'86 Westwood T1200

Yeah, my understanding is the colder the less % the battery can deliver.  On the flip side also, the colder it gets the more the engine will need to turn it over. That is why cold cranking amps are important.

Yeah, I think I'll go for the £53 battery cuz 360A should be plenty to crank the engine and run the lights.

i can tell you back when was using the "redneck mower" i had my 19hp oppy on the cheepest battery at walmart (wold not recommend doing this) with my half blown up starter i got about 3 starts an hour. bigger is better, a higher current start will make the motor spin faster and put less streess on the starter.

Yeah I think 360A should be enough.

So I decided to work out how fast this thing goes since I swapped the pulleys to lower the ratio. Before it done 22mph with a 5.5" on the engine and 3.5" on the trans. Now it has a 6-6.5" on the engine and 5.5" on the trans. I have used GPS speedometer apps but I thought I'd mark out a distance and time it. Turns out to be around 14-15mph. Here's the working out I done if anyone wants to know how to do it. I took 3 time measurements of how long it took to do 60ft and averaged them.

Ordered up a 340CCA battery and 50A push button starter switch for the Westwood. Should be here soon so I can get this thing wired up.

your running that threw a relay right? if not https://www.ebay.com/itm/Starter-Solenoid-Switch-Relay-Assy-for-04-13-Ford-E-350-Super-Duty-5-4L-V8/361015798945?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

your eletrical system is only as strong as its weekest link. , if you reding the electrical shold probably get some 4gauge amp wire off ebay to. if you need help finding that stuff for cheep let me know.

Yeah I'm using a solenoid. I have a couple of old wiring looms to use for parts like fuse holders, solenoid, wires and connectors.

ok, good, you scared me when you told me the current rating of your switch like you were going to dump alot of current in to it. still thogh, if your rewiring might as well upgrade the weirs. sky high car audio makes quality wire and terminals at a cheep price, and if you get unbranded ebay china stuff its lower quality but even cheeper. i can tell you 50ft of 8gage sky high is about 25$ and 50ft of genaric 0 gage is about 50$ but they skimp out on the material and its actually like 1/3 thinner than real 0/1 ott

I will see what size the wire is that I've got, but if I need thicker I can get it on ebay. 

Took the head off to check what it was like in there and to clean the carbon off. There wasn't really very much there but I wanted to check. The bore doesn't seem too bad either, so I'm not sure what is causing the lack of compression.

rings or valves?

Could just be the compression release. You said this 11 runs stronger than your 12, so I think it’s healthy

I don't think those engines had compression releases did they?

Crazy_Carl wrote:

rings or valves?

Probably not the rings, because it doesn't burn any oil. I do plan on grinding the valves some time but for now it runs fine.

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Could just be the compression release. You said this 11 runs stronger than your 12, so I think it’s healthy

I don't think the flatties have compression releases. At least the original 12hp that I stripped down which came out of the Westwood didn't have one. 

AllisKidD21 wrote:

I don't think those engines had compression releases did they?

Nope, I think it is just the OHV's have them.

Now that the Westwood is running and driving well, I've made out a list of mods that I want to do to get it working better and nearer to being finished.

• Moving the clutch pedal to the left. I want to have a foot throttle and would like to have the pedals on the proper side. I've tried to do it a couple of times but it didn't work too well but I've got a design sorted out that should work well. (Thanks @GasketCase for the clutch linkage idea
  
• Separate brake linkage, either to a pedal or lever.
  
• Rebuild the trans with new bearings, oil and fit the new brake pads and buy/make brake dowels.
  
• Make up a stronger steering drag link
  
• Rewire with push button start
  
• Fab up a detachable transport box for the rear, kind of like a rear rack but with depth so that you don't have to worry about tools or stuff falling out
  
• Possible reworking of the trans pulley.
  
• Possible custom exhaust
  
• Possible frame swap. The current frame has got lots of holes drilled in it and flexes a bit when going over uneven ground or turning corners quickly. I have another from a similar model which I think will fit, just gotta do some measurements to see if it'll work. 
  
• Paint - Either follow the original colour scheme with all orange, or orange and black. 
  

