Shakedown .......

Having now managed a paltry 70 miles on the roads due mainly to inclement weather we have had a couple of issues to sort. The battery went flat in about 4 days every time, so gathering our scant electrical knowledge we connected an ammeter in the circuit and found a resting current drain of about 158 mah. Further explanation revealed that when re assembling the connector relay block we had mixed up the constant and switched lives on the fan relay so the relay was using current to remain closed when the vehicle was not in use. Joe swapped the wires around and our standing current drain is now down to about 4 mah which seems to be on the horn hazard circuit and virtually disappears after pulling the fuse, haven't tracked this down but can live with 4mah ! (any suggestions welcome).
The auxiliary drive belt squealed like hell, it could be quietened by spraying with belt slip but after standing would make a racket again. I removed the belt and idler pulleys to take a look. The nearside idler pulley above the water pump was spinning on its mount rather than spinning on its bearing so a little bearing fit and that was cured. The belt however continued to make a noise, all bearings seemed fine so was scratching my head. I then read a post on wscc about talcum powder. I coated the belt liberally in talcum powder and hey presto no noise ! amazing. As long as the car can get over the embarrassment of smelling like a tarts boudoir (speaking from far distant memory you understand) all will be well. Hopefully we can get some miles on the car and then have someone look at the engine settings but for now all appears well and the engine seems happy ! If I don't post again before Christmas very good wishes to all.

First few miles ..........................

Having now done the first few miles between showers the car is clearly going to be a lot of fun. It is however cold in the extreme, so last night we fitted the doors so we can use it throughout winter when dry and hopefully clock up some mileage by way of running in. We removed the front wings and fitted some 3m bodywork tape between the wings and the mounts as despite loctite the wheel test at IVA had loosened one of the bolts, the violent suspension test I thought was going to shake the car to pieces !

The car is much more comfortable than I thought it would be and on good roads will be great fun. Can't wait until we can open her up ! but the running in mileage will take some time.

Things fell off ........ and on !

Amazing, got home and lo the steering wheel came off and had to be replaced by a momo one and spacer. Much easier to get my belly in and out now !
A pair of wings appeared on the nose as if by magic (Joes idea like another similar car we can't afford). And the legal piece of road tax on the windscreen. Thats it no more broke now !

Momo wheel and spacer

 

 

 

Wings

The legal bit

Road Legal ...................

Today was IVA day, it didn't start too well as after finally checking everything was good last night, this morning the battery was nearly flat and the car wouldn't start....... not a good omen. My friend Miles once again came to the rescue and between us we were able to push the car up a slope and bump start it, which it did without a problem. Didn't fill me with confidence though ! and I must apologise to my neighbour who would have been woken by us fooling around at the crack of dawn trying to get her started. I have a feeling we must have left something on or the small battery does not like the cold we shall see. We got to the test centre at 0830 by which time the right hand side of my face was a block of ice, only about 10 miles but bloody cold ! note to self need those acrylic deflector thingies ! The tester, a guy called Tony could not have been more pleasant and helpful and he studiously went through the car with a fine toothcomb, it was good to have someone professional look it over, besides the mandatory nature of the IVA, as we do not have an MOT so this was the first occasion anyone other than us had taken a good look since completion. By some miracle our headlamps were aligned which we had done by sticking tape to the garage door and using another car as a reference, they were within the allowed margin of error, a miracle !
The tester flagged up a small problem with a wire routing near to the steering column which he allowed us to fix with a cable tie. The earlier suspension set up done by Falcon Auto Centre was spot on and the tracking showed no error registering all zeros on the test bed (thanks Tony) !
The tester examined everything for the 'E' numbers including our replacement headlamps which passed without issue. To cut to the chase we now have a road legal Westfield which I have just done the excise licence and I have the V5 in my hand. A glass of something sparkling tonight methinks !
Maybe not, Joe is coming down to fit some bits !!!!!!!!!
Now for some sun and nice weather hmmmmm  could be a while !

Mid examination with Miles supervising LOL

Cool Car ....No freezing !!

Latest .......................

