I'm still in the Club, but no longer driving German..

I love those!!!  When I was looking at getting my first replica those were high on the list as I am intimately familiar with the Spridget drivetrain they use.  Nice!

Please don't be reluctant to continue posting about your upgrades/changes/driving experiences.

Love those Lotus "Raaaacing caas! Looked at a Westfield years ago...still like to have one.

How many unrainie days do you have in the UK to drive such a fine vehicle? I suspect you're going to get wet. Lack of a top was what lead to selling my Spyder and buying a Speedster. I still get wet.

All types welcome Martin. Keep posting all about this cool car.

Excellent buy, Martin! I love 11s and the color is great. Good luck and keep us posted on your experiences.

With global warming, you'd be surprised how relatively few days of rain we get in England. As any of you who ride motorbikes will know, you develop a good 'weather eye' and know when you can go out and, even though it's cloudy, it's not going to rain. But the perceived lack of weather protection is what keeps XI/Spyder prices lower than Speedsters in the UK, even though as we all know the weather protection in most Speedsters is designed to 'make you less damp' rather than 'keep you dry'.

As for this car, if you want to know a LOT more, you might as well see the auction listing - it has a load of hi-res images that show the car off beautifully. I was on holiday when it was listed so I missed it, but it didn't make reserve. I presume it failed to reach reserve mainly for the non-traditional blue/tan colour. EVERY other XI I've seen advertised is British Racing Green/ red interior, and they sell for between £23k-£33k. The builder thought green cars were unlucky (a self-fulfilling myth, because all racing cars back in the 50s and 60s were mostly green, and tended to crash a lot with no seatbelts), so he went for blue gelcoat and then sprayed it Porsche Riviera Blue. It looks like Bugatti blue to me, hence the French feel to it.

He then advertised it in a more normal online fashion which is how I found it. And I got it for a good price, even allowing for the costs of changes I want to make.

Here's the extract from the blurb regarding the mechanicals (aimed specifically at all you techie guys who followed my old Speedster work and love these details)

• Upgraded, adjustable, Protech Coil over suspension fitted all round.
• Steering is rack and pinion. Uprights, hubs etc. are standard MG.
• Upgraded Front brakes are Frontline 9” with aluminium 4 pot calipers.
• Rear brakes are Ford 8” drums including MG chrome handbrake lever.
• Twin circuit brakes with Wilwood master cylinders with remote reservoirs
• Gearbox. Ford type 9 5 speed with a long first gear and short remote linkage.
• Frontline 7.5” clutch and bellhousing.
• The original donor engine was in generally good, original condition and was renovated and improved as follows.
• Block Offset bored to 73.5mm giving 1380cc. Crankshaft ground to -20thou. Connecting rods polished and balanced and fitted with Omega 9.8cr pistons. Crankshaft and flywheel/ clutch balanced.
• MED supplied parts:- Steel vernier cam drive kit. R/S Camshaft. 1.5 Ratio roller tip rocker shaft. Competition oil pump. Cam followers. Valve springs. Competition Balancer crankshaft pulley. Alloy rocker cover.
• Brand new Metro A+ cylinder head, modified and gas flowed, fitted with Cooper S valves.
• Peter May baffled sump.
• All new bearings, studs lock tabs, core plugs and gaskets. ARP Big end, Main and cylinder head bolts/ studs.
• Refurbished Weber 45DCOE carburetor on 5” Maniflow manifold, with K&N air filter.
• Edge High Torque starter motor, new water pump, alternator etc.

Now you've seen the good bits, here are the not so good bits:

The alternator failed so the car cut out the other night. I had to push it off a motorway (freeway) roundabout onto a side road. Fortunately there wasn't too much traffic and I could push it into a layby - the car is so light it was like pushing a motorbike. I had even  better luck when a guy parked in the layby jumped out and gave me a push so I could bump start it. A replacement alternator will be picked up tomorrow at a surprisingly reasonable £55 ($75). I'll check all the wiring back to the battery in the rear because it looks quite thin wire considering the juice it has to cope with.

