6th September
May have to revise my completion estimate!! An hour and a half to fit one panel alongside the transmission tunnel! There was some degree of learning curve here though.
The diagram in the manual showed the panel to have a portion bent at 90°, which it hadn’t got. I decided to check out all the panels to see what went where and if indeed I did need to bend the panel. This showed it did need bending. I need to have a look at someone’s car to check probably. I clamped the panel in place, drilled one hole and then found the Cleko temporary rivets were too small. I checked them with a Vernier calliper and the maximum dimension was less than 4mm so there was no way it could clamp the panel where I have drilled through with 4.1mm drill. A disappointment this. Though, since the panels are pre-drilled, it’s less of a hindrance than it might have been.
I
then found that I couldn’t get at all the holes with either of the
power drills at my disposal. Phoned a friend who says he has a right-angle
drill air drill but with Schrader fittings rather than the PCL I have. We
will need to sort out fittings. The compressor will probably struggle a bit
with a drill but for just a few holes it shouldn’t be too much of a
problem.
Talking of the compressor, the air riveter is an absolute Godsend. There
are a few rivets where there is no room to get the air riveter in place and
need to resort to the hand tool – really, I mean really hard work.
So, one panel done; see if the second one is quicker to do tomorrow.
7th September
Spoke to Car Builder Solutions today about the Clekos not working. It seems, despite a big number 4 on the paperwork, they are for 3mm rivets! I would be allowed to buy some more 4mm ones but they wouldn’t exchange the ones I had so plan was to drill a few holes 3mm, use the Clekos and then drill them out later. Firstly though, I adapted a 90° air-drill that I had borrowed to a PCL connector for my airline so that I could finish off the couple of holes on the inside of the offside tunnel panel. I needed to shorten one of the drills to get it in however.
Then
I went on to the nearside panel which went a lot better than last night.
I discovered that the two panels were not identical and inevitably I had
fitted them incorrectly. It’s not really a problem, just a few redundant
holes in the nearside panel that will need filling. The idea with the Clekos
worked fine.
I
then moved on to the rear panel behind where the seats will be. Manual says
it will need to be flexed to fit. What they mean is bent! It was a real struggle
to fit and I scraped the surface of the panels already fitted – doohhh! As
there are slightly bent flanges at the top and bottom ther eis no way it
will flex as it’s too stiff. Anyway, got it in place and held on Clekos before
coming in.
10 September
Rather than take the rear panel out again I decided it needed it’s sealant applying in-situ. I needed some help, so until Jan came home, I had a go at the panel around the pedal assembly. This went OK but there were some holes needed where it was easier to have the frame on its side. Also, though the panel was pre-bent, the angle was a bit more than 90 degrees so I bent it a bit more so that it fitted better. Jan now home, so she helped me put the chassis on it’s side and it became clear that we could seal the rear panel more easily with it in this position. Nevertheless, it was difficult to get the sealant on every strut on the frame but Jan suggested putting it on the aluminium panel instead which worked fine. So applied sealant, turned the chassis over to do the other side and put the rivets in and bang, bang, bang, rivets in except a couple where neither my air riveter or hand riveter couldn’t get in. Problem yet to be resolved! Just putting it back the right way up when Peter May, WSCC member turned up for a look. Raining so was in his tin-top. Had a good chat and then ordered a pizza.
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12th September
A reasonably satisfying day and the bag of rivets seems to be getting lighter!
Basically got the other foot well panel on and both floor panels but also
I modified the transmission tunnel panels. When I put these on and bent the
ends around the frame they extended a little beyond the frame and would interfere
with the small panels in the foot well so I filed the excess down. Inevitably
this caused a little damage to the powder coating but I now have a can of
satin black to touch up this sort of damage. With chassis upside down, the
floor panels were relatively easy but needed a bit of energy for 164 holes,
de-burrs and rivets. Left it upside down to let the excess sealant cure so
I can trim it off before upending it tomorrow. Also trying to fix the trim
on the tailgate of the Volvo today, I just hate these plastic clips that
production car manufacturers use, they’re fine for assembly but a real b****r
to get off. Need a new trim panel which’ll cost a bit!
After one week, two of my pre-build purchases have really proved their worth, the air riveter and the rubber floor covering. The Clekos are also useful now that I have adopted a new technique. Of course the riveter would be no good without the compressor. I had reservations that I had bought one that was too small but it seems OK for the use it’s getting.
13th September
After trimming off excess sealant we turned the chassis up the right way. The rear axle stands now need a piece of wood across them as the frame where they were is now covered. Just the one panel fitted as John Kelly came round to have a look – he’s ordering the same kit and it was a chance to see what he would be getting. The one I fitted was the fibreglass one that forms a footrest for the left foot. This is not pre-drilled so I used the opposite hand one as a template. In the end these holes weren’t quite right and I had to drill another row. I thought the pop-rivets might split the fibreglass so I had bought some 4mm washers to spread the load. Inevitably I hadn’t bought enough, so I put the ones I had along the edge that needed to bend a little to align to the frame and didn’t bother for the rest and they seemed OK so perhaps I was worrying un-necessarily. No photos today, not too much difference from yesterday. John thinks he may pay for the panels to be riveted when he orders his car, he’s due to finalise in November.
