Strumming my fingers .............

I was idly wondering if the salesman from Westfield had seen the clip from the film Fargo involving a woodchipper ! strange how a bored mind wanders !
Anyway I removed the front anti roll bar, prepped and sprayed it together with it's drop links, looks ok and will fare far better in our salt air.
Have not managed to resolve my hub problem as yet, nothing from Westfield and my local supplier is waiting for the bearings so little else to report. I hope our contemporaries are doing better with parts !
89 hours building.

Sprayed roll bar and links

Sorry looking nearside suspension !

Keeping the blog alive .........

This posting is more about keeping the blog alive rather than any serious progress on the car ! I have however attached the centre tunnel panel and threaded the dashboard wiring through it and mounted the washer bottle. Lack of parts prevent any real progress so will try and find something to do tomorrow, I intend spraying the front anti roll bar and the radiator mounts so may do that, I have also read that it is beneficial to drill and tap the roll bar aluminium mountings for a grease nipple so will do that too whilst the bar is off. 87 hours building.

Centre panel attached and sealed.

Washer Bottle in place.

Sitting at idle !

Little to report in way of progress, waiting for new hub to arrive but in case of major delays (like everything else) I am trying to source bearings to rebuild the one I have ! Trimmed and filed the front centre tunnel panel to fit and managed to shove the tang of the file into my hand ouch ! little sympathy from the management ! Like Jon in Somerset I am trying to work out what I can do which will not either interfere with other things later or for which I have the parts! Confidence is rapidly evaporating that we shall have this done for late summer, spend more time on the phone now than I do building !
86 hours into the build.

Waiting .........

Little to report in the way of progress, having spoken to Westfield they are sending a new front nearside hub to replace the one which was set up incorrectly so have delayed brake bleeding until I can get the fourth wheel back on. I cannot finish and tidy the wiring at the tunnel as I do not have an engine ecu loom, nor an ecu or engine come to that ! I can't fit the tank finally as to do so would make getting to the rear brake pipe distributor  a nightmare should there be a weep. I am running out of excuses as to why I should not be decorating the spare bedroom ! As soon as the hub arrives I can get going again so fingers crossed.

I am no expert mechanic but ..............

Today started off positively, the brakes were pressurised with air to 8 psi and hold so fingers crossed they may hold fluid ! I decided to have a last look around before filling the brakes and noticed a problem. The nearside front brake disc was not central in the caliper and was hard up to the nearside pad pressing the pad into the casting. To freely rotate the disc would have meant taking off at least a couple of mm of pad before it would even rotate, I asked my mechanic friend for advice and he felt the tyre on the road may not even rotate the hub. Closer examination showed the nearside hub to be seated at least a few mm further out on the stub axle than the one at the offside which was fine. We removed the hub which had been factory assembled to have a look at the bearings. The nearside rear oil seal was highly distorted and not seated in the hub properly and closer examination showed the rearmost bearing to be crooked in its journal. The hub centre was distressed with what I would describe as hammer marks where holy sxxt had been brayed out of it in an effort to get the oil seal fully home, of course the crooked bearing would not let the oil seal sit properly. The net effect is that the disc is offset outwards to bind on the caliper ! not by very far but by far enough to make the nearside brakes hard on like a handbrake and be a one pad affair ! I have no hesitation in saying whoever assembled the hub would have been aware that the amount of force that the witness marks suggest had been used was not correct ! Hopefully the photos illustrate what I have tried to describe !

Offside calliper showing disc central in caliper running freely.

Nearside calliper showing pad compressed to casting almost impossible to rotate hub.

Oil seal and rear bearing.

Oil seal protruding from housing.

Damage to housing.

Running through quicksand !

Today was a day trying to finish the braking system for filling over the weekend I hope ! didn't quite manage to get there but only one pipe short now. I bent the front flexi mount tabs to clear the anti roll bar as others have done and piped up to them, seems to have cleared the brake pipes nicely, although I would have liked them neater ! Having finished and connected the rear brakes I took a look at the speed sensor before I committed to fixing the fuel tank ...... Predictably mine is nothing like the one shown in the instructions is 8mm in diameter and has about 6 feet of cable running from it ! Westfield have promised to send me some instructions for fitting this one at the front more wiring !, seems to me the rear mounted sensor for which the loom is made would be preferable, however if this is what we must use then so be it !

