Shifter improvements - There are several mods available to improve shift quality ranging from easy to hard and from nearly free to ~$2K. I decided to start with two of the cheapest and easiest. First, after experimenting with adding weight to the shift knob and feeling a difference, I purchased The Bollock knob from Inokinetic. On my scale, weight increases from 118gr to 367gr (vs. a claimed 400gr) and it is a slightly larger diameter at 1.9" vs. 1.8". Second was Stan's Mod which adds shims, typically in the form of washers, between the floor and the bottom of the sheet metal shifter frame to reduce lateral play. Rather than washers, I opted to 3D print a custom spacer to maximize the footprint and to match the sawtooth shape of the floor rather than just sit on the tooth peaks. The photos of the spacer below show the POC version printed in PLA. The final version was printed in PETG-CF.

Between the two, shift quality is improved. It's a big enough change that I don't believe it's a placebo effect, yet not so big that it elevates it into the realm of good shifters. It has, however, moved it further into the more-than-acceptable-for-me category.

​Seats - Seat comfort has been considerably improved through a combination of tilting it back a few degrees via 3D printed spacers and adding the Sparco kidney/side pads. For the pads, I wanted to make sure they could be removed with no damage to the leather and ideally affixed in a way that allows slight repositioning. The fix was a sandwich of Command strips affixed to the seat, then EVA (a flexible closed-cell foam) stuck to the adhesive side of the Command strips, and finally adhesive backed Velcro loop material is attached to the EVA. The pads, which have Velcro hook material sewed to their backs, mount to this sandwich. This setup will allow for fine tuning of the pad position, while providing enough strength to keep them in place. Or so I hope.

Earlier, I had tested a Command strip on an inconspicuous part of the seat to check for any reaction to the leather or dye. After a couple of weeks with no issues, I'm optimistic, but I will pull them in a month or two to confirm, and then again after a longer period. Provided things are still okay, and this fix holds up to regular ingress/egress, I'll cover the pads with Alcantara for aesthetics and consider it done.

Tires - The car came with AD09s that had aged out. Unfortunately, that tire is no longer available in the US in 195/50-16 needed for the fronts, so after digging through a number of reviews, I went with the Bridgestone RE71RS. Not a good standing water tire but reportedly does well on wet tarmac and very well on the dry stuff. Given how I'll use the car, this should suffice. Tramlining, grip and ride were immediately improved with them installed. It's hard to say how much of each is down to a better tire and how much is due to it simply being a fresher tire. Regardless, these are very noticeable improvements.

Alignment - After the tires were installed, the car had its first alignment since leaving the factory. Because I will drive the car almost exclusively solo, I opted to limit ballast (176 lb.) to the driver's seat. But I did stick to the factory's other recommendation of 1/2 tank of fuel.

The target numbers are based on the commonly recommended settings on LotusTalk:

• Front: maximum achievable negative camber with all front spacers removed, and 0 toe.
• Rear: -2.5° camber each rear side, and 3mm (0.40°) total toe in.

The stock settings have significantly less camber front and rear, with a tiny bit of front toe out and a little less rear toe in. Caster is unchanged.

The top table shows the starting alignment numbers followed by the final numbers in the bottom table. Coming in with positive camber on the left front, and total rear toe over double the recommendation, was surprising. Even if I wanted to stick with the factory settings, things were still well out of whack.  

When buying a car for driving pleasure, I follow five immutable rules. They’re non-negotiable. Someday I may be forced to revise them, but until then, they stand.

• Engaging/Analog/Visceral/Tactile. Pick your adjective. The car must pull me in and make me feel like an extension of the vehicle — an integral part of the experience.
• It must put a huge grin upon my face when traversing a winding road, no matter how I felt before the drive.
• It must have a small footprint. For reference: the 993 is the upper limit. The Cayman crosses the line. A modern 911? That just makes me sad.
• Three pedals in the driver’s footwell. No exceptions.
• Steering feel must be good to great. Which, let’s be honest, rules out electric power assist.

