Tiny Steps....

I've been offline the past while for various reasons, not the least of which I have just about run out of things I can do on the car without having to take stuff off again.

This is all about to change.

Yesterday Alastair collected my shocks and rear uprights from Birkin, and he is bringing them up with him. Unfortunately Dhersan has not been able to source the rear discs - those will have to be fitted later. Alastair will be here on leave for two weeks, and in that time we have the following tasks to complete:

Fit the shocks and uprights.
Fit tyres to wheels, and get some wheel studs and nuts.
Put engine and gearbox together
Install in the chassis.
Do a (very) rough wheel alignment
Plumb the cooling system.
Fit the exhaust headers and sort out any problems of interference with the water rail.
Fit the ECU, or at least plan the cable runs.

Tyre choices - I have 15" Tiger Wheel rims (Drifters) and it seems the popular choice is a 190/55/R15. Bridgestones and Pirellis are available at R690/tyre. I think I am going with the Bridgestones, they definitely looks more "grippy".

Upgrading the brake hoses - I have a pal here in town who runs a hydraulic hose business, he has offered to replace all my rubber brake and clutch hoses with teflon lined stainless steel braided hoses with stainless steel fittings for a good price. I think they will look very cool.

The small jobs I have been doing in the meantime are the pedal box cover and installing the engine mounts. Unfortunately the layout of the mounts means they have to be installed on the chassis first and the engine lifted into position and fastened to those (6 M10 cap screws - 3 a side), instead of mounting them on the engine first, and then lining them up on the chassis (2 bolts). The battery tray is also installed.

I am not going to install a heater at this time - I don't think it is necessary.

I have a Quaife quick shift gear lever on order as well as a brass shift selector knuckle.

I fitted the radiator temporarily to check for hose runs and interference - thankfully none - and that will have to come off again when we drop the chassis onto the engine - it is way too fragile for that operation. The cooler fan is attached to that but I don't seem to have a fan switch in my "Stuff-That-I-Know-I-Have-To-Use-But-I-Am-Buggered-If-I-Know-Where-It-Fits" box.