Handbrake and steering rack

More sundry jobs today.

Mr. Angry fired off multiple e-mails to Westfield and Manik. There had been much back and forth on the missing components - they had said that some parts would not be available until the end of May which was not acceptable. After much complaining, they had agreed to send most by the end of the week. As I had not heard anything this morning I dropped them a note to see if they had shipped. They told me they had not and that it was a long weekend so nothing would go out until Tuesday and the wishbones were still not available. Cue Mr. Angry. As it was past 5:00 in the UK got no response. Mr. Angry sat and fumed for a while.

Checked out of the Rocks. Possibly our last stay there. Julie celebrated by letting a bird into the villa. Kevin, the maintenance manager, was not impressed.

Went through all the various bags of bits to try to identify what was missing. Could not find the 1/2 cage fitting kit, despite it being on the pick list. Mr. Angry fired off another e-mail. Immediately found the missing kit - it was hiding. Cue Mr. Apologetic. At this point I am so frustrated with Westfield, I am looking for problems that are not there.

Despite having no brakes, I decided to fit the handbrake. Was fairly easy, but I had to drill out the holes to fit the cables as they were too small (used a conical drill bit, which made easy work of it). Noted that the socket for the handbrake light is not the same as the plug on the harness, so will have to change that. Another useful item for the track.

As the steering rack is relatively far forward, I decided I could mount that without worrying about taking it out when I fit the engine. It was difficult to get the larger of the two brackets on, but was able to by clamping the steering rack down and then fitting the bolts.

As Mr. Westfield will have the wide track front suspension I have to shorten the steering rod arms (seems illogical captain) to add extenders. This was easily done with a cutting wheel:

Was going to fit the lower steering column and bearing, but the welding on the column meant it didn't fit into the bearing, so back to the grinder (careful here). A couple of minutes later and it fits perfectly.

I think tomorrow I will fit the rest of the steering column and put the wheel so I can get a seat in and pretend to drive. It's an obligatory part of the build!