For me, these rules ensure the car will encourage me to hunt for corners and practice the optimal line while staying within my lane. They ensure fun at any speed.

With the Westfield gone, I began thinking about filling its spot in the shop. Pleasure driving duties are already split across four cars, so any new addition would need to fill a gap—not duplicate an existing use case.

As I considered those gaps, two stood out.

First, a turbocharged engine. Not the modern kind like in my Mk 7.5 GTI, which spools very quickly and delivers torque from very low rpm, but an old-school turbo—like my much-missed Porsche 951.  I enjoy modulating the throttle to dial back the onrush of torque as boost builds mid corner.

Second, a mid-engine layout. Unlike the turbo gap, this one’s never been filled in my car-owning life, making it a higher priority. The Cayman is the obvious choice -- it's always the obvious choice -- but at nearly three inches wider and four inches longer than the 993, it’s simply too big. I toyed with the idea of something left-field like a Dino 308GT4, but the potential maintenance costs make me nervous. The first-gen MR2 had already been ruled out during the Miata search in 2011.

But when I considered the Elise, I couldn’t think of any negatives. It’s small, handles brilliantly, offers great steering feel—and every drive feels like an occasion. Reported drawbacks include gearshift quality, seat comfort, and ride harshness, but none of those are things that can't be fixed.

​Given my back issues, my main concern was whether I could manage the ingress/egress ballet. A local owner generously offered to bring his ’07 Elise by so I could give it a try. When he pulled up, my first thought was, “Ooh, Chrome Orange—my favorite color!”

I climbed in and out with an acceptable level of discomfort, which meant the search for an Elise was officially on.
​
We chatted for about 45 minutes. Toward the end, he mentioned plans to list the car on Bring a Trailer sometime next year. When I asked about the delay, he explained that he wanted time for proper photography and to tackle upcoming maintenance items so the car would need nothing. Plus, with BaT’s usual lead time, the listing would otherwise land at the wrong time of year.

This car was perfect. One owner, 28k miles, spotless, fastidiously maintained, and Chrome Orange. Having tracked prices for the past month and seeing wild variations in seller expectations, I assumed he would be on the unreasonable end of the spectrum. However, when he said what he was hoping to get for the car, I realized he was being reasonable. I then asked if he could sell it now, without any of the hassle leading up to spring, would he consider it, and a deal was struck.

I was extremely lucky to buy the car from this particular owner. He kept meticulous records throughout its life, amassed a generous collection of spares, and made only minimal modifications. The most notable of these are the SSR Comp wheels in Sport Package sizing—6.5" wide fronts versus the base 5.5".
Those wheels are significantly lighter than the standard Touring set. Based on published weights, the fronts shed 3 lb each, and the rears drop 7.5 lb apiece—for a total unsprung weight savings of 21 lb. In a 1900 lb car.

Now that I’ve logged nearly 200 miles in the Elise, a few discoveries have surfaced.
First, the gear change: it’s fine. Not great, but certainly acceptable. I might make some minor tweaks to improve it, but until the dreaded blue ball fails, I’m not investing in an expensive aftermarket setup.

Second, the ride. Also fine. Perhaps the car’s reduced unsprung weight helps, or perhaps it’s the reasonably smooth roads in my area. Or perhaps the people who complain just aren’t used to stiffly sprung cars. Or perhaps a combination. Regardless, I see no compelling reason to upgrade the spring/damper combo right now.

That leaves the seats. They suck. Badly.

I really don’t want to drop big money on Tillets to fix the issue. So, for the hell of it, I pulled the little Sparco side pads from the Miata’s Sparco Sprints and wedged them behind my back. Instant fix. They reduce discomfort by adding support where I need it, and they close the oversized gap between my midsection and the side bolsters—dramatically improving lateral support. 

That's a long enough Blog entry. In the future, I'll cover how the cars compare and how the use cases differ.

