Kevin's Westfield Build

Alloy Steering Rack Mount Upgrade

2010-12-28T17:10:00.000Z

Sat 12th Nov 2010 - Work time = 3hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Work Time = 27hrs

I noticed when checking over the car after the rally that one of the rubber spacers on the steering rack mounts was slightly misaligned. There also seemed some "play" in the rack when you moved the steering wheel with the car stationery ... that is the rack moved slightly from left to right as you moved the wheel. As I had to remove one of the mounts to replace the rubber spacer I figured it would upgrade the pressed steel mounts with alloy ones which are a bit more sturdy.

They were a bit fiddly to fit ... not a lot of elbow room and a lot of bruised knuckles! Definitely worth the trouble though ... the rack is now rock solid when you turn the steering wheel. Didn't get a chance to drive the car after this so can't tell whether the steering feel whilst moving is any more direct.

New Mud Flaps Fitted

2010-12-28T16:58:00.000Z

Sat 5th Nov 2010 - Work time = 1hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Work Time = 24hrs

I managed to damage one of the front mud flaps on the return back from Corsica. It somehow got wrapped up inside the wheel arch and rubbed against the wheel.
Ordered some new mud flap material off of eBay ... this time I got slightly thicker 4mm material that isn't as flexible and hopefully won't get caught between the wheel and arch again.
A fairly simple job to cut to size and refit. No photos to show as it looks identical to how it was before !

Italia - Corse Rally - Oct 3-8th 2010

2010-10-29T20:40:00.011+01:00

Just returned from competing in the Guild of Motor Endurance Rally - Italia - Corse 2010. This years event started in San Remo on the French/Italian border and Days 2-6 were on Corsica.

We set off at 6am on Fri 1st Oct to catch the 07:50 Eurotunnel.

Parked up ready for the Shuttle ...

Our route plan was to get to Gap for an overnight stop, a quick 600 miles blat down the French autoroutes. We had arranged to meet up with our Team Mates in their TVR Griffin. The journey down was pretty uneventful apart from our Sat Nav deciding to challenge us with some strange route decisions. Net result we got separated from the TVR and arrived at the hotel in the dark.

I had planned a 150 mile route across the Alps on the Saturday to take in some of the more windy roads including the Col de Turini. It was a great drive and served a good warm up for the Rally.

Photo opportunity with the TVR

Fantastic scenery en route to San Remo

We arrived at the Rally Start Hotel in San Remo about 4pm ... ready for scrutineering ... which we passed without incident.

Drivers briefing took place later that evening. Just to explain the format of the rally ...

Each day is broken up into a number of timed stages (about 70 for the whole rally). Each car leaves the start of a stage at minute intervals. Navigation is by way of tulip maps with distances ... these are very brief and not explicit so navigation is a key requirement. Each car must reach the Timing Control at the end of the stage at an exact minute. If you are early you are penalised ... if you are late you are penalised. The car with the lowest points wins. Each stage is timed to an average speed of 40 - 60 kph. This doesn't sound that fast but when you have to build in fuel stops and other traffic it often requires some very spirited driving!

Day 1 - San Remo to Savona

With number 14 on the car our start time was 08:14. Route distance today ... 445km with 8hr 52mins of scheduled driving. Our destination ... via a convoluted route across some windy mountain roads was to be the port of Savona for our overnight ferry to Corsica.

The day started well except for Paul, my co-driver suffering a little with travel sickness. This meant an earlier than planned driver change (we planned to share the driving and navigation between us for the whole rally). The small fuel tank in the FW Body (less than 5 gallons) also meant more frequent fuel stops. We mistimed a morning fuel stop and were late at a timing control. The next stage was a short one and we couldn't make up the time so were late at that one too. Net result 9 penalty points ... aarghh! ... need better fuel planning on next days.

Lunch stop day 1

There was a couple of bad route map directions on our final stage of the day as we neared the port. Along with most other cars we arrived late to the final control but due to the route error no-one received any penalty points so we ended the day with 9 points.

After a pizza and a few beers with the other crews to relive the first day we boarded the overnight ferry for Corsica. It started raining a we waited in line to drive aboard!

Day 2 - Bastia Port to Porticcio (Hotel Base)

312kms - 6hr 52mins driving

We were woken at 6am ready for the 7am arrival. A quick breakfast on board and a chance to see Corsica for the first time as it gradually got light. Not much to see though ... the mountains were shrouded in mist ... not a good sign!

We were now lying in 8th place so started at 8:08. It started raining just as soon as we started ... made for a very challenging first few stages.

Stage 1 started from the port and resulting in the need to navigate lots of traffic as we exited the port and town area. Traffic and towns means slow progress resulting in the need for quicker (read very fast) driving later in the stage to catch up. A combination of wet and unfamiliar roads and never having driven the car in anger in the wet, meant we had a very "interesting" time!

Lunch at just after 1pm ... still raining ... a quick rest ... another fuel stop and what was soon to become our stable lunch diet ... Pringles, Mars bars and energy drinks!

The afternoon was fairly uneventful ... all fuel stops as planned with no delays and on time at all controls. The car, however was starting to show that it had been driven a bit ....

Our fellow competitors were suffering slightly more than we were ...

MGB GT with some exhaust clearance issues ...
compounded after falling off the jack!

Francie Clarkson (aka Mrs Jeremy Clarkson) with
some alternator issues

Porsche 356 after it's mid morning gearbox rebuild!

Day 3 - Porticcio (Hotel) back to Porticcio (Hotel) via Porto and Cargese
466Kms - 10hrs 3mins driving time

Start time today 8:05 ... we had climbed to 5th place overall. The sun was shining today but was low in the sky in the morning so climbing up the mountain roads we had issues with the bight sun in our eyes. This made for some interesting braking moments on some hairpins!

Some great driving roads in the morning meant we could catch up some time and take a break waiting for the clock to tick down so that we could enter our time controls on time. Others had the same "issues" ...

... but we also had time to take in some scenery.

We finished the day on the same points and still lying in 5th but we had gained some ground on the some of the cars in front. Francie Clarkson had picked up 6pts during a spot scrutineering check when her brake lights weren't working.

Back at the hotel after Day 3

Day 4 - Porticcio (Hotel) back to Porticcio (Hotel) via Bonifacio

427Kms - 8hrs 49mins driving time

Still in 5th place on 9pts ... only 3pts behind the car in front (Francie). However our TVR team mates still have a clean sheet with zero points ... all the drive for!

A busy morning drive culminating in the lunch stop at the port of Porticcio. We only just made the lunch time control ... there was an extra optional route around the castle in the port. These optional roads are not labelled in the route book ... you are meant to find them from the extract of the map shown in the route book. They are intended to add extra time and distance and therefore challenge you on timing for the rest of the stage. Penalty for not doing the extra route is 10 pts so we didn't really have an option but to do them. On this same stage our TVR crew were struck down with TVR reliability when their fan relay failed. Some quick rewiring meant they just managed to get in on time and keep their clean sheet.

The afternoon drive back to the hotel included some great roads (again!). Sun shine all the way too. The only looming issue was news of a Port Strike in Marseilles ... this was restricting fuel supplies to the island. The result of this was that petrol stations were starting to ration fuel ... limiting fill ups to €30-35. This wasn't an issue for us ... we struggled to fit in more that €25 of fuel in a fill up. A bigger issue was that some garages were not allowing filling of jerry cans ... we were totally reliant on our two jerry cans to provide sufficient range. May need to resort to syphoning fuel back from the tank into the jerries!

Despite all this we finished the day with no additional penalty points ... unlike our competitors in front ... we had climbed to 3rd place!

Day 5 - Porticcio (Hotel) back to Porticcio (Hotel) via Casevecchie

474Kms - 9hrs 33mins driving time

Another sunny day and some great driving roads (common theme here!) early on. Halfway through the morning we were confronted with a closed road on our route. There was an FIA Historic Rally going on at the same time as ours ... they had closed one of road as it was an official rally stage. Some hasty phone calls from our rally marshall and it was confirmed that we needed to make our own way to the time control. All crews spread their maps of Corsica out and started to work out where we were and where we needed to go ... not an easy task as our on route books rarely contained road number directions.

A few minutes later we were confident we knew where we had to get to ... the route there was a major detour but we had no allowance for this ... still needed to get there on time! 5 or 6 of us set off together ... Paul was driving and I was navigating as we followed Francie at the head of the line. It required some spirited driving and all was well until we came across some major roadworks due to a landslide.

The delay added at least another 10 minutes to our already stretched schedule. It now required some "very spirited" driving! We reached the control with 2 minutes to spare ... Doh! .. in our hast to get there on time we actually arrived early ... 10 penalty points! It was a minor consolation that most of our fellow competitors did the same thing.

The early afternoon was without incident ... some more great roads ... some more "energetic" driving. The optional "off route book" section in the afternoon was a particular challenge. A quick sprint of 6-8Kms up a road, collect the passage control stamp and back down again to rejoin the route book route. The only issue, we were driving fast to make up the time to complete the extra route and our fellow competitors were doing the same. All well and good with us running in 3rd or 4th up the road but on the way down were our fellow competitors coming towards us ... it made for an interesting few minutes on a very narrow road!

The last stage of the day also through a challenge. The route book referenced a village bypass that was incomplete when they did the recce. We had travelled the same road on Day 2 and taken the bypass and missed a section of the route but saved some time. The question was do we do the same again today or follow the route as instructed? Navigators decision (me at the time) was follow the route. As we entered the village we spotted one of our controls ... those that followed the bypass missed the control and were awarded 10 pts. A great result for us as it cancelled out some of the indiscretion earlier in the day!

Day 6 - Porticcio (Hotel) back to Porticcio (Hotel) via Bocgnano

318Kms - 6hrs 24mins driving time

We started the last day in 4th place 3pts behind Francie, who was close behind "Toni and Guy" in their Lotus Elise (not really Toni and Guy ... nicknamed for their hairdresser car) with the TVR boys still in the lead.

Another beautiful morning with, yes you guessed it, some great driving roads, with scenery to match. We didn't get off to a great start though ... Paul missing a roundabout in the route book within five minutes of leaving the hotel!

Our strategy for the day ... overtake the 3 cars in front of us as quickly as possible on each stage in he hope they would make a route navigation error or get delayed. We figured if we followed them we would have any opportunity to beat them. A great strategy that required some very energetic driving ... catching up 4 mins on the TVR boys. Overtaking Francie was fairly easier ... we pre agreed with her that if we rolled p behind with lights blazing we wanted to pass! The TVR was also fairly straightforward ... they were taking things easy to make sure they didn't break anything or miss any directions. Catching the Elise was a bit more of a challenge ... they were as quick as we were and as soon as we caught them they turned up the wick a little more. We had some great fun though!

The net result of our full-on morning meant we reached lunch with no additional penalties. Unfortunately those ahead of us were on time too!

It was a short run in the afternoon but still allowed some time to meet up and enjoy the view on our final day.

There was a final twist near the end of the day. On the penultimate stage we got news that our TVR team mates were stranded at the roadside behind us. A rear shock absorber had broken ... they missed the time control on that stage and the last one :-(

The last stage was a fairly short stage which didn't allow us any latitude for error ... we made it with 1 minute to spare.

The Finish
After 2,443kms (1,527miles) and 49hours 49mins rally driving time we had finished.

"Toni and Guy" in the Elise had finished 1st with Francie & Clare in their Caterham in 2nd.

We ended up 3rd overall and 1st in our Class (2000cc and above).

Despite some gruelling conditions and some very hard driving the Westfield didn't miss a beat through the whole week. I was justifiably very proud of our driving and navigational achievement but above all my mechanical skills. Not bad going for a car built in my garage!

It was then just a matter of an overnight ferry back to Toulon in France and a mere 700miles run back to Calais. This was pretty uneventful ... 7 fuel stops and 10hrs 15mins ... you gotta love the French autoroutes ... but not a patch on the fantastic roads in Corsica! :-))

Half Hood Fitted

2010-09-11T21:45:00.005+01:00

Sat 11th Sept 2010 - Work time = 3hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Work Time = 23hrs
Early on in the build I had identified that I didn't want a full hood. I had seen reference to the "half hood" from SoftBitsForSevens (http://www.softbitsforsevens.co.uk/) on the WSCC Forum which seemed just what I wanted.
A telephone call to the company revealed that I needed to order a plastic channel from WF that fits across the top of the windscreen and send this onto them. They estimated delivery would take about 3 weeks. In the end it took a lot longer and I had to chase the them a couple of times so I was very relieved when the hood arrived yesterday. It all came with a cylinder shaped bag that attaches to the roll bar and sits behind the rear seats ... all very neat.
Nick from softbits had previously talked me through the fitting instructions (the hood didn't come with any!).
First job to fit poppers to the front to clip on the poppers on the windscreen. All the appropriate tools were supplied to fit these so this was fairly straightforward.
The tie down straps at the back were not so straightforward. They mount on the lower bolt on the roll bar stays. The instructions given were to enlarge the holes where stays go through he bodywork and feed the straps through there adjacent to the rear stay bar. I looked at this but it meant removing the rear stays and to do that I would have to undo the whole roll bar.
After the customary head scratching moment I opted to route the straps between the boot liner and the bodywork. I cut out a little of the fibre glass to allow some space for the strap. The really difficult bit was putting the strap through bolts on the stay mounts. Easy to get the bolts out ... not so easy to get them back in. I ended up having to loosen the main roll bar bolts to allow some movement the get the stay bolts back in.

