The New Westfield Project - one year on......

[fatbaldbloke]

More progress over the weekend.  Stripped down the rear end.  Removed the fuel cell, swirl pot, pump and diff.  Gave it a good clean in preparation for the chassis repair.

Here's the clean bottom...

And a better view of the cracked tube.  

Bit of a delay now while I get a couple of repair patches fabricated and Windy weaves his magic with the welder.

[fatbaldbloke]

Had a few days holiday, but back now and making more progress in a generally taking apart direction...  

Here's the rear end now completely stripped down ready for Windy to weld the reinforcements onto the cracked struts on Monday.  

And the area around the cracks all cleaned up with the powder coating removed using paint stripper, wire wool, and lots of elbow grease.  

I'll get on now with cleaning up the diff and suspension in readiness for refitting them during the week.

Note, in anticipation of the welding I've removed the battery and the ecu and I've also disconnected the AIM digital dash just in case there are any stray voltages.

[adamnreeves]

Looking at the diff cage area it does not have the reinforcement that the later chassis have, well mine anyway. Such as gussets welded in corners, etc. Whilst it is all stripped down I would seriously consider adding some reinforcement to yours.

[fatbaldbloke]

Thanks for the suggestion Adam.  We'll consider exactly what to do when Windy's over tomorrow.

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

looking very clean now

[adamnreeves]

More, More

[thos]

Here's a pic of the latest spec Aerorace rear-end, it might give you some ideas!

[adamnreeves]

Hey that looks a lot more substantial over even the seight one.

[fatbaldbloke]

Blimey, there's about twice as much metal there as in mine.  Windy and I had a technical discussion and decided to rejoin the tubes and then fit a sleeve around where the crack was.  It's nothing like as much reinforcement as the aero race above but we thought it would suffice as the BEC's don't run that much torque.  I will publish some pictures but I'm currently having horrendous virus problems with my laptop.  In the meantime I'm refitting the diff so I can set up the electric reverse, then it will all have to come out again while the reverse is permanently fixed.  Again, I will post pictures when I can!

[Captain Colonial]

Hey that looks a lot more substantial over even the seight one.

Cleggy must have been near it with his welder...!  

[Bananaman]

Blimey, there's about twice as much metal there as in mine.  Windy and I had a technical discussion and decided to rejoin the tubes and then fit a sleeve around where the crack was.  It's nothing like as much reinforcement as the aero race above but we thought it would suffice as the BEC's don't run that much torque.  I will publish some pictures but I'm currently having horrendous virus problems with my laptop.  In the meantime I'm refitting the diff so I can set up the electric reverse, then it will all have to come out again while the reverse is permanently fixed.  Again, I will post pictures when I can!

b****y did when I was racing against him!!!

[peterg]

     

[adamnreeves]

BEC's don't run that much torque.

True enough I guess. I bet the electric reverse has more torque

[adamnreeves]

Hey that looks a lot more substantial over even the seight one.

Cleggy must have been near it with his welder...!  

 

[fatbaldbloke]

b****y did when I was racing against him!!!

I suspect that was something to do with the supercharger  

I'm nervous that this thing without it will still be a handful!

Anyway, just been tidying up a few bits and pieces today, still waiting for the reverse kit.  I can't do much more until that arrives as I've largely run out of space and need to put the rear end together before I start on the front.  I'm taking the laptop into work tomorrow and let them assess whether it's repairable (it is rather elderly) or I need to invest in a new one.  I'll get round to a few more piccies of progress when that's sorted.