84 hours into the build.

Speed Sensor

No good for here !

Bent flexi rigid joint

Avoiding anti roll bar

Four wheels on my wagon !

After a hard day all four hubs are now on the car, mostly straightforward but a few issues which are probably known to everyone but me !
I had to remove the rear brakes again to seat the handbrake properly in its slot on the caliper I remain very unconvinced that it is going to be ok ! but that is the rear suspension almost finished.
The front went ok but it is best not to fit the front shocks as per the instructions, as if you have the inboard anti roll bar you have to take them off and fit them inverted ! which I suppose could be a pain in the xxxx (don't ask me how I know). Other than that looks a bit more like a car next jobs are to make a couple of brake lines for the front and connect up and fill the brakes. Had enough for today, dog walk and a glass of red for me now! 81 hours into the project.

Four wheels at last !

Handbrake cable in caliper not convinced about geometry

Inverted front shock to clear anti roll bar bell crank

Everything pretty has an ugly mate !

One of the inescapable facts of life and I speak from very distant memory you understand. The relevance of the title is the beautiful red calipers and their ugly mate the handbrake ! Fitted one of the driveshafts and calipers and shockers this afternoon. The handbrake looks something of a problem to me with an almost impossible angle between the clevis end and the actuating rod, need to do some research to find out how to set this up and stand a chance of it working ! (If anyone has some photos of a finished installation I would be grateful). Anyway drooling over the calipers but no doubt will be calling them less flattering names whilst wrestling with the handbrake issue. Going to finish rear suspension (Hope) before moving to the front over the next few days. 75 hours building.

Pretty

Nearside with drive shaft all torqued

The handbrake cable seems short and under tension and forms a nonsensical mechanical connection with the handbrake lever. Any comments or tips appreciated !

Don't look right to me !

One Wheel on my Wagon ..........

Well we are not rolling along as yet, however a short time ago my shocks were delivered so when next free tomorrow hope to make significant progress ! My turned lower studs have worked a treat and retain a thin coat of paint and copper and when finally fully protected with LPS3 should put up with the sea air here. Looking forward to seeing the calipers in place. At last I can press on and get the braking system filled and see if my piping is a colander or not ! Gardening tips on hold for now !
72 hours building.

One wheel on my wagon !

Titchmarsh eat your heart out !

I didn't like to neglect the blog so thought I would bring you up to date on the state of my weeding ! the whole garden received a makeover as I had nothing else to do, it was the three Russian Ballet Dancers, Ristoff, Kisstoff.... and really fed up......  NO PARTS !
The WSCC forum however did put me in touch with a nice chap in Somerset , Jon with who I corresponded. He will shortly no doubt be joining me as an avid gardener !
Patience is now wearing a little thin. Still 71hrs building and 8 gardening !

A WEED !

Ho Hum !

Scratching my ar head trying to find something to do which I actually have the parts for !

Anyway fitted the rivnuts and dome heads for the ecu plate, quite difficult to get them at the right angle got them right second time ! may have been easier to go for self tappers but I normally make things difficult. Blanked off the seat belt cut outs in the rear panel and tidied the garage. If parts do not arrive tomorrow it will be a weekend gardening and by monday when my son returns to work, my temper will be frayed ! 71 hours building.

ECU plate cockpit view

Blanked seat belt cut outs

Passing Time

The shortage of parts is making it difficult to progress in any meaningful way and we are pressing Westfield to do something about the situation ! I would like to complete the brakes and make sure all is well piping wise before I add more parts making access difficult should it leak which is probably a given. Did find something to do however, I spent the afternoon making the ECU mounting plate. I imagine I am not the only one to question the parentage of the stainless hinge as it laughed at drills !, however my large pillar drill showed it who was boss in the end. The upper side where it meets the dashboard I intend to install some small rivnuts and some dome headed bolts but have not finished it yet. I am free this weekend so hoping for shock absorbers which would give us a huge boost with the suspension. 69 hours building.