The struggle was worth it though. I'm pleased with the results as when the hood is not on the straps can be left tucked away in the boot rather than sitting on the top of the bodywork.

The weather today wasn't too good with some light rain. So it was a good opportunity to test the car with the hood on. First problem was getting in the car. It's bad enough without the restriction imposed by a roof. After a bit of limbering up and five minutes of yoga I managed to fold myself enough to squeeze in. Getting out was just as difficult ... certainly not a getaway car!

Driving with the hood on was very good though. Visibility is not restricted at all and even without a heater it was nice and cosy. Very pleased with the results and quality of the hood ... well recommended!

Sandra has been calling the car Tigger for the past few months. She bought me a Tigger decal to put on the car. Here it is in all it's glory!

Oil Change and New Steering Wheel

2010-09-11T21:07:00.000+01:00

Sun 5th Sept 2010 - Work time = 2hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Work Time = 26hrs
With 620 miles on the clock it was time for an oil change.

A slight issue with the oil filter ... the one I got from Halfords was the wrong one ... the thread size was a little loose. Managed to get the correct one from a local motor factors.

After a bit of research I opted for Castrol GTX Magnatec Fully Synthetic 5w/30 I wasn't sure what the oil capacity was so I ended up getting a 4 litre can plus another 1 litre. Turns out I needed about 4.5 litres to fill it half way between the fill marks on the dipstick.

I ordered a new steering wheel earlier in the week. Slightly smaller than the old one and "D" shaped. This allows a little more room for getting in an out. It's also suede covered so nice and soft! I needed a new steering boss as well. Ebay to the rescue with a Mountney boss that had the requisite 70mm PCD hole configuration. Here's the new wheel fitted.

Brantz and Intercom Fixed

2010-09-04T19:57:00.000+01:00

Sat 4th Sept 2010 - Work time = 6hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Work Time = 24hrs
After a phone call earlier in the week I isolated the issue with the Brantz not incrementing at slow speeds. The speedo sensor was not providing enough voltage change as it passed the driveshaft bolts. Solution was to fit a separate Brantz supplied sensor.
I fabricated another bracket to mount the sensor near the existing speedo sensor.

It was then a case of routing and securing the cable along the transmission tunnel. This was an especially fiddly job lying under the car with very little room to tighten the cable ties. It's certainly much easier to fit all this stuff during the build up phase rather than when everything is finished!

A quick test and all seemed OK. A later test drive confirmed this ... just need to calibrate properly now.

Last weekend I tested the intercom with Henry ... or more precisely Henry played his iPod through it! All was working OK except there was electrical interference that increased as the revs increased.

A few quick questions to Mr Google and I narrowed down a solution from eBay ... a little cylinder thingy that claimed it suppressed radio interference. I ordered one (another £8.99 on the build cost!).

It arrived earlier in the week. I temporarily connected it and started the engine ... no interference ... it worked. The cylinder was a little larger than I had anticipated so I had to mount it under the rear-most transmission top panel. A couple of jubilee clips and some duck tape to protect it ... job done!

With just over 600 miles on the clock now ... next job an oil change!

Time for a Wash ... and a Photo Session

2010-09-04T18:27:00.019+01:00

Sun 29 Aug 2010 - Work time = 2hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Work Time = 18hrs
After all the driving in the rain it started looking a little dirty. After washing the other two cars in the household I started on the Westfield. It's only a small car but it's a bit fiddly to wash. It's a challenge not to drench the cockpit ... more practice needed!
With the car nice and clean I went for a quick drive and found a good location for some proper photo's of the finished car.

Intercom fitted and Shift Light Installed on Dash

2010-08-22T18:22:00.003+01:00

Sat/Sun 21/22 Aug 2010 - Work time = 3hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Build Time = 16hrs

The Intercom set arrived this week so I fabricated a simple bracket to secure the amplifier to the transmission tunnel between the seats. Sprayed it all up to look nice too! I had already spliced in the power supply to this location when I installed the loom so it was an easy installation.
The intercom is a Terratrip Professional Model with Practice headsets that have noise cancelling microphones (to avoid too much background wind noise). I've used this model previously in the Cobra I had and it worked really well.

Next job was to install a gear shift light. The ECU loom came prefitted with a shift light and the ECU is mapped so that this illuminates when the ignition is initially turned on (goes out when engine starts) and when the RPM reaches 6,400. This is 400rpm before the rev limiter comes in at 6,800rpm. The wiring for this indicator light was very short so as part of the installation I'd left it tucked in with the loom wiring near the ECU so the light wasn't visible.

I decided to relocate the indicator light to the dash. A simple job of extending the wires and moving the existing Ignition (Alternator) Light. Here's the finished view with the Shift Light under the Indicator Lights behind the Steering Wheel and the Ignition Light to the left of the Hand Brake light.

Need to run-in the car for a few more miles before I can test it !

Managed to have a couple of drives over the weekend (about 90miles in total) It was raining on Sunday ... the first time I'd driven in the rain. The front mud flaps seemed to work well. Somewhat surprisingly the wipers worked well too and provided I kept moving I didn't get too wet in the cockpit. Oh and the coolant temperature was much better too after the thermostat change ... indicating around 85-90 degrees on the temp gauge with the fan only cutting in when I was stationery for a while.

Whilst I was out I managed to calibrate the Brantz Meter to read in kilometres. It seems to be working OK at high speeds but is not incrementing at slow speeds (below about 25mph). Further investigation required to fix this as it's vital it's reading accurately at all times otherwise we will quickly get lost on Corsica!

Total miles covered so far equals about 480 !

More Rally Preparation ... boot rack

2010-08-15T20:25:00.001+01:00

Sun 15th Aug 2010 - Work time = 3hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Build Time = 13hrs

As mentioned previously the boot in a Westfield does not resemble Doctor Who's Tardis and is definitely not bigger on the inside. This presents a challenge for luggage space for 2 larger than life adults, Paul and myself (kindly referred to as "Team Lardy" by Sandra!). My solution (and our only option unless we tow a trailer!) is to secure some rucksacks to the rollbar.
To do this I needed to have some sort of platform to raise the rucksacks off the bodywork to avoid any damage to the gel coat and also allow access to the boot. My design solution ... a boot rack.
With a few pipe clamps (purchased from eBay of course) and some square aluminium tube from B&Q, some nuts and bolts and a lot of head scratching and heh presto the Todman Westfield boot rack ... an engineering marvel.

New Thermostat

2010-08-15T20:08:00.000+01:00

Sun 15th Aug 2010 - Work time = 1hr ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Build Time = 10hrs

Since I had the car on the road I was a little concerned that it was running a little hot. Even travelling along at 50+mph the fan would need to cut in fairly regularly to keep the coolant temp down. A quick call to Mark at Westfield confirmed what I was thinking ... the thermostat was set too high. The standard fitment is a 92/102 stat ... starts opening at 92 degrees and is fully open at 102 degrees. According to my dash temp gauge the fan was cutting in about 95 degrees so there wasn't much time for the stat to open and allow flow through the radiator. Mark suggested at 82 degree stat ... as fitted to their race cars. Not sure why this wasn't suggested when I collected the car? .. would have made things a little easier! After a bit of searching on the WSCC forum I tracked down the correct 82 degree stat (as fitted to a Rover 416 !). A quick trip to Halfrauds for the new stat and some anti freeze. Refitted, refiled and tested up to operating temperature with no leaks. Will have to see what it's like on the next run.

Rally Preparation ... Brantz Meter

2010-08-15T19:55:00.002+01:00

Tue 10th Aug 2010 - Work time = 1.5hrs ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Build Time = 9hrs

Time to start preparation for the Corsica Rally in October. First thing to be fitted was the Brantz Meter. The Brantz Meter is an accurate trip meter, showing distance and average speed. Once calibrated it will read distances in 100ths of a kilometre. Essential for the rally navigation which will be tulip map directions and distances (no road names or numbers or destinations!).
I had spliced in a wire into the loom to take the pulse feed from the speedo sensor and I had also planned for the power supply. So it was a fairly easy fitment ... except once I connected it up it wasn't registering any pulse from the speedo sensor! I had connected to the wrong speedo connection ... doh! I had to remove the dash and make the correct connection which then registered the pulse. A 30 minute job turned into a 90 minute one.
Here is the Brantz Meter fitted ... just need to calibrate it now.

Carbon Fibre Rear Arch Protectors & Front Mud Flaps

2010-08-15T19:28:00.006+01:00

Sun 8th Aug 2010 - Work time = 4hrs ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Build Time = 7.5hrs
Finally got round to fitting my Father's Day present ... some rather splendid wheel arch protectors in carbon fibre!
The suppliers (CarbonMods) suggested I fit them with just some silicone sealant but the fit on the inside edge wasn't too good so I ordered some black rivets off eBay to secure the inside edge against the bodywork.

I then turned my attention to making some mudflaps for the front wheels. I had already purchased some 3mm Rally Mudflap material from eBay and I had some big head fasteners left over from fitting the arches. I fibre glassed the new big heads in the same as before and bolted the mud flap to them.

The more observant amongst you will also see that the side indicators that were previously fitted to the wheel arches are no longer there. These were fitted as part of the IVA requirement. Miraculously new ones have now appeared in the more traditional position on the side of the car. This must have been completed by the "garage pixies" as it would not be right and proper for me to move them from the position required by the IVA ! ;-)

Tax Disc and Number Plates ... first "legal" drive!

2010-07-31T22:19:00.003+01:00

Sat 24th July 2010 - Work time = 0.5hrs ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs ... Post IVA Build Time = 3.5hrs
The Tax Disc and Registration Numer details came in the post yesterday. I managed to get some number plates made up locally and fitted them today. Sandra played a blinder by holding the screw driver whilst I stretched my arms under the bonnet to tighten the nuts securing the front number plate.
With Henry still in Mongolia it was done to Amy to be the passenger for the maiden drive with number plates and a tax disc ... i.e road legal !

We did a short 10 mile drive ... the first time I had driven the car with the side screens on. They certainly make a lot of difference in keeping the wind out.

We returned and I persuaded Sandra to hop in. Needless to say she was not as willing a passenger as Amy. Unlike Amy's request to go faster Sandra had her eyes covered as we approached 50mph! It was therefore a very short drive!

With nearly 200 miles on the clock I now need to get some further mileage done to make sur everything is fully "shaken down" prior to embarking on the Corsica Rally in only 8 weeks !

Waiting for the Reg No & Tax Disc ... time to fit some bits

2010-07-31T21:51:00.002+01:00

Sat 24th July 2010 - Work time = 3hrs ... Build Time to IVA = 252hrs Post IVA Build Time = 3 hrs
With the build complete and IVA passed it all seems a little anti climatic as I await the tax disc and registration number. So I set about removing some bits and fitting some new ones.
Firstly the covers on the seat belt mountings which were required for the IVA had to come off. I lock wired the mounting clasps at the same time.

Net it was fitting the side screens. Fairly straightforward to fit them to the car but the fixing to keep them closed and against the bodywork required some prior planning. The standard approach is a short strap which is "clipped in" onto a popper on the inside. I wasn't too keen on this so based on an aproach I had seen on a Dax Rush I sourced some yacht parts from a local chandlers and used some shock cord. This is much easier to clip in and remove. I just need to tidy the ends up a little once I get the length right.

I then removed the "cheese grater" heat shield on the silencer. As I mentioned previously I prefer he clean look of the silencer and as the exhaust is on the passenger side there is no chance of me burning my legs !

After this some safety equipment ... a fire extinguisher.

Finally I turned my attention to the engine bay and fitted the carbon fibre cam cover insert ... purel a cosmetic ddition to hide the spark plug leads ... but it does look a lot neater. I also painstakingly labeled all the fuses in the fuse box. Figured it would make diagnosis easier in case of a future issue. I plan to put a copy of the wiring diagram in the car too when we embark on the Corsca Rally in October!

IVA Test #2 ... It Passed !!!

2010-07-23T21:38:00.000+01:00

Fri 23rd July 2010 - Work time = 0hrs ... Build Time To Date = 252hrs
Filled with much trepidation I set off for Mitcham test station again today.
A different tester today ... not as friendly as the last one so I was a little worried when he said he'd have to retest the whole braking system after a quick inspection underneath to check what I'd done to fix the handbrake.
I shouldn't have been concerned though as it passed without any further issues.
The drive back home was very enjoyable ... definitely lots of smiles per miles ... I've managed to do nearly 160 miles already and it's not registered yet!
I also took the registration paperwork over to Maidstone this afternoon ... parted with another £260 but left with the promise of a V5 Registration Document and Tax Disc in the post in a couple of days !!! :-)
I can now start to add the other bits and peices I've bought to fit post IVA. Watch this space!

