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

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

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)

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!