The whole diary...
| Early Development Photos | Here's a selection of photos from delivery to SVA. |
| Setup | Camber Front Left : -2.0
Camber Front Right : -2.0
Camber Back Left : -1.5
Camber Back Right ... |
| Wiring | This section is mostly for my reference! Seeing as I created the wiring loom by hand, I guess i'd b... |
| Dashboard Screens | The user-configurable screens on the DASH2 Dashboard
Screen 1 Water Temp Oil Temp ... |
| The Car | Westfield SEiW Megabusa
Front Wide Track & Second Generation Anti-Roll Bar
Rear Anti-Roll bar
CAG... |
| The Engine | Suzuki Hayabusa 1548cc in standard 1300cc casings
billet stroker crankshaft (balanced with genny at... |
| Electronics | MBE 992c Engine Management System
Custom Wiring Loom
Race Technology Dash2
Race Technology DL-1 D... |
| Performance | Power: approx 250bhp at the crank
Weight: 499kg
BHP/Tonne: 501
Volume: 101.9 decibels at 7,000rpm... |
| Recent Pictures | Recent photos in race clothing |
| Rollcage & Slicks | |
| January 1 1901 | Videos | Quick shot of flames:
Race:
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| May 1 2007 | Initial Concept | I've come up with the idea of building a kit car. I can't remember why, perhaps I dreamt it. We love... |
| May 15 2007 | Turbos & Superchargers | Slowly our ideas of Turbocharging and Supercharging have been smashed. Its easy to imagine that you ... |
| June 2 2007 | Total Kit Car Live! Brands Hatch | We rode along to Brands Hatch to get some information and have some rides. I managed to go around in... |
| June 10 2007 | Final Decision of Car | Lots of research and phone calls over the last few weeks and i've finally made up my mind. Summary o... |
| June 10 2007 | This is what it should look like - Minus the windscreen! | |
| June 20 2007 | Where to Build It? | We decided that a very large garage is essential, a normal one just doesn't give enough space around... |
| June 20 2007 | Placing The Order | After much sweating I placed the order with Westfield Sports Cars. The specification is as follows: ... |
| June 24 2007 | Engine Hunting | After much discussion about whether to break a running bike or buy an engine, we have decided to buy... |
| June 26 2007 | Which Wheels? | Wheels are important - we don't fancy the dated looking 'minilite' style, and can't afford split rim... |
| June 27 2007 | Other Bits & Pieces | I've ordered a few more bits from Ebay... Not much else to do for the next month!
Gear Indicator... |
| July 11 2007 | Progress Update | The engine has been dispatched and should be delivered tomorrow, its a 2007 with 900 miles and a pre... |
| July 12 2007 | The Engine Has Arrived! | It turned up today. First task now is to try and identify all connectors for all sensors and buy th... |
| July 14 2007 | Loom & Electrical Connectors | The mission now is to try and acquire all the electrical connectors in order to make a loom. Here a... |
| July 16 2007 | The Chassis is Done! | Just received an email from Westfield with pictures of our Chassis... its finished, just awaiting as... |
| July 20 2007 | Stuff is taking over the office | The corner of the office is slowly filling up. Allsorts of tools, wheels, tyres, electrical bits, j... |
| July 21 2007 | Suzuki Service Manual | The suzuki service manual has arrived, Click here to download PDF |
| July 21 2007 | How fast will it go? | People keep asking how fast it will go, and it seems the answer is 134.47 as it hits the rev limiter... |
| July 29 2007 | The Garage is Ready | The garage is all ready for the kit to be picked up tomorrow. All the tools laid out, wheels and en... |
| July 30 2007 | Picking up the Kit | We hit the road at 6am, aiming to be at the factory by 9am. We arrived at 9:15 having suffered very... |
| July 30 2007 | First Days Work | We decided to get to work straight away!
First job was the fuel lines, this went pretty smoothly.... |
| July 31 2007 | Engine In! | We managed to get to the garage by 5pm and three of us set to work. Andy installed the wiring loom,... |
| August 1 2007 | More bits & Pieces... | On my own this evening, so decided to finish a few bits & pieces.
I started with the differential... |
| August 2 2007 | More Stuff... | First job was to unbolt the rear diff mounts and replace them with the correct bolts, i'd accidental... |
| August 3 2007 | After the instruction manual... | Andy and I working this evening - got to the garage just before 5pm.