​Well, it's done. What started as a simple upgrade to more modern window motors, then degenerated into a new, modern loom, interior refresh, and repair of various things that either didn't work, or were repaired poorly by previous owners, has finally reached the finishing stage.  Eight long months after putting the car on the lift, it set tires on the ground and went for a short drive Thursday, before the rain set in that night. No issues. Nothing fell off, no Lucas smoke was released into the atmosphere, no concerning odors or sounds led me to pull over, and everything except the headlight pods appears to work. As part of the project, I rebuilt the headlight pod vacuum switch, but there was a real chance there was a leak elsewhere in the system. However, the engine would need to run to verify. Well, now that it's run, I can verify there is a leak, but that's a repair for next week. 

Provided I didn't screw up any crimps or solder joints destined for future failure, I'm pleased with the outcome. The 3D printed fuse/relay box turned out great as did the 3D printed glovebox behind which it sits. Even the interior flocking looks OEM. The carpet looks good, and upgrading the sound deadening to modern materials appears to have made a noticeable difference. Granted I am relying on memory given the time span between pre-project and post project drives, but road noise seems to have been subdued, providing a slightly more refined experience and creating a more prominent exhaust note. Despite adding the sound deadening (DEI Under Carpet Lite and strategically placed Dynamat Superlight) to places where the old sound deadening was missing, the weight increase was only one pound. The replacement heater valances are crack free, and the new center console is much higher quality that the outgoing piece. Rather than use the old — but period correct — vinyl center console pad with welded cross seams, I opted to use some leather left over from the Caterham build and sewed my own. Personally, I think the stitched accent lines look much better than the factory welded seams. The horn no longer has a mind of its own, and it's loud! 

Scroll through the annotated gallery for before and after photos as well as some of the custom work.

​After a recent blat with a friend who owns a 2019 420R SV, we traded cars to see how they compare. He was curious about the engine and I was curious if the CORE dampers and revised spring rates were worth the money.

Starting with the engines, first, NVH is noticeably greater with the 2.4L. No surprise — it's why Ford fitted balance shafts to the 2.3L version — but it's worth mentioning. Although I don't find the 2.4L at all objectionable in this regard, the 2.0L is definitely smoother. However, it also has less sonic attitude. Compared to the built 2.0L in my old Westfield, I've said that the 2.4L sounds angry. Interestingly, my friend used this same word to described it. I suspect part of that attitude is from the deeper note that comes with the bigger capacity, and the rest comes from the far more aggressive cams. The 2.4L has more torque down low and is far more eager to rev than the stock 420R engine; once the engine gets close to 5000 rpm, it just surges forward at an amazing rate and encourages you to keep going to the 8000 rpm redline. There is no doubt that the 50hp difference is real. Another revelation was just how much lighter the 420R flywheel is than the Raceline lightweight flywheel fitted to the 2.4L and that I also used in the Westfield.  Big difference! Part of me wishes I knew this when building the engines. Doing a little research, it appears the 420R flywheel "might" be a little under 7 lb whereas the Raceline flywheel is a verified 10.39 lb. Call it a 3.5 lb difference, or 35% lighter. The Raceline flywheel aids drivability, but the teenager in me loves how quickly the 420R flywheel revs when blipping the throttle at rest.

Next up is the interior. My car has lowered floors, versus standard floors in the 420R. I had briefly driven this car before placing my order a few years ago. The high seating position compared to the Westfield bothered me and prompted me to order my car with the 2" drop. This drive reinforced that feeling of sitting on the car rather than in it. Everything, however, comes with a downside. In this case, the tall center console interferes with my elbow when selecting third gear. After a while I've adjusted to it, but it was an annoyance to my friend. We both agreed the carbon fiber seats are more comfortable than the standard composite seats. 