Handbrake Tested again ... ready for IVA now

2010-07-17T20:10:00.001+01:00

Sat 17th July 2010 - Work time = 0hrs ... Build Time To Date = 252hrs
Back to the garage today to retest the handbrake.
Nearside recorded 128kg and offside was 115Kg and both wheels locked out so they said that all was OK and should be fine for the IVA test on Friday.

Handbrake fixed ... after two attempts

2010-07-10T22:28:00.000+01:00

Sat 10th July 2010 - Work time = 2hrs ... Build Time To Date = 252hrs
I'd booked the car in for a quick brake test at the local garage. Confident that I'd fixed the issue following the IVA Test I was devastated when they said the near side was still not good enough.
A quick drive home and up on the jack again to check it all out. I removed one of the jaws on the handbrake locking mechanism on the near side and found that I was able to adjust it slightly. A quick run back to garage and this time the near side was pulling up really well. The off side was also good but not quite as good as the near side. The chap in the garage said it was good enough for an MOT pass but not sure if the IVA test was more stringent.
Worried that there still might be an issue I took the easy route and booked it back in the garage for them to tinker with it to get it spot on.
It's back in there on Sat 17th ready for the IVA retest on Fri 23rd.

IVA Test ... Not good news !

2010-07-10T22:21:00.002+01:00

Thurs 8th July 2010 - Work time = 0hrs ... Build Time To Date = 250hrs
The big day had finally arrived! The VOSA centre was in Mitcham, Croydon ... a 35 mile drive from home. I had planned to hire a trailer and car with tow hitch but the nearest hire centre was Maidstone and they wanted ~£250 for the two day hire ... ouch! So with the car loaded with various nuts, bolts, tubing, tape, and tools I set off at 6am to drive to Mitcham.
It was a nervous drive but with every mile my confidence grew and I arrived in plenty of time for the 8am appointment.

Here's the car at the test station just before the test.

Andy the tester was very good, explaining exactly what he was doing through the tests. First check the VIN Plate and Chassis Number ... all good there. Next the speedo where Andy took the car up to 70mph on the rollers ... the speedo calibration was spot on. Next, emissions ... again no issues apart from me keeping the revs at a set point ... didn't realise how strong the throttle return springs were!
Next the windscreen wipers and washers. During the wipers test he poured water on the windscreen whilst he timed the sweep frequency ... water poured into the cockpit. Note to self ... more sealant required around wiper box holes.
From there it was onto the ramps to check underneath. Here he pointed out what appeared to be a slight leak from the brake master cylinder. He asked me to tighten the fitting and we checked again ... all good now. From here to the light check ... headamps were not quite aligned but again he allowed me to adjust them there and then. Next a check of the exterior and interior projections with the varous sized "balls" and height etc of the seat belts ... again no issues with anything there. From here onto the brake test. Foot brake no issues but the hand brake wasn't holding properly on the near side. Andy said he needed to punch the numbers into a spreadsheet once he knew the weight of the car but it didn't look like it was pass :-).
From here it was onto a check of the mirrors ... we moved outside and various cones were laid out across the tarmac. Onto the noise test where it recorded a very quiet 94decibels at 4000rpm ... well within the 99db allowed. Then Andy asked me to drive about 25mph and slam on the brakes to check that the fronts locked first ... they did. Final check ... a weight test ... total was about 630kg ... slightly heavier than I thought but almost 50/50 weight distribution front and back.
Then it was a long wait whilst Andy input the brake test and weight numbers into his spreadsheet. I had resigned myself to the result and sure enough Andy came out with the Fail Certificate. He was almost apologetic to fail it and offered some compensation by saying that it was "very well put together".
I consoled myself on the drive home ... getting more used to the car I pushed on a bit and was only slowed when a police car pulled out behind me. I was ready to produce the paperwork explaining I was en route frm an IVA test but despite no number plates and no tax he ignored me!
Back home I set about looking at the hand brake and booked some time at the local garage on Saturday to test it again.

New Brake Clevis Yoke Fitted ... now ready for IVA

2010-07-10T21:48:00.001+01:00

Tues 6th July 2010 - Work time = 1hrs ... Build Time To Date = 250hrs
Another milestone reached 250 hours expended on the build!
The supplier in Birmingham had come up trumps. I wasn't sure exactly which size of fitting I needed so I ordered two ... with the next day delivery charge as well my wallet was £30 lighter!
It was well worth it though. The new clevis yoke was much stronger and fit for purpose.
Here it is fitted:

And here the old fitting showing how bent out shape it was (not a good picture I'm afraid but I think you can see the difference):

Hopefully all the issues are now behind me and the IVA test in 2 days will be a breeze !

Brake Pedal Issue ... IVA minus 4 days !!!

2010-07-10T21:40:00.001+01:00

Sun 4th July 2010 - Work time = 1hrs ... Build Time To Date = 249hrs
When I fitted the new steering column I found that the cover on the scuttle above the pedals didn't fit quite properly, requiring some additional fastening against the scuttle.
Having removed the cover I noticed that the clevis yoke on the brake pedal was all bent out of shape. It's made from some mild steel and seems as though either on the way to/from the MOT or during the MOT test some over exuberant force on the brake pedal had bent it.
I tried to straighten it back into shape but when it was refitted it just bent again.
Two hours of talking to Mr Google I managed to find a supplier of yoke fittings in Birmingham. Hopefully they had them in stock and could get one to me fast. Nothing I could do today ... so had to wait until Monday to call them.

Fitting IVA Covers ... ready for the big day!

2010-07-10T17:28:00.005+01:00

Sat 3rd July 2010 - Work time = 2hrs ... Build Time To Date = 248hrs
Time to fit all the little plastic covers for the bolts and other "sharp" objects.
Here goes for all that I did:

Bonnet Catches (had to cut these down):

Side Screen Mounts on Screen Pillar (had to put silicone sealant on these so they'd stay in place)

Front Hub (again I put silicone sealant on them all) ... I used the cover from the steering rack to cover the brake bleed valve.

Seat Belt covers ... shame they didn't supply them in black! ... the stitching wasn't too good though so they might fall off soon after the IVA! ;-)

Exhaust joint between collector and silencer ... I covered this with heat wrap ... I also covered the lamda sensor to be on the safe side (again I think this may peel off a few miles after the IVA ;-)

Finally I put a label on the dash ... when I read the IVA manual there was something about the lights needing to be at least 50% visible when any removable covers are open. With the bonnet in its hinge open postition I wasn't sure this would be OK so better safe than sorry:

Next stop the IVA Test on Thurs 8th July.

Oil Catch Tank fitted

2010-07-10T17:11:00.000+01:00

Sat 26th June 2010 - Work time = 3hrs ... Build Time To Date = 246hrs
With the build almost complete and only the IVA covers to fit I was missing something to bolt on. So I turned my attention to the oil catch tank I'd bought a few weeks earlier on eBay.
I wanted to keep it as low as possibe so that any oil expelled from the crankcase or cam cover breathers would flow into the tank. So I fabricated a bracket to attach to one of the bolys on the cylinder head. You can't see it too well in the picture but I made it all nice and pretty and sprayed it satin black!

MOT Test ... first drive on the road !!!

2010-06-25T20:59:00.004+01:00

Fri 25th June 2010 - Work time = 0hrs ... Build Time To Date = 243hrs

At last I get an excuse to drive the car on the road, to the MOT test. The garage is only a couple of miles away so only a short trip.

The drive got off to a slightly embarrassing start. At the T junction in the village I misjudged the rather limited turning circle and had to do a 3 point turn to turn right ! The rest of the drive was uneventful although the car was meandering quite a bit ... either it was just I wasn't used to such a light car or the steering geometry was not set up.

I asked the garage to perform a standard MOT test and align the headlamps and set the toe-in for the front wheels (10mins was the recommendation from Westfield).

The results :
- handbrake not working too well on near side ... off side working well ... something I'll need to take a look at
- suspected leak around brake reservior ... I think this is down to the last brake bleed I did where the fuid overflowed slightly ... I will nip all the connectors though just to be sure
- the front wheels toe-in was originally set "off the scale" until they adjusted to the requested 10min toe in
Apart from these items it had a clean bill of health!
The drive back home was a lot better ... I was less nervous and with the steering toe-in geometry set it handled a lot better. Managed to get to 60mph on way back ... my excuse was I needed to check the speedo calibration against the Sat Nav display.

Back home I took a few pictures:

Next step the IVA Test ... date confirmed for 8th July. Time to get all those plastic covers out and fitted !!!

New Steering Column ... ready for MOT Test

2010-06-25T20:41:00.000+01:00

Weds 23rd June 2010 - Work time = 2hrs ... Build Time To Date = 243hrs

The new steering column arrived from Westfield. Robbo had advised me of a similar ssue that he had. See http://westfieldfw.blogspot.com/2010/05/ongeluk-voorkomen-en-stoelen-gemonteerd.html
The new column is a new design with a wider outside tube and no spacer in the steering lock area. It required a bit of work to make the bulkhead hole a little bigger but once fitted it all worked perfectly.
Everything back together now and ready for the MOT test on Friday.

No Left Turn !!!!!

2010-06-11T22:06:00.000+01:00

Fri 11th June 2010 - Work time = 2hrs ... Build Time To Date = 241hrs
Had to work from home today and collect a new tumble drier ... the old one having broken down with a very strong burning smell.
To fit the new drier I had to move the Westie out of the garage. I also wanted to check everything one last time prior to the MOT test tomorrow.
With the new tumble drier installed Henry and I pushed the car back in the garage ... whilst doing so the steering locked and we couldn't move the wheel left. Turning the ignition key made no difference ... the wheel wouldn't turn left?
After much fiddling with the key in the ignition lock it still wouldn't turn left. AAARGHHHH !!!!
Head scratching time ... the steering column needed to be removed Not easy now that everything else was installed. So dashboard off ... small under dash side panels off, cable ties on cabling under dash off etc etc.
Eventually I got the column out and sure enough it was locking on a left turn. There was a product recall from Westfield sometime ago for steering column issues but my column was supplied after this?
So MOT now not gonna take place tomorrow and a call to Westfield on Monday. Not a happy boy! I just hope my IVA test appointment doesn't come through too soon now.
However taking a more positive view ... it could have locked whilst I was driving en route to the MOT test whilst approaching a left hand turn in the road!

Seats, Seat Belts and Carpets ... Almost finished

2010-06-11T21:52:00.001+01:00

Sat/Sun 5/6th June 2010 - Work time = 8rs ... Build Time To Date = 247hrs
Just the carpets, belts and seat to fit this weekend. As with many things on this build the easy jobs turn out to be very difficult.
Carpet fitting fairly straightforward. I used 25mm wide self adhesive velcro. Mangaed to use about 10 metres of it and ran out. Fortnately I had enough for the rear panel, tunnel and rear carpets so I could fit the seats.
Seat belts fitted without any issues but the seats were another story!
I'd opted for the new Sports Turbo seats and the holes in the floor pan didn't line up with the runners. I finally fitted the drivers seat, sat down in it, tried to slide it forward and it wouldn't budge! It was fouling on the side panel so I had to adjust the holes slightly to allow some clearance. I lost count of he number of times I put the seat in, took it out enlarged the holes slightly and put it back. The passenger seat was slightly easier but still took a long time.
With the seat in I took the opportunity to have a blat up and down the road. Managed to check out 1st, 2nd gear and reverse, the brakes and the steering.
I was so pleased I forgot to take any pictures of the finished results. I'll post some later when I've finished the front of the bulkhead carpets.
Bouyed with my success I booked an MOT test at a local garage for next Saturday and filled out and posted off the IVA forms.

Windscreen Fitting & Interior Side Panels ... looking like a car now

2010-05-29T20:08:00.002+01:00

Sat 29th May 2010 - Work time = 7.5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 239hrs

Time to fit the windscreen. Had a trail fitting a couple of weeks ago but was not sure about the gap between the windscreen and the scuttle. A phone call to Westfield reassured me that it was normal (?). In the centre of the screen there was about a 10mm gap. I decided to "fill" this with some foam door sealer ... the self adhesive foam type. I attached one piece to the lower edge of the windscreen and another to the scuttle. This filled the gap quite well and I sealed it on the outside wih lots of silcone sealer.

One other point to note ... I made a "prop" to the 1007mm dimension as directed in the manual. However when I trial fitted the side screens they were way off at the rear. I needed to adjust the windscreen rake quite a bit so that they fitted nicely against the rear whel arches.

Fitting the fibreglass cver strip across the lower part of the windscreen was a bit fiddly too ... required lots of fettling with the dremel.

Fitting the interior side panels was fairly easy. I had some black headed 3mm rivets so used these to fix he panels. There is a small peice of panelling to fit behind the scuttle. No instructions as to whether this overlapped on top of the side panel or below. It looked better below so I opted for that.

