December 15th 2012 - Interior Panels

The interior panels are stated as optional in the manual and although they reduce the already limited interior space further they make it look far more "finished" so I decided to fit them.  First job was to attach the cushioned pads which protect edges from scuffs as you get in and out using some long black-headed "peel" rivets purchased off ebay.  These are just the job as they are not obtrusive and spread the load when attaching things like trim panels as can be seen on this photo of the underside of the handbrake panel:

Peel rivets spread the load

The side panels then fitted naturally onto the sides of the car and were attached in the same way - being careful to drill into the chassis rather than thin air or the edge of the floor pan.  The manual says this is easiest done before the scuttle is fitted, but I managed OK without removing it.

Looks much tidier.  Shame the can't be said of the garage!

Another quick job while the black rivets were out was the handbrake surround.  This was drilled and riveted in place off the car to avoid the risk of drilling into anything vital!

November 18th 2012 - Dashboard switches & lights

Not much progress this weekend due to Matthew having a new and much more powerful go-kart which he kept pointing forward for almost 50% of the time, bending two steering arms and a bumper in the process!

Given the limited remaining time and the need to keep some momentum on the build, I opted for the easy indoors job of fitting the warning lights and switches to the almost-time-for-it-to-go-on-at-last dashboard.  This was simply a matter of working out what goes where and using a craft knife to cut holes in the vinyl where there was already a suitable size hole in the aluminium backplate.

For IVA, the switches will need labels which, in theory, Westfield should have provided.  I can't seem to find any though, so it will probably require a quick browse of the Internet.

Full complement of lights and switches look easy to read..... without the steering wheel in the way!

November 11th 2012 - Scuttle back on

After the simple task of shortening the heater input/output pipes and making two holes for them to connect through to the engine bay, the scuttle assembly was finished.  Now a lot heavier than it was, it went back on without fouling anything.  Its now quite busy under there, but seems to fit together well.

Scuttle back on.  Dash an trim trial fitted

The manual says the optional side trim panels should be fitted before the scuttle is secured, so out came the seats and the panels went in after cutting out the holes for the seatbelt anchors.  At this point I trial fitted the dash and the pad on top of the side to see how they will fit together.

Work then came to a halt as I couldn't find the required "peel" rivets to attach the side trim panels.  Should look good when its done though..... provided the seats will still move when they go back in.

November 3rd 2012 - Wipers & Heater

For once a reasonable amount of time available and good progress to show for it!  I'd actually fitted the wiper wheel boxes a couple of months ago, but managed to kink one of the aluminium pipes through which the wiper rack feeds whilst attempting to put the required (quite tight) curve in it - not an uncommon problem judging by comments on the WSCC owners club forum.  Rather than try to get another piece from Westfield and probably have the same issue, I bought a metre of 10mm copper pipe off eBay on the grounds that it is a) cheap (£3) b) easier to bend and c) long enough to have 2 or 3 goes.  Inevitably, one go was enough - made easier by cutting it slightly long, bending it, then cutting to the right length.  I then removed the nut from the kinked pipe, put it on the new one and hammered a suitable socket into each end to flare them.

During this process, I fitted the wiper motor to the bulkhead after putting the latter back on the car temporarily to find the perfect place for it - high enough to miss the ECU and relays, low enough to not need a tight bend in the aforementioned pipe.  The motor had to be removed again to feed the wiper rack through the pipes and wheel boxes (adding grease in the process), but it was worth the effort:

Wiper motor, rack and wheel boxes from inside the scuttle

Next job was to fit the washer jet.  The manual says there's an indent in the scuttle to indicate its position.  There wasn't, so I used a photo I'd taken on the Westfield stand at the Donington kit car show as a guide.  I also moved the washer tube from the washer bottle to fit it on the washer jet - my logic being that this will be difficult once the heater's in.  I'll need to think about how to route it over or through the bulkhead later.

Wiper spindles and washer jet

And so the heater came out of its box.  Once again, the photos from Donington came in useful to confirm which way up it goes (no picture in the manual) and it simply bolted in to the middle of the scuttle, as near to the top as is possible.  It was then just a matter of adding the pipes to the demist vents and the outlets  which will point into the footwells to make motoring in freezing (i.e. British summer) weather more bearable.  

Heater.  Hope it works

Unfortunately, time ran out before I could make the holes through the scuttle for the pipes to the cooling system.  That will have to wait until next time, which should then allow the whole (now heavy) assembly to go back on the car.  Now that will be progress!