​As mentioned above, the aspect I really wanted to compare were suspensions. I decided to invest the money in the CORE dampers while waiting for the kit to arrive. We have a lot of bumpy two-lanes road here and given the power level, I wanted to ensure traction wasn't an issue when completing a high-speed pass on a two-lane road. Simon at Meteor Motorsports recommended the CORE single adjustable dampers combined with spring rates he feels are better suited to the chassis. As delivered from Caterham, the 420R SV has 170 lb front springs and progressive springs in the rear that are claimed to go from 140-250 lb: however, they have been independently tested on a spring dyno, which showed they are not linearly progressive, and instead, have three distinct steps: 83/125/175. In contrast, my setup is 275 lb front, and linearly progressive springs in the rear, ranging from 100-175 lb.
​As soon as we hit a bumpy section of road that includes two big dips I know well, it was immediately apparent the ride in my car was significantly better. That difference continued to the handling. The wheels simply felt more controlled and traction was significantly better. When taking one 90 degree turn in the 420R and only adding moderate throttle, I was surprised to find the rear end coming around. I can add much more throttle in my car on that turn — even with the big torque advantage-- without the rear tires spinning. My friend noticed the same differences, which led us to check tire pressures and ensure they weren't wildly different. Nope, within 0.5 psi. Between the ride, traction improvements, and wheel control, he is now considering investing in a set. Highly recommended! 

​When I decided to place the order for the Caterham in early 2001, my plan was to wait until the build was complete and the car fully sorted before putting the Westfield up for sale. The Caterham finally reached that stage at the start of last summer; however, the Westfield remained steadfastly in place in the garage. After more than 24 years of ownership and 45,000 miles, we'd been through a lot together. First was the major rebuild in 2004 where virtually everything but the frame was replaced and upgraded with an aim towards improving handling, braking, acceleration, driver involvement, and reducing weight. Multiple modifications were also made to improve the interior and exterior aesthetics and improve practicality for touring. It went from a comfort spec 1400 lb crosflow-powered car, to a 1225 lb Duratec-powered weapon optimized for attacking back roads. 

Despite maintaining the same VIN thanks to the frame carry over, the car was now so different from what I had purchased in 2001, it was really considered Westfield #2. That project was followed by upgraded cams and headwork in 2007 to bump the power by 20hp to 210, then a major Covid engine rebuild which included more aggressive cams and headwork, forged rods and pistons, keyed crank, fully balanced bottom end, and more. That engine was held back to 225hp thanks to an undersized exhaust, but an honest 240ph + is there once that is corrected. We also covered over 14,000 miles on tours all over the Western US. During those 24 years, the Westfield only failed me twice. Once on the freeway when the original crossflow engine's alternator pulley shattered and took the water pump belt with it, and once after returning from USA2005 when my makeshift alternator bracket on the Duratec broke. Other than that, the car had been bullet proof. Bottom line, the emotional attachment was strong. My heart and brain were simply not aligned.

I finally came to grips with letting it go about a month ago; deciding to use this winter as the time to prep it for sale. That included giving it a thorough detailing and mechanical once-over, taking lots of photographs, shooting new driving videos, and doing everything I could to generate demand, then putting it up for sale in the Spring on Bring a Trailer or other outlets. Serendipitously, I recently connected with someone who lives about an hour from me who was contemplating a se7en and hoping to see one in person. After a visit and a drive, we cut a deal and the car was taken to its new home over the weekend.

With only four cars in the shop, it is looking a little empty, but one thing I've realized over the past couple of years is that five toys is too many for me. I just can't drive each one often enough. That problem is exacerbated when two of those cars are se7ens and vie for attention when the mood hits to drive one. At this point there are no plans to replace it with something else, but I do have long term plans to build a 140-150 hp Twin Cam for the Elan, redo the top end of the 993, and perform an engine swap (Rocketeer V6?) in the Miata. I'll keep busy.