Boot fitting ... well more of a cubby hole really

2010-05-29T19:49:00.000+01:00

Sat/Sun 15th/16th May 2010 - Work time = 6hrs ... Build Time To Date = 231.5hrs

Fitting the boot lining and boot lid should have been fairly straight forward. Famous last words. The boot lining required copious amounts of "dremeling" so that it would fit neaty. Also the boot lid locks took a long time to fit. I had to resort to using the blow torch to heat the metal locking lugs so that they would straighten out properly.

I'm pleased with the finished results ... however not sure I'm gonna fit the golf clubs in the boot !!!

Speedo Sensor ... needs to be closer to driveshalf bolts

2010-05-09T14:47:00.000+01:00

Sun 9th May 2010 - Work time = 3hrs ... Build Time To Date = 225.5hrs
Concernd that the speedo wasn't registering I took a look at the speedo sensoe. This is a hall effect sensor picking up a magnetic reading off the driveshaft bots next to the diff. The gap between the sensor and the bolts seemed 5-6mm ... probably too far for the sensor to pickup.
The mounting for the sensor is welded to the chassis ... I tried to bend it nearer the driveshaft but all this did was move the angle of the sensor away from the bolts.
More head scratching before I came up with a new plan! I fabricated a new bracket and ounted this to the extra mountings on the chassis (not sure what these are for but they are unused).
With the new bracket in place I could easily adjust the gap ... I left it at about 2mm ... don't want it too close!
Hopefully this will be a better solution and the speedo will now work.

Engine Startup Part 3 ... it works !!!

2010-05-09T14:24:00.002+01:00

Sat 8th May 2010 - Work time = 4hrs ... Build Time To Date = 222.5hrs
Big day again today ... with the fuel injectors all reinstalled time to try an engine start. It start raining as soon as I wheeled the car out of the garage. Undeterred with a few spots of rain I turned of the key, the starter motor spun the engine over for a few seconds and hen the sound of the engine firing ... on all 4 cylinders! As I blipped the throttle Sandra and Amy arrived at the garage door cheering. I think they were cheering with relief ... previously concerned that if it still didn't start then I would not be a happy chappy!
I let the engine run a few minutes so that everything warmed up. eassuringly there were no obvious leaks anywhere. With the rain now coming down harder I took a quick opportunity to select first gear and drive the car 5metres down the drive, then reversed it back and repeated. The clutch and gearbox were working too .... but the speedo didn't appear to be working ... more investigation required.
I pushed the car back in garage and set about fitting the roll bar covers. These require a lot of adjustment ... they are supplied as blanks with no holes cut.

Three hours later and lots of dremelling I managed to fit them. A nice fit I think.

New Injector Arrived

2010-05-09T14:12:00.000+01:00

Weds 6th May 2010 - Work time = 1.5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 218.5hrs
The replacement injector arrived direct from Weber today. Fitted to the fuel rail and reinstalled all the injectors, connectors, throttle linkage etc. Ready for another attempt at startup at the weekend. Fingers crossed.

I also finished wiring up the cycle wing indicators ... all indicators and lights now working.

Cycle Wings fitted

2010-05-03T19:35:00.003+01:00

Sun/Mon 2nd/3rd May 2010 - Work time = 10hrs ... Build Time To Date = 217hrs

One item remaining to complete the front end ... fit the cycle wings. Again I had decided to deviate from the instructions in the manual which suggests button head bolts through the wings into the brackets. This means that there are 4 bolt heads visible. I decided to conceal the fixings using "big head fasteners". These needed to be bonded to the underside of the cycle wing. I initially did this using a dab of silicon sealant. Once set I removed the wing from the bracket and fibre glassed across the fasteners.

With the big heads bonded it was easy enough to fix the cycle wings.

The side indicators need to be fitted to the edge of the cycle wings as the traditional location does not allow the sufficient viewing angle for the IVA. They are fixed using self adhesive backing with the wiring hidden behind the cycle wing edging. I fed the wiring through some convoluted tubing ready to connect up to the loom ... unfortunately I need some connectors ... another trip to Halfords!

Bonnet finished & Headlamps fitted ... Dashboard removed again!

2010-05-03T17:19:00.018+01:00

Sat 1st May 2010 - Work time = 4hrs ... Build Time To Date = 207hrs

First job today as to tidy up the fibre glassing around the bonnet grills. Whilst the bonnet was off I fitted the front grill.

Once I'd refitted the bonnet and secured the front hinge I set about fitting the bonnet fastenings. The manual suggests these should be rivetted on but I wasn't happy about the rivet heads showing so I decided to use M4 button headbolts instead. Then I realised the reason for the suggestion to rivet fix them ... the bottom clasp fixings are "hidden" on the iside by one of the side panels. Undeterred I decided to drill through the inside panel, enlarge the hole so that I could get to the rear of the bolt to put on the nut. So what should have been a 15min job took well over an hour! The end result was worth it though.

Next job fit the headlamps. The lights com supplied with the connector not fitted so you can feed the cables through the bonnet. A fair bit of head scratching required to work out where the four wires go in the connector. Once connected up I tested the lights ... side lights OK, main beam OK but no dipped beam? More head scratching as I double checked the wiring diagram. Hmmm perhaps the dip/main beam switch was wired wrongly. So the dash had to come off again to check the wiring ... by a process of elimation I worked out the switch wiring ... net result all lights working. With the dash off I fitted the heated screen wiring loom. I had previously missed this ... not sure what the extra loom was and with nothing mentioned in the manual I'd put in back in the box! It was only after my call to Westfield for the missing heated screen switch that they explained I needed to fit this.

One issue remained ... how to tighten up the headlamps. The nut is difficult to access with a normal spanner so I had to "adjust" an old 21mm spark plug spanner I had. The groove is needed to feed through the wiring. With this I could turn the nut a quarter turn and then reset it and take another quarter turn. Slow progress but it worked quite well.

Bonnet Grills and Indicators ... 200+ hours into the build !!!

2010-04-25T20:31:00.002+01:00

Sun 25th Apr 2010 - Work time = 7hrs ... Build Time To Date = 203hrs
The 200 hours milestone broken!
First job of the day ... fit the indicators. Pretty straightforward ... but again measure twice drill once! Of course more wiring needed to replace the bullet connectors on the lamps with the multi-connectors supplied in the parts box.
All connected up and tested OK.

Next I turned attention to fitting the bonnet grills. I decided to fibre glass these in ... I figured it would be a neater and easier. It was neater but not easier!!! Glass fibre is very versatile but very messy. The end result I'm pleased with though. Just need to tidy up the loose strands when it's fully dry.

Henry couldn't resist posing behind the grill !

Roll Bar Fitting Part 2 & Headlamp Brackets

2010-04-25T19:56:00.002+01:00

Sat 24th Apr 2010 - Work time = 7hrs ... Build Time To Date = 196hrs
With the holes cut in the bodywork I set about fitting the high level brake light in the Roll Bar before bolting it to the chassis. Feeding the cable through the inside of the bar was a little tricky but with various bits of wire I got there in the end.
Bolting it down to the chassis was a little difficult as on the near side the diagonal brace blocked access to the bolt head. The bolts are hex head but fortunately I had a right angle 8mm hex head allen key. With the bolts torqued tight I set about marking the hole cutouts for the rear stays.
I'd read several posts on the WSCC Forum all giving advice about using string, waste pipe etc to help line up the holes. In the end I drilled a hole in the centre of where I'd calculated the stay to go and then put through some string as a plumb line to make sure it was lined up. I then cut an angled piece of plumbing waste pipe and used this to scribe the elipse shape to cut. I then used the dremel to gradually cut away the hole using the scribe shape as my boundary.
It wasn't too difficult in the end ... though took a long time.

Of course when I tried to fit the stays I needed to undo the roll bar to tip it forwards to gain some clearance. I finished the tops off with some bike tyre inner tube as I have heard that there are some issues with the sharp edges for the IVA test.

The final results ... I'm pleased with the fit ... no gaps around the rear stays. Need to wait for the covers over the roll bar mounting ... on order from Westfield.

Next I fitted the headlamp brackets ... again a fairly simple task but time consuming. I didn't fit the headlamps yet though as I need to remove the bonnet to fit the grills ... with the headlamps fitted it will be a bit dfficult to turn upside down.

Engine Issue Identified ... Roll Bar Fitting Part 1

2010-04-21T20:21:00.000+01:00

Weds 21st Apr 2010 - Work time = 5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 189hrs
Managed to speak with Mark at Westfield yesterday and he suggested some checks for the injectors.

Test 1. Remove the injectors but leave connected to the fuel rail and try to start the engine ... there should be a mist of petrol expelled from each injector. The first injector on the rail worked fine (cylinder no 4) but nothing from the other three. I swapped the Injector wires but same result

Test 2. Wire the injectors directly to a 12V supply and spark them to check if the solonoid are switching. All injectors seemed to work OK.

Hmmm ... head scratching time. I ecided to dismantle the fuel rail. I discineccted the outlet fom the first injector (the one that was working) to find that there was no hole in the outlet. Doh! The part seemed to be machined wrong or was perhaps an end fitting? Anyway there was no way that fuel was getting to the other injectors ... I had found the problem. The picture below shows the issue. The faulty injector is on the top.

I'm now waiting on Westfield to provide a new injector.

Clearly nothing was going to progress with the engine start up so I turned my attention to the roll bar. I'd opted for the added security of the "RAC Roll Bar" rather than the standard hoop. The RAC Roll Bar is barced diagonally and has stays to the rear whereas the standard one is just a hoop secured with one both either side ... a little too flimsy me thinks!

I set about cutting holes in the rear body work to fit the bar.

Once the roll bar mounts were cut out I could then line up the seat belt mount holes. Here's the finished result.

Next step to fit the high level brake light in the roll bar ... an update at the weekend.

Engine start up .... part 2 :-((

2010-04-18T20:33:00.000+01:00

Sun 18th Apr 2010 - Work time = 5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 184hrs
With the sun shining again, the battery fully charged I rolled the car out from the garage.
I connected up the battery again and set about the start up checks. I turned the key and the starter turned over, the engine turned over but still didn't fire. Now what? I removed the plugs and checked for sparks ... all sparking OK. Removed the air filter and checked for any smell of petrol in the inlet trumpets ... none. Turned the engine over and checked again ... no fuel smell. Hmmm ... maybe the fuel pump wasn't working correctly.
Following the wiring issues with the starter I decided to check the pump wiring ... it was correct. I also checked that the inertia switch was depressed.
I tried the starter again ... this time there was a slight splutter. I turned the key again and it spluttered again. After several attempts it spluttered for a few seconds but sound like a bag of spanners .... it seemed to be firing on only one cylinder. A quick check of the plugs again ... no 1 cylinder was sooted up and the exhaust manifold was hot but the rest of the plugs were clean and the exhaust downpipes cold.
So a fuelling problem, an ECU probem or an injector problem. Fuel was getting to no 1 cylinder so I figured the fuel pump was OK. Time for some research to help the diagnosis. I searched a few items on the WSCC forum and one suggested a quick test of the injectors was to check that 12v was on one of the injector terminals with the ignition on ... the ECU fires the injector by closing the earth. All injectors tested OK. I also found out that the coil is in two banks so it was probably not a coil issue as No 1 cylinder was working and in any event I could get a spark from all 4 cylinders.
Another posting suggested that new injectors get dried out and blocked and suggested putting a little fuel in the inlet to get things started. Despite sounding a little dangerous I was getting desperate. So armed with a cup of fuel and a teaspoon I poured some fuel into the inlet trumpets and manually opened the butterflies. Waiting a few seconds for a bit of evaporation I turned the key again. This time it fired up on 2-3 cylinders ... but only very briefly (until the poured in fuel had been used). I checked the exhaust downpipes and 1,2 and 4 felt warm. More fuel down the inlets and tried again. Similar results.
I deduced that I now had some sort of issue with the injectors but didn't know how to fix it!
Thoroughly depressed I wheeled the car back into the garage and put the battery back on charge. A call into Westfield tomorrow!

Engine start up .... Part 1 :-(

2010-04-18T20:10:00.000+01:00

Sat 17th Apr 2010 - Work time = 7hrs ... Build Time To Date = 179hrs
With the sun shining brightly I rolled the car out of the garage. First task fill up the coolant with water/anti-freeze. So far so good ... no obvious leaks. Next put some fuel in. Again no obvious leaks. Final pre-start task ... connect the battery ... again no sparks so all good so far.

Armed with instructions from some of the respondents on the WSCC Forum I went through the start up procedures:

1. Remove all plugs
2. Remove fuel pump fuse
3. Turn ignition on

The brake light came on (handbrake was on) and the ignition light came on. Check!

4. Turn the key to crank the starter.

The starter whirred into action but was spinning far too fast and there was no sign of it engaging with the flywheel. Time for some head scratching!

I removed the heat insulation I'd put over the wiring on the starter and checked there was no shorting of the cables ... all looked fine. Checked the cables and I was getting 12v as expected at the ends. Couldn't see anything obvious wrong with the starter but couldn't figure why the solonoid wasn't actuating. Time to resort to 3rd party assistance ... a quick posting on the WSCC forum for advice.

