C20LET Westfield Project

[rc]

stunning mate, attention to detail is supurb, very well thought out!

[Neil Adams]

Thanks for all the comments over the course of this project - it's been a real encouragement!

I've got the SVA forms off now as proof of age came back with the best possible results - The XE is from a 1987 exported cav/vectra which means I don't need a cat fitted. :clap:

So the clock is ticking now and I have to get on with the last handful of finishing off jobs.

This weekend I got the headlamp protectors / nosecone extensions riveted into place and mounted the SVA compliant indicator pods.





Next up was to make the bonnet secure. Part of the ridiculous £120 FW finishing kit are these rather shabby looking bonet hooks.



they look nasty IMO so I looked at some alternatives:



Obviously I'm not going to make this easy for myself so I decide to go for the Dzeus locks (bottom left in the above picture). Firstly, I needed to make up some brackets so another trip to B & Q for an anodised piece of ali and then shaped into a couple of C shapes.



Then I drilled them out and fitted the Dzeus catch.



I made a cutout in the return edge of the bodywork and fitted the bracket to the chasis and made measurements for the holes to mount the lock. Notice the colour change in the bracket - this was my prototype.





The holes are drilled in the bonnet to line up with the catch behind.



The Dzeus lock is then fitted nice and flush with the bonnet



So when turned it twists onto the catch behind leaving a seamless finish and locking the bonnet down tightly. I'll spray the lock black or get them annodised to match everything else.



Also completed is the RAC Rollbar - which was a nasty fiddly job, the aeroscreen and mirrors - you can also see how discrete these locks are in this pic too.

[Trig]

Nearly finshed by the look of then chap, just as the weather starts to pick up too, nice timing

[Neil Adams]

Yeah, but I'm willing to bet that it'll hammer with rain on the day of my SVA!

[CraigGreen]

Yeah, but I'm willing to bet that it'll hammer with rain on the day of my SVA!

Lets hope not. Really looks like some animal though. Looks fast in your garage. lmao

[Neil Adams]

Craig. Hopefully get a chance to meet up with you and the rest of the SW guys at some point this summer!

Almost forgot - the last couple of things under the bonnet got finished too - battery box, MSD Coil mounted and the Oil Catch Tank:

[lee303]

looks awesome, excellent idea to ditch the bonnet catches for dzus stuff, probably bets to have a dzus tool on your keyring though, juts incase you need the bonnet off in a hurry
good luck with the SVA

[sbd16vastra]

Craig. Hopefully get a chance to meet up with you and the rest of the SW guys at some point this summer!

and what about us non SW boys

[Neil Adams]

'ark at 'ee pretending 'ee aint a sou-wester no more!

[CortraGTE]

Holy **** mate! That is stunning!!!

[Benn]

Bonnet holdie downthing is very trick.

[rc]

lkooks very good mate! just about there now!!

[rob_lee_1]

Jealous!

Nothing more to say!

[vxlgsi]

superb motor very jelouse, looks spot on!!

[Kev_G]

what a ducking fantastic read. looked at the seats and thought a few £K for them - but £199 the pair - jesus thats awesome!!

[SRimon]

Great work Neil?

Whens my Pilot run?

[Neil Adams]

Si, good to see you back on here - I'll meet you down Nova corner when it's finished ;-))

It's strange how the jobs you expect to be a pig end up being quite straight forward while the ones that you're expexting to be simple end up causing the most hassle - fortunately the bonnet hinge was the former. I thought this would end up being fiddly but it went really well.

I just taped the hinge the the front lower chasis rail and drilled out the holes for the rivets.



My first air tool made light work of riveting it to the chasis.



I jacked up the front of the car and slipped the return edge of the nosecone under the hinge. I had already checked how the edge sat against the chasis so I knew how deep to attach the hinge.



Another 4 zaps with the rivet gun



And it fits - it even locates properly when shut too and it only took a few minutes! I thought this was going to be a real arse getting it straight and fitting just right.

[jollysoutherner]

Looking fantastic Neil

If you need any help with SVA let me know.

Cheers
Mark

[Neil Adams]

Thanks Mark - just waiting for the date now. Got the exhaust to go on and a 'simple' map and it's pretty much ready.

I've had a couple of last minute problems. The bonnet doesn't want to quite sit down properly with the pulsar plenum bolted up. It's just touching the bonnet and the only way I can see it working is either to trim a little off of the engine mount rubbers so the engine sits a tiny bit lower, or the plenum inlet needs to come in at a slight angle. I think I'll end up doing a combination of both.

The other problem was with the front wheel arches. I was trying to do something a bit too clever with them and ended up putting a screwdriver through one of them. A bit annoying but also an opportunity for an upgrade. I ordered a set of carbon CSR style wings that instead of being the usual semi-circular shape, have an aerodynamic design that helps pust the front wheels into the ground. I was a bit worried about how they'd look but on the car I think they look quite cool. They're not fitted properly yet - that's why they don't look even in the third pic.

[sbd16vastra]

love the new arches looks like you could pop on your best flat cap and pop out for a sunday drive now, well done

[coolamasta]

Niiiiiice mate

[Neil Adams]

love the new arches looks like you could pop on your best flat cap and pop out for a sunday drive now, well done

Might upset the neighbours but I'm really looking forward to the 1st go in it!

[CraigGreen]

Will be mad. No doubt.

Keep at it.

[dazerc]

I've just spent the last 2 hours reading through the whole thread and it all looks amasing. So much work has gone into the car it is unreal. I bet you will never sell the car as you have done some much work into it and it looks the buisness. Wish i had the skill, time and money to do it.

[Neil Adams]

I'll prob hang on to it for while, but if I can get it past the snapper, I want to build one of these next:




might have to wait for a bigger garage though