Build Day 36

Build time today 4.5 hours - Total build time 102.0 hours.

Man time today 4.5 hours - Total man time 118.5 hours.

More time spent on the wiring loom, it is now starting to look a lot tidier but there is more to be done. Access is the main stumbling block as the wiring needs to be tided up in confined spaces. Starting again on the Engine management loom was the right approach to take the wiring is now a lot neater. Where there are a large number of wires routed around the top right of the chassis I have covered them where they route around the chassis diagonal.

Engine management loom now starting to look
Much neater

Trunking applied to wires running round chassis

Concentrating only on the loom though becomes tedious so I picked up a few other task as well.

I completed the trimming and preparing the chassis for the transmission tunnel panels. These are now ready to fit. I have used rivet nuts for all of these panels to allow them to be removed if need be.
I suspect that this will be rare except for the rear most panel that allows access to the hand brake adjustment.









I next started on the rear lights, the advice from Westfield regarding the fog and reversing lights was to screw locking nuts on first then fit the lights with more locking nuts, this would allow for adjustment of the lights to keep them square. It worked. I next needed to drill holes in the rear panel to allow the reflectors and light clusters to be fitted. Luckily the indicator units fitted very snugly in the centres allowing me to use these to mark up where the holes are required. I used a straight edge and lined the holes up by sight. I was warned by Westfield to be caution how far into the combined stop/tail lamps I inserted screws as there is not a lot of room and there are circuit boards inside. The self tapping screws supplied seem a little long to me so I have decided to use M4 domed headed screws, (all ready ordered to secure the gear stick gaiter). I used an M4 tap to thread the light clusters and reflectors and will fit once the screws arrive.Once fitted I will make sure the wiring is secured and tidy.

Build Day 35

Build time today 5.0 hours - Total build time 97.5 hours.

Man time today 5.0 hours - Total man time 114.0 hours.

In some ways a long weekend without to much to show for it, the main task for the weekend was to get the wiring loom tidied up ready to permanently secure to the chassis. Intermixed with the efforts to get the wiring neat and tidy I undertook a few other tasks.

I started by finishing the gear stick section of the transmission tunnel, I had already marked up the centre point. I had purchased a 79mm hole cutter from an eBay seller, close enough to the 80mm required, so cutting the hole was a quick and easy task. Once the hole was cut I then lined it up on the tunnel, there was quite a bit of overlap on each edge, so I marked it form underneath and trimmed the edges to fit. I then drilled some fixing holes down each edge, marked them on the chassis and drilled and fitted some rivet nuts ready for a more permanent attachment. I had learned from Westfield that the supplied gaiter needed trimming. There is a large flange that runs around the underside, this is not required so I cut it off. The gaiter is fixed using an aluminium ring, I inserted rivet nuts into the panel to allow the ring to be secured. I only had countersunk screw and have ordered some dome headed screws to permanently secure.

I had picked up an aluminium panel from Westfield specifically designed to cover the holes in the back panel where inertia real seat belts are in use. I really wanted to secure this on the outer side of the panel plus I was not happy with the routing of the full tank sender wire so I decided to remove the fuel tank to allow the wire to be routed behind it fastened to the chassis. A bit of a fiddly job as access to the inner tank strap nuts is a little tight but once the straps were removed the tank could be moved out of the way without having to remove the fuel pipes. this allowed me to rivet on the panel and re-route and secure the cable.





I then decided to cable wrap and re-route the cables to the inertia cut off switch and fuel pump. I am much happier with the new routing and the cable is now properly protected.

Having spent much of the day fiddling with the wiring loom around the engine bay and forward section of the transmission tunnel I decided that the best approach would be to pull the engine management loom back through and start again. Once the engine management loom was out of the way it was more straight forward to tidy up the other wires, I finished the day by starting to re insert the engine management harness, making sure that the wires were running neat and tidy.and using either electrical tape of loosely tightened cable ties to bundle wires together.

Build Day 34

Build time today 2.0 hours - Total build time 92.5 hours.

Man time today 2.0 hours - Total man time 109.0 hours.

A good evening, I first fitted the horn, thought it best to do this before the radiator, there is a rivet nut in the chassis ready but I could not find an M6 bolt. A quick search through my own stash soon produced just the item a 16mm Allen key headed bolt. A drop of nut-lock and it was soon mounted. Next I wrapped spiral cable wrap around the horn and fan wires coming out of the main loom, for added protection. Bit of a tedious task, but better to protect the cables as much as reasonably possible.




