Whilst waiting for a response and in an attempt to remove my depression I set about fitting the pedal box cover on the scuttle I'd bought some 3M Di-Noc carbon fibre lookalike film from eBay to cover it. So once I'd drilled all the holes I set about covering the panel. I have to say in all the video's I watched of people fitting this stuff to car bonnets, bits of dashboard and even mobile phones it looked a lot simpler than this. All in all it took over an hour just to cover the panel. I had been thinking about using this on the rear wheel arches to protect from stone chips but was having 2nd thoughts now. Here's the finished article ... overall I'm pleased with the results but it didn't compensate for the engine not starting.

Still no response from the forum so I started checking all the electrics, switches, lights, etc. All were working fine except the indicators and the main/dip switch was upside down. A quick wiring adjustment and all were working properly. Bouyed with this success I checked the forum for some responses to my plea for help. A couple of guys had responded suggesting an issue with the solonoid. This got me thinking ... was it wired correctly. I remembered Robbo (http://westfieldfw.blogspot.com/) had mentioned about the starter wiring on his site ... checked it and there was a picture of the starter motor and it looked like he had the white/red solonoid wire on the lower terminal. I had originally put it on the upper terminal as this was where the nut/washer was ... the lower terminal was bare.

I crawled under the car again and swapped the cable. With fingers crossed I reverted to my start up prep again from step 4. This time as I turned the key the starter whirred with a different sound ... and the engine started turning over! I ran it for 20-30 seconds and all seemed fine with oil pressure coming up nicely. Time for next step.

5. Replace plugs

6. Replace fuel pump fuse

7. Turn the key again to ignition on

The fuel pump whirred for a couple of seconds and the fuel pump relay clicked. A quick check for no obvious fuel leaks ... all good.

8. Turn the key to start

The engine turned over again but very slowly this time (plugs were in so more compression) but there was no sign of it firing up. Turned it over again for a little longer to allow a bit more time for the fuel to flow etc. Still no sign of firing. A third time and all I could get was a clunk from the starter ... yes the battery was now flat.

Thoroughly fed up I rolled it back in the garage and put the battery on charge.
Part 2 tomorrow!

Dashboard Installation

2010-04-18T19:36:00.000+01:00

Fri 15th Apr 2010 - Work time = 2hrs ... Build Time To Date = 173hrs

In preparation for the big weekend engine start up I set about installing the dash on Weds & Fri night.
I cable tied all the cables to the rail across the scuttle, taking care to leave enough wire to reach the individual switches and instruments. Because I'd put the headlamp main/dip beam and indicator switch on the eft side of the steering wheel (same as my road car) the horn had to go on the right. This meant having to extend the wires to reach the switch.
Here's the loom all neatly tied up.

And here's the finished look with the dash board all fixed in ... hope I've connected it up correctly ... needed to guess a few spade connections on the switches!

Exhaust, Dashboard and more loom labelling!

2010-04-12T21:23:00.003+01:00

Sun 11th Apr 2010 - Work time = 6hrs ... Build Time To Date = 171hrs
With all the engine bits done time to install the exhaust. It was a nice sunny day so I wheeled the car outside and tidied up the garage again (Sandra muttered something about why I was hovering the garage when the lounge needed cleaning?).
Fitting the exhaust was pretty straightforward ... all the pipes slotted together quite easy. After the IVA test I think I will remove the heat shield as I don't like the cheese grater look ...the silencer is on the passenger side so I won't burn my legs getting in and out!

Next to the dashboard ... I drilled the dashboard blank first and then set about fitting all the gauges and switches. I realised that the heated screen switch was missing ... another call to parts department.

Armed with my Dymo Labeller I then set about labelling all the loom connections with some permanent labels ... figured it would be easier to id cables once they were installed and in case I needed to remove the dash in the future. Here's the spaghetti ready for the dash to go in ... next weekends' job.

Coolant Hoses ... time for some pipe bending!

2010-04-12T20:44:00.011+01:00

Sat 10th Apr 2010 - Work time = 7.5hrs... Build Time To Date = 165hrs
The last part of the engine installation was to fit the rest of the coolant hoses and the expansion tank. I couldn't do this until the scuttle was fixed and the wiper motor installed because I wanted to locate the expansion tank on the near side rather than drivers side as per the manual. The reason for this was to make the pipework a little neater and shorter.
The standard pipe from the expansion tank has an outlet for the heater. I don't have a heater so the instruction was to route the small bypass hose from the thermostat back into the top of the heater inlet. This would have meant a pipe looping up across the scuttle ... not too neat. I decided to move the expansion tank to the near side and then feed the small hose from the thermostat housing into the end of a new solid pipe and tee into this pipe from the expansion tank. The pipe then follows the normal route to the bottom hose/water pump pipe.
To do all this I needed to make up a new peice of solid pipe using some 15mm copper pipe a couple of 90degree elbows, a tee piece and some olives on the ends to stop the hoses blowing off. I'd borrowed some pipe benders from Andy so set about the bending and soldering. Here's my version of the pipe alongside the standard one ... you can see the standard one on the left with the heater hose inlet.

And here's the version after painting. I was very pleased with the results ... Andy will be proud of the solder work!

Installation was pretty easy ... I needed to add some spacers under the P Clips to raise the pipe off the scuttle. I'm very pleased with the final result ... looks a lot neater than the standard setup I think.

Windscreen Wipers and Washers

2010-04-10T19:59:00.001+01:00

Fri 9th Apr 2010 - Work time = 1.5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 157.5hrs
Fitted the windscreen wiper motor and wiper mount boxes this evening. All fairly straightforward though I was a bit nervous drilling the holes in the scuttle.
I also fitted the windscreen washer jet and tubing to the washer bottle pump. I cable tied the tube onto the jet and pump ... the IVA inspector "blocks" the jets as part of test and I don't want the tube popping off.

Bodywork Fitting + Other Stuff

2010-04-07T20:11:00.012+01:00

Fri 2nd - Mon 5th Apr 2010 - Work time = 22hrs ... Build Time To Date = 156hrs

Easter weekend ... Sandra and Amy in Cape Verde so lots of time spent in the garage! A long list of tasks completed this weekend:

1. Tidied up wiring to the rear lights, adding some cable tie mounts etc. Whilst the rear body was off I drilled a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage ... the way the body is formed it looks like a big water trap! I also added wiring for a high level brake light that I plan to install in the roll bar.

2. With the rear body off and side panel off I bled the brakes again ... easier to access things without the bodywork.

3. Next more drilling of the bodywork ... this time the fuel filler. Overall a fairly easy task but I took my time to make sure I got it right.

4. Attention reverted to the interior to fit the tunnel covers. I decided to rivnut all these on so that it will be easier for future maintenance access. I'll probably need to get the rear one off to adjust the hand brake at some point. The wire at the rear is one ofthe additional cables I ran when I installed the loom ... this one is intended to power the intercom and headsets.

5. Bouyed with enthusiasm I set about fixing the bodywork. First task to drill the holes in the scuttle to line up with the rivnuts in the chassis rails. There are only 4 fixings for the scuttle ... I decided 2 more were called for, so added one extra one each side ... no chance the scuttle will fall off now!

I pretty much followed the manual for attaching the bodywork. Attaching the rear arches was a bit tricky ... an extra pair of hands from Henry made things easier and he played a blinder acting as "trigger man" whilst I held the flexible drill attachment to drill the holes. Ended up with 8 bolts attaching the rear arches ... more than the manual but it looks about right. More rivets on the underside chassis rails and engine bay rails and then it was just a case of bolting down the scuttle. Lots of silicone sealant around the scuttle ... there's a small chance it will keep some water out!

The car is starting to get bigger and there is less room to move around now.

6. Next job to fit the strange shaped fillets in the rear arches and front bulkhead. These are intended to keep mud etc from filling up the void between the bodywork and the side panels. Prior to fitting the panels I filled the ends of the void with expanding foam ... I hate that stuff ... minor panic which I realised I had inadvertantly squirted some of it down the side of the car! Thankfully it came off with no damage!!!

7. Whilst bleeding the brakes I noticed that the wiring around the throttle bodies was slightly fouling the throttle linkages. I removed the trumpets and rerouted the wiring to the injectors and air/water temp sensors ... it was lucky I noticed this issue ... it would have caused a major problem later on.

8. Next to fit the lamda sensor. The sensor came pre wired with a 4 way waterproof AMP connector. Unfortunately this would mean a huge hole in he bodywork to feed the connector through. Anticipating this issue I had ordered a new AMP connector from eBay and it was a simple job to cut off the old connector feed the cable through a small hole in the body and fit the new connector.

Things progressing along nicely now though I'm still thinking I have another 40-50 hours work left. In anticipation of continued good progress I downloaded the IVA forms to start reading up on what I need to fill out to book the IVA test !

Bonnet fitting

2010-03-28T17:37:00.002+01:00

Sun 28th 2010 - Work time = 6hrs ... Build Time To Date = 134hrs
Yes ...6 hour to fit the bonnet! Well nearer 5 actually because I fitted the bottom hose as well.

The bonnet fitting took so long because I needed to grind aways some of the welds on the chassis so that it would sit down properly. I also needed to file a little off the bonnet.

The fitting of the hinge was tricky too ... I ended up rivetting the hinge to the bonnet and used rivnuts to secure to the chassis rail.

I hope all the other bodywork fitting doesn't take this long.

Exhaust manifold ... time to cut holes!

2010-03-28T17:17:00.005+01:00

Sun 21st 2010 - Work time = 5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 128hrs
Time to cut the hole for the exhaust. Using the template I made earlier I drilled out the glassfibre.

I then took my time to gently cut away the body work with the dremel sanding drum. It took a long time ... as you can see by the work time recorded today. There isn't a lot of room to insert the manifold in the engine bay .. it required a lot of twisting/turning and removal of the bodywork a millemetre at a time. I was pleased with the end product. It does look as though the hole is much bigger than needed when it's finally fitted but trust me it needed to be this big to wiggle the manifold through.

Rear lights and glass fibre !

2010-03-28T16:57:00.001+01:00

Sat 20th 2010 - Work time = 4hrs ... Build Time To Date = 123hrs

Putting off the time to start cutting holes I decided to fit the rear lights. The reflectors and stop/tail/indicator light clusters were pretty easy except for the connection to the loom. There was no made up connector on the light fitting so had to work out the wiring colours and fit one of the 6 way connectors from those supplied.

It was a different matter for the fog and reversing light. The light housing in the body was not very deep and the manual said the lights should be mounted flush and "bonded in". I decided to make up my own fibre glass housings and fit the lights in these. With no previous experience of fibre glassing this was a new venture! It all worked out pretty well, though it was quite messy!

Engine Wiring Completed + Other Small Tasks

2010-03-14T19:22:00.004Z

Sat/Sun 13th/14th March 2010 - Work time = 7hrs ... Build Time To Date = 119hrs
A couple days of finishing off a few things following my visit to the factory and the advice from Mark.
First item ... twist round the injector connector on No 2 cylinder so that it didn't foul the throttle linkage. Fairly easy task but needed to removing all the linkage to gain access. Connected up the throtle cable at the same time ... now a fully functional throttle!

Next item ... connect up the coolant temp sensor to the webcon loom. As suggested I removed the connector from it's fixing on the engine block and this thn reached the loom connection. Just one issue the connector plugs were different! Again another simple job that quickly became complicated. Fortunately in the wiring loom bits there were plenty of spare connectors.

Third item .. replace the oil pressure sender with the one from the instrument set. Had to partially destroy the old one so that I could get a socket on it to undo it There was also no room to get a spanner on the new one to tightem it so it was a lot of brusied knuckles to get it hand tight.

Item no. 4 ... relocate the clutch cable in to clutch arm. I decided to follow Mark's advice and remove the grommet so the cable sits in the lower part of the arm and has a straight feed to the adjuster. Aso put a cable tie in to tidy up the clutch cable routing round the engine mount.

Next ... connect up the fuel lines to the carbs

And the final bit of the engine work ... install and connect the Water Temp gauge sender into the thermostat housing.

Next step ... ran a wire from the rear brake lights so that I can fit a high level brake light in the roll bar. Just hope I identified the correct cable from the loom!

Torqued up the rear suspension whilst I was there too!

Attention now turned to gettng the bodywork fitted ... at least starting to get it fitted. The sides were not sitting quite right and didn't hook down under the floor very well ... actually it seemed a tight fit and i didn't want to force it. I made som clearane holes to clear the rivnut fixing for the scuttle and that seemed to give enough clearance and the sides popped into place (with a bit of creaking which was slightly disconcerting!). The scuttle needed some cutouts to clear the wiring loom grommet where the loom goes to the ECU and also the steering column. With all that complete it seemed to line up except for the bonnet fouling on the lower wishbone bolts at the front. A job for another day.

Starting to run out of jobs now so next weekends job will be to start cutting holes in the bodywork for the exhaust and fuel filler and seat belts. Not looking forward to this ... keep reminding myself ... measure twice cut once!

Collected Body, Carpets, Seats ...

