Westfield build, Mazda SDV

These seem to be relatively easy to get level with the FW bodywork – not sure how it is with the standard nose cone. There’s a feature line extending almost to the front of the car. You take a measurement down from this and an amount away from the front and hey presto. I wired them in with the bonnet fully open so there would be enough slack in the future.

It might not be obvious on the photo but I accidentally put the passenger side unit in the holder so the lense wouldn’t be level. Time was pressing though so that will get looked at later.

The neighbourhood has learned some new swear words the past few days but the boot box and RAC bar is finally fitted. Should’ve thought ahead and bought a Plays-kool boot box!

When I test fitted the RAC bar I marked where it passed through the tub. This meant when I slipped the boot box in I had a vague idea of where the cuts would need to start. I thus opened these out a little bit.

By putting a bolt in the top and bottom of the RAC stay fixings I could tie a wire between them and thus have a good idea of where the centre of the stay would pass through. It wasn’t quite central due to the nature of the knots but close enough.

With my head in the wheel arch I could mark where the wire was going.

I marked out lines just under half the radius of the tube and made the first cuts. From there it was just a case of filing until it was right.

Or maybe a bit too far…

Having done all that, I had to file them out further when it came to fitting the rubber trim anyway. So with the hassle of having to remove the bar to fit the passenger side harness mount, then turning lots of the boot box into dust, then fitting it all I’ve pretty much finished the back end. I’d better have because I certainly don’t want to be removing the boot box again! Just need to source some countersunk bolts to secure it.

The rubber trim even made the driver side cutout a bit less ‘severe’

My IVA forms were received on Friday and I got a call Tuesday asking for payment. Hopefully I’ll have the date soon!

Not too much more to do now, major bits being the cycle wings and interior. About three weeks I reckon. I hope. I’ve asked for an IVA on the 19th June!

With my head in the wheel arch I could mark where the wire was going.

It’s funny how post engine start it feels a different phase of the build.

I guess you can tell you’re getting towards the end by looking at the job list – that notice board is usually pretty full!

So the aims of the week were to get the rear lights fitted and trimming of the boot box started. The rear lights weren’t too bad to fit in all honesty. It was made trickier by the fact the arches are stretched slightly (tub moved forward to accommodate the FW bonnet but then lifted at the rear to fit the boot box over the mazda diff) but fitting the rubber trim (not photographed) has filled some of the gaps.

It looks like the drivers side is higher than the passenger side. To be fair it is by about 10mm, but this is natural as the tub is slightly higher on the drivers side. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll drop the fog light on the drivers side slightly – depends what it looks like. It’s not noticeable with a registration plate taped into place.

I admit it, I’m a cheapskate. WordPress won’t let me embed videos unless I stump up for pro so you’ll have to make do with these lovely looking links!

1st start – failure
Took a little while to realise but the connection on the fuel pump outlet wasn’t secure (clamp was slightly too big so wasn’t sealing it properly). Keep your eye on the right hand side for the pool of fuel developing!

1st start – failure

2nd attempt – success
With the clamp replaced with a jubilee clip for now (since swapped again for the right size fuel pipe clamp), we retried and large amounts of success followed. A quick check for fuel leaks in the engine bay showed none which is more surprising than there actually being a leak at the rear!

It starts!

It moves too
Well it’s hard to resist a cheeky trip round the block. Private estate officer.

It moves too

And it comes back
The test showed nothing untoward aside from perhaps the traditional knocking of the propshaft against the handbrake bolts. I’ll fit stronger gearbox mounts after the IVA. We’d already investigated the smoke after starting it up and it was the fibreglass dust burning off the exhaust manifold. Smelled lovely.

A smokey return

Filled it with 10l of fuel, cable tied the loose wires out of the way, rolled it out of the garage and turned it over. Monumental fuel leak. Doh! The clamp on the outlet of the fuel pump was too big and so not tightening enough. I’ve replaced it with a small jubilee clip for now and will source a fuel hose clip a bit smaller than the previous one.

Turn it over again – fired but didn’t catch. Turn it over again… brmmm!! A quick inspection for further leaks showed there was none, so I shut the bonnet and got in. “Why’s there a lot of smoke coming from the bonnet?”. Back open the bonnet goes and it’s coming from the manifold. It’s all the fibreglass dust burning off. I’d thought that’d happen when dusting off as much as I could a few weeks ago but in all the excitement I forgot. Suppose it’s always good to investigate smoke anyway!

Shut the bonnet again and went off for a drive round the block. So far so good, no hesitation (though I didn’t take it through the rev range obviously), brakes seem ok and doesn’t appear to pull in any direction.

That’ll do for now – I’ll plan the finishing of it this weekend and book the IVA on Monday, aiming for a mid June date I expect. Only two months later than I was pushing for. Oops!

Still, it’s alive and it drives. Happy days! There is the obligatory video, but it’s on Facebook. I’ll have to get the original file from my friend who was videoing it and upload it to YouTube or something.