Budget Review - a sobering event

After much discussion with Tricia about the cost of the car I thought it was time to check overall spend against the original budget which was £18,000.  Tricia has maintained all along that I would spend at least £20,000 and I have constantly denied that it was even close.

So here's the damage:

(the kit & options bought from Westfield during a 15% discount)

Sport FW Special Edition	£13,217.54
Chassis build stands	£48.50
Westfield Front & Rear Calipers - upgrade	£303.82
205 T1R tyres - upgrade	£65.09
Heater Kit	£217.01
4 Point Harness	£56.41
12V Socket	£10.62
Wide Track Wishbones - upgrade	£173.61
Sport Turbo Seats - upgrade	£260.41
RAC Rollover Bar - upgrade	£96.23
Throttle Body - upgrade	£1,190.00	*
Carbon Effect Headlight - upgrade	£83.33
Hood Trim	£26.27
Side Screens	£253.01
Tools	£950.00	*
Cockpit Cover	£54.95
Copper Grease	£6.47
Rivnuts	£12.50
Stainless Allen Bolts	£13.90
Tool Oil	£8.20
Hi Level Rear Brake Light	£36.00
Alloy Steering Rack Clamp	£28.20
Heat Shrink tubing	£4.09
LED Indicator Repeaters	£12.00
Convoluted Tubing	£20.96
Rear Diffuser	£110.00
Cable Ties	£7.00
Sikaflex	£11.00
Fibre Glass Repair	£8.00
Plastic Bolts	£5.90
Thread Lock	£3.00
Torque stripe	£6.00
Carbon Fibre Stone Guards	£168.00
1/2 Hood	£306.00
Alpha D steering wheel & Q/Release	£325.00
Misc consumables	£50.00
IVA	£450.00
IVA Fuel	£60.00
Private Registration	£405.00   *
Registration	£275.00   *
build insurance	£218.95
Petrol (3 Mar 12)	£45.00
Van Hire (9 May 12)	£88.00
Van diesel	£60.00
MOT & Alignment	£130.00
1st Years insurance	£167.00	*
Grand Total	£20,047.96

So, on the face of it Tricia is claiming victory however, I believe all the *d items shouldn't count as the TB upgrade was an addition due to an unexpected bonus payment, I needed 2/3rds of the tools, she has a private number plate on her car, road fund licence and insurance shouldn't count hence I claim that the final figure is £20,047.96 minus £2,673.50 therefore £17,374.46 and therefore I'm under budget.  The final compromise is that the TBs and 2/3rds of the tools still count but, I can exclude the rest, hence the final cost against budget is £18,877.96, there is probably >£100 that I've failed to record! and therefore.......................... we we're both right and wrong by roughly the same margin.

However, so far it's been worth every penny with 700 miles of fun so far plus a trip to France/Belgium planned for the summer and, to put it into context, it's less than the depreciation so far on Tricia's tin top!

Finally, Myles decided to change the background on the blog. He thinks its Mount Everest and that the rain drops make the Westfield look better! :) (or perhaps more realistic!!!!!)

Half Hood Fitted

When I got home there was a big parcel sitting in the hall so off to the garage with Myles to fit the Half Hood.

The hood included everything needed to fit it including the tools to install the female popper clips. First we fitted the popper male to the inside of the screen and then offered up the screen channel.  Once on place with the central popper clipped we marked the position of the front outer poppers and then removed the hood, driiled and fitted the poppers.

Next I worked out the position of the internal support bars and cut the both to length and Myles installed them.  We then refitted the hood and after a bit of effort to get it into position over the roll bar support strut upper mounts it was in place. 

We drilled and riveted the side poppers and the thumb locks.  After a bit of playing we got it looking reasonably evenly tensioned.  After  a discussion with Nick at softbitsforsevens he's going to send us new Y straps that are 50mm shorter so that we can increase the tension and the velcro will also lay flat.





Finally we removed the hood, fitted the side screens and then refitted the hood for the complete weather fit.  Myles got in and out of the car making it look easy enough, then I tried and it's going to take a bit of practise before I look anything close to elegant!

About 2 hours work in all but a good result overall, hopefully I won't be needed too much over the summer.

More Fuel Gauge.........

Nick from "soft bits for sevens" emailed today to say that he'd received the screen channel, the half hood was in final finishing and would be posted out on Friday so I need to get as far as I could with the ongoing problem with the fuel gauge and then rebuild the car.

Float on fuel surface

Float pushed to the bottom of the tank.

I removed the filler cap and using my new boroscope I videoed the inside of the tank and then moved the float up and down with a wire taking photographs and measuring the resistance between the sensor output and earth.  On 3/4 full the resistance was ~140 ohms and push fully down was 10 ohms.

The float didn't seem to move completely freely and stuck at the bottom until I flicked it and it floated back to the surface.



I then reconnected the fuel gauge and the battery.  Initially the gauge read full and with the float pushed down it read 1/4 and returned the full when the float was released.