2010-03-06T16:06:00.001Z

Fri 5th March 2010 - Work time = 0hrs ... Build Time To Date = 112hrs

Another "white van man" day ... collected all the remaining bits fom Westfield today. Got off to an early start, leaving home at 4:15am and managed to get to Westfield at 8. Spent some time with Mark to get some answers to my earlier questions:

1. No2 Injector needs to be swivelled around to clear the throttle linkage (may also need to remove some of the metal on the linkage) otherwise linkage is in the correct place.

2. The Coolant Temp sensor needs to be unclipped from the engine ... then it should be OK to reach the wire.
3. The oil pressure sensor needs to be swapped with a new one in the instrument pack

4. Clutch cable can be in the top hole on the clutch arm with the grommet or lower hole without the gromemet. Mark recommends the later.

Got back home and unloaded the van by about 1:30 ... most of the body panels had to be put loosely on the chassis ... the rest of the bits up in the attic.

It's starting to look a little like a car now ... oh and Sandra approves of the colour!

4 Wheels on my Wagon!

2010-03-06T15:52:00.002Z

Sun 28th February 2010 - Work time = 2hrs ... Build Time To Date = 112hrs
Connected up the Clutch cable ... another straightforward job you'd have thought but it was not quite that way. The clutch arm had a rubber grommet in it and from the way it was shaped it looked like it was meant to go round the end of the cable and position the cable in the upper part of the hole. However the narrow part of the hole was at the bottom and this is where the cable was supposed to go. With the cable in the grommet it was not properly aligned with the cable adjuster so not sure that is right. After much head scratching again (difficult when lying under the car!) I opted for using the grommet and leaving the cable in the top hole. Will check with Westfield when I'm there at the end of the week.

Time for a milestone moment ... put the wheels on and lower it off the chassis stands. Amy summed the up the occassion with an "It's awesome Dad!"

Engine Wiring ... Throttle Linkage issues?

2010-02-27T11:53:00.005Z

Sat/Sun 20th/21st February 2010 - Work time = 8hrs ... Build Time To Date = 110hrs

Another 8 hours spent, not a great deal to show for it but lots of little things ticked off the "to do" list. Started off by making up a template for the cut out for the exhaust through the side body panel. Lot's of cutting and gaffer tape!

Next job ... wired up the starter motor to the engine loom and live feed from the battery and the RPM sensor wich is near the starter. I managed to route the battery live feed cable along the lower chassis rail ... with more things in/on the car now it's difficult to get access to drill holes for things like the cable tie saddles ... had to resort to snapping a drill in half to shorten the length so I could get the drill in!

I then fitted the screen washer bottle ... more rework required as the wire to the pump wasn't long enough... I needed to undo some of the cabling which I had so neatly cable tied and covered in tubing ... no wonder al this is taking so long!

With the near side engine wiring now complete I moved to the other side to connect up the injectors, alternator, air temp, coolant temp and oil pressure sensors. I had a few issues with all this:

1. Once I'd connected the No2 Injector it was fouling the throttle linkage ... hmmm something not right here ... I think the throttle linkage is in the wrong place ... needs a call to Westfield

2. The Coolant Temp sensor wire is nowhere near long enough to reach the sensor at the front of the engine above the alternator ... another call to Westfield

3. The connection on the oil pressure sensor doesn't match the wiring loom connector nor the pictures in the manual ... yet another call to Westfield to check.

I'm sure some of this is going to need to get moved but here's some pictures cos the throttle bodies just look soooo cooool ! :-)

Stop press !!! Collecting the body, seats and carpets etc on March 6th ... better start being nice to Sandra as I might need to store some bits in the lounge !!!

Battery & Radiator installation

2010-02-14T15:04:00.004Z

Sat/Sun 13th/14th February 2010 - Work time = 8hrs ... Build Time To Date = 102hrs
With the engine back in I could start to connect up all the wiring and cooling system. First task ... install the battery. I had seen various other Westfields with the battery stuck on the scuttle and some with it low down at the front just behind the steering rack. I opted for the latter. This required a sheet to be fabricated to mount on the two chassis rails either side of the steering rack. I have a small sheet of aluminium in the garage from the Cobra so this was duy cut to size. Along with the battery tray I painted it hammerite black and then spray painted satin black.
Here's the finished installation ... nice and neat I must say !

Next step to assemble the radiator and fit it. I checked the radiator and it had a bleed outlet at the top that wasn't mentioned in the manual. There were no small hoses shown going to the radiator so I blanked this off with an M6 bolt. This would have been a tricky thing to rectify later on when the body work was on and I was wondering why there was engne coolant everywhere! The rest of the install should have been a straightforward job but all the M6 bolts I had left to fit were too long so I had to hacksaw a few to shorten them. Also when I fitted the radiator the bottom hose seemed very close to the chassis upright and was getting compresssed ... a few gentle blows with the mallet moved the mounts across a 2-3mm so there was a bit more clearance. I fitted the horn next and tidied up the wiring to the horn, fan temp sensor and the fan. Here it is all fitted.

I then trial fitted the exhaust manifold. I needed to turn the oil dipstick tube and reshape the mounting bracket as in its standard position it fouled the first exhaust port. With the manifold in position I can see that I will need to be very neat with the starter motor wiring. I can also fit the windscreen washer bottle and mark out a cardboard cutting template for the exhaust hole in the bodywork.

I ordered the bodywork and vinyl earlier in the week ... collection date early March. Confirmed the colour Orange and Black, with a few upgrades ! (3" harnesses, sports turbo seats and an RAC Rollbar).

Engine back in ... this time it fits!

2010-02-14T14:39:00.004Z

Saturday 6th February 2010 - Work time = 3hrs ... Build Time To Date = 94hrs

With Andy's help (and Rob as well !) we set about the engine installation for the second time. With the newly drilled and fitted gearbox mounting and the rerouted wiring loom it went in a dream!

I also filled the gearbox with oil ... still a two person job but much easier with the hole in the passenger side bulkhead.

Wiring Loom re-routing ... part 2 & Radiator Prep

2010-02-14T14:17:00.007Z

Saturday 16th January 2010 - Work time = 3hrs ... Build Time To Date = 91hrs

Managed to finish off the wiring loom rerouting today.

Now ready for the engine re-installation ... scheduled for Saturday 6th when Andy comes back.

In the meantime I painted the radiator fan shroud and brackets with hammerite and then sprayed them satin black .. figured they would look better than the bare metal finish. Here they are before the spray coat.

Wiring Loom re-routing ... part 1

2010-01-10T20:26:00.000Z

Sunday 10th January 2010 - Work time = 4hrs ... Build Time To Date = 88hrs
I set about relocating the wiring loom across the top of the tunnel (above the bellhousing). A simple task you'd think ... after all I just needed to install 2 or 3 cable tie mounts and move the cabling back about 30mm. 4 hours later and I'd still not finished!

I had to remove about 15 cable ties, all the convoluted tubing I'd installed previously and also drill and attach a few more cable tie mounts.

Here's the work in progress ... still an hour or so required to complete I think!

Engine out again ... in the snow!

2010-01-10T19:44:00.004Z

Saturday 9th January 2010 - Work time = 5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 84hrs

I spoke to Mark in Technical Support at Westfield earlier in the week. He confirmed that the engine was in the right place, the adaptor plate was not required but I would need to drill new mounting holes in the chassis mounted gearbox plate and that it would be best to relocate the wiring loom to the side rather than lower edge of the chassis rail over the tunnel. The power of the internet also helped and I got a blog comment from Robbo in Holland who also confirmed the above. Robbo also highlighted the need to re-route the wiring loom for the starter motor. Robbo's Westfield build is at http://westfieldfw.blogspot.com/ (you may need Google Translate!).

With Henry's help it was fairly straightforward to get the engine back out.

As you can see it's been snowing a lot here ... but we managed to complete the engine removal before it started snowing again.

With the engine bay empty I proceeded to drill the gearbox mounting plate. Prior to removing the engine I'd marked the mounting holes. I'm wasn't too happy with the location of the new holes (they're the ones at the right of the plate in the LHD picture) and also the fact that only the rear half of the gearbox rubber mounting would be resting on the plate. I decided to modify the extra adaptor plate and mount this on top of the welding in plate (see RHD picture). Note the pictures are before I've painted them to cover up the scuffs etc. This new arangement will offer a bit more support and spread the load. It will raise the gearbox slightly but this hopefully should not be an issue.

When the engine was installed I noticed the very limited access from below to fill and check the gearbox oil. So I marked the position of the filler plug before we removed the engine and then cut an access hole in the passenger footwell. I tried to use a hole cutter to cut the hole but all it did was make a mess ... good job no-one will see it once the gearbox is back in. The cover plate is fixed from inside the footwell with small bolts into some rivnuts in the bulkhead panel. It should be slightly easier now to fil/check the gearbox oil.

Final task for the day was to make a couple of plates to cover the unused inertia seat belt cut-outs in the rear bulkhead panel.

5 hours work time ... unfortunately not an awful lot to show for it!

Engine in ... but is it in the right place?

2010-01-02T16:36:00.027Z

Friday 1st January 2010 - Work time = 3hrs ... Build Time To Date = 79hrs
Happy New Year !
Undeterred by the after effects of a late night before, Andy and myself set about the engine install. We lowered the chassis onto 4 axle stands with the help of Rob and Henry, with the rear as high as the stands could go. The theory being that the elevated angle at the rear would make the gearbox to propshaft location easier.
We checked the aforementioned adaptor plate against the gearbox mount and it seemed to line up so it seems we needed to install the adaptor plate in the tunnel.
Time to hoist the engine. Some "in progress" shots to demonstrate.

It was a fairly easy task to get the engine in. We lifted the gearbox with a trolley jack and the connection to the propshaft was pretty easy too. As with all things that work out too easy there has to be a catch.

With the engine resting nicely on the near and offside engine mounts it appeared to be positioned a long way back in the chassis. The top of the bellhousing was almost touching the wiring loom across the bottom of the tunnel chassis rail and the rear most water connection was very close to the bulkhead.

Also the earbox mount did not line up with the adaptor plate and the prop didn't appear to be fully home in the gearbox.

This required much head scratching ... the engine was alligned correctly with it's mounts and was tight on the bulkhead/transmision tunnel ... but needed to sit back further forward to align with the gearbox mounts yet sit back to be fully home on the propshaft? So either the engine mounts were incorrectly located and the engine needed to move forward about 1 3/4 inches and the prop needed to be longer or I needed to move the wiring across the chassis rail above the bellhousing and re-drill the adaptor plate for the gearbox mounting and the gap between the prop and gearbox was acceptable?

So we retired gracefully to the warmth of the house and I penned a lengthy e-mail to Westfield Technical Support for much needed guidance.

Propshaft part 2 ... ready for the engine

2009-12-30T17:27:00.001Z

Wednesday 30th December - Work time = 2hrs ... Build Time To Date = 76hrs
With the brakes fully functional I could now adjust the handbrake and torque up the bolts on the propshaft.

I then set about "wrapping up" the chassis bars in the engine bay to protect them whilst installing the engine. You can also see in the picture above a trapezium shaped peice of metal ... this is a gearbox adaptor plate but it is unclear in the manual whether I need to fit it for my engine/gearbox combination. Need to do some reasearch!

Bleeding Brakes ... easy with the Ezi Bleed !

2009-12-29T11:44:00.001Z

Monday 28th December - Work time = 2.5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 74hrs
Armed with my Ezi Bleed system and 1.25 litres of Dot 5.1 Brake Fluid it was time to bleed the brakes. This was not something I was particularly looking forward to as I had read many WSCC Forum posts and Build Diaries explain the pain and suffering caused by bleeding brakes on a Westfield.
Following the various advice given and the Ezibleed instructions I set about the task. I pressure tested the system with no fluid first at about 18psi and then filled the container with fluid, reduced the pressure to about 15psi and started bleeding each corner. I managed to use all but about 350ml of Brake fluid. I bled each corner twice just to be sure. Disappointingly the pedal was still a little spongy so I decided to proceed with the Westfield method of pumping the pedal several times and then wedging the pedal down and leaving it overnight.

Another tip I read was to elevate the rear ... theory being that the air bubbes slowly rise. So I enlisted Henry to lower the front onto the axles stands. The front end being a little lighter than the rear I thought this would be an easy task for the pair of us. Not so ... we got the front onto the axles stands and alarmingly the whole chassis starting sliding forwards (this gravity thing is a bloody nuisance!) until the rear was resting across the rear wishbones. I then went to the rear and tried to shuffle the chassis back with Henry holding the front. At this point the frame slid forward again and landed on Henry's foot. We then reverted to the original configuration and put the front back on the build stand. A quick look at the front chassis and fortunately there was no damage to the frame ... Henry meanwhile limped off to the house!

I removed the wood prop this morning and was extremely pleased to see that overnight the "brake fairies" had spun their magic and the pedal was no longer spongy. So moral of the story ... Ezi Bleed does what it says on the box and then leave it to a length of wood and the "brake fairies"!

Engine & ECU Loom ... getting bored with cable ties!

