Fetched the chassis at last, since they had my old chassis they were able to add a lot of the bracketry that westfield had originally added on a case by case basis. I also exchanged a number of the extras I decided I didn't want for some that I did. So now the build will begin properly.
Covered the bodywork in cardboard and bubblewrap to give it some protection. Wrapped the rollbar in carboard since it's one of the only visible bits of powder-coated metalwork.
Started the build proper by fitting the seat back panel. The manual says you have to bend it to fit it but omits to say how. The knack is to bend it in the middle so that the bottom edges go in first then the rest follows. After my experience with the Tiger the westfield is a breeze, with all the panels pre-cut and drilled in the correct locations.
The method I'm adopting for the assembly is to follow the manual reasonably closely but not to accept what it says as gospel. I know that my chassis is different for starters and that they never documented all the tweaks to put the cossie in, let alone any of the mods done over the last 9 years the car has been on the road. Westfield say to drill the chassis, use silicone sealant and rivet, seems reasable enough really.
First I put the panel in place, clamped it down firmly and made sure it fitted, it did, although tool number one was used to make it fit nicely over some of the welds. Next the drilling, in theory I should mark the holes, remove the panel, drill, replace panel blah blah blah. In reality this can lead to some errors in positioning, so I drilled carefully with the panel in place without any problems, although getting round the chassis rails can be a little awkward and those holes are nothing like as neat as the rest of them. Then I removed the panel, squirted a generous amount of waxoyl in each hole then applied silicone sealant to all the rails, making sure to cover all the holes.
I know from past experience that the powder coat is substanatially weekend around the holes and electrolysis/corrosion can set in there, the waxoyl stops anything starting inside the tubes, the sealant stops any noises on the road, strengthens the join and helps avoid the direct contact of aluminium on steal. Then the panel goes back on, using rivets inserted, but not fastened to ensure the correct location. Finally once all the rivets are inserted (a few tight ones are left till later) the rivetting can commence. I invested in a lazy-arm one, which takes away all the pain and you end up using a little like a pump-action shotgun. Much fun. Once all those rivets are done I gave the tight holes a quick clean out with the drill, popped the rivets in and job done.
Despite being vastly more carefull than on the tiger and hugely more thorough it was a good 4 times quicker to do, mainly down to the panel being a perfect fit and pre-drilled. Big Brownie points there. While the extra steps I went to took a bit longer it does make the car last a lot better and a little bit stronger. Having used the new riveter I wouldn't be without it, even the 4 rivets the new one couldn't reach seemed a real pain with the old one.
Clamp and drill
Waxoyl
Sealant
Align panel with rivets
Rivetting
Fitted the end to the passenger side tunnel, decided to reuse the old one for the drivers side as it had some nice ducting in to keep the drivers feet cool. The new one had the wrong positions for the floor mounted pedals which I would have had to cover up in some way.
Realised I was supposed to put the tunnel sides on before the other panels, doing it later just means that drilling a couple of the holes will be a little tighter than it would have been otherwise.
Put on the tunnel side panels, after trimming the length of them down slightly, I guess the chassis bracing is in a different place with a T5 box to the current westfield spec. After some forensic work I managed to work out that the tunnel sides by the feet go on the tunnel side, rather than the cockpit side of the chassis. The manual wasn't at all clear, having said that it was a damn sight clearer than the tiger manual about the panelling. On the drivers side I reused the old grp panel as the foot-rest had been chopped and patched, obviously to clear the bellhousing.
Fitted the scuttle panel, then realised it didn't reach all the way across to the pedal box - another change. Made up a new plate to go on the outside of the pedal box and take the chassis number but the other side can wait. I've got that feeling that there's something neat and cunning I can do there but I haven't worked out what yet.
Ran out of 4mm drill bits, waxoyl and standard as opposed to funky, expensive sealant. Will have to restock tomorrow.
Drilled out the holes for one of the side panels with the help of my new apprentice, Catherine. I'll finnish fitting the panel tomorrow maybe with some more assistance.
Looked at fitting the tunnel top. All the pieces here are slightly too long so I had to chop the front panel down somewhat. One thing I noticed from the original build was that westfield had split this panel into two, across the hole for the loom to pop through. This makes the plumbing in very much easier and it appears it is still an intended modification as there are two sets of holes drilled very close to each other, either side of where the join would be. With this in mind I got the jigsaw out, filed off the edges and fitted the front panel with Catherine doing the sealing and rivetting. For the rear-ward half I decided to use rivnuts (of the splined variety) to enable easy access to the tunnel.
No assistance from Catherine today :-( Decided to crack on fitting the "optional" sides. Quite how westfield can call them optional is a mystery to me as without them you could stick your hands down behind the seats and touch the back wheels! Ran out of rivets. I suspect that they only give you enough for the basic kit, ignoring the "optional" extras. Must order some more from RS.
Returned from a scorching weekend on the beach at my parents to find it 33 ° C in the garage at 8pm! Very hot and sweaty time, extremely grateful to Catherine for bringing out supplies of cooling liquids.
Finished attaching the tunnel top with rivnuts so that the tunnel will remain accessible. It will need some foam tape fitting underneath it to prevent any rattles but it looks like a very nice solution. Previously these panels had been secured with allen head fittings but you never tend to have an allen key when you need one. Instead I've used stainless machine screws which sacrifice slightly on looks but are a lot more user friendly.
With all the pannelling on top done catherine helped me turn the chassis over. It's amazing how much heavier it seems with the panels on. With it upside down I fitted the odd fuel tank protector / crud catcher thing. It doesn't seem to be documented in the manual anywhere and there doesn't seem a good reason not to fit it at this point. For this panel I went back to the conventional rivets having received new supplies from RS.
Crud catcher
Touched up some scratches in the powder coating on the underside of the chassis, since the paint needed to dry moved onto the pedal box.
The manual says to measure up the panels for the pedal box but not to fit them to allow adjustment prior to hitting the road and to use rivets at that point. That seems mad to me as it's pretty likely that you'll want to replace a cable or adjust a stop at some point. To keep things accessible I decided to tap in some M4 holes and just use machine screws to secure the panels. Seems to work pretty well really.
Pedal box
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