The instructions on the mega... |
| August 4 2007 | Bits & Bobs.. | I spent an hour shopping this morning trying to find more jubilee clips and some coolant hose. I ev... |
| August 5 2007 | End of the First Week | I was concerned about the weight now on the axel stands and wood, so I wanted to sort this before do... |
| August 6 2007 | The 8th day... | I filled in my SVA form today, but got stuck on the engine manufacture date. With thanks to Jeff I ... |
| August 7 2007 | Last day for a while | Some of the missing parts turned up, so there are a few new jobs for this evening!
On my own toni... |
| August 8 2007 | Biggest Problem Yet | I've just had an email from Mark at Westfield. He says:
Hi Carl
If you did not buy the... |
| August 8 2007 | Quick Couple of Hours... | I wasn't really supposed to be at the garage today, but couldn't resist the urge, so ended up gettin... |
| August 14 2007 | Raining Hard... again! | Didn't get to the garage until 6pm. Slamming it down with rain, got absolutely soaked. And I forgo... |
| August 15 2007 | Engine Problems! | Engine Issues!
In order to sort the sump, Westfield are sending me replacement gaskets for the su... |
| August 16 2007 | New ECU Decision | After much discussion today, i decided to cancel the order for the Emerald ECU. Amazingly they actu... |
| August 17 2007 | Moving Backwards | Unfortunately we're in a bit of a pickle, and need to do a lot of going backwards before we can go f... |
| August 18 2007 | Odds & Sods | After a quick shopping trip, i arrived at the garage.
Armed with the correct spanner, i tried to ... |
| August 18 2007 | Rant!! | I Just posted this on WSCC forum......
Here's a picture of my (almost) standard megabusa dash
... |
| August 19 2007 | Scratching for things to do ... | First job was to sort out tracking, camber and caster on the front suspension. I have no proper equ... |
| August 20 2007 | Major Progress | Armed with the correct tool, i extracted the alternator & crankshaft position wheel. It was so tigh... |
| August 21 2007 | Wire Hell (or heaven?) | I think I just worked out why nobody in their right mind makes their own wiring loom... if you don't... |
| August 22 2007 | Final Engine Prep | First job is to Fit Dry Sump Oil Tank - just came back from the welder looking gorgeous. Unfortunat... |
| August 23 2007 | The Engine Runs! | On a total mission today - get everything done to start the engine.
First i rewired the ignition ... |
| August 25 2007 | Interior & Stuff | Today was never going to be the world's most productive day.... terrible hangover and 33 degree temp... |
| August 26 2007 | First bits | The goal of today is to do some bodywork, but that's more than a one man job. I decided to start on... |
| August 27 2007 | Body on! | Its been such a long day, i cant even remember what we've done!
James went to see Marcus and came... |
| August 28 2007 | Odds & Sods | Only a few Odds and sods today, just keep the body moving along.
First I decided to tinker with t... |
| August 29 2007 | A few fiddles | On my own this evening, dreading more fibreglass cutting!
First thing to finish is the bootbox ho... |
| August 30 2007 | News of the day... | I'm not going to the garage today, we're out on an office BBQ & Get Drunk.
News of the day is tha... |
| August 31 2007 | Hungover! | Hungover badly... so not going to attempt anything too challenging!
The new exhaust bracket has t... |
| September 1 2007 | Front finished | I'm off out to get drunk again, so this is gonna be quick.... Just a few bits and bobs today...
F... |
| September 2 2007 | All Finished! | ... well, almost, still no rear brakes but i'm assured i'll get those tomorrow!
Started the day a... |
| September 2 2007 | SVA Stuff | Tigger from the WSCC forum sent me these pictures to help with SVA stupidities |
| September 3 2007 | Brakes & First Drive. | I rushed back from work to fit the new rear calipers. Should take an hour max, then off for a drive... |
| September 4 2007 | Second Drive! | My sister Lisa was involved in a car accident this morning. I spent most of the day keeping her com... |
| September 5 2007 | Third Drive! | No photos today i'm afraid, don't think i did anything worthy of photographing.
The only thing on... |
| September 6 2007 | Grills & throttle bodies | I went to Halfords and bought some black grille. Chopped it up, bent it into shape, and fitted it t... |
| September 9 2007 | SVA Bits | Allsorts of miscellaneous SVA stuff! Pictures tell it all....