Getting the top mounts on was straight forward and then I clamped them to the chassis while I attached the lower fastenings. These were more fiddly getting the lower right nut started to quite a while and lots of fiddling before it finally bit.Once the bottom fittings were secure it was just a matter of lining up the top mounts drilling and riveting in place. Once in place I attached the cables and tucked some of the excess cable away.

I then wrapped the brake related cables having roughly worked out how they would route and where they would leave the chassis rails. Again the intention is to wrap the cables where they float in the engine bay.

Getting closer to the point where I can fully secure the wiring loom

Build Day 33

Build time today 2.0 hours - Total build time 90.5 hours.

Man time today 2.0 hours - Total man time 107.0 hours.

Managed to pop into Westfield, most of the issues weren't a concern the broken oil pressure sender plug was though. The bush the engine mount sits on is easy to remove and replace and a new one was supplied there and then, the missing nut will be easy to replace and they found out what they thought may be correct (wasn't has it happens), they will sort out a replacement plug for the incompatible fitting. The plug would need some thought though and they would get back to me.

Engine mount minus
Bush

damaged and undamaged bush

When I got home the first task was to replace the engine mounting bush, I loosened the left hand fitting and found a large block of wood to support the engine while I used a trolley jack to lift it clear. No problem and quickly sorted.





I then proceeded to generally start to tidy up the wiring making sure that everything was routed consistently so that it could be gathered together with cable ties when ready.
Before attaching the starter motor I decided to check the exhaust in position to confirm its routing and where to avoid, It passes close to the starter motor so the wires will need to tucked towards the back of the car. I then attached the starter motor, I first cable wrapped the loose cables to give them added protection then attached the cables (the red/white cable from the engine harness goes to the smaller of the terminals the double brown and single brown from the engine harness plus the large red positive cable attach to the larger terminal, the other end of the cable attaches to the battery)









I next sorted out the negative battery terminal, I attached the other end to the chassis using the front centre brake line mounting point.






Last job for the evening was the alternator, I again cable wrapped the loose cable before securing. (double brown cable from the engine harness to the B+ terminal and the brown & yellow engine harness wire to the D+ terminal).

I will try and make sure any wires not secured to a chassis rail have additional protection.

A reasonably productive evening, even if there is not too much visible to show for it, I still have the worry of sorting out the oil sensor plug but I am sure Westfield will come up with a solution. I guess I may well learn something new soon.

Build Day 31/32

Build time today 4.5 hours - Total build time 88.5 hours.

Man time today 4.5 hours - Total man time 105.0 hours.

Very frustrating weekend.

After a promising start to the weekend with the arrival of the body work and lots of questions answered it started to go wrong quite quickly.

First task now that I had the M8 nylocks was to fasten the top steering column mount and then finish fastening the engine in place. The steering column was straight forward though it is not tight as I am not yet sure where to fasten in place and there is quite a bit of lateral movement/adjustment. Fastening the LH engine mounting bracket was a little fiddly as there was not a lot room but the bolts were soon lightened up to the correct torque settings. now on the the M10 bolts sticking out of the engine mounts. These should be tightened up to 35lbs/ft I could not get a torque wrench at the left hand side so started on the right only for the bolt to sheer before getting any where need the correct setting.
My initial though was blind panic with visions of having to remove the engine... upon closer inspection I realize that if I take the weight of the engine with a jack I should be able to remove the who engine mount if the lower steering rack is removed. I will check with Westfield before proceeding though.

Next I had to remove the dash wiring loom from the hole in the scuttle, it needs to go through the right hand hole in the front part of the transmission tunnel, a job that is time consuming but just requires patients. The left hand hole needs to be sealed so I made plate and secured with rivet nuts. Then on to feeding more of the wires into place.


