14th September
After fixing the trim on the Volvo’s tailgate I set about more panelling.
The manual said nothing about the panel on the nearside footwell, the one
opposite the fibreglass driver’s footrest, so I called Westfield, a guy called
Mark Walker who seems to be the helpesk man. I wondered if there was something
subtle about not doing it now or they’d simply forgot it. They’d forgotten
it! So that went on, as did the scuttle panel and the off-side side panel.
During the course of this the air riveter got bunged up with the mandrels
and entailed a strip down which was “fun” with springs and things everywhere.
Jan’s becoming a Westfield widow but she consoled herself with the ironing.
16th September
Got off to an early start and got the last panel on in an hour and a quarter – getting quicker! Another 15 minutes of removing excess sealant from Thursday night’s panel and some photos. Made sure this time that the pop rivet mandrels came out of the riveter but even so one got a bit stuck but spotted it before it was a problem.
Left one rivet each side for Ellen & Jonathan to do this weekend!
19th September
Ellen & Jonathan did their rivets.
With the major panelling done it was time to move on to other things. For the
first time since collection day I opened all the boxes to see what I’d actually
got. There doesn’t seem to be enough bits to build a car but we’ll see.
The manual is starting to reveal its somewhat loose grip on the reality of making
a Westfield. The next task was to start on the brake system with the pressure
switch and a 3-way union attached to the chassis via a pre-drilled bracket.
I opened one of the many poly bags which had what I thought I’d need and then
tried to work out what was what. I also opened the Module 1 bolt bag. Like
an MFI flat pack I seem to have some spare bits, some missing and some not
to specification items.
In the end I think, with Jonathan’s help, I sorted
out what was what. The M5x35 setscrew for the brake switch was an M6x35 bolt;
the 3 off M8x55 bolts for the pedals were M8x50 or 60 and a threaded stud!
Nearly the same! There was a bush for the brake pedal that was a touch too
long to fit between the lugs on the chassis so I ground it a little shorter.
I fitted the switch/3-way union, two more 3-way unions at the front and rear,
the 4 flexible brake hoses and the brake master cylinder. The pedals are for
later. I also installed temporarily the clutch master cylinder, as I need to
know how close it is to the brake master cylinder when I route the brake pipes – which
is the next task.
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21st - 23rd September
The 2 hours is a bit of an estimate as it has been fitted in short sessions over the week bending bits of brake pipe. I started with the front 3-way union to the master cylinder primary port and got somewhere near but hen decided I needed the short master cylinder secondary to brake switch 3-way union.
Being short, bending it was a bit tough and then I needed to take the union off its mounting to get both ends of the pipe to fit in their respective ports. Reverting back to the first pipe, it is now fitting to each port but is tyraped in place, rather than clipped. It needs to come off again and have some of the bends made neater. Also I do not know what Westfield intend in terms of the fixing clips, as there are a mixture of p-clips and knock-in u-clips. Also I am wondering what the bigger rivets are for that were in the same bag. I think a call to Mark Walker is needed before I do any clipping in place.
The pipe bender I bought at Stoneleigh was not too much use. It makes a nice curve but the pipe is not really long enough to accommodate the largish radius it generates. Also I found I can bend the pipe by hand reasonably easily. Having looked at Pete May’s car on Monday, there is quite a bit of what I am doing at the moment that won’t be seen. Talking of Monday, a card from Amtrak meant a package from the factory was for collection from the Ascot Drive depot. So, I now have side-screens, carpets, a number plate light and a bag for the jack!!
27th September
It may be 1.5 hours logged but I also spent another hour getting depressed! See later.
I removed the master cylinder to 3-way union to bend it more neatly and then fitted it properly. I was advised by Mark Walker to use the knock in clips on the front chassis rails and around the differential but to use the p-clips underneath fixed with 4mm rivets to the floor panels and cross rails.
So with the pipe bent:
30th September
A quite constructive little session. Until Westfield send me the battery tray, I have decided to leave that bit of brake pipe and moved on to fitting the pedals and throttle cable. So fitted the clutch, brake and throttle pedals and hen found Westfield had not put a hole in the aluminium panel for the ferrule at the end of the throttle cable. So I measured it up and found it to be 6.5mm diameter. As I did not have a 6.5mm drill, I stated with a 6mm and then opened it up to ¼”. With a little bid of careful rubbing down the ferrule (plastic) it went in and feels nice and tight. I smeared some copaslip on the Bowden cable before re-inserting it into the sheath.
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As installed the brake and clutch are in line but well forward of the throttle, so tomorrow I need to remove the clevis pin split pins and wind back the clevis some.
Post session note: Went to WSCC meet and looked at a few front brake hose positions. No one has them coming through the body as per my manual but use the brackets provided. To overcome the foul with the battery, one guy showed me how he’d bent it. This is my plan now.