Back on Track

Received the new wishbone bush this morning as promised by Westfield and my local friendly garage did the honours (thanks Tony!). I refitted the wishbone and then the tank mount without problem and all the bolts slide in and out easily as they should have done before I ruined the bushing ! Whilst waiting for the bushes to arrive I decided to have a play with siting the battery, my battery is an Odyysey Pc 625 to try and save a bit of weight, and I had assumed it fitted on its side with the rear underneath the steering rack. From speaking to Mark at Westfield this seemed to be his understanding too. However the battery will not fit under the steering rack at all being at least 1cm wider than the available space irrespective of the thickness of its mounting tray. The battery will have to be mounted in the traditional manner which is fine but I will have to either source or fabricate a mount. Because of a lack of suspension parts and engine and ECU loom, it is frustrating to not be able to actually finish a section of the car and move on, I think this will be reflected in the time needed to complete the kit in the long run ! 67 hours building, more chasing around !

Intended battery location

Not a prayer !

Wishbone restored

Tank mount frame

Little by Little

A slow day today just a couple of hours tidying wiring around the engine bay and a visit to my local garage who will put a new bushing into my rear wishbone when it arrives from Westfield. The small battery I have bought will not fit the supplied battery tray so have to source another so it can remain at the front and not end up on the scuttle. Nothing really to show so no piccies today. 65 hours into the build.

Some Progress and Tale of Woe !

Strange day today, full of enthusiasm we had an early start and fitted the fuel filter and finally fitted fuel pipes and tidied wiring for pump. We then moved on to the tank frame with a view to getting the tank sitting loosely in place until we receive the rest of the missing suspension parts ! To fit the tank frame the four bolts which had been loosely fitted into the upper wishbones (rear) have to be removed and replaced by much longer 7/16 bolts to secure the wishbone, anti roll bar and tank frame, simple job five minutes.... three of the bolts fell out without a problem just requiring thumb pressure to remove them from the wishbone bushes, the fourth although never tightened up did not want to come out. I left the nut on the thread and gave it a gentle tap with a nylon hammer expecting it to fall out, nothing ! getting a large punch I gave the bolt a blow with a mallet, still nothing !, I noted the bolt head was not pulled up tight to its washer as I had never tightened it up, so figured if I pulled it up with its nut it may free it from whatever was holding it and then remove easily, the bolt tightened with its nut but I was then back to square one where no amount of persuasion ( gentle and otherwise ) and plus gas would make it back off a micron ! strange my Midget ones were like this but they had been in 35yrs !!. Having seen the bolt move forward i.e. towards its thread I decided to grind off the head and if that was the way it wanted to go drift it out from the rear........ some careful grinding later and I was able to use the bolts nut and a spacer to pull it halfway through the bushing....... but that was it ! any more force applied and the next thing to be damaged would be the chassis mount. By this time the bush was well and truly goosed and I had tried everything non damaging to remove the bolt ! I finally had to power hacksaw through the bolt between the bushing and the chassis mount to release the wishbone. Thankfully the only damaged things are my blood pressure and the metalastic bush ! I can only figure that the bolt and or the bush centre have assumed a taper but I have never seen a new bolt impossible to remove in this way ! Hope Westfield can sort out my bushing in short order ! I had fitted and semi tightened this bolt in the same way as the other three knowing they were to come out so have no idea how they have mated in this way ! 63 hours building.  (+3 hours wasted trying to remove a bolt !! GRRRRRR.)

Bushing at thread end !

Ground off head halfway through

Fuel pump and feed pipe

Filter feeding fuel pipe

Ever Onward

As we do not have an engine ECU harness or an engine come to that we started on tidying the loom for the rear of the car and concentrated our efforts here. The fuel pump and inertia switch were fitted together with the handbrake and warning switch and cables. The loom was carefully secured protecting where necessary and is hopefully clear of the suspension without problem. Wish we had the shocks as we could see wheels on the wagon ! Last job this afternoon was to fill the diff with oil before other things made access too difficult.  61 Hours into the build.

Fuel Pump and wiring

Inertia switch and loom

Handbrake top view

The build manual referred to a warning switch seemingly already fitted to the handbrake, after a search the switch was located and after a bit of head scratching was easily fitted into place !

