Dribbling forward ...........

No not a reference to my age, rather a slow progress this week, my time being taken by other matters. More assembly work has been completed with the radiator on the car, the painted front anti roll bar re-installed and some time spent tidying wiring. Having asked a number of questions about the battery have got the wiring in for that, just need the promised battery tray from Westfield to be able to site and secure the battery, I have a feeling I may have to resort to making one myself !! I trial fitted the manifold and have a concern about how close the solenoid wiring is to the pipes, I may be being pessimistic but I have ordered a length of heatproof sleeving and will protect the ends of the cables where they leave the convoluted tube ! Our IVA centre can only be impressed ! I hope !!
Tomorrow I hope to make serious progress and finish the front end mechanically with the exception of the steering for which I do not have the parts and that shortage is becoming a real pain in the ar  neck.
118 hours to date.

Tidying wiring.

Roll Bar back in place and battery waiting for mount.

Solenoid wiring a bit too close to manifold I reckon.

Front overview progressing albeit slowly.

Silicon is a real xxxxxxx

Having earlier fitted the centre tunnel cover and persuaded myself I could fit the engine with it in place, I had to remove it. Only problem was I had made such a thorough job of sealing it that it was a real struggle to get it off, and once off this morning I started the job of getting the old sealant off the underside of the aluminium. A swine of a job, so much so that I went and bought some silicon sealant remover. The remover said brush on leave 15 minutes wipe off, what could possibly go wrong ! To cut a long story short the remover had no effect whatsoever on the sealant but I have found it makes short work of removing the top layer of skin from your hands ! 3 hours of scraping and cutting later the panel was clean, a hole cut for the gear lever and re fitted, looks ok again ! The label of the bottle needs altering to read skin remover not suitable for silicon LOL ! I assembled and fitted the radiator and fan sensor and connected the wiring. 115 hours total now although some of today was self inflicted !

Centre cover re installed !

Radiator and fan fitted.

Friends will be friends ...........

Decided to enlist some help today, after praying to the gods for the rain to stop lo the sun came out and let us work outside. Joe and I were joined by Dave and Sean and having more eyes and more height the engine was trial fitted mounts drilled and finally fitted into place. Phew thats a relief ! Spent some time trying to get the wiring as neat as Jon's which I was admiring on his blog, took a long time but not a bad result in the end. Placed the cars number on the front for a photocall, thats it then ready for the road !! LOL. The water temp wires are too short, think I have read about this on the forum so will browse later. Time for a beer and watch the football ! 6 hours today 111 hours total ! NELSON hopping on one foot RIP Shep ! (If you are not a cricket fan you won't understand this rubbish)

Dave,Sean and Joe

Yours truly looking busy ! someone has to be in charge !!

IN don't know what the fuss was about !

Number   ready to roll !!

Biblical Rain .............

Received engine yesterday and hoped to make huge progress however even the almighty is against us or so it seems ........  Assembled the engine, gearbox and starter motor swapped the oil pressure sensor and wasted some time looking for the water temp sensor point on the engine. Of course it is not on the engine but on the water pipe, wasted some time working that out. Tried to install the engine for a trial fit but realised that the roof of the garage is too low to permit us to establish the correct angle for the unit. Would have liked to continue outside now we can roll the car but we have had now 48hours of torrential rain and it is not possible. Will have to wait until it clears up and we can work outside for a few hours. 105hrs building.

Engine is here !!

Engine crossing the sea .........

My engine and associated bits is at last with the transport company to cross the Irish sea ! Hoping for a busy weekend...watch this space.

First shiny bit ! ................

In view of impending engine ! ......  well impending in Westfield terms, we spent the day doing the scuttle, heater and wipers. Thanks to others having gone before and their photos, it took a while but was straightforward enough, unfortunately some bits are missing from my wiper kit ! no surprise there then ! so could not tighten up and will have to re visit. Used the first of our engine bay shiny red bits ! (juvenile really LOL). Broken the 100 hour barrier now 101 hours total !

Bit more like a car !

Scuttle interior

Heater outlet misses ECU mount thankfully !

Shiny Bits !

Standstill ....

I have fitted the propshaft and that is about all I can do until I get an engine and ECU & Loom. I telephoned the factory today to check on the arrival of my throttle bodies and ECU etc which should have happened yesterday, apparently they did not show ! My optimism at being able to continue is possibly misplaced we shall see ! Watch this space !!!!!

