4 wheels on my wagon, and i'm just.............

...................etc, etc.

Anyway, I had the rear bearings pressed into the rear upright by the local friendly garage. Makes me laugh when I think I actually lined them up in my vice pondering whether it would be possible to do!....Of course it wasn't unless I could somehow generate the best part of 10 tons of pressure!.

So, bearings pressed in, then the hubs were pressed into the bearing. The kit comes with some decent quality heavy duty ford bearings, and I hope I'll never need to change them as I cant think how they will ever come out.

Of course, rear bearings and hubs in means that the rear uprights and wishbones can be installed, and this of course means I could bolt on the rear wheels, and this of course means the car now has 4 wheels, and this means it can come off the axel stands, and this means I can see no good reason whatsoever not to throw on the front clam, stick my oldest in the driving seat and pretend for 5 mins that the car is actually finished :-)

I'm really liking the colour combination of the blue orange and black. 

Of course, all body work is held on with some tape at the mo. I really do need to get the shocks sorted out as I need to do a preliminary alignment of the wheels and suspension. For these it's off to protec who I used for the Westfield, and for the price I think they are probably the best out there. The spring rates on the standard car are 200lbs for the front, and 300lbs for the rear. On my test drive of the demo car I noticed how beautifully composed it felt on the very bumpy and muddy lanes of Lincolnshire. So, in a blatant attempt to ruin the ride for a few extra 10ths on the track I'm going to go higher, probably up another 50lbs allround, but before I order I will consult track developments who set up my westfield for their thoughts.

Brake lines and a change of plan.

The front brake pipes are now fitted. I'm quite please with this as I managed to fit them under the chassis rail. Not a technical revolution of course, but it helps keep the car as clean looking as possible.

Another change of direction for the brake master cylinders. I have been warned they may not fit, but being a stubborn wotsit, I'm determined to make the integral master  cylinders fir. I know a few others have done this, so we will see. The issue is not so much with the reservoir, it's the fact that you need to add a level indicator and associated test buttons. Anyway, we will see if this works when I offer up the front clam. As you can see, both front uprights / wishbones are on and once again couldn't resist chucking the wheels on in an attempt to make it look more like a car!.

Radiator arrived, I would have liked to have a nice trick alloy rad, but at this stage of the build I really do need to think more about IVA rather than all the modifications I plan to do in the future. So, a standard golf mk3 rad it is...Brand new £26 delivered!. not bad.

The steering rack used is a new Escort rack, but I've gone for a quick rack (i.e. 2.4 turns lock to lock)...reason for this was simply from the demo drive I had in Jeremys car... perfect for the road, but I think on track a quicker rack would help.

The dreaded floor went in with it's 200 plus rivets. Actually, it turned out to be one of the easier panels. I used larger head rivets, and can recommend the Clarke oil less rivetgun....fantastic and welcome crimbo present.

 

Other seat arrived, so a little trimming of the lip, and it slipped in nicely. Also, primed and sprayed up the steering column.....More about the column at a latter date when it comes back from the engineering shop (i.e. my dad).

 Callipers look good :-)

 Jumping ahead a little, but until I can afford some of the other major parts like the shocks, ecu, dash, etc...I need to amuse myself....Having been warned on numerous occasions about leaving large fibreglass mouldings in one place (they can deform), I try to move them every few weeks...This time, curiosity got the better of me and couldn't see a good reason not to cut the main tub and fit it (temporarily of course).

 The wife was thrilled when I called her in at 8pm in the freezing cold so she could sit in it while I took a photo.

Pedal box and balance bar

It's been a while since the last update, but that's not to say nothings happened.

I've been having a play with the pedal box, but soon realised (thanks to the locost forum), that I will need to cut a large hole in the pedal box to allow the balance bar adjuster to poke through. Not the end of the world, but wish I would have sussed this before powder coat.

Last post of 2012!.......

It's update time......been a few weeks and 25 4mm drill bits later, I think I've made some progress.

Where to start....More drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting, drilling / riveting.....................you get the message, and I haven't started the floor panel yet..that's over 200 rivets on it's own.