Finally fixed the issue with led indicators after installing a new relay all now works as it should. Had a few minor coolant leaks which are all fixed after tightening the jubilee clips using a ratchet and socket rather than a screwdriver. IVA test booked for tomorrow 0900 ! Gulp !
Will either be having a glass of something to celebrate or drinking tea in the cold garage fixing things, we shall see.

DONE ........... well maybe .........

Time to report that to all intents and purposes the car is 100% complete and ready for IVA. The only hold up is waiting for a new relay which is en route from the USA and should be here this week. The pictures are of me sitting in the car as this is probably the last I shall see of it as Joe is keeping it in his garage so dad driving it is probably a pipe dream !!!
We couldn't have done this without the friends we have made on the blogs and the forum and I am very grateful. 3 hours today 263 hours total .... 21st April to 21st October.

Brumm Brumm ....................

The car was largely complete today with the exception of a few minor items but we were impatient to see if we could get it to run properly. To cut a long story short I enlisted the help of Tony from Falcon Auto Centre. I had reams of printed paper from the ecu manufacturer, from the syncronometer manufacturer and from various blogs on the net ! Tony laughed and asked for a piece of rubber tube ! the linkage set up was a country mile out which is why I couldn't get the syncronometer to make any sense. He disconnected the throttle body interconnect, set up the butterfly gap at idle and then got the engine to idle with his rubber tube and finally used the syncronometer to get the bodies spot on. The engine now idles happily with no vibration and seems to run very smooth, why do people like Tony make it look so easy !! of course I would have found the answer (in about a month LOL)

Joe and Tony listening to the purr !

We then had a sneaky test run on the close, all seems to work as it should. The snag list is down to about a dozen items which are probably another couple of hours work. Last job tonight was to fit the rear diffuser with sikaflex and a couple of black rivets, held in place with the trolley jack until morning. Forms for IVA done so as soon as we get a new relay from the states we will be done. 7 hours today 260 hours total.


2012-10-20 15.55.42 from Joe Bromley on Vimeo.

Finishing straight ..............

After a time away from the car attending to other matters we regrouped this morning to push on. First job of the day was to finish the boot locks, Joe had some fun and games getting the locks as neat and the slots as compact as he could, a very slow process which took almost three hours of messing around and numerous trial fits. However at the end Joe produced a really neat slot and two locks which work smoothly, so much for a five minute job !

Finished boot lid.

I had earlier managed to take a small chip of gelcoat from the edge of the rear return where it goes over the bulkhead carpet, we purchased a thin black gloss trim strip which fits perfectly and disguises the chip, although in retrospect it has finished behind the seat and wouldn't have been visible, but I guess we would have known it was there.

Black edging strip.

Pushing on we drilled the holes for the seats, a pity they don't fit the supplied ones and are very close to the edge, a little time consuming and fiddly, I strongly recommend making a template of the seat base, all lines up much easier then ! Carpets were next and then seats and belts all fitted very well with no drama. We fitted carbon chassis rail covers which were double side taped on top of the supplied leatherette ones and were cut to fit under the side panels making a very neat finish.

Carpets and harnesses in place

Carbon chassis rail covers

Finally seats in place and we could sit in and make brum brum noises !!! must take my medication !

Seats in place

Joe trying car for size

We have not fitted the steering wheel as yet as we have to lose some material from the rear of the plastic boss which interferes with the padded dash, however not too concerned about that as the supplied steering wheel may be removed just after IVA ! and replaced. 10 hours today and hoping for similar tomorrow, shortly will only be the snag list left ! 253 hours total.

Short sunday ...................

Just a few hours today forging on ...
Managed to correct the wiper blade angle by a combination of repositioning the rubbers and a gentle tweak of the wiper arms. The blades are now much more parallel to the windscreen and appear to do an acceptable job. We drilled the holes for the shoulder harness and fitted the eyed bolts I am not sure as they are too short will do some reading. We ran the engine again all appears well but am not convinced the water temperature gauge is working, although it could be we did not get it hot enough. The idle is very rough but will just about keep going when the engine has warmed up. We cleaned out the interior ready for seats and carpets and fitted the rubber gaiters to handbrake and gearlever. 3 hours today 243 hours total. My better half was rejoicing as her dining room appeared from under a pile of parts, they may have to move back in yet but I won't spoil it for her for now!