The busa is now finished apart from... |
| September 13 2007 | More SVA | A few more SVA tweaks... changed my mind about using insulating tape! |
| September 18 2007 | Garage... and SVA Tomorrow | Went to look at a garage today, and i've made the owner an offer. Its 20 feet square so will make e... |
| September 19 2007 | SVA TEST! | Up at 5:45 after a bad nights sleep, and straight over to James' before heading up the road to cuckf... |
| September 23 2007 | SVA Update | Mark at Westfield has filed a complaint with SVA technical services department about their testing i... |
| October 1 2007 | One week to SVA Retest | I haven't made an update for a while... mostly because i haven't done anything for a while! SVA Ret... |
| October 2 2007 | SVA Inspection Manual | Here is the official SVA VOSA inspection manual:
Clicky |
| October 6 2007 | Brands Visit | Visited Brands Hatch to watch a few race series. We saw the Radical SR3 cup, the Junior Ginettas , ... |
| October 8 2007 | SVA Retest | We turned up at the centre 3 hours early. Apparently the booking was at a completely different time... |
| October 9 2007 | DVLA Registration | I drove up to the garage in the pouring rain and got the engine number and Westfield receipts.
I ... |
| October 11 2007 | Registered! | The car is road legal! Paperwork came through today and it has been given the plate GX07 OLV. Not ... |
| October 13 2007 | Suspension Setup | We arrived at the race car doctor's barn at 9am and got cracking. I wasn't quite sure what to expec... |
| October 14 2007 | Engine Problems | I've got a starter problem for some reason. Basically, i hit the starter button and the relay click... |
| October 15 2007 | Solution... and....Suspension Settings | I've been discussing the problems with starting on the forum, and they're pretty convinced its an ea... |
| October 16 2007 | Earth problem solved | Earth problem solved! I need to do a more permenant solution, as i've butchered together a couple o... |
| October 16 2007 | Dash Wiring | I started work on the dash wiring. So far i've done:
Primary connectors to car loom
Temporary p... |
| October 20 2007 | Dash Cutting | Managed to get most of the dash fitted.
The carbon fibre had to be cut on almost every edge, a to... |
| October 21 2007 | More Dash | Spent the day trying to wire everything up, total nightmare! Got the car just about driveable in th... |
| October 22 2007 | Does the Hayabusa engine need any upgrading? | The hayabusa engine is a solid little engine, and if treated right will give good service in totally... |
| October 22 2007 | How driveable is the car in traffic & every day? | I've now done almost 400 miles in the car and i feel i can give a good report on its driveability. ... |
| October 22 2007 | Do you use the clutch when changing gear? | For Downshifting: I use the clutch always, aided with heel & toe throttle blips IF the RPM is high (... |
| October 22 2007 | What's the reverse gearbox like? | Reverse is crap, its just a design nightmare - it gets easier, and i now 'understand' the box - its ... |
| October 22 2007 | How did you do the paddle shift? | It is a rod-linked gearshift mechanism, using many parts from the standard Westfield 'stick shift' s... |
| October 24 2007 | Even more dash... | Turns out the dash is faulty! No wonder i can't make it work. I plumbed in the oil & water temp se... |
| October 26 2007 | First Track Day... DISASTER! | Diasaster!
7pm, On the way to Snetterton, with James following on the bike, clouds of smoke start... |
| October 27 2007 | Pump Disassembled | Pump disassembled and ready for new bits... see photos |
| November 3 2007 | Dry Sump Replumbing | I spent the whole day trying to raise the dry sump pump and connect it all in, I forgot my camera un... |
| November 4 2007 | Car working again | I decided to abandon replacing half the pipes as i have the wrong adapters. Car's all working again... |
| November 5 2007 | It Drives again! | Unfortunately raining and in the wet, but the car drives! No dash, so no idea how fast i'm going, o... |
| November 8 2007 | Trackday Prep | Tomorrow evening i set off on the 2 1/2 hour journey to Silverstone. Hopefully everything will be r... |
| November 10 2007 | Trackday Disaster Number Two | Total Disaster
We made the drive to silverstone with no drama, almost 4 hours driving and not a b... |
| November 14 2007 | Quick Update | A new engine - 2007 with 1099 miles, and a new dry sump system are on their way and should arrive by... |
| November 15 2007 | Tank Design | Hopefully the new engine & sump system will be delivered tomorrow. I still have various plumbing pa... |
| November 18 2007 | Engine Out | An early start this morning, I plan to remove the old engine.
Firstly we had to remove the clutch... |
| November 19 2007 | Trial Fit Sump | Last night, i trial fitted the new sump and pump. Don't have the right bolts, so i need to go shopp... |
| November 21 2007 | Engine Almost Ready | Today i ordered a new billet CNC clutch slave cylinder which will fit, hopefully!
