Westfield build, Mazda SDV

I decided this week that my main focus would be to get the engine started. Largely spurred on by the coolant staying in the pipework!

I started the week off by filling the engine and gearbox with oil. It’s quite difficult to see on the dipstick when the oil is fresh and there’s no dirty oil in the system to contaminate it! With that done I investigated the problem with the headlights. Nice and simple – I hadn’t attached the relay to the sidelight switch wire. Traced it back, found a suitable place to splice it in and all was good.

Tuesday’s tasks were to extend the MAF wiring and fit the battery. No problems encountered – I use the aluminium tray that Westfield supply mixed with the fixings from the MX5.

Could be prettier, may have to break the black rattle can out!

Yesterdays task was to fit the exhaust and put the drivers seat back in. So, I started drilling the hole for the rear bracket, sliding the spacer in and bolting together the fixing. A bit more orange dust later and…

Then I fitted the strip the D clamp bolts onto the right way around. Then I fitted it the actual right way round!

I managed to persuade the silencer to fit onto the downpipe – took some going. Thought I was going to have to break out some sort of grease!

I suppose at this point I should mention that those aren’t the tools I was fitting the silencer with. No, those are the selection I decided I needed to tighten the drain plug and fill the gearbox with oil the other night.

Knowing how the IVA man is fond of the clamp on the front of the exhaust, I continued the exhaust wrap down to the silencer. I think it helps make it all look a bit less weedy to be honest.

Add the heatshield et voila. Maybe this could also be black!

Hopefully it’s back far enough to cover the rear clamp

Last job for the day, playing with the dash.

I’ve uploaded the standard westfield 2000 sport configuration for now, changing the coolant sensor settings to a standard bosch sensor. The resistance values of that are about right, but I’ll need to do some electrickery to change it to a voltage reading. There’s no point in configuring the oil pressure sensor as it’s just a switch on the Mazda. I need to work out if it’s normally on or off but if the value changes, I know something is up.

Firstly, a confession. It’s taken me this long to seal that water pump inlet. After various combinations of gaskets and event an attempt with silicone RTV sealant it still leaked in one form or another so today I went back to basics. I sanded it down with 320 grit, then 500, 800 and 1000. Whereas previously I was using ‘fine’ then 1500 grit. I’ve only used one gasket, the round thermostat cover one and it appears to have sealed. Let’s hope for its first dry night!

Between sealing attempts I’ve trimmed and fitted the steering column cover but removed it for now – I want to get the middle steering column extended by a couple of centimetres. I’ve also secured the wiring on both sides of the engine bay.

Still a bit more to go on that front – the MAF wires need extending and front/side indicators routing.

With the wiring largely done and the earths connected, there wasn’t anything stopping me connecting the battery. So I did. After a quick test it seems the following is working:

• One sidelight (think a bulb has gone)
• The horn
• Windscreen washer pump
• Hazards
• Switch backlighting

And the following definitely isn’t working:

• Headlights
• Windscreen wipers

Guess I’ll be breaking the multimeter out. Motivated by the mild amounts of success I was having, I decided to plug the dash in. Low and behold, it came to life!

Wow those LEDs are bright! I think the warning is for the lack of fuel, or at least I hope it is. Obviously, the sensors need configuring yet – I’m pretty sure the coolant isn’t that cold. It did show the alternator output light worked, as does the handbrake switch. The rear fog warning comes on when the rear fog is switched on (fog light itself not fitted yet of course), but I can switch it on independently of the lights which I think is an IVA fail. Nothing a simple relay won’t sort out. The indicator err… indicator works so apart from the full beam that’s all of the warning lights accounted for. Oh and the rev lights dim when the lights are switched on. Couldn’t see any backlghting but I also didn’t check.

Looking forward to getting it fired up now.

I was waiting for a couple of hose clips to finish off the intake so I started on other things. For some reason, I decided the exhaust downpipe would be a good idea. It’s impossible to do anything but guess where the hole in the tub should go, but I did some measuring anyway. Forward/backward area wasn’t too difficult to work out, holding the downpipe above the exhaust manifold and seeing where it would exit. I then measured how far the top stud on the manifold was off the ground and marked that position on the tub. Then, it was a case of seeing how much difference there was between the top and bottom of the downpipe. Simples. Would have been if I got the last measurement right! Had to dremel the hole downwards in the end. Good excuse for a custom manifold to fill the slightly oval hole I reckon!

and now everything is orange…

Other non-photogenic jobs completed includes sealing the sump (I swear it’s lower to the ground in the westfield jacked up than it was in the MX5 on its wheels) and filling the coolant, which promptly drained itself from the water pump inlet. New gaskets arrived today.

I made a new bracket for the steering column out of thicker metal which has straightened it up a touch. Still looks like the hub will be through the dash though so I may get the column extended by 1-2cm. I might also put some spacers on the bracket to drop it lower but I’ll refit the seat and test it before making that decision.

Still not worked out an estimated completion date yet. Given the weather, that doesn’t seem such a problem! IVA at the end of May I guess, though I’ll caveat that with it being a busy time at work so I may be doing overtime instead. All makes the winter upgrades better… assuming the car is even on the road by then!

I’d researched into fitting an induction kit and worked out it’d cost me £220, plus the wait for the silicone hoses as I’d want them in orange. I’ve now come to the conclusion that I’ll be going with throttle bodies over winter so it seemed pointless spending the money now. I thus reduced the airbox to it’s component parts and fitted it into the gap in front of the engine. Years of tetris prove their worth! Oddly though, if I use the passenger side mount for it, the box would be in the crank pulley. I’ve put a strip of metal in to bridge the gap.

and after butchering the standard intake pipe… christ this thing is getting dusty.

I needed two hose clips for the flexible ducting to attach the airbox to the intake and once they arrived, I connected it all together. All I can see is orange dust though. There’s a reason for that – next post…

After wondering where I’d attach my fuel tank earth to, I remembered there was a mounting on the nearside of the tank. Oops! One ring terminal (well, two) and bolt later, the tank was earthed.

Continuing with the random odd jobs I’ve been doing some work on securing the wiring loom. I dug out the relay mount that was removed from the Mazda and bolted it onto the chassis. I put it on the other way round originally. It looked tidier, but the wires were too close to the manifold for comfort, so it’s ugly way around unfortunately.