Running with drl on.

Front (after IVA)

Not too much longer !

Unicorn Horn ..................

178 days after paying in full I have a complete kit, the steering arrived yesterday. I had expected it to be made of Unicorn Horn with an fine inlay of Dodo beak polished to perfection but no .... just metal and powder coat. Enough of the sarcasm and onwards ........
The steering fitted into place without too much difficulty and my drain pipe centering idea worked well so no re cutting of the scuttle. We then set about finishing the wiring and installing the dashboard, the work we had done earlier made it a relatively short task and it fitted into place and all still seems to work. The upper trim piece was added and I am pleased with the result. Tomorrow Joe will have to spend some time flat on his back under the dash doing some final tidying but all in all a satisfying few hours work. Ted was most unimpressed and slept in the car all afternoon. We finished the day with attaching the windscreen trim piece which took longer than anticipated and I am still not happy with the final angle of the wiper blades in relation to the screen, some further fiddling necessary tomorrow I think. I have just noticed also that the trim piece is clearly a different gelcoat when under fluorescent light but in daylight the contrast will not be as bad. I would ask WF for a new one but as I am likely to die of old age before receiving it, we will put up with the mismatch ! 4 hours today 240 hours total.

Dash in progress

 

 

Ted got bored !

 

 

 

Dashboard in place

Wiper trim

More head scratching ............

Yesterday I thought we had conquered all the issues regarding our all in one headlamps ...... not so ! The hazards flash at a normal rate but the indicators are at least twice speed. I now know that a new relay suitable for LED is required or ballast resistors. I have only been able to find one five pin LED relay and it is from a company in the USA, I have sent for it so fingers crossed it will cure the problem, if not then resistors it is ! (EL98 - EP27). Much of this is of course on a wing and a prayer so we will see. Having spent most of the morning reading on the internet about relays and LED's we pushed on to fit the windscreen. Having looked at other blogs we unpacked the doors to use those to help us dictate a correct position. I was surprised to find out we had two nearside doors in the box !, on the off chance I rang my friend who is also building a Westfield but is some way behind us, to ask him to open his box of wet weather gear, thankfully he had two offside doors ! ( I dreaded waiting a Westfield 2-3 weeks for a replacement) a quick detour to his house and a swap and we both had the correct doors. We followed others blogs about the windscreen and decided to seat it on a bead of tiger seal which we could tidy up when all was attached. We masked the black windscreen surround and applied tiger seal much like sealing a bath and managed to get the interior neat which we were worried about, the windscreen is now sitting on plenty of sealant so hopefully when the front trim is sealed as well all should be watertight. Having got the windscreen done we packed up for the day as the temptation to fiddle with sealant thinking you can get it a little more perfect is always there !!! We seem to have reached a stage where everything takes longer than anticipated, the light at the end is growing brighter though ! 4 hours work today and a lot of reading 236 hours total.

Screen exterior seal

Screen interior seal

Looking a bit like it should !

Wiring Wizard .....................

Boy did we need one !!!!!!! a long time today head scratching as to how we made our choice of headlamps work ! We had decided we wanted the all in one headlamps, some I know think they are fugly but having seen them in the flesh thought they looked okay so once again emptied the wallet !
No doubt those of you who are wizards at wiring will find our tale amusing but we came upon some issues we had not anticipated and which caused us to use the grey matter. We had anticipated that to make day running lights legal they had to go off when side or head lights were selected so from e bay I bought a wiring harness with a relay built in which was perfect for the job, at least the blurb said so !!!
After struggling under the car and threading the wire up through the rubber grommet we got it connected and with a multimeter tried the lamp ends to see if all was good, it switched alright, but it switched the negative wire not the live feed. As the all in ones use a common earth for LED side, this unit was as much good as a chocolate fireguard. I did open the relay to see if we could re position the wires but found out it contained a dimmer unit which we did not need and was encased in resin so not modifiable. Back to the drawing board. A visit to our local suppliers and we purchased a relay, mount and some wire and without too much trouble simplified what we needed and miracles it worked, the relay attaches to the others so will be very neat when finished.

