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)):

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.