Westfield build, Mazda SDV

Yes, the engine is finally fitted! I had intended to do a few other bits first, namely painting the gearbox, replacing the rear oil seal and turret seal (again, on the gearbox) and modifying the sump. In the end, I had run out of things to do at the back of the car and so I was just wasting time. I could do all of those jobs with the engine in situ.

Fitting was pretty straight forward really. I didn’t need to lift the car at all.

The load leveller really proved its worth here, allowing the angle to be changed whilst the engine was going in.

Here’s why the sump really needs to be modified:

I don’t think the suspension is set that low at the moment, ground clearance is a good few inches but not for the sump!

A few other photos, here’s the comedy mismatch of the passenger side engine mount.

I expect the bracket doesn’t match the chassis and the holes in the chassis are the same whatever engine is fitted.

The tunnel top panels will also need some attention. The gear lever is in neutral here:

And finally on the engine/gearbox front, there was no photo for how the gearbox bracket is fitted so hopefully this will help:

The bracket bolts to the bottom/rear of the box, with the thicker end pointing towards the diff. I still need to drill the holes in the plate of course.

In other areas, here’s the current pedal arrangement:

As you can see, the brake and clutch are ridiculously far forward of the accelerator pedal. There’s adjustment left on the brake, but the bar is hitting the clutch pedal. I’m hoping if I chop 8mm off the clutch pedal bar, it should line up nicely. The clutch pedal is currently sitting in front of the foot rest!

So, with the engine in, I have a bit more sorely needed space in the garage. I’ve also got the opportunity to fit a lot more stuff, this giving me back more space. My current plan is to shift everything at the side of the garage to the back. Then, I can put the car in the middle and lift it on axle stands as I won’t need to move it again.

As far as I can see, I’m still on track for a March completion!

The handbrake was the next victim. It looked straight forward enough, but the pre-drilled holes the manual alluded to weren’t there. Still, I was confident in my ability to drill a couple of holes. I bolted the lever up to the rear bracket and got ready to mark the holes.

Ok, whilst drilling into thin air isn’t entirely difficult, it doesn’t offer a lot to bolt onto. Maybe the lever is supposed to be angled down:

The holes would just about be inside the bar. But, the handbrake wouldn’t disengage:

The lever isn’t fully closed here and it was already touching the top of the tunnel.

A quick consultation of the WSCC and it was established that the rear bracket merely needs to be persuaded backwards. So, with the aid of a large spanner, this was duly done and it fits perfectly.

I still need to fit the cables properly. The rear left brake is binding so I need to sort that first.

I popped into the local fastenings place this week for some longer bolts for the top shock mounting. I had 3 3/4″ inch in there and they weren’t quite long enough so I was after some 4″ efforts. Unfortunately, they only had 4 1/2″ ones but hopefully they won’t intrude into the boot box area.

Gone from this:

To this:

I’ve also managed to make a fuel tank sized dent in the stock of bits too. The manual suggests fitting the fuel tank and then the fuel pump/fuel filter, but I thought access would be better if I did it the other way around. Unfortunately, I don’t think I kept the bracket for the filter from the MX5 so I’ll have to source another one.

I used rivnuts to pump bracket to the chassis like the manual suggests. I had to fit them though as despite paying for the factory to fit rivnuts, these and the filter ones haven’t been done. May as well have fitted the rest of them myself and saved £40 odd quid to be honest.

The fuel tank isn’t quite central, being slightly to the left. I don’t see how it’s possible to seat it centrally as the outlet would foul against the chassis.

I think I’ll attack the handbrake next. The two pre-drilled mounting holes that the build manual allude to are missing so I’ll have to add them myself, once I’ve measured them out. I don’t think I’ll get a lot of time to spend on it over the Christmas break though, too many family functions!

187 hours in and 56.78% of the way through… yikes…

Ah, the infamous fuel tank protection bar… had to file off the powdercoating from the inside of the bolt holes of course but otherwise a perfect fit. The photo shows it extends just over the bolt heads, which I presume is the purpose.

The photo also shows a minor mistake on my part. I prepped the fuel tank for fitting (though didn’t swap the sender over as I won’t be using the Mazda gauges), only to fit I’ve put my wiring in entirely the wrong places!

Basically, the two looms prominent in the photo and the two going to the rear light clusters are all on the ‘inside’ of the where the fuel tank sits. Oops! No rear biggy to move it of course.

In other news, I’m yet to find the union for the fuel tank vent, and I’ve failed miserably at fitting the bearing to the steering column support so that’s gone in the freezer. As you do…

Today was the day and so after collecting the hire van we set off at a leisurely pace to Gibbons industrial estate. Damn you speed limiter.

When we arrived everything was ready, but we found the van didn’t have any blankets in it. That’ll teach me for adding them on after booking it and not checking before we left. Never mind, I reaped the benefits of all that tetris playing as a youngster and everything slotted in fine.

The engine/gearbox mounts are indeed in the completion kit. Why the brackets are in the starter kit though I don’t know. Must be an oversight.

When we got back, it was time to unload.

Where the b****y hell is all that going to go? The original plan was to put the tub in the store room then the boxes could fit between it. So far, the tub is in the store room and everything else is in the garage, in and around the chassis. More tidying required!

I started going through the checklist, writing where stuff was going when I came to the first discrepancy:

It must be rare when you get extra stuff! I’ll post them back when I send the steering column off as I’m pretty sure I only paid an upgrade to the rear lights rather than the full price of a set.

Finally, I was just finishing for the day and I couldn’t resist unwrapping one of the seats:

I daren’t sit in them for the fear of going backwards onto the scuttle and causing some domino effect. They look comfy though, and the lack of ‘bucket’ on the base should mean they’re fatty friendly.

Battle should recommence on Monday. In other news, the engine is all timed up now. Still more painting required though…