To my next problem. To fit the oil pressure sender first a plug has to be removed from behind the air intake system. The plug needs a torque bit to remove and was very tightly fitted. The oil pressure sender is in two parts a brass plug/sleeve that fits the hole in the engine block and the sender itself which fits into the plug/sleeve, after applying ptfe tape I screwed in the plug/sleeve which was tight from the outset then the sender, as the area was difficult to work in I decided to remove the bits and screw the plug/sleeve on to the sender first, I expected the sender to fit fully into the plug/sleeve but it did not fully go in and  was a tight fit from the very beginning. I then proceeded to screw the sender into the engine block, again it was tight from the beginning but was going in bit at a time, then suddenly without warning it became very loose, oh no, not again, another sheered fitting.
Another discussion with Westfield needed.
I thought no I need to carry on so continued to root the cables to the correct place. Trouble again, I had been told the plug on the engine management harness that I could not identify any socket for fits behind the air intake system, when I looked there was a plug that looked about correct so I tried to fit the plug in, this has to be done blind as the socket is tucked away, kept trying but no luck so inspected the ends more closely only to find them incompatible

.


















The tabs on the plug and socket don't match up, yet another question needed.

I then moved on to fitting the air temp sensor this fits to the inlet manifold, I removed the air filter and the inlet manifold, then found the air temp sensor, only to find there was no brass nut, I could not find one anywhere, another question needed.

Though when asked for assistance they are very very helpful.

Body Work has arrived

Managed to pop into Westfield to get my questions answered and to pick up a few missing bits and bobs. Most of my assumptions had been correct but there were a number of things what have now been clarified.
The body work had arrived and they suggested that they could deliver there and then so once I had finished asking questions and taking pictures of the demo vehicle, we loaded the seats into the back of my car and I was followed home by a very helpful Westfield employee with the body panels in the pack of there covered pick-up truck.

I have not left the panels scattered over the garage floor, for safety and to allow the garage to be used for Tracy's cat most of the body panels have been relocated to the spare bedroom.

with the missing bits secured and knowledge gathered I can get on again tomorrow, securing the engine in place (its still just resting in place), completing the wiring and starting the coolant system.

Build Day 30

Build time today 2.0 hours - Total build time 84.0 hours.

Man time today 2.0 hours - Total man time 100.5 hours.

Another day of thought and preparation.

I first had another look at the wiring making sure I thought I understood as much as possible. I then took pictures of what I thought went where so I could formulate a clarification question for Westfield.

Once that was complete I then had a look for the grommets to fit the holes in the transmission tunnel, trouble is the grommets only just fit the holes and easily fall out, so another question is needed, I may cut a now panel and put smaller holes in.








I then finished the blanking plate for the hole cut to fill the gearbox, I still haven't filled the gearbox, I am just trying to confirm how much oil it should take to make it easier to judge when I am close to filling it up rather than just waiting for it to over flow.












I then started on the radiator and fan assembly, that section looks to be reasonably straight forward, the rest I am not so sure of as again the description in the guide does not cover the Zetec engine. Again found a couple of items missing so could not complete.

I lastly had a look at cutting a hole for the gear leaver in the next section of the transmission tunnel cover. The hole is marked, I think but need to double check how it all assembles before cutting.

Next to formulate another question for Westfield.

Build Day 29

Build time today 2.0 hours - Total build time 82.0 hours.

Man time today 2.0 hours - Total man time 98.5 hours.

Not too much achieved. Firstly got the engine harness out and had a look and the engine management harness. went through the plugs trying to workout where everything fitted, think I have worked out some of what is required but not all. Trouble is the supplements in the guide are for the sport 1600i and the Duratec engines, mine is a Zetec plus the engine management described is a different make.

Gave up after a while and decided to move on to something else, the speedometer sensor, I first wrapped the cable in spiral wrap for added protection, which took quite a while, then fastened it onto its braked on the front right upright. I fed the wire along the training edge of the front lower wishbone and up the front chassis upright. Then back where the other wires run.



I next decided to look at the tunnel cover, I had seen in another blog that someone had cut the front part in two, some that the area which wires pass through and the gear leaver surround are separated. this seemed sensible and I decided to do the same. I first marked the panel so that I would cut along the top of a cross brace then drew a line a jig sawed it in to two parts. It also seemed to wide so I trimmed the side so that it no longer overhung the tunnel edges, made new holes in one side, naked, drilled and inserted rivet nuts. Its now ready to fasten down.


Not much for a couple of hours work but a number of the tasks are not clear so need careful consideration.

Build Day 28

Build time today 2.0 hours - Total build time 80.0 hours.

Man time today 2.0 hours - Total man time 96.5 hours.

I had decided that the cable to the fuel tank sender seemed a little vulnerable so had ordered some additional spiral cable wrap, I spent the first part of the evening wrapping this wire up and re-attaching.