2009-12-27T21:19:00.004Z

Sunday 27th December - Work time = 3hrs ... Build Time To Date = 71.5hrs
Fitted the engine and ECU looms today. To start with I needed to do the usual Westfield approach and remove some stuff I'd already fitted ! ... more precisely the main loom that I'd put in convoluted tubing and cable tied so neatly around the engine bay. So what should have been a relatively short, simple job turned out to take 3 hrs. It was worth the time though as it's all neat and tidy again.

Father Christmas lived up to expectations and delivered my Ezibleed system so it's brake bleeding time tomorrow ... wish me luck !

Front Brake Pipes and ECU plate fitted

2009-12-23T19:09:00.006Z

Wednesday 23rd December - Work time = 4.5hrs ... Build Time To Date = 68.5hrs

I spent about an hour and half sorting out the Webcon ECU wiring loom and Westfield engine wiring loom during the week. The wiring diagram wasn't as good as the main loom and it didn't seem to completely match the actual wiring in the ECU loom? So there was much head scratching again! Finally got the looms all labelled ready for installation.

Three hours spent in a rather cold garage today. Got a few responses from the WSCC Forum on my handbrake adjustment issue. Consensus was that I need to complete the braking system, fill it with fluid and then bleed the brakes to obtain a little pressure in the system to push out the caliper pistons and take up some of the slack. So first job was to fit the flexible brake hoses on the front. I had to complete the bends on the brake pipe ... I'd forgotten how difficult it was to bend the pipe! Here's the completed job.

Now I need to get some brake fluid (Dot4) so I can start the bleeding! This will have to wait a few days as I have heard that Father Christmas may be bringing me an EziBleed brake bleeding kit as recommended by various posters on the forum.

Next task today was to fit the ECU above the passenger footwell. This took a little longer than expected as I fitted some rivnuts to the top fixing so it could be easily lowered for access (the manual suggested self tappers but I prefer the rivnut option) The manual also said to mount the ECU on the plate with velcro. I wasn't too happy with this option so found a couple of brackets and rivetted them to the plate and bolted the ECU to the brackets. The underside is fairly clear with just the rounded rivet heads as I'm sure the IVA test will be checking there is no sharp edges in the passenger footwell. I'm quite pleased with the results.

Propshaft & Upper Steering Column ... well almost a propshaft

2009-12-20T09:45:00.001Z

Saturday 20th December - Work time = 1.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 64 hrs
Next job on the list ... fit the propshaft. A straightforward task ... 4 bolts, one propshaft, a torque wrench and some thread lock. Hmm it's funny how the seemingly straightforward tasks turn out to be the the most difficult!
The manual states that the prop can only be fitted and the bolts torqued when the handbrake is operational. The handbrake was already fitted but I had failed to check that it was "fully operational" ! To cut a long story shorter the handbrake was not fully applying the pads to the discs so the wheels were spinning when I was trying to torque up the prop bolts. After the usual head scratching I still couldn't figure why the handbrake wasn't clenching the pads enough ... perhaps there was some adjustment required to the calipers? perhaps I need to fill the brake system and bleed the brakes first? Hmmm a quick post of the Westfield forum to get some views seems required.
So with the prop now removed I turned my attention to the upper steering column. This had arrived unexpectedly in the post the other day from Westfield. They have had some issues with the original design resulting in a product recall so they held this part back when I collected the kit. It was a bit fiddly to fit the column ... requiring a hole to be cut in the front bulkhead. Lining up the position of the hole was tricky and because I didn't have a drill big enough I needed to expand the hole with a round file. Unfortunately I got a bit carred away with the filing as the photos below show ... I'll need to get a suitably sized grommet to fill the gap!

So next step ... whilst I await a response from the forum re the handbrake adjustment ... is to sort out the ECU wiring loom and engine wiring loom. More wires and more labelling!

Fuel Tank, Pump & Filter ... rear end almost complete

2009-12-06T20:02:00.001Z

Sunday 6th December - Work time = 3.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 62.5 hrs
According to Westfield's estimated build duration I should now be halfway through having clocked just over 60 hours. Things are progressing well but me thinks there is still more than 57.5 hours of work left!

Todays task to fit the fuel tank. Before I started though I needed to finish a few outstanding jobs:
1. Top up the diff with some more oil
2. Finish covering the handbrake cables with convoluted tubing and secure to the wishbones. Fortunately the eBay order arrived in the week so I could complete this task also.

Next job fit the fuel tank. No issues with this ... just a bit fiddly to tighten the nuts securing the straps at the front ... there was not a lot of space between the tank and the rear bulkhead. Fitting the fuel pump and filter were also a challenge. After a bit of head scratching and consultation of a few build site photos I worked out the best options and routing for the pipes. The fuel pump bolted through the rear chassis rail with a couple of spacers to push it away from the chassis rail and clear the left rear wishbone mount.
After drilling through the right hand diff chassis rail to fit the filter backet I realised that I didn't have any M6 bolts long enough to go through the rail ... doh! So I fitted some M6 rivnuts instead ... will need to fill the unused holes on the over side somehow!

Routing the fuel hoses was a little tricky too and I mdae a couple of attempts to fit the hose between the tank and fuel pump. My first attempt looked good until I realised that when the car was on the ground and the suspension loaded that it would probably get trapped between the wishbone and the chassis!

I put convoluted tube over the full lengths of the hoses (I now have 5 metres of each size coutesy of my eBay order!). This looks neater but I'm not sure whether the IVA inspector may need to see sight of the labelling on the hose to check that it's proper fuel hose ... may have to remove a bit of tubing at the test?

At this point I must make a special mention for the huge contribution from both Sandra and Amy who popped in and out at various times this afternoon and acted as "drill trigger pusher" whilst I routed/held the flexible drill drive shaft to drill holes in various places for the cable tie mounts to secure the hoses.

I ran out of 5/16" hose to complete the filter to fixed fuel pipe connection. Another trip to the motor factors!

Fuel Inertia Switch ... Fitted / Removed / Fitted Again!

2009-12-06T19:24:00.003Z

Friday 4th December - Work time = 2 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 59 hrs
Just to set the scene ... it seems a common practice to fit things ... flick a few pages forward in the manual ... and then find you need to remove it again to fit something else.
I fitted the inertia switch one evening this week. A fairly simple task ... a couple of holes in the bracket behind the diff. As always I stood back to admire the work.

It was then just a case of tidying up the wires once the fuel pump was installed. However a couple of days later I read forward in the manual and the build photos showed the inertia switch on the other side! Off with the switch and back on again, this time on the correct side. The change meant I also needed to reroute the wiring loom to the front side of the chassis rail ... removal of more cables ties!

I then spent the rest of the time sorting out the various bits and pieces ready to fit the fuel tank, fuel pump and fuel filter. A job for the weekend !

Drive Shafts and Hand Brake ... a completed drive train

2009-11-30T20:47:00.004Z

Monday 30th November - Work time = 4.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 57 hrs

Having carefully bolted together the rear suspension it was now necessary to unbolt the top hub to wishbone linkage to fit the drive shafts. I seem to be bolting / fixing things on only to take them off a couple of chapters later in the build manual!

Fitting the drive shafts was a bit fiddly while trying to get the set screws in (with loctite thread lock on) ... however my very expensive hex sockets worked miracles again ! ;-) and both shafts were quickly torqued up on the hubs and diff.

I quickly filled the diff with EP80w/90 oil ... although the 1 litre which Westfield had provided didn't completely fill up the diff to the fill level so I need to get some more ... another job on the list !

With the rear suspension and drive train completed I flicked over to the next chapter in the manual ... hand brake and rear flexible brake pipes. Connecting up the cabes to the hand brake lever was a bit awkward requiring lots of winding of the adjuster. Also I ran out of the convoluted tubing that Westfield had provided to cover the cables where they touched the metalwork. A quick look on eBay and more was ordered ... another job to finish off later. Here's a few pictures of the hand brake in situ and the cable routing.

Rear Discs and the Diff ... not as difficult as I feared

2009-11-30T20:24:00.000Z

Sunday 29th November - Work time = 4 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 52.5 hrs
With my (rather expensive) 3/8" to 1/2" socket drive adaptor and the hex sockets I could continue with fitting the rear discs and calipers. No problems with fitting these ... probably due to the expensive hex sockets no doubt!

Next step ... fit the diff ! Hmm it's a bit heavy so time to enlist some muscle (aka Henry!). As it turns out it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. As instructed in the manual I pushed the threaded bars through from the right hand side. I removed the offside brake line to provide a bit of room. Apart from just a few issues with slotting in the washers between the diff and the bushes on the left hand side it was pretty straightforward.

Front & Rear Hubs on ... 4 wheels on the wagon (almost)

2009-11-24T21:36:00.001Z

Tuesday 24th November - Work time = 3 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 48.5 hrs
Another day off ! But a good excuse ... Henry's 16th Birthday (Hippo Bird day H !) and Amy was playing the drums at a school concert (Rock on Amy !). In between these I managed to do some work on the car.
Firstly fitted the front hubs ... the only issue was tightening the nut on the top ball joint. It needed a lot of downward pressure to stop it revolving. Got there in the end. Here's the finished article.

I then moved to the rear suspension. All was pretty straightforward and I soon had the hubs on both sides. Standing back to admire my work I checked the manual for the next step ... trouble was the picture in the manual didn't match what I had built. "Oh bother" I exclaimed (or words to that efffect) ... I had put the lower wishbones on the wrong way round ... on both sides! The manual clearly states the single arm with the bush at the front ... I had it at the back. Here's the wrong way and the right way once I'd taken both sides off and started again.

And here is a photo of both sides completed.

Next step to fit the rear discs and calipers. I realised I couldn't start this as I hadn't got any hex sockets for the set screws that secure the calipers to the hubs. I needed two different sizes, one for the calipers and one for the driveshafts. A trip to the local motor factors and £37 later (don't tell Sandra) I had a full set of 3/8" drive hex bits with a 1/2" adaptor so that I could connect them to the torque wrench. All sorted ready for the next build session!

Front Suspension ... time for the spanners!

2009-11-22T20:14:00.002Z

Sunday 22nd November - Work time = 2.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 45.5 hrs

Fitted the front wishbones, shock absorbers and steering rack today. Just a few little issues to contend with.

As I mentioned in the last post I was missing the headlamp brackets which bolt together with the upper wishbones. However when the replacements arrived from Westfield they looked identical to a couple of other brackets I already had but were completely different to how they looked in the manual? I flicked forward in the manual to the supplemental section covering the FW bodywork and lo and behold because I was having the FW bonnet the headlamp brackets were different to those described in the suspension section of the manual ... make note to self - read the manual front to back again!

Everything else on the front suspension was pretty straightforward. As detailed in the manual all the main bolts were just "nipped tight" to be torqued to the specified settings when the car is loaded on it's wheels. A few bolts were able to be tightened ... bottom ball joints and steering rack mounts. I painted a red line (Alfa red touch up paint from my old 147 GTA !) on the nuts to signify they were tight and torqued to the right settings.

A couple of pictures of the front suspension fitted ... it's starting to look a bit more car like now. Next step ... fit the front hubs.

Exterior Panels fitted ... an end to the rivetting

2009-11-16T20:30:00.001Z

Sunday 15th November - Work time = 2.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 43 hrs
Finally fitted the two exterior side panels today. I had drilled the chassis previously so it was a fairly simple job. I even managed to get Sandra to put in one of the rivets ... she commented that it was "hard work and didn't enjoy it much!"

Here's a couple of pictures showing the hedgehog before and completed after.

I spent the rest of the time sorting out the parts ready to start installing the suspension (I get to use the spanners again !) Couldn't find any headlamp brackets that are bolted onto the front wishbones so I'll have to make another call to Westfield parts dept before I can start.

Wiring ... installation

2009-11-14T19:41:00.009Z

Saturday 14th November - Work time = 7.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 40.5 hrs

I spent a couple of hours during the week sorting out and labelling the loom. It took a little while to interpet the wiring diagram.

The labelling was a slightly tedious task but proved to be well worth the effort when I came to the installation. Henry captured the labelling task and as a result of his creative photography skills he managed to show me wearing the lamp shade ... thanks H !

Before I started installing the loom today I wanted to add a couple of extra power feeds for the intercom and brantz rally meter. I added these to the Power Socket/Horn/Hazards circuit which was wired back to a 20amp fuse in the fuse box so should be OK. This was a pretty straightforward task although it needed a lot of insulation tape to bind the new wires into the loom.

So to the installation ... first step install the fuse boxes ... so far so good. Then it was a case of pulling the wires for the dash instruments, switches, warning lights etc through the transmission tunnel front panel into the cockpit. It looked like a big hole in the transmission tunnel panel when I started but it quickly filled and there was a lot of pushing and pulling to get all the cables and connectors through. The relays were particularly difficult ... I contemplated taking them apart but finaly managed to get them through after pulling back some of the other wires to create some more space.