Although Westfield updates to the website cease with this post, the Westfield pages live on in the Ex's section and are still accessible via the same URL:
https://www.throttle-steer.com/westfield1.html

​All my Se7en drives over the past few weeks have been in the Caterham. Although it's taken 2000 miles, I'm finally starting to gel with that car, which raises the question: do I now have a stronger preference for the Caterham? When a gorgeous Monday suddenly appeared after a recent series of rainy weekends, I opted to do back-to-back drives with the cars over the same route to see if my earlier comparison between them still holds. It does. Mostly. Depending on your perspective — or mood? -- the Westfield is either more engaging on a winding road, or is hyperactive. The Caterham is either more fluid, or less immediate. Those descriptions are all true, and which are used will be down to personal preference. For me, the Westfield is the more visceral drive. The one that better overloads the senses. The steering is much quicker and the aggressive alignment means it is always looking to turn, even when the road does not. Although it takes a little more attention to drive the car on long straight sections, in isolation, that aspect doesn't stand out.

​

The Caterham's steering is much slower, yet slightly more fluid. Whether that latter aspect is simply down to the steering rack speed or some other aspect of the mechanics, I can't be certain. It's probably a bit of both. It does drive bigger, and the driving position is not quite as good, but it also feels a little more solid. Some of that is down to additional chassis triangulation, some to the fact that one chassis is over 30 years younger, and some is likely psychological due to fewer rattles and bangs. It also rides noticeably better, although I think the Core dampers bear some of that responsibility. Surprisingly, the Caterham is also quieter. The induction bark in the Westfield sounds much harder and louder. This is interesting because both engines have Jenvey ITBs poking through the bonnet. I suspect it's simply the different acoustic signature from the Caterham's larger displacement and bigger ITBs (50mm vs. 45mm), which combine to emit a slightly deeper sonic signature. One way to summarize all of this is that one car feels a little more like a race car for the road, and the other like a road car for the track. I could happily live with either one.

The great rewire project of 2025 is officially underway.  After nearly 11 weeks, the new wiring harness from AAW arrived.  While waiting, I pulled all the carpet, fixed a failed vacuum switch for the headlight pods, disassembled and refurbished the dash switches, refinished the nasty seat brackets, had the tach rebuilt and updated to work with the electronic ignition, figured out why the tach was blocked from mounting in the correct orientation rather than clocked by ~ 10 degrees, replaced the center console with one that is much higher quality, and started working out the plan for the incremental work I will tackle as part of this rewiring project.

First, in the unexpected scope creep category, the carpet needs to be replaced.  It was poorly cut and some cuts were made in a way that left big gaps which couldn't be filled by repositioning pieces.  The quality was also not great.  Because original-style loop carpeting is no longer available, a search has been ongoing for something close and cost effective.  After much internal debate, I've decided that it's better to buy a kit rather than source carpet and attempt to cut everything to shape myself.  This, however, does limit my options.  I am still waiting on one lagging carpet sample to arrive before deciding whose kit and which carpet to order. I may also redo the underlayment by strategically applying Dynamat Lite to quell some noise and potentially replace the felt underlayment with a more modern, lightweight material from DEI.  The stock fitment doesn't include insulation on top of the transmission tunnel behind the dash, or on the sides of the tunnel next to the seats.  I'm not sure why the former is excluded, but the latter is simply due to available space.  Thin Dynamat will fit perfectly in both places.  Click on a picture below to launch a captioned slide show.

​The AAW loom is overbuilt. Most of the wires are 12 or 14 gauge, with some as large as 10 and a few as "small" as 16 gauge.  Mounting the powerblock as supplied was problematic from an accessibility standpoint.  It's big and because the relays remove from the side and they point in opposite directions, finding a location that didn't intrude into the passenger space was a non-starter.  To address this, a new mount was designed and printed from PET-CF that points all fuses and relays forward and attaches to the firewall behind the glovebox.  I will fabricate a new glovebox dimensioned differently from stock and include a door at the back for access to the fuses and three of the relays.  The other six relays will be located immediately below the bottom of the glovebox.  Still easily accessible, but out of the way.