I then moved on to completing the lower steering column, I had marked the stay and the chassis the previous day so proceeded to cut the stay and drill the holes. Drilling the hole for the stay on the inner chassis member was going to prove a little more difficult though as I could not get a drill in from above. I had to use a square to remark the hole position on the lower side of the chassis and drill from below. Once I had the inner hole drilled I then put the stay in place and marked the outer hole, thankfully I could get at this hole from above. It was then a matter of drilling some holes for the rivets for the cable tie mounts which I could drill from above with the assistance of a flexible drill shaft and fitting it all together. It looks like the bolts supplied are too short though (M8x35mm Allen bolts) as they lock nuts can't tighten to the point the lock part comes into play, will email Westfield for advice. I left it all in position but loose, hopefully it will be a matter of just swapping the bolts for longer ones. I did make sure they were all accessible though, to do this I needed to move the steering, so using a stilson tried to rotate the steering, it would not move, I thought my go the steering is going to be heavy, until it occurred to me the steering lock was on. Once freed the steering move OK.

I then proceeded to fit the fuel tank breather cable, it did not really explain what to do with it in the guide so had clarification from the factory, it needs to be fitted to the tank and run down the rear chassis towards the bottom left hand corner. fitted, cut and clipped in place, being careful not to pull the clips to tight.

I finished the evening by wrapping the rear speed sensor plug on the wiring loom in insulating tape and tucking it away. The clocks I have require the sender to be fitted to the front right upright rather than next to the diff so I thought I would tidy away and insulate the excess plug and wires.

Build Day 27

Build time today 3.5 hours - Total build time 78.0 hours.

Man time today 3.5 hours - Total man time 94.5 hours.

Throttle cable

I managed to get the bush inserted into the lower steering column stay. The trick is to well lubricate the bush, and use a vice to press the bush into the stay. I was told to use either WD40 or washing up liquid, but I actually used some lubricate I have for putting plastic waste pipes together, seemed to be a sensible choice as it is designed to act as a lubricant. I then used my workmate to slowly insert the bush, regularly checking it was lined up and square.

I then looked at the throttle cable again, when I first looked at it I wondered how I was going to get the washers on as they would not fit over the ball at the end of the cable. It then dawned on me that the inner cable could be pulled out which made the job very straight forward. Once complete I then fitted the throttle stop so that the pedal stops just short of when it can't be pushed any further.



Clutch Cable
runs through guide and clutch leaver



Next on to the Clutch cable. this was not quite so straight forward, again it looked like the cable needed to be pulled out, threaded through holes and pushed back, it can't though. Under the car where the cable attaches the clutch arm there is a hole  for the cable to go through and then there is the arm/leaver then disengages the clutch. There is a piece of rubber/plastic that can be detached at the end of the arm where the cables goes through, once removed I could see how this fitted over the end of the cable, trouble was how to get enough free cable to push the cable through the hole in the arm and then fit the plastic back on.

To achieve this I managed to pull the clutch leaver over and jam it in place allowing me enough free cable to assemble push the cable through the holes and put the plastic protector on. I then released the arm and adjusted until the cable was taught. The clutch pedal stop was then fitted and adjusted to the point it just stopped before full movement. I suspect it may need adjustment once the engine is running. I was a little unsure that the approach was correct so I have sought verification from Westfield.



Cutting end off steering rack



Once the cables were installed I then loosely assembled the lower steering rack to see when holes needed to be drilled in the chassis for the stay and a couple of cable clip mounting points to keep the cables in place, I was told by Westfield that the stay needs to be cut to fit. It is important to use the stay to keep the lower arm away from the engine and its ancillaries so positioning is important. Once marked up I disassembled and moved on to my next task for the day.

I had confirmed with the factory the length the rack should be, they measured a rack in their stores at 1005mm, I disassembled the track rod ends and measured the rack, it was 1020mm long. I decided to cut 10mm from each end. To do this I used two nuts and locked them together 10mm from the end so I could use the nut as a cutting guide. It took a little while and some effort but the rack was shortened, once re-assembled and tightened up there still seems to be some toe out, I will check with Westfield if it needs to be trimmed more.

I next completed the fitment of the hinged panel that holds the engine management module, this fits over the passenger foot well, I fitted as far left as possible to leave as much room as possible for the heater outlet. It was just a matter of marking drilling and either fitting nuts and bolts or rivets.

