Wiring Loom re-routing ... part 1

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!

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?

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.