That said, all is looking good, and even if I say so myself, I'm very pleased with the fit and finish of the panels so far....I spent a bit of time on each panel before powder coating smoothing off edges and rounding corners, and I'm glad I did because it does make a difference to the way the car feels.

As you can see, most of the pipe work in the tunnel has been done, this includes fuel send and return, rear brake, and the coolant pipes are almost ready to slot in. 

 The gearstick shaft has been shortened and fitted.

 Thanks to John and Rachel from the Westfield club (yes, the Westfield owners do still talk to me since I defected) for the donation of some old shocks which are ideal for the build. When ready, it will be a visit to Protec for the real deal

 The handbrake poses an interesting problem with the race style seats. My plan (to keep things simple) is to simply increase the diameter of the pulley wheel for the handbrake cable which effectively keeps the cable on the floor. Once again, thanks to my dad who knocked up a nice thin pulley, and couldn't resist throwing a bearing in it to make it super smooth.

 I think that will probably do for 2012, next step really is to finish the well panels and get the floor panel in. For this I've ordered a further 200 large head rivets..happy new year to everyone.

Oh so Orange :-)

Two posts in one day!.

The powdercoaters called me to say the chassis was finished.......Couldn't wait to see it so I popped in on my way home from work to pick it up....and I wasn't disappointed.

The colour came out exactly as I wanted. I was after the Orange from the Mclaren F1 GT car of the 90's, and to my eyes, this is what I got.

Naturally I had to slot the seat in (what is it about orange and Carbon that look so good), and offer up a few panels to see how the colours are looking together.

I was particularly pleased with the driver footwell panel that for some reason looked great with the grip pattern.

The side pod panel was to hand, so again, couldn't resist offering it up to see the colour contrast.

Of interest (if you are building a J15), the scuttle panels are not really defined in the instructions, so I've oped for a two piece panel and It will be rivnutted (is that a word?) in rather than riveted. The reason for this is simply because I'm guessing it will be useful to have the option of removing the panel if you need to get to other parts of the car. The split in the panel is because the steering column goes over the top of it so, would be impossible to remove with out it.

Finally (for today), here is a pic of the fuel pump modification required for the deep tank (did this earlier this week). The pump and brackets are retained from the Puma, but the bracket is cut and another piece added so the pump sits at the bottom of the tank. This of course means the fuel pipe and associated electrics also need lengthening.

 

 See, told you there would be more colour in this post :-)

Shot blasting

Popped into the powder coaters again today just to see the chassis after shot blasting.......It has the appearance of a grey spray, but it's a really course finish.

I'm sure the powdercoat is going to adhere well to this. My previous westfields powdercoat quality was not the best, and peeled quite badly on the wishbones and uprights....so, fingers crossed.

I've also taken some close ups of the seat belt anchor points for IVA......As once the car is together you will not be able to see them.

Puma gone, Chassis welded,

Much to the wife's dismay, the Puma has moved on to a better life sat in a scrapyard!. She begged me to keep it on the drive as it looked so nice, but I put my foot down and said no........Thanks to Mark for the kind offer of sitting in a car with little in the way of brakes and (unknown to him) most of the wheel nuts and steering column nuts almost undone while being towed by me, he had to use the handbrake which was almost cooked by the time we got to the scrapyard.....anyway, goodbye puma.

  

Also, A big thanks to Richard for welding in the seat cross members. This is something that does not come with the chassis, as most use the optional cushions you can purchase from Sylva. These cushions are genuinely comfortable, but as I want to use the car on track I wanted a more supportive seat (see previous post).  Mental note...I must learn to weld!.

Finally, I dropped the chassis off to the powdercoaters this morning (17th Dec 12) on my way into work. While I was there, I was able to take a sneaky peek at the other parts after powder coat.....I should be picking this lot up this week, which should give me a bit of time of Christmas to make a start on the horrible job of drilling and riveting 300 holes!. FYI...anyone local, I can recommend Calmac for powdercoating work, they do lots of car work and know thier stuff.

P.S. The wishbone / engine mount / bracket colour is a mat black with a 30% gloss to give it a little bit of a sheen....looks great thus far.