Next up is starting the actual rewiring process.  That sounds really simple.  Yeah, no problem at all...

I tackled the Porsche and Westfield logos this week. Both were surprisingly easy to trace, but the printing was time consuming, taking nearly a full day. For the Porsche logo, I opted to max out the Bambu's print bed and went with 5" tall letters that result in a 6' long logo. The constraining factor to print size was the width of the stylized letter E -- it's wide! Taking a cue from Porsche dealer signs, I went with red filament. 

The Westfield logo was a little more involved. Their logo is two colors: silver on a black background. Although I considered printing it as a single part, I opted to break it into two 9-3/8" (238mm) diameter pieces, plus the Westfield name, then press fit everything together via pins and mating holes printed into the surfaces. This gives it more dimensionality and it was also a new thing for me to try. Unfortunately, I am out of silver filament and had to substitute light gray, which isn't ideal. It looks fine, but the logo really needs silver for the starburst and name to pop. I'll treat this as a POC for now and will reprint it when I receive my next filament order. 

UPDATE 01/29/25: I ordered a silver PLA Silk+ from Bambu Lab and reprinted the Westfield logo. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware until after the initial test print that the Silk is finicky to print and is not recommended for use with my 0.6mm nozzle. As a result, the finish is a little inconsistent. Fortunately, it's not something you notice from a few feet away and the bright finish looks much better than the gray. Photos were added to the gallery below to show the difference.

I decided to try my hand at tracing a couple of car logos and printing them from PLA. My first attempts were the Caterham written logo that uses their custom font, and the Lotus logo using the font style and layout from the logo used until the early '70s. For scale, each letter in the Caterham logo is 4" tall (100mm) and spelled out is a bit under 50".  The Lotus logo is a little smaller, with the diameter of the C in the ACBC portion coming in at 6.5" and the letters a little over 3" tall (80mm). Each piece is attached to the wall with a non-hardening adhesive putty which makes it easy to make slight adjustments. Photos below include close ups of the finish. Next up, are attempts at the Porsche written logo and the Westfield starburst logo

If you're a car enthusiast — and if you're reading this blog, then you either are or you're horribly lost...or you're my mom — you really need to investigate 3D printing. Learning enough CAD to make interesting parts is surprisingly easy, and with a good 3D printer, the printing process is very straightforward. 

Although I show a number of the 3D parts created for my Caterham throughout this site, it's not the complete list, and those photos are spread across multiple pages and blog posts rather than cataloged in one location. I also haven't discussed the CAD software and 3D printer used for these projects. With this post, I hope to correct those shortcomings. 

CAD software
When investigating CAD options, my objectives were simple: it should be free or inexpensive, easy to use, and should have a good support base via forums or YouTube videos to help me learn how to do various things. After a lot of research, I settled on OnShape. Is it the best software that currently meets those criteria? I have no idea. Do I regret my choice? Not at all. It's been easy to use, there are a ton of good YouTube channels that explain how to do different things, the forums are vibrant, and I've been able to pound my way through various design quandaries to produce things I had initially assumed were out of my reach. 

3D printers
There are a number of choices today and a lot of YouTube reviews that dig into the pros and cons of each. After whetting my teeth on a Prusa Mini +, I graduated to a Bambu X1C for the Caterham parts and I love it. The Bambu can print engineering materials like Nylon, which require higher print temperatures and an enclosure to prevent warping, as well as various features like lidar for the first layer that make printing really easy. I also love the fact that the camera allows me to monitor a print while I'm in the house or my office. I have absolutely zero regrets with this choice.  Bambu's printers just work and they're easy to use.

The gallery below contains the various 3D prints I made for the Caterham that I remembered to photograph prior to installation. Click on a photo to launch the annotated slide show which describes each item. Hopefully these will give you some ideas and inspire you to pick up this skill to supplement your car hobby. Afterall, if I can do it, well...you have no excuses.