. Just... don't look under the car :whistle:
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

Well, the old girl has had a busy time since January! First of all it went into a local body-shop to have the rusty windscreen bit sorted once and for all. No pics yet, sadly, the chap who did the work said he is going to develop the photos he took and post them to me (yep, one of those places! :lol: ) so when I get them I'll bung 'em up. I'm very happy with the work though, you'd never guess it's had anything done and it even now has an original bronxe windscreen fitted :)

The bodyshop took a little longer than expected, so I didn't manage to collect it until the day before the tyrack-day I had booked at Bedford. All the servicing was up to date so I was happy with that, but still I was a little nervous at having barely driven it since November to be hacking it round a track!

I needn't have worried, of course, the car took everything thrown at it and then some. The 'charger sounds awesome with the big pulley kit (now running 1 Bar) and the whiteline ARBs make a huge difference. It's made the car a lot more pointy and direct, which took a little getting used to at first as it can be a little tail-happy with the extra power and the LSD, but once you get a feel for it it can be incredibly nimble.

Here's my first outing on camera - I was experimenting with tyre pressures and got them a bit wrong, so the rear was pretty wayward (as I found out at the end of the lap! :pale: ). Phil will tell you how easy this is to do when you're not expecting it ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWTodLRltFw

I came back in, played with the tyre pressures again and had another go. Much more controllable, still a bit tail-happy bit in a good way IYSWIM, it means you can really steer the car on the throttle. Feedback is fantastic as well, and I had not problems with brake fade at all, the braided lines and Yellowstuff pads worked perfectly all day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiC2xicySfs

Couple of pics from Bedford:

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After that - home, check-over, proper wash/wax and a month of occasional driving while I wait for summer to arrive. And then last Friday I headed up north for a day at Blyton Park. This is comparatively a much smaller and narrower circuit than Bedford, but has some very technical corners and is without doubt harder on both car and driver. The SC again behaved impeccably all day, apart from briefly scaring the bejaysus out of me when it popped off an ignition lead when I launched it out of the pits :pale:

Here's my best recorded run from the day. As you can see I'm starting to get more confident in sliding the car here and there (not in a 'drift' sense, but as a way of steering the car on the throttle). The second half of the track in particular has a lovely double-apex corner that you can get a good four-wheel drift round :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt-Np2b8J-c

And some more pics:

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Next up, Castle Combe :D
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by JD »

Excellent writeup. That's a very special car.
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Magic Beans »

Ben wrote:Phil will tell you how easy this is to do when you're not expecting it ;)


:angry: :oops: :lol:

It's a perfect little car for track days. Handles really well and very controllable. :thumleft:
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by DB Mr2 »

Fantastic looking mk1 looks like it has been cared for very well by yourself and previous owners :)
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by craig »

This really is a great car. After following (and being followed) this around the Le Mans trip it is a very capable car.

You replaced those roof seals yet Mr Ben? :mrgreen:
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

RedMR² wrote:This really is a great car. After following (and being followed) this around the Le Mans trip it is a very capable car.

You replaced those roof seals yet Mr Ben? :mrgreen:


Lol! Nah, not yet - I found some seal treatment stuff which seems to have done the trick pretty well, the interior has stayed dry all winter at least. It's only in torrential rain that there's a bit of water that makes its way in :)
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

I’m aware this has been off the radar for a while now (until recently, of course ;) ) so apologies for that! The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that the SE has already toddled off to its new owner, but for the sake of completeness I wanted to tie this up.

We last saw the little blue MR2 back in April following a handful of trackdays and a lot of work in the preceding six months or so. My next planned show (and track appearance) was to be the BHP show at Lydden Hill in Kent. I travelled down the night before and stayed with Pete, and then we were up at sparrowfart on Saturday morning to head over to the show. Cruising down the M20 I spotted two GT86s coming down the outside lane, and low and behold Mark and Lauren are there waving at me!

We pulled off the M20 after a short bit of tunnel-based fun and up Spitfire Hill, Lauren went and I chased (the GT86 does sound fantastic with the taps open, btw!). The SC seemed to hold its own pretty well in second, shifted up to third and kept going.....

...I think it got to about 6000 rpm in third when it let go. No noise, no bang, just a sudden loss of power and a huge plume of grey-white smoke. That'll teach me. I think the worst thing of all was the look on Mark's face... I feel so bad it had to go then of all times! Sorry dude :(

After RAC-ing it home it had a bit of time to sit outside the house and feel sorry for itself while I borrowed the OH’s car for the Scotland trip in May. Originally worried that I’d melted a piston or blown a ring I became confused when the car started running again perfectly normally once all of the smoke cleared. On the way back daahn saaf I dropped into SBits to have a chat with Peter and see what he thought, and the consensus was that in reality it was probably no more than HGF under such high load.

So a couple of weeks later it was booked into my local specialist for the work to take place, and I made it very clear to the to check both the head and the block for any signs of corrosion or warping. The block was pronounced healthy (a big relief!) and the head was given a light skim as part of a full top-end rebuild.

In the midst of all this, er, excitement I also moved house (I now have a garage!) which opened up my second car options a lot, and given that in reality I want to do more in the way of track days, sprints etc I came to the realisation that the SE is too good for a life like this. Don’t get me wrong it’s a huge giggle on track, but turning it into a dedicated track car would be plain wrong and I’d always be worried about bending such a rare car.