Finding things to do .....

Spent the morning fitting the speed sensor a nice easy job with the exception of deciding to spiral wrap the lead for protection. Unless there is a quick way I don't know about took me about an hour to clad all the cable with protection, however I am sure it was well worth doing. Made sure there were no chafing points and a blob of silicon keeps the wire well away from the casting close to the sensor. Have tidied up and gone overboard protecting the chassis loom plugs just hoping they will squeeze past the bellhousing, looks promising, time will tell when the engine arrives ! Couldn't resist putting a couple of wheels on almost a shame to fit a body ! 98 hours building.

Speed sensor cable spiral wrapped a real pain in the butt !

Sensor installed showing chafing protection

Main loom protection hope misses bellhousing

Enthusiasm .......

With the promise from Westfield of getting an engine soon I pressed on and installed the engine wiring loom and did as much as I could in the engine bay, I will have to wait for the ECU loom before I can finally get ready for the engine. The rear of the car is largely complete with the last job being to secure the tank vent pipe. Tomorrow I hope to fit the speedo sensor to the offside front wheel and route the wire. My bodywork is kindly stored at my friends house and I cannot fill the time waiting for parts by working on that, as with limited space I hope to get a more or less fully mechanically built car before starting on the bodywork.

Minor Mod ......

Corrosion on the Isle of Man is a major issue and protection and lubrication assume greater importance than if the car was used away from the salt air. Having read some of the problems associated with the front anti roll bar, I decided that an easy way to ensure its continued lubrication was to incorporate a grease nipple in its aluminium mounts. I drilled and tapped the mounts to 6mm and after sorting through a pack of 45 degree nipples I found two that tightened in exactly the place I required without recourse to shims. It will not be an ideal way of lubrication because of the open end to the carriers, however if I can introduce grease from time to time it will save messing around with the suspension mount !
96 hours building. Having spoken to Westfield today it seems I may have an engine at the end of next week, probably with delivery into the week after ! fingers crossed.

Roll bar mounts with inwards facing grease nipples.

Shopping ...........

Well tried everything I could think of to avoid the dreaded shopping today but as I am really at a standstill due to lack of parts I had to grit my teeth and go to town with my better half ! tried to look interested as she browsed the high street. I really need the ecu loom to finish wiring and free the tunnel for engine installation but as I have neither loom, ecu or engine difficult to see where I can go. The bodywork is kindly stored at my friends house and would need a van to transport it down here so can't really see the point in doing all that just to mount a few lights. Resigned now to summer 2013 as had hoped for late summer 2012 but not going to happen.

Rear end progress ....

A couple of hours today installing fuel tank and the rest of the pipework, all seemed to go as it should, just need to finish the vent line and will then tie wrap the handbrake cables to the wishbones when the car has weight on the suspension. Going to be a bit fiddly torquing the wishbone bolts up when all the weight is on but doable with a bit of a fiddle I think ! The brakes seem ok I wedged the pedal hard on overnight and the pedal feels ok to me with a good solid feel to it, there was a minor weep from around the brake pressure switch but after some careful tightening seems to have stopped now. The ECU loom is probably next to finish off the wiring and tidy up the tunnel before engine installation, hope it will not be too long before I have one. 94.5hrs building.

Rear nearing completion.

Earth strap I assume this is the location.

Short forward burst ! ......

As perhaps anticipated my new hub did not show up from the manufacturers, but having rung Westfield yesterday they did have the decency to apologise and sent me bearings which arrived this morning, apparently they forgot to chase it up !. I took my old hub to a local motor engineer who dissembled the bearings and found that both the front and rear races were in crooked, the rear one had picked up a burr on its way in and trapped the burr between itself and its seat thus not letting it sit deeply enough in the hub. Tony cleaned out and polished the journals and installed the new races without problem and indeed without hammering the sxxt out of them ! I held the bearing and some of the swarf for a photo. At long last the nearside disc sits centrally in the caliper and runs freely. I have filled and bled the brakes which do look as though they are not leaking (something went my way !) and have wedged the pedal to leave them for a while whilst the brake fairies do their thing ! The last few days whilst waiting for a solution to the hub issue I have painted everything that wasn't but now without an ecu loom am probably close to coming to a halt again. 92 hours building.

Rear race outer and picked up metal from crooked insertion.

Nearside disc now central in caliper.