Sounds like some good plans there, looking forward to seeing some progress! Also since you want to have a clutch on the left and a foot throttle on the right, would it be possible for you to turn the old clutch pedal into a throttle pedal?

Thanks Allis! Yeah I was thinking of using the old clutch pedal as either a brake or throttle pedal. I was going to go with a brake lever but seeing as I have room now to put separate clutch and brake pedals I think I will go for a brake pedal using the old clutch pedal and build a separate throttle pedal beside the brake pedal.

Nice build plan! Why not reinforce the frame you have?

Thanks! I probably will end up reinforcing the 'new' frame, but the main reason I'm swapping them is I have drilled lots of holes to mount stuff like tensioners and springs which never worked out and also I cut a huge hole in the rear of the frame to access the trans pulley without taking the trans out. I would have to weld up all the holes which I don't really want to do at the minute.

Sounds like a good plan. I couldn't stand having a clutch pedal on the right side, would probably crash into things unintentionally.

Thanks Rich! Yeah having the clutch pedal on the right is a bit strange to start off with, but you do get used to it. The design of the clutch and pedal means that you have to build a whole new clutch linkage to move it to the other side.

So I'm looking to buy the brake dowel pins for the trans, but they're £10 plus £5 postage. They measure 19mm by 8mm so I'm going to order up 50mm of 8mm stainless steel rod, which is £1.75 Free postage, and cut it into 19mm long pins.

very nice job.

Nice list. I like the rear cargo rack with depth so stuff don't fall out. That reminds me of my job when I was driving the company's flat bed truck running parts from one shop to the other shop. It was just a task keeping the cargo on the bed and not falling into the street because I would drive it without the sides on it to be easier loading and unloading. Never mind it falling down inside the bed, just keep it off the street, LOL. The boss man lost his load a couple of times like me. He would mention it, I be like "See, it's a task just keepin it in the truck" I wore the pointy hat numerous times with that one, LOL.

SteamNut247 wrote:

very nice job.

Thanks Steamnut.

prancstaman wrote:

Nice list. I like the rear cargo rack with depth so stuff don't fall out. That reminds me of my job when I was driving the company's flat bed truck running parts from one shop to the other shop. It was just a task keeping the cargo on the bed and not falling into the street because I would drive it without the sides on it to be easier loading and unloading. Never mind it falling down inside the bed, just keep it off the street, LOL. The boss man lost his load a couple of times like me. He would mention it, I be like "See, it's a task just keepin it in the truck" I wore the pointy hat numerous times with that one, LOL.

Thanks Prancstaman. Yeah I'd like to be able to chuck chainsaws and tools and stuff in there and not have to worry about it falling it.

Well I think I'm going to use the frame that's on there, because I checked the other frame I have and it is more different than I thought and also has a chuck cut out of it that I forgot was there, so I'll keep strip it down some time and weld up all the holes and reinforce it.

Starter switch came today.





Looks pretty good, feels nice and firm. Has a waterproof cover. Fits in the stock hole for the key switch too. I know 50 amp is overkill but the lower amp switches didn't seem as well built and mostly came from China so I would have had to wait for a month or two for it. Battery hasn't turned up yet, even though it was supposed to come before the switch.

Cool momentary switch! The rubber cover around the button is neat, should last a long time.

Thanks. Yeah it is heavy duty.

So if you remember a while back one of the brake caliper bolts from the trans fell out and the brake pads, backing plate and dowel pins fell out. I ordered up a piece of 8mm Stainless steel rod to make the brake dowel pins from, which arrived today.

Cut into 3/4" lengths. I just did this with the angle grinder and squared the ends up with a buffing disk. Turned out quite good.

Also cut out a new backing plate.


Drilled out and tapped the trans case for an M8 bolt and assembled it together. The threads for the other bolt are nearly stripped too so I will need to drill and tap it out too. But anyway I decided to give it a test drive, even though it was dark and I had to jump start it because the recoil rope broke. Feels nice to have brakes again, I need to adjust the linkage a bit though. Next job is to order up another axle bearing (I only ordered one up last time ), an input bearing for the trans axle and maybe buy or make a new rear pulley.