As mentioned, the rear radius arms have knackered bushes. It's a nicely designed system locating on a rigid axle (in this case it's a Ford Escort Mk2 - the 1970s UK version, not the jelly mould US version), with a panhard rod for lateral location. Worn bushes equals massive clonking coming off the revs/getting on the revs. According to the Eleven Owners forum the bushes only last around 3000 miles, and this car has done 7000.

The interior has been nicely done by the builder, keeping it more or less true to the original - mostly polished aluminium except for tan seats and functional floor mats.

The standard Westfield look is thus - fully carpeted and fairly 'plush':

Whereas the builder went with this:

I like the spartan look of mine, but there are two things I want to change - the seats which really should be in red (original 11s came in many colours but the seats were always red), and the dials.. For some reason the builder wanted bright yellow. They are quite garish and totally out of place in this car (IMHO). They're ETB dials and very good quality, so I'm going to see if I can get the company to swap out the dial fronts rather than pay £500-odd for totally new dials.

I quite like the black crackle powder coating, even though tradionally the 11 has a cheap red vinyl cover with a minimum of padding.

There are a few oil leaks but sadly, it does seem to be a case of 'they all do that, Sir' with the A Series engine. I can fix a few but the main one will always be there I feel.

Luckily it only has one Weber DCOE45 carb, not the twin Dellortos I had on my previous car, so that's a lot less work. :-)

So, all in all, not too much to do, which will hopefully leave me more time to enjoy it.

It goes like stink and handles beautifully, as you would expect. The steering is so precise and light you only have to think of turning and it's done it. It is loud - the standard exhaust from Westfield is a motorbike silencer that struggles to hit the 105db limit at track days (apparently). But it goes with the racer look and feel.

I think I'm going to enjoy this!

I need to buy a Stirling Moss 'corker' style helmet to go with the car ;-)

Martin

Hey Martin, a plastic car is a plastic car. You’ll always be welcome.  My best thought about 11’s (which I love) “And you thought a Spyder was small.”  

I like the sparse interior, too, although I might be tempted to spray the interior with truck bed liner for sound deadening. Well down on my to-do list is spraying the inside of my clamshell, frunk, and interior for the same reason.

It has a 5-speed.

Many of us are already jealous.  

Maybe it’s like a Speedster in that most of the rain goes over the top over 50mph?  

Or maybe the aerodynamics are such that it channels all of the rain into the cockpit?  

Wonderful, Josephine, love it. Good catch.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

It has a 5-speed.

Many of us are already jealous.  

Maybe it’s like a Speedster in that most of the rain goes over the top over 50mph?  

Or maybe the aerodynamics are such that it channels all of the rain into the cockpit?  

My biggest worry would be keeping my sh*t eating grin under control so I didn’t drown.

Flies in the teeth..

Yes, I knew the 5 speed gearbox would encourage 'gear envy'. And it helps take it up to 90mph comfortably and because the weight's not 80% at the rear, the stability is a welcome change. ;-)

It's true that, like the Speedster, you have to keep moving if it rains. Although I took a tip from my old family friend who had a real 11 back in the 80s and he had a brollie in the car ready for when it came back into the pits at Goodwood on a track day. I've managed to find a 'double brolly' that effectively covers the entire cockpit, and for just £22.

@dlearl476 thanks for the invite to 'hang around' invite - I absolutely will. As for the other part of your message about sound proofing - pointless. It's a case of wear ear plugs and smile. It's worse for the passenger with the exhaust about 20inches from your left ear.

As for the car being 'compact and bijou', I'm 5'7 and 147lbs and it's squeeze for me to get myself shoehorned into the seat and my legs in past the steering wheel. Any larger and I'd need to fit a removable steering wheel.

As an aside, the main reason for the PO selling the car is he's got another that he's been working on - he picked me up from the train station in it. The most exotic taxi service I've ever ridden in!

