Friday 25 June 2010

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

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

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.

Friday 11 June 2010

No Left Turn !!!!!

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

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.