April 21st 2013 - Rear View Mirror

Only had a few minutes today, so I quickly wired up the number plate light now that the red bullet connectors have arrived.

The rear view mirror came with a sticky pad to attach it to the windscreen, but I remember reading somewhere that it must be bolted on ..... and there's a rivnut in the top of the windscreen frame, so I removed the sticky pad and drilled a hole through where it used to be.  Then I attached it with a 5mm bolt and washer.  Small but significant job done.

April 16th 2013 - Brake fluid

A day off to supervise some garden work today, so I took a bravery pill and had a go at filling the braking system.  To do this single-handedly I used a Gunson's Eezibleed kit, which is basically a way of feeding fluid into the system under pressure to (in theory) force the air out. Using it involved fitting a temporary cap to the master cylinder connected to a plastic bottle, which in turn connects to the valve of a spare tyre, or for me one of Matthew's go-kart wheels inflated to about 20psi.

Eezibleed in use

 Once this was connected up it was simply a matter of attaching a plastic tube to each of the bleed nipples in turn, opening them and letting the fluid exit into an old bottle until there are no more bubbles.  After I'd done this twice, the brake pedal felt fine and the handbrake worked!  This all seemed a bit too easy after reading of other builders' issues, so maybe I've missed something.

Bleed tube attached to near-side rear brake

I spent most of the rest of the day doing bits and pieces, including fitting the edge trim to the wheel arches, tie-wrapping the rear wiring, checking the torque of the rear suspension and enlarging the holes in the boot box where the  seatbelts pass through it.  I did this so that they could be torqued down without damaging the fibreglass.  The hardest part of all this was refitting the roll bar, which did not want to be bolted back up.

Looks the same as a previous picture, but this time its really really finished at the back (I think)

Running out of jobs to do now and no sign of any IVA kit instructions from Westfield, so I might have to have a go at the remaining under-bonnet plumbing and wiring.

April 14th 2013 - Wheelarch Infill Panel

Most Westfield build diaries I've read go on about these "mystery" panels which aren't mentioned in the manual.  Well I'm not sure if they are or not, but thanks to their coverage in the aforementioned diaries I didn't even open the manual.

After jacking up one side of the car and taking off the wheel, it was obvious that the panels would fit perfectly in the gap between the body and the aluminium car side facing the front of the car.  All that was needed was to bend the panel to match the curve of the wheel arch, then pop-rivet this in place before repeating the exercise on the other side.  This may have seemed a bit tricky at the start of the build, but at this stage it was as simple as could be:

In-fill panel in place on the near side

I'll probably seal the edges the next time I get the silicone out.

April 7th 2013 - The Finishing Off List

Started working down the "Finishing Off" list today by removing the nose cone to fit a blanking plug (bolt) into the top of the radiator.  Whilst there, I decided to fit the battery and its earth connection. The manual says to fit the latter to one of the steering rack mounting bolts, but (a) the steering rack is attached using M8 bolts and the hole in the earth strap is only M5 and (b) I didn't fancy undoing and re-torquing the steering rack.  Instead I attached it to one of the bolts which holds the lower nose cone bracket (after filing off the powder coat to ensure a good connection):

That done I put an M5 bolt in the top of the radiator and refitted (and realigned (again)) the nose cone.

I then re-fitted and tightened the exhaust and drilled a couple of holes in the grille aperture so it can be attached with tie-wraps.  With hindsight, this would have been easier and tidier done with the nose cone off, but I think it'll need to come off at some point so I can re-do it then.

For once it wasn't snowing, so I took the opportunity to move outside for the first time this year for a photo of what looks like a finished car (but isn't (quite)):