Relays new SRB 501.

The DRL now switched as required home free now !!!!   ............ err not quite !

The headlamps in these units work by an illuminated bulb which has a shield which raises and lowers for dip and beam. It follows the bulb must stay illuminated all the time because it is the same whether on dip or beam. Of course the car is wired so when beam is selected the dip wire is off so we had dip and off !! not good !. Having worked out that we needed a constant live for the bulb and use the other wire as a switch wire a bit of head scratching and Joe was able to work out how to make our dip switch do this. A bit fiddly with lots of small links but after an age all worked. Not everyones cup of tea but we like them ! and they certainly taught us how to think about wiring !

Rear of dip switch

Plugs from light units 

DRL

Headlights

  

DRL and Hazards

Teach us to modify stuff 7 hours today to get the lights working and hinge the bonnet. 232 hours total.

Happy Birthday to You ..................

Joe's birthday today, he came down around lunchtime looking very frayed around the edges after being out on the town last night ! no sympathy at all. Dad has never done these things obviously !!

We had come up with a plan to get carbon on the rear wheelarches which didn't involve taking a mortgage for the German carbon panels, nor settling for the dummy ones. Joe applied clear stoneguard to the arches first to cover most of the curved areas and then having bought flexible carbon panel cut the panel to suit and applied it over the stoneguard. The look is more what we wanted without breaking the bank and should be effective and replaceable if need be !. We also fitted the headlight carriers and fairings to the bonnet which having used some tiger seal we have to leave overnight before we can finally put the bonnet on. I still have no steering parts so will have to struggle with the bonnet in place or delay further. Getting ever closer. 4 hours today so 225 hours total.

Joe applying clear film

Carbon Panel

Minor details ...................

A couple of hours today, finished securing the bodywork to the underside and double checked all was secure at the rear before screwing the boot liner in place, made sure all bolts were marked as secure, I am sure this detail all helps for IVA. Joe had designed some plaques for the fusebox lids for easy ID so we attached those may be worth the effort some dark night ! Spoke to WF and arranged for the correct lower steering assembly to be delivered I think the upper one is still a pipe dream for now.

Fuse labels laser machined.

Next job is to collect the final pieces from my friends house and then start on the interior. 221 hours total.

Weekend finished .......

Buoyed with enthusiasm after a successful if rough engine run, we pressed on with the front end and jobs still to do. The front sides were secured to the chassis with large headed rivets to the underside only issue was making sure I knew where the chassis was and was not drilling into fresh air !
Joe was wrapping up the front end by fitting the repeaters to the wings and neatening wiring and other routings. The small repeaters are great compared to the larger ones originally supplied. We fitted 2 pin gold plugs to the repeaters making sure we could if needed remove the whole wings in one piece, hopefully we will never need to ! We corrected a fuel leak from the rear hose where it joined the metal pipe, the jubilee clip was seated incorrectly and it was a straightforward fix which seems ok now.

Wing with repeater fitted

Protected wire and Sikaflex adhesive

Heat shrinking insulation on Deans plugs

Tidy wires and brakes

More LED's yay !!

6 hours today 219 hours total we reckon about 80% there now !

Igor - yes master " Its Alive !!! "

Today was something of a momentous day for us the car finally came alive. I would like to say all was simple but some idiot had connected the fuel lines wrongly to the regulator and instead of acting as a non return valve it was acting as a no pass valve to the fuel rail, amazing how ingenious idiots are ! don't know who was responsible but it couldn't possibly be me !
I worked out how to hot wire the car as I don't have a steering column, took me longer than your average car thief I do know. Had a minor coolant weep and a very slight fuel weep both seemingly cured by tightening the jubilee clips so better than I anticipated. A couple of hours work today filling and checking things but resulted in this, running as rough as a bears axxe but running !

Walking around making Brmm Brmm noises tonight ! 2hrs today 213 total !
must remember to take that medication !!! LOL

Wipe away the sweat !!!! ..............

