Wednesday 28 October 2015

Looming ahead

Soon after the terror that was the gunk comes the unadulterated horror of the wiring loom. OK,  a tad over-dramatic and in fact,  it's so well-labelled I'm not sure what I was so worried about:




I'm just getting this roughly in place so that I can make a start on the rear panel soon. But quite a bit of work needed; I need to sort out a good place for the chassis earth and build up a connector for the fuel pump and the speedo sensor (GBS kindly include some spade terminals and plastic connector blocks - just need to work out how best to make them).

The HP fuel pump disaster is not too bad - the company I got the pump off says there shouldn't be any problem using an adaptor to link a 12mm pipe to 8mm,  which I've done:


I'll have to keep an eye on it when I finally get to the point of starting the engine, to make sure it doesn't leak.

Gearbox mount was delivered but I'm a little confused how it fits in:


I finally took the plunge and ordered the Smith's instruments from GBS - I just couldn't find anything else cheaper or better looking.  I ordered them about a week ago and while on the phone to GBS about another subject,  they said the instruments would take 4-6 weeks to arrive as they are specially ordered. I was in no rush BUT guess what arrived in the post 2 days later?


Finally tonight,  while away over the weekend in Bruges,  I found the perfect finishing touch to my garage:



Tuesday 20 October 2015

Gunk overload

No big step forward but lots of consolidation.

I'd put the large driver side tunnel panel on and that's the last panel for the foreseeable future. As there was still a third of the gunk left in the tube and it would probably be rock solid before I needed it again,  I decided to go nuts and fill as many gaps as I could as well as going over some of the existing runs. Bit messy in places but it's not visible so not a problem.

Cable-tied the LP fuel lines to the brake pipe:


I realised i hadn't tightened the pedals,  went to do this and found the central tube wasn't sticking out of the bush enough to press against the washer,  so the pedals were rock-solid. I had to take the clutch pedal off and file the bush down to finally allow the pedals to be tightened up but still rotate freely.

Connected the swirl pot up to the LP fuel pipes:


Fitted some rivnuts and added brackets on ready for the HP fuel pump


... and then,  disaster - the bottom inlet pipe on the fuel pump is far too big for the 7.6mm fuel pipes I've got. Either I need some sort of adaptor or I've got the wrong pump. Bugger!

I wanted to tighten up the steering rack but the clearance on the off-side between the rubber gaiter and the wishbone bracket was non-existent - literally touching. So,  with my months of engineering experience,  I made a spacer out of some metal bar I had lying about. Fitted this under the existing bracket and voila - a whole 5mm of clearance. My feeling of pride over this tiny bit of Heath Robinson jiggery-pokery is out of all proportion to the difficulty involved - love it.

Monday 12 October 2015

Revenge of the Gunk

I thought I'd done very well last time in not getting gunk all over me or anywhere it wasn't supposed to go.  Well,  made up for that tonight.

The problem was that the gunk had solidified in the nozzle so I had to take it off and try unblock it. After that,  it was like some slapstick routine - gunk slowly oozed out of the main tube so I couldn't easily put it down. I had one hand trying to hold the tube and clear out the nozzle with the other hand,  using a screwdriver. Screwdriver drops on the floor,  tube oozing inch long worm of gunk,  I stand on the screwdriver which sticks to my shoe. I wipe the worm of gunk onto the chassis roughly where it needs to go for the next panel,  which I then realise I haven't taken the white plastic layer off.  Spend next 10 minutes frantically scraping the layer off,  trying to get the screwdriver off my shoe and keeping an eye on the main tube,  which is oozing again. You couldn't make this stuff up...

Finally got some control and got these 2 side tunnel panels on:


Thankfully,  these are not on view because there is overspill of gunk all over the place.  Having p-clipped the brake line along the tunnel (my first p-clips),  finished the LP fuel lines to the tank and having some control over the gunk,  I decided to bite the bullet and fit the main rear panel. Hopefully I won't regret this but should be OK as I only have the loom left to go into the back...


Just after this,  I also left a little message on that panel,  should anyone one day strip the car down :-)

Very satisfying to finally get stuff permanently attached - no going back now.

Saturday 10 October 2015

Gunk from the Black Lagoon

A lot of rugby watching and a week long bout of botchelism (well,  some lurgy that kept me on the toilet) meant little progress until today.

The wheels arrived and look darn fine IMO:


Obviously had to put one on to see what it looked like:



Finally bought a load of Jubilee clips for the LP fuel pipes and connected all the rear pipes up,  with some natty supporting structures:



And finally,  with great fanfare and trepidation,  out came the Gunk and on went the tank (can't be bothered waiting for the fuel sender) :


While I had the stuff out,  on went the footwell and swirl pot panels:


Good progress today (well,  3 hours) - great fun :-)