I finished prep... |
| November 24 2007 | Quick Update | I fitted the clutch slave cylinder, and we dropped the engine into the car.
I've now completed fi... |
| December 3 2007 | Photos tell the story... | |
| December 8 2007 | Almost back together | I spent the day doing more plumbing and wiring. Water system is complete, constructed mostly of Sam... |
| December 10 2007 | See you next year! | I'm off on holiday for a month, so i'll be back in January.
I had hoped to achieve more before go... |
| January 12 2008 | Tow Car Acquired | OK, its a lot more than a tow car, its a 4.2l V8 Audi... but it will tow the megabusa nicely! |
| January 13 2008 | First Day's Work 2008 | Some good progress on my first day back.
Firstly, finished the cooling system, filled and tested ... |
| January 22 2008 | Towhook & Trailer | This update's a bit late, but here goes anyway....
Spent the whole of saturday fitting the tow ho... |
| February 3 2008 | Almost there! | I reckon i'd have got the engine started today... if it wasn't for the cold! So still a little to d... |
| February 9 2008 | Engine started! | Great progress today, got the engine started.
Problems remaining:
* Wires from regulator/alterna... |
| February 25 2008 | Engine runs again | Made some pretty good progress, got the engine running again.
I'm off to Malaysia for a week and ... |
| March 16 2008 | Ready to Drive (hopefully!) | Did the following things:
* Installed the latest firmware for my MBE992 ECU, and installed a cust... |
| April 11 2008 | ARDS Race License | The ARDS test (Association of Racing Driver Schools) is the test required in order to get the Nation... |
| April 12 2008 | Shopping | The car needs to be race-prepared, so i have a big shopping list. Here's what i've ordered from the... |
| April 12 2008 | First day of prep | I spent the day mostly messing about and putting stickers on. I also managed to get the throttle re... |
| April 13 2008 | Second day of prep | Had a really good day today, i'm really getting through the car's to-do list and covering off some o... |
| April 17 2008 | New Camera Mount | Chris made a funky new camera mount :) |
| May 10 2008 | Ready to Race? | I reckon the car is ready to race.
Still having fuelling issues, but they're fairly minor.
Tod... |
| May 13 2008 | Track Day at Brands | The day before the track day decided to try and solve the fuelling issues by destroying the cat. Se... |
| May 20 2008 | New Exhaust | Absolutely Awesome, I'm blown away! Its like a new car! Mid range and top end power are much impro... |
| May 24 2008 | Lydden Practice... and a triumph!!! | After 10 months of hard work on the car, we have finally achieved it. What a great day! The objecti... |
| May 30 2008 | First Race | This is a bit of a late update on my first race at Lydden Hill.
I have entered two separate race ... |
| June 22 2008 | Why did you upgrade your engine when you haven't mastered it as standard yet? | Simply because i'm insane. |
| June 23 2008 | New Engine | Jeff Cooper contacted me because he had decided to sell his 1548cc Hayabusa. This engine has had pr... |
| July 1 2008 | Throttle Bodies | Pictures of the bodies being fitted: |
| July 12 2008 | Update & Race | I've been rubbish updating the site, here's a
list of what's happened:
* New springs
* New c... |
| July 18 2008 | Brands Track Day & A few Mods | The car was stunning at Brands, overtook absolutely everything!
A few mods:
* Spring changes (... |
| July 23 2008 | The slicks are on! | The slicks are on the car, lets see how it goes on saturday! |
| August 16 2008 | Blown engine...again | Engine Blown up (again)
Unfortunately a combination of oil starvation and overheating caused my e... |
| August 21 2008 | Pictures from Rockingham | Just before the engine blew up! |
| August 25 2008 | New Garage! | The move to the new garage has been completed, the new luxury carpeted workshop awaits! I reckon i ... |
| August 28 2008 | Fireplace Ornament? | What better use of a knackered £2000 billet crank, arrow conrod and alloy piston? |
| August 31 2008 | Engine in! | The new engine is in, and i've been for the first of 8 run-ins.
The engine is running with 'runni... |
| September 10 2008 | For Sale! | The megabusa is for sale, i'm accepting serious offers.
In the region of £16,000 gets the car wit... |
| September 16 2008 | New Engine on the Way | I'm not selling the car any more, i'm rebuilding it, and abandoning Hayabusa power.
New car specs... |
| October 3 2008 | The last post | This is the last post on this website before www.durabang.com takes over. Thanks to everyone for wa... |
