March 24th 2013 - Steering Column Cover Panel

Today's karting event was called off due to snow (after we'd made the effort to get there) so a little bit of bonus time on the build.

Next on the diminishing list of tasks was the small plastic panel which fits over the steering column and pedals.  I trimmed this down a bit at the front so it sits flush with the chassis rail and fastened it down with 4 5.5mm rivet nuts & bolts in case it (or the bulkhead) needs to be removed at any time.  Simple job, but progress nonetheless.

March 17th 2013 - Carpets

Carpets in a kit car?  Is the usual question when I go through the diminishing "to do" list, but as the main use of the car will be on the road comfort is more important than a tenth of a second on the track.  That's also why it has a windscreen, a heater and will probably have doors and a hood.

The passenger side carpets were already done, so it was out with the driver's seat (again) and torquing up of the seat belt mountings.

It was now time to fit the tunnel carpet, so I removed the gear knob and put the carpet in place.  To get it to go all the way forward I had to cut out a rectangular section at the front to go around the dashboard wiring where it comes up through the tunnel, but apart from that it went on very easily, with  couple of bits of Velcro to hold it in place in the foot wells.

I then made another cutout to go around the seat belt mounting, the seat, replaced the gear knob and that was that.  Other builders moan about carpet fitting, but I can't see what the fuss is - especially as they fit so well without the need to trim the edges.

The car really does look finished now, the only remaining visible jobs being the rear view mirror, the side repeaters and the grille.  I might even get some full-car shots outside if it ever stops raining!

March 16th 2013 - Windscreen Fillet

Westfield gave me some advice on toggle switch connections and said the "mystery" mini-loom is for the heated windscreen (which I won't be using), so I finished the dash wiring, put the scuttle and windscreen back on and reconnected the heater, wiper motor and washer fluid pipe.  I didn't seal t down just yet in case it needs to come off again.  I may leave it that way until after its passed its IVA test.

I then moved on to the windscreen fillet.  This is a thin strip of fibreglass intended to make the area around the wipers neater and more weatherproof.

To fit the fillet I removed one of the windscreen pillars, the wiper spindles and the top hat-shaped plastic bushes below them:

These latter items will hold the fillet in place, so I had to drill out the pre-marked holes on the fillet to the smaller diameter of the bush.  This resulted in the job being almost done.... except that it then required lots of filing of the ends and the lower edge to get it to sit properly between the scuttle ant the screen.  Eventually it fitted, but again I didn't seal it down just in case....

Having been a bit dubious about how it would look, the end result actually looks very neat.

March 2nd 2013 - Dash Wiring

I decided to tackle the dash wiring today, so removed the windscreen and scuttle to ease access to the loom.  I debated leaving them on, but the cables seem a bit on the short side and the scuttle will need sealing down anyway.

Scuttle removed ready to start wiring

 I labelled the loom ages ago, so plugging the wires onto the gauges and rocker switches was straightforward.... except for having to swap the rocker switch locations to allow the wires to reach.

The toggle switches were a different matter:  Firstly, there was no way the cables for the horn were going to reach to the location indicated in the manual, so I had to open up a new hole above the headlamp dip switch, leaving an unwanted hole where it used to be.  I'll have to find something else (even if its a dummy switch) to go in there.

The next problem was that the manual very helpfully says which colour wire goes to which numbered terminal on all three switches (horn, headlamp dip and indicators).  This would be fine if the switches actually had numbers on the terminals!

Most wires connected

I need to call Westfield before I put everything back together anyway, as I'm a bit concerned that the small "mystery" wiring loom may need to connect to the loom behind the dash in some way as it has a mini push-button attached.

"Mystery" loom not mentioned in the manual!