October 15th 2012 - Cycle wing & exhaust heat shield

Cheap drill bits are a false economy.  Last weekend I wasted a couple of hours attempting to drill through the cycle wing brackets with limited success.  Onto Amazon for a next day delivery of a couple of cobalt drill bits (as used for the chassis panelling but 5.5mm rather than 4) and the 6 remaining holes took no more than 15 minutes!  They were then bolted back on, the wheel removed and some holes drilled through the taped in place wings after adding a strip of foam cushioning.  Some people use bonded in bolts to avoid having visible bolt heads, but I decided that it would be more important to have confidence they're not about to fall off.  To reduce the risk of cracking of the wings I used some slightly bigger washers:

Fitting the nearside wing will have to wait as I noticed the powdercoating was loose around the mounting holes on the bracket and scratching it away revealed some rust.  A quick coat of Hammerite will sort it, its just a bit annoying not to be able to finish the job.

Not disheartened though, I decided to fit the exhaust heat shield - as much as to get the parts out of the way as anything.... and it seemed like a nice simple yet highly visible job.  And so it turned out to be - just a case of opening up the two huge jubilee clips, feeding them through two channels on the inside of the heat shield and fastening the clips up again.

Note the absence of the scuttle in this picture - its still on the bench awaiting fitment of the wiper motor.  More on that soon I hope.

September 3rd 2012 - Cycle wings & Exhaust

After visiting the Donington Park Kit Car Show at the weekend, I realised that fitting the cycle wing brackets was easier than I had previously thought - simply bolting on to three threaded holes in the upright rather than taking the upright apart.... once the correct side bracket was used!  Not sure how I missed that, but fitting them was then a 5 minute job, which Matthew actually did!  I then taped the wings in place and rolled the car outside to check positioning:

Front wings held in place with masking tape.  Scuttle still off the car in the midst of wiper motor fitting.

With limited time before a go-karting evening, we left the bolting on of the wings to another day and trial fitted the exhaust:

Shiny!  (Matthew had given up helping by this point in favour of trying the driving position!)

Whilst at the show, I took the opportunity to ask Westfield about the forthcoming issue with the gear lever hitting the dashboard.  The answer was (for once) that I hadn't done anything wrong and it is a known issue with this engine/gearbox combination.  The solution is a not-very-subtle one:  Put a bar over the lever and bend it back.  Another job for another day.

August 27th 2012 - Demist Vents

I decided that the fitting out of the scuttle could be postponed no longer, so off it came after first detaching the windscreen, making the build look like its going backwards.  After the now-traditional masking of the working area, I chain-drilled and filed the moulded windscreen demist slots in the scuttle top.  The manual says it should be 4mm wide, but since my narrowest file is 5mm, that's what they are.

demist slots cut in scuttle-top

Next came the moulded hot air funnel (can't remember the official name) which directs air from the heater to the demist vents.  This fits "naturally" on the inside of the scuttle and the manual says it should be attached with glass-fibre "or similar".  Not wanting to get messy with resin, I decided to try some two-pack epoxy I found in the end-of-line bargain bucket at work.  This is really strong stuff and waterproof and seems to have done the job really effectively.  When its fully cured, I'll run some silicone around the edges to seal it.

Demist "funnel" attached inside the scuttle

Epoxy glue used to attach the funnel - seems really good

August 18th 2012 - Exhaust mounting bracket

Easing back from hols with some simple jobs, I enlarged the passenger seat mounting holes to allow it to move inward a fraction.  It still seems a very tight fit if it is to move backwards and forwards without fouling on the tunnel or the bodywork.
While the seat was out I drilled through the threaded hole in the chassis to which the exhaust bracket is attached using a 4mm drill bit to avoid damaging the threads.  It was then a relatively simple matter of enlarging the hole from the outside to accept the tube which goes around the bolt.  The hardest part was finding all the right bits and assembling them in the right order.  Due to the number of parts, the end result looks a bit of a botch up, but at least it'll be hidden behind the exhaust:

5 separate parts (plus bolts) to mount an exhaust silencer!

Although tempting, I decided not to fit the exhaust yet, as it could get in the way whilst fitting the dash etc.

July 2012 - Holiday

No progress on the car in late July/early Aug due to travels in France and Belgium, one of the highlights of which was a trip to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit with its awe-inspiring Eau-Rouge/Radion corners.  The steepness of the climb has to be seen to be appreciated!  This is mentioned here, as Matthew and I have decided that we'll be taking the Westfield around the circuit when its finished.

Eau Rouge/ Radion is steeper than it looks in photos or on TV

July 16th 2012 - Finally shifted the gearbox filler plug!