Whilst I'm still slightly concerned about the "stickiness" of the float I know know that the wiring must be correct so I refitted the dash, boot, cap and steering wheel etc and got the car ready for the weekend in the hope that the 1/2 hood will arrive and I can get out regardless of the weather.  If it doesn't I'll take the front wheels off and fit the mud flaps and the stainless steel bighead nuts, bolts and penny washers arrived earlier in the week.

Cold Garage

The last of the Christmas parcels arrived during the week and, with the snow and ice, I wasn't willing to test my limited Westfield driving experience on the road - so out to the garage for upgrades!

I'd removed the instruments last week in an attempt to dry them and stop the fogging so they've been in the airing cupboard/hot press but I got the fuel gauge out to try and isolate whether it was the sensor or gauge.  I'd already confirmed that the wiring was correct when I removed the gauges, and after the gauge back in, it was reading 3/4 which was roughly what was in the tank.  I disconnected the sensor input to the gauge went to full deflection and then shorted and it went to empty so I guess it must have been a loose connection.

 On to the first upgrade - CarbonMod Stone Guards - I fitted the rubber beading around the edges and then drilled and riveted them in place.  A reasonable fit but I then noticed that they were slightly asymmetrical - hopefully it won't be too noticeable









.

Then on to the Cobra Immobiliser - I used the dedicated connector in the WF chassis loom, mounted the immobiliser on the ECU panel and the indicator/key point in the dash (a little askew).  A bit of a fiddle wiring in all the independent supplies and earths but it was fairly straight forward and worked first time - miracles will never cease.













Next was the steering wheel with quick release.  First steps were to replace the upper steering column inner and fit the quick release to the steering wheel (measure, measure and measure again before drilling!).  I was also trying to identify a resonance somewhere in the steering at idle - nothing obvious so hopefully between greasing the column and making sure it goes through the middle of the dash cut out will be the cure.  Everything still needs torquing so didn't refit the pedal cover etc.







By this time the -2 deg C was beginning to take it's toll so the last thing was to rivet on the build plate next to the VIN plate.

6 hours work and very cold - time for the hot tub & cider me thinks!
  

New Year Blat

I hope this is indicative of things to come in 2013, after a little early morning rain, the sun came out and I decided it might be a good day to get out in the car as I'm back at work tomorrow.

I went out to the garage to do a few things to the car. First was fitting the wind deflectors fairly straight forward I just had to align them with the windscreen pillars and the bodywork with a length of rubber grommet applied to the lower edge to protect the bodywork.  Next I removed the exhaust "cheese grater" as this had been rattling since initial build, the stainless steel will need a polish next time I clean the car. Finally I removed each of the wheel, cleaned and treated the suspension wishbones and uprights, and adjusted the ride height to 155 mm front and 170 mm rear (without a driver) in an attempt to reduce the possibility of the chassis gearbox hoop grounding.

Tricia I then went out for a drive, first into Yeovil Hospital to drop off Tricia's uniforms for the week then to West Bay via the A37 to Dorchester and the A35 to Bridport.  As expected the wind deflectors are not as effective as the side screens but they provided enough protection for comfort and also deflected the puddle water from the cockpit.  After fish and chips and West Bay we headed back to Yeovil through Beaminster taking the diversion around the closed tunnel and finding some nice clear and windy roads on the way.

Just over 70 miles covered and the car now has just over 600 miles on the clock.

GoPro Mount

Finished work for the holidays and I'm still waiting for the new steering wheel, quick release, modified upper steering column, wind deflectors and rear wheel arch stone guard bead to arrive from Westfield however, the Manfrotto clamp mount arrived for the GoPro and the weather looks good for tomorrow so I ventured out to the garage.

I chose the mount based on posts of the WSCC forum and I'm very impressed with it.  It's very chunky and made of metal so should be more than strong enough. The first thing I realised was that it would have to go to the side of the hi-level rear brake light.

1st Picture 

Also looked for places to fit the build plate that Paul & Joe Bromley made for us - on the scuttle by the VIN Plate seems the most suitable.  Also notice that the front suspension was wet with a slight salty "frost" so will have to clean the car with fresh water before I put it back in the garage - fingers crossed for sun shine and dry roads tomorrow!

500 miles!

After another frosty night the sun came out and we had a lovely sunny winter's day.  I picked up Myles from bag packing at Tescos - raising money for a Rugby Tour to L'Aquila RFC in Italy - town was devastated by an earth quake in 2009 but Rugby keeps going.  I then washed the car before taking James over to his girlfriend's, via Ilchester to pay my dues for a very good talk & dinner to the Somerset Branch of the Army Benevolent Fund before a final a run out with Tricia which included a stop at Bridge Farm to collect 4-5 Litres of their finest Rugby Supporter's Juice and a stop at the local Audi dealership to look at a EuroBox estate car to transport the children & dogs around in - adjustments to the shock absorbers seem to be good but car bottomed out between Odcome & East Chinook so I might need to raise the ride height by 5mm or so.  On the way home the car tripped the 500 miles mark - my target for the year before lay up for the winter - however, today was such good fun I've decided to keep the car in running throughout the winter - just in case we have days like these!