I was concerned about the weight now on the axel stands and wood, so I wanted to sort this before doing any more work. We jacked the front of the car up, and lowered the stands by one brick, moving them closer into the chassis at the same time. The car's now much more stable and will be easier to get down when the wheels are on.
We finished assembling the rear driveshafts and put them into place. Unfortunately after assembling one side, the other side was too long and didn't fit - the drive shafts were the wrong way around, one is shorter than the other. Once corrected, everything slipped into place nicely. Everything is very pissed, toe-in, toe-out, camber, all messed up. We haven't tightened anything up until this can be sorted out!
Its time to start giving the paddle-shift gear change some thought, as this isn't part of the westfield kit and needs to be invented from the bits & pieces available. First thing to do is to assemble the reverse lever linkage to ensure i can't accidentally use bits from that on the gearshift! This all went together pretty easily. It really is very stiff, i can imagine getting the car into reverse will be a bit of a tricky process.
I joined a couple of rods together to meet the westfield supplied quadrant that changes the forward/back movement of the shift into an up/down movement. This only needed moving 3 inches to the right and everything connects up nicely. I might replace my two joined rods with a single one to make it look nicer - i'll wait to see how the bodywork covers it up. I put the steering wheel into place, and manufactured some brackets to hold everything together and mount the paddles. The shift is working really nicely, its got a very solid feel. Its not exactly light - the bike gearbox is designed to be given a good whack with a boot, so having it on your fingertips is a little harder to actuate. I can't wait to drive it and see how it works!
I decided to put the dashboard together and connect the mechanical oil gauge to stop it leaking oil everywhere! All the switches and dials slotted into place nicely, its really starting to feel like a car! Unfortunately I can't wire anything up as we haven't got the dash loom yet.
Finally a good tidy up and a good clean to get rid of the oil and brake fluid that seems to be everywhere. Everything is now organised and ready for tomorrow evening!
That's the end of the first weeks work, i'm amazed at how much has been done. There are loads of bits & pieces that are unfinished and need torquing up or adjusting - pedals, suspension, driveshafts. It will be nice to get some of these things put to bed, but i'm waiting on several Westfield parts!
Todays Build: 1 & 2 people, 8 hours. Total build time so far: 34 hours, 54 man-hours.