Finally, after many attempts and the purchase of some allen driver bits, the gearbox filler plug budged.  I've mentioned earlier that I've made a hole in the passenger footwell to fill the gearbox without the need to access it from underneath, now with the help of a metal tube on the end of the socket bar it gave in.  Filling the 'box was then really easy, as the standard bottle neck was just long enough:

Filling the gearbox via the passenger footwell

There's some debate on line as to which oil to use in a Ford Type 9 gearbox, but the majority seem to agree that it should be the automatic gearbox oil that Westfield supplied with the kit.

Whilst on a roll, and with about 30 mins left, I decided to fit the number plate light:  20 minutes deciding where to mount it, 10 to drill the three holes and attach it.  The location was chosen to allow either a rectangular or square plate to be fitted.  Haven't wired it in yet as the cable needs shortening and a plug attaching.

Number plate light fitted with the aid of an old plate

June 28th 2012 - Windscreen & Fuel Filler

I can't believe how long the car's been home without making any significant progress (All I'd done was to fit the mirrors onto the windscreen frame).  However, the arrival of the Olympic Torch in the village prompted a day off work - half of it to be spent working on the car.

The build manual says that the wiper system and heater should be fitted into the scuttle before the windscreen goes on, but I wanted to put it on now for several reasons:

1. It would be easier and safer to drill the mounting holes with nothing in the way underneath
2. It wouldn't be difficult to remove again to take the scuttle off
3. It would be really visible progress to spark the enthusiasm

I started with making up a pole with a G-clamp attached at each end to allow the screen to be clamped in place the required 1007mm from the rear bulkhead.  The screen was then attached to this after the masking up the area to be worked on.  Masking tape was also used to prevent the base of the screen from slipping out of its moulded channel.  The two windscreen pillar/mirror assemblies were then offered up, the best position found and mounting holes marked and drilled.  It was then simply a matter of bolting them on and joining the posts to the screen with grub screws.  All in all, easier than expected:

I haven't decided whether to make holes for the heated windscreen cables yet, as Westfield seem to assume that you either have a (optional extra) heater or use the heated windscreen as there's only space for one switch on the dashboard.  I'll probably run the wires anyway and maybe make another hole for the switch, as I'm intending to make one for a 12v socket anyway.

Flushed with success, and still with a couple of hours before the start of Torch festivities, I decided to make a start on fitting the fuel filler cap and associated pipework.  I started by cutting the filler pipe down a bit so it would fit, making sure to leave it long enough for it to be located with jubilee clips, but short enough so it could be fitted in quite a tight space.  This allowed me to trial fit it and accurately mark the hole to be drilled in the bodywork.  Once again, this was chain-drilled over-cautiously, requiring a LOT of time-consuming filing to make the hole large enough. Once done, assembly and mounting of the cap and pipework was straightforward.  Other than a bit of pushing and wiggling, all that was required was six small holes and to tie the cap retaining cable.  Neat.

Some significant progress at last then, prompting a "doesn't it look almost finished" photo opportunity once the rain had stopped:

April 21st 2012 - Moving Day

It finally arrived - the day to move the Westfield back to our house from the garage where it has changed from a pile of parts into something resembling a car.  Hopefully, this will mean faster progress on the diminishing but still significant list of jobs.  I'll let the photographs tell the story of the move:

First time out of the garage this year

Luckily, the rain held off

No brakes & nowhere to attach a winch = push!

Loaded easily into a ideal trailer

In the garage at home - looks small next to a mini!
Note "mezzanine" floor for Matthew's go kart

Not quite as much space, but should still be easy enough to work on

March 24th 2012 - Getting ready to move

We've decided that we stand a much better chance of getting some momentum going on the build again if we move the car to our house.  Using my parents large garage was invaluable in the early stages when there were loads of parts, including the body, to store, but now the effort of getting over there (25 miles each way) and constant requests to run errands once there has made it unworkable.

The task for today, therefore, was to prepare the car to be moved.  This meant:

• Fastening down the scuttle
• Removing yet-to-be-fitted parts from inside the car
• Securing loose wiring
• Cutting the seat mounting bolts down to a reasonable length (for ground clearance whilst being moved onto a trailer)
• Cleaning the dust off the bodywork (not strictly necessary, but made me feel better!)

That done, and still some daylight left, I decided to fit the passenger seat, partly so there's some visible progress and partly because the seat's a pain to store.  It also adds to the deception that its almost finished!


"Sport Turbo" seats look great!



Seats in, bodywork looking shiny, car ready to move.