Handbrake and warning switch

Here is the finished replacement  rear hub stud which actually fits !

Spaghetti

Got to use my new Dymo labeller today, glad I bought it ! 3 hours work making sure all identified before we went near the car. Anything I was unsure of on the dashboard end the multimeter continuity test sorted out (I Hope) ! Positioned and secured the fuse boxes and draped the rest around the car sort of where it will need to go. Enough for today other things to attend to a higher authority tells me !! I am sure Tesco will be a load of fun ! 57 hours into the build

Oh my goodness !

I decided we needed help so we summoned the brains of our outfit to assist !

Well worth the effort !

Fuse boxes secured

Dashboard eventually !

Splitting Hairs !!

Maybe I am being anal about this but the replacement bottom studs for the rear wheel hubs sent to me today from the factory are oversize as well, if anything worse than the first pair. They are described as 7/16 inch and to be honest they are more or less that size measuring 11.1109mm. Of course a 7/16 bolt fits all the bushes perfectly and having tried a few they measure 10.96 to 11.00 mm. My local precision engineers is setting the studs up for machining to size this afternoon ! I appreciate this may be the vagaries of the plating process but surely this should be addressed and is obviously a known issue, it seems the bushings are clearly set up to fit 11mm bolts which is what mine measure precisely  and when a near enough correct 7/16 dimension is introduced it does not fit, I understand as near as damn it 11.1125 is 7/16.
I know others have gone for enlarging the bushes but as they are a machined finish the lesser of two evils for me seemed to be re machining the studs to suit. I have collected them and have sprayed them with a thin coat of black hammerite which hopefully will pass through the bushes if not I will clean it off. When in situ I will fully protect them so hopefully losing some of the coating will not be an issue.

Painted machined stud

If you have ploughed your way through all that drivel I apologise. The weekend looks like wiring loom which looks like a large bag of fun !!!! what can possibly go wrong ?

Need to wait for loom now !

After reaming out the drop link clamps on the rear anti roll bar all now fits as it should with the clamps gripping tightly but not distorted between the arms. Seems the thickness of the powder coat was probably the issue ! Finished the rear brake lines at least to the flexible hose joints. Cannot really do much more until I get a loom and the rest of the suspension parts. Hopefully tomorrows courier will come good with parts to make a busy weekend. Need to get the wiring in place correctly and neatly before I restrict access by adding more. 53 hours into the build.

There are known knowns and known ........

Frustrating day today solving issues which are caused I believe by coating applied to parts altering their size. First up is a known issue I believe in that the studs for the rear hubs lower mounting will neither pass through the rubber wishbone bush nor through the bushing in the rose joint.

This apparently is a "known known" due to enthusiastic zinc plating, after a call to Westfield they are to send me a pair that will fit, will save some work reaming the bushes !

The powder coating on the rear anti roll bar is raising a similar issue with the clamps to secure the drop links however this is more easily solved with some easing of the clamp hole which is aluminium so more readily "polished" to remove some material. We are promised more parts from Westfield on Friday so here's hoping for a busy weekend ! 51 hours into the build.

Getting heavier (the car !!)

More bits added today, finally got the steering rack clamp to fit properly in place, took a long time but I was probably too scared to really remove enough material without stopping to try. I worked on the theory you can't put material back ! anyway a really good result and the rack fits properly now and is torqued as recommended. My friend Miles dropped in so I took the opportunity to get him to lift the diff into place which singlehandedly would have been very difficult as the engine crane is not here (neither is the engine !). A bit of head scratching was needed to run the nylocs up on the mounting bars but worked out to lock one into place with a 12mm nut, all torqued up without a problem. Have to get some diff oil now. More suspension arms added but as I don't have any shocks or hubs rapidly coming to a halt. Before adding more it would be nice to have the wiring loom as going to be ever more difficult to fit with more stuff in the way ! With a bit of imagination it is beginning to resemble a car ! 49 hours total time (with a few more searching for pieces)

Front suspension to date

Steering rack clamp after patient filing in place !

Diff in place looking happy !!

Rear wishbones