Re-arranging things and starting on the panelling

I spent some time re-arranging things in the garage to give myself more room to work. The big question was where was I going to put the main piece of bodywork, the tub, so it didn't get in my way. The answer was to suspend it from the ceiling. Westfield give you some pieces of wood with which to brace the tub, otherwise it apparently has a tendency to distort itself. After putting these on I hoisted the whole package up to the ceiling, suspending from the rafters. It took some effort to get it there, but it's now out of the way, and there was really no other place to put it.

With that done I started to think about putting on the aluminium panels. I started by laying them out on the chassis. This led to some interesting discoveries. Chief amongst these is that Westfield have cheekily added an extra piece of bracing to the chassis, which is not there in the build manual, and I haven't seen talked about in other build diaries. It's probably a good thing, but it does mean that seat back panel needs some material cut out of it to fit. The offending bracing is shown circled in the picture below.

 

I'm also pretty sure that Westfield didn't include the seat pans, and the GRP piece for the drivers side panel. I can feel a phone call coming on to the factory. I'm also wondering about how best to fit the main panels on the inside of the chassis. You are supposed to put a return fold, but this means the pre-drilled holes at the front are in the wrong place. It could be a long phone call.

But on a positive note I was able to split the wishbones from the uprights, as shown in the picture below.

With the aid of this little beastie:-

It's a ball joint splitter, and was recommended by the ever helpful chaps at the Westfield Sports Car Club

The kit is fetched

On a cold Saturday morning in early February I made my way to local van hire centre to pick up a Luton van. I was pretty much there as the place opened at 8.00 a.m. After the formalities I set off on the two and a bit hour drive to Kingswinford, home of the Westfield factory. I skimmed the paperwork, but did notice there was a £2,000 excess for damaging the roof of the van, which somehow hadn't appeared on the web site. I can only hope the Westfield when it is finished is more fun to drive than the van. I could almost see the fuel gauge going down as I drove, and I wasn't exactly racing. In the end it cost me as much to put diesel in the thing as it did to hire it.

I arrived at the factory, feeling relieved not to have encountered any low bridges, where a helpful employee went through the contents of the kit with me, and helped me load it onto the van, with suitable wrapping and padding to avoid any chance of damage in transit. I had been due to go the previous weekend, but the factory had been snowed in. Westfield kindly agreed to open just for me this day, and there was only me and my helper at the factory.

Loaded up I set off back to London, pausing only to fill up with diesel and a sandwich. I made it back early afternoon, and with my wife's helped unloaded the kit into the garage. This took some time, as I had to assemble the chassis stands, before putting the chassis on top of them. Hiring a Luton with a tail lift was definitely an inspired choice. With that out of the way I returned the van.

Upon returning a further hour or two was spent re-arranging things in the garage, including sending to landfill some things I would otherwise would have kept. Any how here are a couple of shots of the beast in the garage.

Preparations

Before the arrival of the kit I sorted the contents of the palettes and stored them as neatly in the garage as I could to make way for the chassis. Basically I took as much as I could off the pallets and with the help of my brother manhandled the pallet with the engine to one corner.

It can seen in the image above. This was taken after the kit arrived, as you can see. Another thing I did was to further dismantle the parts of the donor which needed it. The first thing I tackled was the differential which was still attached to the Mx5 sub frame. I found that the socket set I had wasn't sufficient to free the old bolts, after some research on the Internet I discovered Plus gas and breaker bars. With a bit of brute force I was then able to free it. Once free I began the process of preparing it to have a coat of Hammerite direct to rust paint. That is still ongoing.

Below; parners in crime, the breaker bar, and a jar of plus gas.

There are still the uprights that need to be separated from the wishbones of the donor, but more of that later.

The donor arrives

The diary is playing a little bit of catch up with real time. After making the decision to go ahead I ordered a starter kit from Westfield. I then ordered the donor car from Mx5heaven. There is a six week lead time on kits from Westfield, so the donor arrived first. I decided to pay for the donor to be delivered to me, rather than hiring a van to pick it up myself, as a round trip from London to Dorset would be a whole day affair, and in particular unloading it would have been a nightmare. Given what I now know about the cost of van hire, and diesel to fill the van it was probably cheaper than doing it myself anyhow.

It arrived some time in December, and sat in my garage whilst I went away for Christmas. Here is a picture of it sitting in there, on two pallets, with a more detailed shot of the contents of one of the pallets.

OMG. Game on.

The Beginning

This is the build diary for my Mx5 based SDV Westfield kit car that I'm building in my West London garage. After many months researching, and soul searching I finally decided to take the plunge late last year (2012).

If you're interested in kit cars you probably already know by now there is a whole spectrum of build/buying options, spanning from the Locost builders who build from plans, often welding their own chassis to those who buy a kit car assembled by the factory. The more you choose to buy in, rather than do yourself the more the cost rises. For me part of the pleasure is the thrill of constructing something, so the latter option was a non starter, however a build from plans is something that is beyond my ability, and time that I have available.

So, like most people I suspect, I have plotted a middle course. I have gone for a Westfield kit, with an Mx5 donor. This represents the lowest cost way into Westfield building. I decided it was beyond my ability to strip to my own Mx5 so I went to Mx5 heaven for my donor. This still leaves me with plenty of challenges with which to test my mettle, as you will see in the subsequent entries.

Why Westfield. Well I like the style of the Seven replicas, although some find them a little samey and boring, I'm pretty sure that is a view not shared by the wider public, only the more "anoraky" of kit car enthusiasts. The two major players in this market are Caterham and Westfield. Caterham are by my reckoning, for an equivalent car a few thousand pounds more expensive, plus there is no donor option. There is also a very active Westfield following on the web, with the owners club having a good forum which has already helped me out with issues. So Westfield it was.

I'm sure a lot of you might wonder what does it all cost. It's very tempting to add the cost of the two parts the Westfield kit comes in, and the cost of the donor and say that is it. Well it isn't it, not even anything like it. There is the cost of the IVA test at the end of the build, £500 at the time of writing. Then you need to hire a van to get to the Westfield factory to pick up the starter kit, plus any tools you might need. So I will be keeping a spreadsheet detailing all the costs. (Update. This chap has already done it, and it's here http://mazdafield.wordpress.com/budget/, Still I'm hoping to come in under his total.)

Then there is the time, including this, the obligatory build diary. This diary serves a few purposes. Firstly it allows me to document the build, which can be useful I'm told at the IVA to prove you built it, and not some professional. Secondly it's a motivational tool, you know the World can see your progress or lack of it. Finally it's a payback for all the others who have kept build diaries, which have helped me, and perhaps this diary will help some others.