What I needed was something shouty and plastic.

And red.

As you will know, Phil (Mr. Beans) had Mule III up for sale following the purchase of the Hayabusa engined Mule IV. He was also on the lookout for another more road-focused second car for a certain very lucky lady, and after several weeks of beating around the bush we eventually decided that we each had the car the other wanted and why don’t we just swap the V5s and be done with it? I always wanted the MR2 to go to a good home when we eventually parted ways and anyone who’s read Phil’s thread will agree when I say I can think of no-one better 

So we did :D

A new project thread will follow for Mule III – yes, I know it’s not an MR2 but hopefully you won’t mind if I continue to blither on on these hallowed pages. For now, here’s a final pic of the SE in the one night it got to spend in my new warm, dry garage before going to live in the midlands:


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So long, F227 OVU. I think this’ll be the last MR2 I have, nothing else will compare in my eyes.
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by pistol pete »

was such an awesome little car that mr, can't think of a better home for it..
great write up (busy today then :) )

you gonna join me on JAvlin sprint series?? :) you know you want to.. use the bmw as a tow car...

:thumleft:

you should rename this threasd adn keep it going
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

Ask, and you shall receive ;)

How not to buy a car, vol. 17:

Drive 2 ½ hours north in an MR2 with a freshly built top-end in Friday evening traffic. Arrive c. 9pm, kick the tyres a bit and have some pizza. Have a quick whistle-stop tour of the purchase (“That’s your windscreen-wiper switch. Don’t forget that one.”) and then head off at 10.30pm in a newly purchased car you’ve never driven before, in the dark, in a fixed seat that doesn’t fit you, to Scunthorpe. Panic about the amount of fuel in the tank (no gauge!), get lost in Scunthorpe and eventually get directions off a pair of very jealous chavs in MacDonald’s carpark. Place cover (pond-liner and bungees, crude yet effective!) over car, check into hotel and collapse into bed.

Next day: sleep through alarm, miss breakfast and walk out of the hotel as it starts raining. Drive newly-purchased and still very alien car (with no windscreen!) to Blyton park circuit in the rain: terrifying. Feel silly for organising Toyota trackday and then turning up in a British car with an Italian engine, then gingerly head out onto a patchy damp track. Dodge rain storms, damp tracks, faster cars, slower cars (not many!) and eventually decide that I should probably point my plastic nose-cone down the 180 miles to home. Rains: get wet. Sunny: dry off. This cycle repeated pretty much all the way down South, until I came off the M40 onto the Oxford ring road into a truly biblical rainstorm. Never been more wet or more terrified in my life, aquaplaning at 50mph whilst looking up[/] into the wheelarches of passing lorries is definitely not the one! Arrive home, car into garage and drip my soggy way straight into a hot bath.

Oh what fun :D

So there we have it, I’m now the owner of a very silly and fantastically fun little Westfield. It’s a great little car with enormous potential, and my plans basically are to tinker with it, improve little bits here and there and generally enjoy it whist keeping a steady eye on the weather forecast :lol:

The engine is a recently-rebuilt Fiat Lampredi 2-litre twin cam running R1 carbs, high compression pistons, high-lift cams, a Volumex head and plenty of other tasty little bits and pieces. It also has ARBs front and rear (rare for a kit, I understand), a front wide track kit, Quaiffe LSD and a digidash. We think that it was originally built as a racer or sprint car and then later converted and SVA’d for road use – the underlying build seems to be pretty good but a lot of the cosmetic bits are a bit slap-dash (uneven front wheelarches, wonky numberplates and loose mirrors are a bit of a clue). I think the wiring needs some attention as well as the temperature readouts seem to vary depending on how many electric things I have switched on, and the suspension is clearly set up for track use so that’ll need some attention and setting up as well to make it a little more supple over Oxfordshire’s finest back-roads. I may also look at a couple of other things to make it a little more friendly, such as swapping out the GRP seats, sourcing a tonneau cover and maybe even fitting a windscreen if I get excitable :lol:

Having spanked all my spare money on a pile of stone and mortar most of this will have to wait for a while, so in the meantime I’ll be doing plenty of local (sunny!) journeys in the westy to get used to its little ways and see if there’s anything else that needs attention. I’m already having to completely re-calibrate my ideas of what are acceptable cornering speeds :D

A few phone pics will have to do for now until I get the internet at the new abode (much shouting at BT to come still, I imagine!)

A rare dry moment at Blyton:

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Obligatory petrol station shot:

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The mule with its stablemate!

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After a quick ‘Monte Wash’

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Sumptuous interior:

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Wonk!

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The family all together:

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Yes, ramps necessary!

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Mixing with the big kids at Homebase :D

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Italy’s finest (and god it sounds good!):

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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by pistol pete »

:clap: :clap: :clap: love it..
you really are on a quiet day :thumleft:


i second on how good it sounds..

i cannot believe that the plate did not send mr Phil into a fit so he couldn't sleep at night :whistle:
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by pistol pete »

this pic..
Image

whu can i only see Alix's forehead
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Re: Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

Post by Ben »

Think she had her eyes shut. Sensible girl! :lol:
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