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Key Events - Getting the Westfield onto its wheels

Key Events - Getting the car onto its wheels:
<9th December 2005>
So whilst waiting for the engine i decided to get the car onto its wheels and take it off the axel stands! Before i could do this i had to go round and tighten up all the bolts that i'd left loose in case i needed to remove them. This was basically all the bolts!!

So starting on the rear and moving forward to tightened up all the suspension bolts that attach to the chassis first, this included the shock to chassis mountings. I also tightened but not to full torque all the bolts that will have to be undone for the tracking and camber adjustments. I went round the dirve shafts tightening all the Torx bolts at both Diff and wheel ends. Every bolt i torque tightened i marked with tipex to show that it was tightened and also to mark the position of the bolt relative to a fixed point so i can check for loosening at a later date.
Once all bolts were tightened it was time to put the wheels on! This was very straight forward and just involved selecting the correct set of holes for the hub bolts to fit through. The pic on the right is the wheel attached.
Then when all 4 wheels were in place and tight (not torque tightened as they will have to come off again) i was able to plan my approach to lowering the car. As i was on my own i wanted to plan this out and take my time as I wouldn't be able to do much if it started to roll or tilt. So i started at the back as i can lock these wheels with the handbrake and so have some stability when they're on the ground. So i placed a 2 ton jack in the middle of the car and on the main chassis rail under the diff/prop joint. Then lifting the car just off the axel stands i was able to slide them out and support the rear just on the jack.



And then very slowly i let the jack lower the back of the car constantly watching to check the front axel stands didn't start to tilt or tip! It went down nicely and as you can see below i got the rear wheels on the ground in no time.



As the car was now at an angle the front was higher then the max hieght of my jack so i had to put a block on top to give me the extra few inches lift to get the car off its axel stands.



Then it was a case of lowering this end even more carefully to make sure that the block on the jack didn't move as well. However, as with the rear this was on the ground in no time and i had my car on all 4 wheels for the first time :0) and it's amazing just how low it is!!



And so here it is sitting on the ground as a rolling chassis!



So to test all was ok i opened up the garage and rolled my newly mobile car out into the freezing cold Decemeber night and it's first time out the garage! It rolled nice and freely with some wood in the prop tunnel allowing the prop to turn nicely as the rear diff and drive shafts do their job