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Kit is here.....sort of....

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Westfield_XI

Westfield_XI

Jedi Warrior
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Well I went and picked up my kit on Friday morning. Westfield had not done the best of jobs packing and crating. The crate had the floor dropped out of it and parts were falling out as they fork lifted it onto my truck. I got it home and upon opening it saw the full extent of the damage: the nose fiberglas is shattered at the air intake, dzus fasteners are missing and popped out, the work stands came loose inside the crate due to poor packing and beat against the tail section cracking and chipping that. The base of the crate was broken away and the chassis was resting on the bare boards and the nails, this gouged the floors and warpped and dented the seat pans and the alloy side pods. There was no protective padding at all so when the car came loose it banged around in the crate and the crosspieces of the crate that came loose fell on the car scratching the gel coat. All things considered it's a real mess....

This being a weekend I can't say just what will happen next, but the US importer has seemed to be helpful and assures me this will be made good. I will keep you all informed as things develop. Anyone in the LA area who wants to stop by and see things is more than welcome, just drop me a line here and I will give you my address.

Just to complicate things, Westfield was sold this week to an investor group by the founding family.
 
Jeez what's they do, air-drop it a few times? Sounds like something that would happen to me.
 
Holy cow... That's sounding excessive.
 
Ouch - I hope they can make it right. Shame especially considering Westfield is a "brand name" in kit field. I'm glad I was able to pick up kit myself.
 
Wow, sorry to hear of your shipping woes. That's a pretty impressive list of damage. Sounds like pretty much all the bits were damaged or missing. Hope you're able to get it resolved. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Ouch. Sounds like it was hit by a bus....

Hope it gets sorted out for you...
 
The US distributor tells me that he is requesting that Westfield build me a new kit. We will see what the insurance carrier for UPS International has to say about that. And how long all this will take, as you might know, I have been awaiting delivery for a couple of months already.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like something that would happen to me.

[/ QUOTE ]
Me too.....I need a moron proximity detector/alarm for my car.
 
I have posted pics of my damaged kit on the Yahoo Westfield eleven forum. This is an open forum and membership is not required to view them. Just go to yahoo.com and click on groups, then search for the Westfield Eleven group, look under photos.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I have posted pics of my damaged kit on the Yahoo Westfield eleven forum. This is an open forum and membership is not required to view them. Just go to yahoo.com and click on groups, then search for the Westfield Eleven group, look under photos.

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to join to view the photos
 
Sorry, I just tried to upload the pics here but the resolution is too high and the files are too big to load here.
 
Anything new happening? We are all waiting for the next installment. Bob
 
Seconded!
 
I looks like it will all work out OK. This Monday, UPS authorised replacement of the front and rear bodyshells as well as replacement of the entire chassis/tub assembly. It took a few days, but once Westfield realised what a big deal this was to me,they went ahead and built the new parts to have them waiting for the UPS check. All they need is a day to prep them for shipment and they are off to the USA, this time in a new crate system. So I should have my stuff in about 1 month or so.

It is frustrating not to be able to do anything permanent to the kit I have now, but I have loosely bolted in the front and rear suspension: "to check the fit, Honey" and steering. Everything is fingertite for quick removal later.

I am not using the stock Spridget instruments. My donor car was too far gone to re-use the dash, and I wanted different stuff anyway. I made a temporary dash from masonite and then experimented with paper gauge faces to get the porportion and sight lines to my liking. I have a great 1960's 12" black Moto-Lita wheel I found on ebay, so by clamping parts into the chassis I was able to work-out where everything goes. I found a Spitfire column stalk @ Moss that controls the signals, hi/low beam, headlight flash and horn. Combining that with a combo ignition and light switch to turn things on and off kept the number of dash switches to a minimum. Although I still have to find a place for the dimmer for the panel lights.

I am using 3 Autometer 5" Streetrod gauges in black: Soeedo, Tach, and a Quad Gauge with oil pres, water temp, volts and fuel level. I also got 2 small dials in black for fuel pres and oil temp. Add in power supplies for the iPod, radar and Garmin and it gets more complex....

Anyway I probably would not have been able to get that much work done last month, what with the holidays and other things. So not much has been lost, it turns out that APT was running behind on their engine work schedule and I was going to have to wait until Feb for delivery of the motor. Besides, my work area is unheated and even a California winter can get cold sometimes. It won't kill me to start the build in March when it warms up a bit more.

I am trying to get as much fitted and built up to fit this chassis as possible to speed up assembly later. I just can't drill into or rivet onto this one. So I am just taping or zip-tying everything into place to see how it all goes. The mechanical bolt-up was very easy, everything fit just like the manual said it would. No surprises at all, I think my Mom could do it, it was so simple. Everything mechanical is well documented in the literature supplied by Manik, the US distributor. The electrical is a bit less well covered as far as photos and labels goes. I think that Manik is writing suppliments as they build theirs. I know there are now templates for the drilling of the front shell for the headlights, so I don't really mind letting them get out ahead of me.

And ahead of the other US builders too, Tom @ Manik told me that there are at least 5 kits coming to builders in America in the next few months. I keep hoping for a big factory website for all of us US builders to post our experiences. It will probably happen once we reach a critical mass of interest.
 
Sounds like good progress.

BTW, you have really sparked my interest.

Please keep us posted.

Thanks,
Patrick
 
Actually great news you're able to "pre fit" things. Makes the guess-work minimal when the time comes to do the "final install". Well done. Turn a 'negative' into a 'positive.'
It's all engineering! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Glad to hear there's some progress with your kit. Really sounds like fun project, even with the shipping woes. Thanks for keeping us informed.
 
I wrote here a while ago when I heard that you were importing a Westfield Eleven kit and I have been watching for news of its arrival. Sorry to hear about all the damage. I still want to follow your assembly info when you get to start on a kit that meets your expectations. Remember that QUALITY is defined as "MEETING YOUR REQUIREMENTS" and if what you received is as you describe, it doesn't sound to me to be what your expectations were, therefore it is not QUALITY.

PS - I couldn't find those photos, no matter how much I tried.

Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A, Montreal, Canada

https://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trebor/don3a_big.JPG
 
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