Westfield build, Mazda SDV

The replacement fillet arrived in mid April. This one fitted much better, which they tend to do when you don’t attack them with hacksaws.

I got to work fitting the wiper wheel boxes which, frankly, is a bit of a faff. Got there in the end but much trimming of the rubber pipes the spindle goes through was required.

The wiper motor was fitted along with the washer jet and the scuttle made it’s way back onto the car

Then I noticed something odd…

Oops! I think my measurements must have been off slightly! The column is supported by an exhaust clamp rather than the standard Mazda mounts and must not have centralised the bracket for that properly. Not a hard job to knock a new one up. It looks like the column has shrunk slightly having the new spline welded on to it, so I may have a fairly hefty hole in the dash for the steering boss rather than just the column. I think I’ll buy a sacrificial dash rather than cut a hole that big in my carbon one straight away. Or I could get the column lengthened slightly.

So, when will the car be ready? To be honest, I’m enjoying the build more now I’m not pushing to get it ready. I’ll send the IVA paperwork off for an ASAP date once the engine is running I expect. Not far to go for that, seal the sump, fit the exhaust and fill the coolant. This weekend? Maybe, but I won’t rush for it.

The fuel filler has also been fitted now. Somehow, between the storeroom at the back of the garage and the back of the Westfield I managed to lose the cork gasket that sits between the tub and the filler. I’ve found it now, but it’s not fitted in this photo.

The cap is IVA friendly being tethered inside.

I fitted the cycle wing brackets at the start of the month and as I’d known about previously (and subsequently forgotten), they’d need fettling.

It’s the tyres that are catching, not the alloy itself. For reference, the tyres are 195/45/15 and wheels 15×7 with an ET40 offset. After a quick consultation with the experience on the WSCC, I dug out the hammer and started attacking.

Some time later, I adopted the much more effective method of putting them in the vice and bending them. That worked a treat…

I’ve only done one side so far, and think I’ll be recovering them this winter as the powder coat is now broken in places.

The steering column had the correct end welded onto it and it fitted a treat (benefit of hindsight – no it doesn’t). It does sit a little close to the inlet manifold support bracket so I’ll either fab up a new one or grind a bit out of it. But, the point of going through the hassle of keeping a splined end – I could use the standard Mazda seal:

I also fitted the inside one, though it will be removed if I end up kicking it in the footwell

And… we’re still towards the end of March and my dash arrived!

Slowly catching up! Whilst fitting the propshaft I decided to do something that made a visual difference so started on the windscreen. I got the pillars fitted one evening but it was getting a bit late to fit the screen itself.

The next day, the traditional 1008 and 1012mm lengths of wood were cut and the windscreen fitted.

The next step was to take the scuttle off and fit the wipers.

As a side task to this side task, the EGR blanks were finished and fitted. I couldn’t fit the EGR pipe back in with the coolant reroute.