To finish the day I cut a piece off an Aluminium off cut I had acquired from the factory to act as a cover for the hole I had made to fill the gearbox.Simple to cut a rectangle and round the corners, I think I will use rivet nuts to attach.



Panel fitted
From above (left) and below (above)
The hole cut to fill the gearbox is also visible

IVA update - you need to put some edging along the exposed edges

Build Day 26

Build time today 1.5 hours - Total build time 74.5 hours.

Man time today 1.5 hours - Total man time 91.0 hours.

Another quiet evening without much progress, managed to get some parts from Westfield and answers to the questions I had posted. Thankfully I had installed the engine correctly and drilling chassis for the gearbox mounting is correct.
They also confirmed that the steering rack should be correct length, I still think there looks to be too much toe out so I double checked that there was no adjustment remaining and then measured the distance between the front of the disks and the rear and the there is 3cm difference which to me seems quite a lots so took some pictures to send to Westfield.
I then swapped the temporary bolts I had used to hold the LH engine mount with the correct ones, which required the engine to be lifted slightly to take the weight, I used a trolley jack and block of wood to lift the engine a little to allow access to the holes.
The bolts used were the ones for the lower steering column, I studied that and now understand how to fit and which part goes where, still not sure how the bush gets inserted into the bracket though.
I still have various bags of bits and pieces opened and partly use. I sorted through those to check what I have and what I think the parts are for. I assembled the anti-roll bar drop links loosely so that all the remaining parts are together and labels the fronts and rears as they are different lengths (fronts longer than rears) and sorted through the rest bagging up any remaining similar items together rather than having lots of bags with only one or two items in each.
There are still a couple of things that I need some clarification on but there are plenty of other tasks to progress which I understand.
the body work should be at the factory next week but I won't organise delivery until later as I still have plenty of other tasks to undertake before fitting.

Build Day 25

Build time today 1.0 hours - Total build time 73.0 hours.

Man time today 1.0 hours - Total man time 89.5 hours.

No real progress on the car, finished tidying up the garage and getting the Engine Crane ready to return. Then make a list of missing items/questions for Westfield.

Build Day 24

Build time today 1.0 hours - Total build time 72.0 hours.

Man time today 1.0 hours - Total man time 88.5 hours.

Bit of tidying up, just got the car onto axle stands and the wheels off

Build Day 23

Build time today 4.0 hours - Total build time 71.0 hours.

Man time today 7.0 hours - Total man time 87.5 hours.

Engine installed today.


Firstly moved everything around to allow access to the engine so it could be hoisted into the air.  Then to try and position the car to allow the engine to be installed. 

Ready for first attempt

I remembered reading another blog that said lifting the front of the cars on a couple of blocks of wood helped so I found a couple of ramps I had from my caravanning day. The car was now ready for the first attempt. 

Engine in position for the first time

It proved really difficult to try and angle the gearbox down under the scuttle panel while keeping the front up over the front of the chassis, we decided to lift the front up further to improve the angle of attack. 

To get the engine, with gearbox and gearstick attached requires the gearbox to be pushed down and fed into the transmission tunnel, carefully missing cables etc, while keeping the engine itself away from the chassis and break pipes.  

Gearbox mounting hole marked,
Oli marking up
where plug hole needs to be

Lining up the gearbox with the prop shaft added to the complexity as the spines need to match. Eventually the engine was in position, sitting on its mounts. When checking we could see that the gearbox mounting holes did not line up with the holes in the chassis, there was little movement as the front mounts have little play. 

Gearbox access point in passenger foot well

I remember reading that the plate needs to be drilled so this was what was done, plus we also decided to make a hole in the passengers inner foot well to allow access to the gearbox oil plug. Oli marked up where this was required while I marked the chassis plate. Once done the engine was removed, this was slightly easier than installation as we had a better idea of what was needed.

With the engine out the inner foot well was drilled and the chassis plate remarked to make sure the new holes would be central to the tunnel and 9mm holes drilled.

Back in with the engine, not so bad this time, still not simple but it went quite smoothly. 

Once in place we got the gearbox chassis bolts inserted after a bit of fiddling, there is not a lot of space and the one had to be inserted from below. 

We borrowed the upper steering column nuts and bolts for this as we could not find any others.

Once installed we could see that the hole cut in the foot well looked a little low so I cut a second hole above it to make it oblong, actually I think this will make it easier to use.

Once we got the car back on its wheels we finished for the day, it was New Years Eve after all.

Engine installed

Engine installed