So I'm a bit curious as to the proper headgear for such a sporty vehicle.

WW I leather helmet and goggles?  

Or something a bit more civilized?

"Clan Stuart" plaid like Sir Jackie?  

Maybe something like the Stig?    

Enquiring minds wish to know........

It was nippy enough up in the mountains yesterday that I needed my flight helmet. Pay no attention to the goofy “visor.” The sun was low enough that I needed it. Besides it’s horrible look, it works. Usually it’s snapped up.

The drawback is that one needs ear plugs with it, which I didn’t have. Oddly enough, the wind noise is louder with it on than without.

I agree, noise from headwear is a real pain, @dlearl476. I know, I have sensitive ears. "Ah, diddums" I hear you say. But at least I hear you say it from 200 yards. ;-)

Anyway, going back to biker references, it's all about wind noise which is often caused by gaps and aerodynamics, hence open face helmets can sometimes be quieter in use than full-face helmets.

@Gordon Nichols as for most suitable headgear, I refer back to my previous post of a Stirling Moss-style 'Corker-style' helmet as probably being the most suitable for a car of this era:

And of course the goggles and string-back gloves complete the ensemble. Oh, and throw in Dunlop-branded racing overalls. However, in cycling terminology, that would make me a FKW (Full Kit W*nker), so perhaps I'll settle for just a flat cap and sunglasses (or yellow driving glasses for night driving). I definitely need eye-protection in this car - the top of the screen intersects with my vision just below the horizon, so I look at traffic over the top and the road ahead through the screen.

Great find! And yes of course to the helmet. If you want something that's pretty close to Stirling's style but modern, cheaper and actually effective for protecting yer noggin, see the Thousands brand bike helmets.

I got mine for like $100 shipped and made the ear and neck panels out of the carry bag it came with, to be velcro'd to the leather chin straps. Also made an extended visor I can bolt on, and of course painted it to match the car....as one does.

Looks wanker enough when I'm blowing through phantom toll booths!

Curious about the rear trailing arm bushing issue. Seems like a good design would not eat bushings at oil change intervals.

@edsnova posted:

Curious about the rear trailing arm bushing issue. Seems like a good design would not eat bushings at oil change intervals.

How about replacing those bushing with a pair of rod ends?

I've looked at the Wesfield forums and the reason they don't use rod ends or rose joints is harshness of ride. Personally I think the problem lies with the geometry - there's a lot of power going through the rear axle and the torque generated overwhelms the joints. So, even with my non-engineering mind, if the mounting brackets were taller, even just an inch or two, i.e. as shown below in red vs the standard blue:

Then the rotational force applied would decrease substantially. Also, I'm guessing if the bush diameters were increased then the load spread would be increased resulting in decreased pressure on the bushes, but at the expense of worse location/ rear steering?

I think ultimately it's a case of 'bushes are cheap, so suck it up'. I may be wrong. Here's a useful explanation of the differing types of bushes.

However I’ve just realised another conflicting problem, that of the live axle twisting when one wheel goes up/down and the other doesn’t. Any increase in the distance between the two trailing arms on each side (as per the red option above) would result in increased yaw or twisting, which would need increased flex in the bushes. It would be no problem with IRS but with a live axle, you are forced to compromise. I’m sure someone with greater knowledge will set me right, but I’m starting to understand why these things wear out, especially with spirited driving.

I see a panhard bar in the suspension to locate side to side movement.   This looks like nothing more than a very common parallel 4 link suspension, used in hotrods all the time.  

@LI-Rick you’re not wrong, it’s a common, well-proven design.

@edsnova I like the fact you’ve painted the helmet with a flash to match the car’s rear wing flashes.

Anyway, I’ve got the new alternator so will test that this afternoon once fitted. I blew out the jets in the Weber just as a precaution. They looked fine and dirt-free.

The problem with getting at the dials to replace/re-face them is that I have to remove the scuttle using the windscreen. Looks simple enough to unbolt though, so fingers crossed.