It took a long time to route the front and rear parts of the loom and I had to install a lot more cable tie fixings to keep the wires tidy. At the rear the instructions say to double back the loom from the offside rear corner back to the nearside rear corner. I didn't complete this bit as I'm sure that there will be things like the fuel pump and regulator mounted across the back so I might end up having to reroute the wires later once I have these installed.

I'm pleased with the finished loom installation ... only time will tell whether everything still works !

Wiring ... getting ready to run the loom

2009-11-10T20:53:00.002Z

Monday 9th November - Work time = 4 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 33 hrs
A day off work today so I can crack on with the build. Firstly good news ... managed to fix the printer last night so Sandra is happy again!
So today's schedule of work ... start Chapter 3 of the Build Manual ... entitled Wiring Loom. Firstly attach the fixings for the wiring loom ... yet more drilling. I had originally bought 20 x 4.1 mm drills off eBay for the rivet hole drilling ... for each stint I was using a fresh new one so I am pleased I got plenty.
First issue was the chassis was the right way up on the stands and it appeared that most of the clips were on the lower chassis bars ... hmmm slight issue as all my trainee mechanics were at school! Three Shredded Wheat later I managed to turn the chassis over by myself. The only other issues were some of the awkward places at the front where it was dfficult to get the drill into. A combination of normal drill, flexible drive attachment and hand drill prevailed eventually. Also when I got to the rear it was not clear in the manual where to place the clips on the offside ... the manual merely shows 4 on the outer rail but mentions in the loom routing instructions that it "loops back from the other corner" but it is not clear using what route? Oh well when I get the wires in place it will probably be a bit more apparent.
Here's a few more pictures ... progress is not that apparant but if you look caefully you can see the loom fixings ... there's about 40 there somewhere!

Having finished the fixings I flipped the chassis back over to fit the scuttle panel and the first part of the transmission tunnel panel. I decided to shorten the transmission panel and cut it across the first brace. This would allow me more access when routing the cables. I plan to rivnut fix all the other transmission panels for ease of access in the future. Talking of rivnuts ... I got the chance to use my new rivnut tool and fitted 4 x M4 rivnuts for the fuse box attachment ... this makes fitting and removal easier than a bolt and a loose nut.

Next step, start sorting out the loom and labelling the various parts. Hmmm this may take a little time!

The art of pipe bending ... part 2

2009-11-08T19:08:00.002Z

Sunday 8th November - Work time = 3 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 29 hrs

Today was the front and rear brake pipes. The pipe fixings were the push-in clips rather than the rivet ones for the other pipe runs. These were a little fiddly to put in but with a spare piece of brake pipe installed they tapped in easily with the mallet. The pipe runs were fairly easy to bend, clipping into the pipe clips along the way. I didn't complete the bends at the front until the flexible hoses are installed as I figured they would get damaged if left just hanging there. Here's the finished view ... note the masking tape over the ends to stop any muck getting in!

Hi, it's the missus here, just want you all to know that the printer needs fixing, the computer most probably needs looking at as it keeps breaking but it's ok because we have brake pipes installed!!! No, seriously I'm OK with it!!!

Looks like I'd better go fix the PC and printer now ! ;-)

The art of pipe bending ... part 1

2009-11-07T19:27:00.084Z

Saturday 7th November - Work time = 6 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 26 hrs

Time to start installing the pipework ... something I was not looking forward to! I had spent many hours researching this area of the build, checking build photos and studying the manual so I felt well prepared and had the routes well planned ... little did I know!

The plan was to route the fuel pipes along the edge of the floor in the transmission tunnel and the rear brake pipe in between the two fuel lines. So, confident of my plan, I started with the twin fuel pipes. Out with the pipe bender (on loan from Graham) and I quickly formed the "swan neck" bend at the front ... closely followed by the bend back into the transmisson tunnel and then the splay out at the rear ... heh this is pretty easy. Like others I decided to fit the rivets on the pipe clips from the inside/out so that the "bumps" were minimised on the interior. I put some small washers on the outside to spread the rivet better and called upon Henry to add the extra pair of hands to pull the rivets while I held the fixing and washer in place. So far so good.

Now to the brake pipes ... start small me thinks so I start with shortest piece from the master cylinder to the "T" piece with the brake light switch. I formed the various bends around a couple of pieces of 35mm waste pipe and 25mm chrome towel rail I had lying around the garage. With my growing confidence I started on the the front to rear brake pipe. It was a tedious slow process ... temporary fixing the pipe at the front, marking where to bend, taking out the pipe, forming the bend and back in again to work out the next bend. 45 minutes later I had the pipe roughly formed. At this point I had my doh! moment. Whilst the brake pipe would fit very neatly between the fuel lines, there was no room to drill the fixing holes and rivet the "P" clips in place. 15 minutes later having considered various options including drilling out the fuel line rivets and starting again, I decided to route the brake pipe alongside the lower fuel line, fixing it to the braces across the transmission tunnel. The pipe was still against the side of the tunnel and well secured so it seemed the best option. Unfortunately this meant that the bends I had made at the rear were no longer quite as neat as I had originally hoped but there was no way I could re-form them. Here's the finished views ... despite the minor issue I'm quite pleased with the results.

Earlier in the week the missing bits for the brake pedal arrived so I decided to finish that off before starting on the rest of the brake pipes. What should have been a 5 minute job turned out a bit more complicated. Having fitted the missing part and setting the pedal up to align with the clutch pedal it was clear that the push rod was fouling the rear of the brake pedal.

So time to dismantle things again and cut off some of the thread on the push rod. I managed to do this without needing to remove the master cylinder. Here's the how the finished pedals look (without my finger holding up the brake pedal!).

One final job for the day ... I treated myself to an early Christmas pressie and bought a 4 drawer tool chest from Halfrauds ... it was a 1/3 off plus 10% discount for online order so I couldn't resist the bargain. Here it is .. pride of place in the garage!

Pedal power ... time to use some spanners!

2009-10-30T16:51:00.003Z

Friday 30th October - Work time = 2 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 20 hrs
Day off work today (well most of a day off ... lots of work "distractions" still!) so I spent a couple of hours fitting the pedals. Earlier in the week I checked all the parts required and noticed I was missing the metal fitting that attached brake master cylinder push rod and the clevis pin on the brake pedal. A quick call to Westfield and they said they'd post a new one to me. Then Royal Mail decided to go strike again so god knows when it will arrive. Undeterred I carried on ... pleased at last to be actually bolting something on.
Here is the finished article ... for those of you unfamilar with these things my finger is strategically placed to indicate the brake pedal (and stop it falling down in the picture as it is not attached to the master cylinder pushrod!).

Now to get some pipe bending training from Andy!

A quick turnover ... floor now fitted

2009-10-25T17:33:00.001Z

Sunday 25th October - Work time = 3.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 18 hrs

As I mentioned yesterday I planned not to fit the off side exterior panel until after the pedals were fitted. However I decided to drill the chassis in preparation as it would have been difficult to clamp it in place once the floor was fitted.

Then it was time to turn over the chassis to fit the floors. Henry is climbing in France so had to enlist Amy and Sandra to help with the lifting. As it turns out Amy did most of the lifting at her and Sandra's end!

The floor panels were pretty straightforward so here is the completed underside.

Henry is back on Tuesday so I can turn it back over and start to fit some real stuff ... the pedals !

Yet more drilling ... but finally it's time to attach bits

2009-10-24T20:13:00.004+01:00

Saturday 24th October - Work time = 8.5 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 14.5 hrs
More drilling for the interior panels today. Started off with the rear bulkhead ... I was not looking forward to this as I had read on several forums how difficult it was to get it fitted due to the need to bend the panel. I flattened the top bend a little in the middle, masked off the interior rails so I didn't scratch them and after that it was pretty straightforward to bend and slot in. Here's another "hedgehog" shot showing the panel drilled and rivets in.

I continued with the near side exterior panel and also the scuttle. I decided to leave the off side exterior panel until after I'd fitted the pedals as access would be easier with it off.

At last the time had come ...I could now change to fitting and rivetting instead of drilling. First on was the back panel, closely followed by the tunnel panels. The lazy tongs rivetter made things a lot easier once I'd worked out the how to eject the spent rivet shanks. However there were many places where it wouldn't fit so I had to resort to the traditional hand pull rivet tool. Fair play to other Westfield builders who only use a hand pull rivetter for all the build rivets ... they must have a stronger grip than me!

So finally some pictures where I have added something to the chassis ... demonstrable progress at last.

Spurred on by the sense of achievement I continued with the front bulkheads. I thought it best to put some washers under the rivet heads on the fibre-glass clutch pedal panel to spread the load a little better.

Finally it now looks like I'm making some progress ... not a huge amount to show for 14.5 hours effort though !

More drilling ... the chassis is now resembling a colander!

2009-10-18T16:45:00.001+01:00

Sunday 18th October - Work time = 4 hrs ... Build Time To Date = 6 hrs
I decided I would trial fit all the panels and drill the holes ready for final fitting before I secured any of the panels. This allows me full access for the clamps and drilling. So today I drilled holes for the offside inner tunnel, front bulk heads and inner front bulk heads. Lots of panels required some "dremmel fetteling" but apart from that no issues.
Here is the fibre glass inner bulk head with clutch foot rest moulding.

So 6 hours in and all I have managed to do is drill the chassis full of holes and I am still to trial fit the scuttle and exterior side panels.

Let the Build commence ... this could take some time!

2009-10-17T21:23:00.009+01:00

Saturday 17th October 2009 - Work Time = 2hrs
Having spent last weekend sorting out all the boxes and nuts, bolts and rivets it's now time to get started.
I read the manual again ... I can no recite almost every word! ... and decided start with the nearside inner tunnel panel. After clamping the panel in place it was obvious that the seat belt mounting holes were not quite aligned.

Time for some fettling with the trusty dremmel before reclamping back into place and starting to drill the holes. No real issues with anything but the 4 holes at the rear were difficult to reach. I needed to use the flexible drill shaft to access the holes. At this point I called upon my daughter to operate the drill trigger whilst I held the drill bit ... way to go Amy!

Here is the obligatory "hedgehog" shot with all the rivets in place ... I put them all in to make sure I hadn't missed any holes.

Out with the panel again to debur the holes. At this point I realised that I had spent 2 hours working on this and I haven't actually fitted anything yet! Somehow I think this is gonna take a long time!

Kit Collected ... lots of boxes full of unknown bits!

2009-10-11T08:37:00.005+01:00

Friday 9th October
We leave Cricklade at 6am for the 1.5hr trip to Westfield allowing time for the mandatory truckers breakfast en route. Arrive at the factory just after they open at 8am. More reversing required into the loading area ... this time with no incident (I'm starting to get used to this!).
The guys then start loading the van ... hmmm seems like a lot of boxes of car parts, most of which don't look very familiar!
Meanwhile armed with camera I start taking pictures of a part built car covering all angles, pipe routes, wiring etc. on the basis that it might be a good reference for my build.
The loading took a couple of hours so we were back on our way just after 10am. The trip back home was pretty quick with no major hold ups.

Time to unload ...
we filled this ...

... with the contents of this ...

... and ended up with this (plus a lot of boxes in the loft!)

Now where is that build manual?

Collection day minus 1 ... collect the van

2009-10-11T08:17:00.000+01:00

Thursday 8th Oct
The van rental company phone to say the LWB Luton with tail lift that I had booked is damaged and I can't have it but offer a Merc Sprinter instead. Quick call to Westfield confirms that this should be OK still so first potential issue overcome. I collect the van at 4:30pm and set off to drive to Cricklade, Wilts ... Andy my brother-in-law is helping me collect the kit tomorrow so we are setting off from there to Westfield early doors on Friday. The "white van" driving in pretty straighforward and the van lives up to it's sprinter name along the M4.
Second potential mishap overcome when I reverse into my sisters drive and nearly demolish next doors garage ... the van is deceptively long and her instructions weren't clear!

Collection date confirmed ... now to buy some tools

2009-08-22T18:44:00.005+01:00

Westfield have confirmed the collection date for the chassis, engine, etc. It's the 7th-9th Oct ... only 6 weeks to go! I'd better start getting all the tools that are missing from my toolbox.
To that end I've just ordered a 1 tonne engne hoist off of eBay closely followed by a lazy tongs rivet gun (I don't fancy pulling all those rivets on the body panels with my existing rivet gun).
I collected a set of Westfield build stands from a work colleague who is progressing well through his MX5 SDV build (see his blog at http://westiebuild.blogspot.com/) and he was kind enough to lend me a brake/fuel pipe bender too.
Now attention must turn to tidying the garage!

The journey begins ...

2009-08-14T21:42:00.001+01:00

I've only gone and done it! Yep I've placed the order for a Westfield Kit.
After a visit to the factory a couple of weeks ago I decided to go with the special deal they had on offer and ended up with the following:

SEIW Sport
2.0 litre Zetec with Throttle body upgrade (~170bhp)
FW Bodywork front and rear
205/50 Tyre upgrade
2" 4pt harnesses

Whilst I was at the factory I reaffirmed my colour choice ... orange bonnet, nose and rear with black sides and wings.

Just need to clear out the garage now and wait for the delivery date. It's all very exciting !