Having decided that my windscreen wipers are coming to a park at the wrong side of the screen and hence not wipe the bit in front of the driver, it was time to try and alter the motion to suit. Of course with the scuttle firmly attached and plumbed in, it is the devils own job to remove the motor and effect the change. A liberal application of foul and abusive language where the parentage of the vehicle designer was questioned in full, I managed to remove the motor, remove the gearbox cover and on the hidden side of the driving sprocket reveal the mystical nylon detent which has to be moved to the corresponding holes 180 degrees opposite. Only one photo I am afraid as I was covered in grease and very foul tempered by then !!. After moving the white nylon thing as per photo, the unit was re assembled and re fitted, again with liberal use of foul language and after having dropped the nuts and washers for the umpteenth time finally got it done. All now seems to work as it should. Be warned if you have not fitted your motor and it shows an arrow pointing away from the motor in the direction of the wiper drive tube then it is more than likely incorrect. My friend popped down with his scuttle which is not fitted and we did the same job in twenty minutes mine took over 2 hours !

Nylon detent to be moved to opposite holes.

2 hours to total today 211 hours total.

Weekend complete ................

Pressing on this weekend we set out to make progress on the dashboard wiring. Of all the tasks left to do this is the one which filled me with the least confidence and worried me in case we damaged something by wiring it wrongly. Nothing ventured nothing gained and we pressed on methodically a switch at a time, like Jon in Somerset our wiring loom was missing most of its outer shells for the wiring so we insulated each individual wire onto the switches with heat shrink . I would like to say we connected the battery and all worked first time, however that would be something of an exaggeration ! I had managed to make a horlicks of the offside rear wiring and we had an interesting hour sorting out the brake/indicator/side lights to work when they should, a simple matter of moving a few pins but a real pain as all had been protected and wrapped to the chassis ! misplaced confidence !
The instruments all came alive as they should and fingers crossed when we fire her up for the first time they will indicate. We had managed to label a few wires incorrectly and had a number of warning lights working incorrectly but by a process of elimination got it sorted. We wired in the Westfield self cancelling indicators which interestingly will not work when all four indicator bulbs are LED, we have to run LED bulbs at the front and ordinary incandescent at the rear for the unit to work correctly, however apart from that minor annoyance the unit works well. We now have 95% of the wiring done and working we are only left with the wipers, they work fine but where they are parking I have no idea so we will fit arms and see what is happening, fingers crossed they will be ok. The last job we have not wired as yet is the heated screen loom so have just to work that out. Feel very relieved that all is almost done and we only blew one fuse so far. You will note the vital tool required for the wiring job, the i pad on Joes knee with Jons blog photos ! helped no end thanks Jon !!. All at long last seems to be coming together so hopefully if there are no banana skins we are feeling far more confident of seeing our car on the road.

Scuttle modified to fit dash with rivnuts

Joe with dash and I pad looking like he knows what he is doing !!

Wiring almost complete ready to fit dash.

Both wings finally attached.

Balance of work from yesterday and today (total 12 hrs) making 209hrs running total !

Success ..............

After much messing around my wing attachment plan has worked as intended and all appears to be bonded fine, worth the effort not to drill the things I think !

Wing finally mounted 

Front mounting captive nuts

Rear mounting captive bolts

Moving onward now with fitting dashboard and wiring all up ! being extremely confident of what we are doing I have bought a box of 120 fuses !! watch this space !

another 3 hours of slow progress today 197 hours total.

Cycle wings plan .........

My brass strip idea for mounting the wings continues to have promise. Today I tided up the unwanted P40 and then put a layer of glass cloth over the mounts, they seem very firmly attached, time will tell !
Joe insisted I gave them a lick of black paint despite the fact no one will ever see them !!

Bonded strip

Splash of black paint

Joe's attention to detail continued with the machining of silver surrounds for the rocker switches to match the push buttons, panel looks better than original equipment I confess !

Dash ready to fit

Just an hour today messing with fibreglass, however we now have boot lid to fit and headlamp fairings.

194 hours total.