Westfield build, Mazda SDV

The end result of the footwell panel was that it’s no longer part of the kit, so I had to purchase it at £15+VAT. I could have just used the flat metal panel supplied of course, but I’d much rather have the footrest and the space.

My brother fixed his air compressor, so I promptly stole it and started investing.

I really wish I’d invested in air tools at the start of the whole project, they just make like so much easier. My hands don’t hurt and the mere thought of riveting now!

The footwell panel also finally arrived:

It’s not fibreglass like I was expecting, so almost worth then £18.

I remade the front pipe as threatened, and ended up with this:

Quite pleased with my effort, I had no idea the unsupported distance between the master cylinder and the chassis was too far. Yup, I’d be doing this pipe again. Again.

I ran out of p-clips whilst securing the fuel lines, so drilled the drivers side footwell panel, and fitted the passenger side. I left the drivers side off so I’d still have access to the pedals.

A couple of days later, the p-clips arrived and battle continued. I finished the drivers side pipework off, then made up the carbon canister pipe. This was easily the best pipe I made, shame I didn’t have pipe to practice on first!

Still a bit of tidying to be done, particularly with the brake pipe. I’ll replace some of the clips with p-clips for added security too.

The rear was much tidier:

No pictures I’m afraid, but just a quick update. Attacked the front-rear hose last night. Much easier this time! The copper/nickel pipe I bought is easier to manipulate than the ones Westfield supplied and seeing as I had 25ft of the stuff, I could take a much neater route. The other two rear hoses were shaped fine, seems it’s just the long ones I’m inept at.

Ordered 20 of the push fit clips yesterday to help me keep it all neat. Also deliberated with Westfield as to whether I’m supposed to have the fibreglass drivers footwell rather than the metal one. The technical guys were adamant that it doesn’t clear the clutch slave cylinder but every build blog I’ve seen has it. It’s even in the build manual! They were going to phone me back but haven’t yet, so I guess we’ll see if it arrives today or not.

Lastly I managed to get the fuel lines shaped. Well, two of them. For the first one, the wrong size was used on the pipe bender and it simply creased. Obviously, that was a friend that did that… I do different silly things like flaring brake pipes before putting the nut on.

I got wind that CarbonMods were stopping production of wet lay carbon products, of which the dash was one. I searched the internet for alternatives but I didn’t like any as much as the CarbonMods one, so I snapped one up! Ok it’s a bit early, but I just couldn’t do without. I hope I don’t mess it up when it comes to cutting it.

Back to the build and the drivers side footwell panel still hadn’t arrived (it’s the 18th September at this point). I therefore grabbed a mate, we flipped the chassis and started on the floorpans. The chassis has the lowered floor so less bits to do there, just the front ones.

From there it was on with the brake pipes. Writing this now, I was so naiive! Ah well, if you’re building a Westfield make sure you read a few posts after this one…

Firstly, I mounted the brake pressure switch. This is done with an M6 bolt which was, surprisingly, missing. I therefore used a longer one with an M10 nut as a spacer. Hopefully I remember I’ve done that!

After fitting the front and rear 3-way connectors and flexi pipes, the first pipe to make was the master cylinder -> front pipe. This was fairly easy, then it was the pipes going from the 3-way connector to the flexi pipes.

Cunningly, I’d left the clutch master cylinder off to give me more space. Stupidly, I didn’t take that into account and so managed to block the gap with the brake pipe. I rebent it, it all fitted but it was a bit ugly. I vowed to get some more pipe, invest in a flaring tool and redo it.

Apologies for the delay, progress has been slow whilst waiting for parts and I was only doing a little bit every now and again. I never had a single update big enough!

So, the first thing to arrive was the scuttle panel, the footwell panel was still MIA.

Nice and simple, that fits much better! It’s even got the holes for the wiring loom. Shame I wasn’t planning on fitting it yet.

I drilled the holes for the passenger footwell panel but didn’t fit it – I’d need the access to drill the holes for the drivers side when it arrives. Bored of not getting much done, I decided to attack the behemoth that is the seat back.

Just trimmed it first and drilled the holes. I waited until the evening for riveting when a few mates turned up. No way was I tackling that solo!

The sharp eyed amongst you will spot the cake, a surprisingly useful tool for riveting, in that in can be used to bribe people.

I also checked the bolts on the master cylinder and whilst they were as specified, I don’t think they’re long enough. I’ll replace them with 30mm bolts I think.

Finally, it looks like there is the odd flaw in the powdercoating. It doesn’t appear to have acheived a complete covering around the welds. I think I’ll go over them with POR-15 just for good measure. Certainly don’t want any rust, and it’d be silly for it to start there when it can be easily avoided.

Yup, come across more LHD features in my panel set. But first, progress:

Pedals was the bit to focus on, and the pedals got done. First up was to identify the spacers. After initially picking out the spacers for the rear shocks, I managed to get the right ones. For the avoidance of doubt, it’s these bad boys.

Clutch pedal was first, and next to find was a 60mm stud. Hmm… none in the bag-of-bits, what about the fixings that I sorted on collection day. Nope, none in there either! A quick scan of the pick list shows it’s not even on there. Fortunately there was a 70mm  stud present and a test fit showed this would be fine. Copper grease the spacer, slip the pedal in (prising the bracket apart because it’s so tight) and bolt it all up.

I didn’t fit the clutch master cylinder because other build diaries suggest this gets in the way of the brake pipe fitting. I expect I’ll tackle that this week so it won’t be missing for long.

Next up, brake pedal and master cylinder. This time the pedal is held in with a 55mm bolt. Nope, no 55mm bolts! However, there is a 60mm and a 50mm bolt supplied. This seems feasible as the accelerator pedal bracket is thinner than the brake pedal one. A quick test fit again shows all will fit fine. These will do for now then and I’ll double check with Westfield anyway, just in case!

Last up, accelerator pedal. Use the 50mm bolt and voila:

One pedal set. Last job of the day was the inner footwell panels. Easy to identify, one is GRP, the other is aluminium.

Ah, that’ll be the LHD panel set then. Time to check more panels…

Scuttle panel isn’t a particularly great fit either. I’ll get all this cleared up with Westfield. There’s still a few panels I can do in the mean time, including the seat back panel. Been putting that off though thanks to a monster number of rivets!

1/3rd of the way through the whole project now!