It doesn't seem as long ago as April that we last updated the blog, probably because we've been busy setting up Matthew with his own go-kart and all the paraphernalia that goes with it. We also had a weekend at the British Grand Prix.
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Its a BRM Cadet kart with a WTP 2-stroke engine and lots of
grazed knuckles! |
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| Matthew claims it was down to him that Alonso won! |
That's not to say we haven't been working on the Westfield, but progress has been very slow.
We've probably had about three visits since April and they've mostly been taken up with fitting the bonnet: The pins and grommets at the front edge and bonnet locks at the bulkhead end. The former were quite straight forward in themselves, but required adjustment of the nosecone which we'd previously spent a while getting just right! Too "right" as it turned out, as there wasn't enough of a panel gap to allow for the thickness of the grommet! Several hours later everything was looking straight again.
Next up were the (optional (Christmas present)) bonnet locks, and with them the biggest mistake so far. The position the latest manual gave for the locks seemed too far forward such that they would need a big chunk of the return edge of the bonnet removing to fit them.... so we went our own way and fitted them nearer to the bulkhead. BIG MISTAKE! The fitting was fairly straightforward, if (again) time consuming due to constantly having to take the bonnet off and on. It amounted to an octagonal hole in the bonnet and aligning a U-shaped channel on the edge of the body.
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| Bonnet catch from the inside (apologies for photo quality) |
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| Looks neater from the outside (or will do if we ever get rid of all the fibreglass dust!) |
All looked fine until it came time to put the bulkhead back on and it fouled the u-shaped piece on the nearside. The only option (other than getting a new bonnet) was to cut back the bulkhead to allow it to clear the catch. Not ideal, but it could have been worse. The moral of the story is to think twice before assuming you know better than the manual!
That done, we did the final bit of body fitting, the fastening of the rear bodywork. This was easier than the manual suggested it might be: A couple of g-clamps to lift it up about 20mm, then 6 large-head rivets into the two chassis tubes obviously (most things are obvious after the event) put there for that purpose:
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| Rivets to hold the rear bodywork to the chassis |
With the body now fully secure, the target of having the car in a state to bring home has been reached, and that will happen.... after we've sorted out somewhere to store the go-kart and its trailer. Doh
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| Looks the same, but it has progressed, honest! |
