Time out for a Rant

Yep, you read right I am downright pissed.

I am struggling with this cooling system. I seem to have been supplied with enough hoses, but there is no indication of what fits where or what connects to what.

On top of that I have gone with a water rail, which deletes at least 2 hoses and one pipe, and I have identified which pipe and what hoses they are - I will have to make up my own layout for that - but as for the rest it's a total mystery.

I also went with the electric water pump, and I spent the morning just staring into the well in front of the engine trying to figger where the water pump and its associated mounting hardware might fit. I could not see it.

Which brings me to my point. How in hell can Birkin put a product onto the market without detailed assembly instructions???

I'm not sure if Birkin realise what liability they are exposing themselves to. Would you travel in a car that was assembled by people who had no instructions on how to put it together?

They say they have the "Build Doctor" BIG FRICKIN' DEAL!!! The doctor starts out all very well but it looks like they got bored with it half way through and gave up.

The section does not cover (inter alia)

The Independent Rear Suspension
The Differential
Installing the Engine (various types)
The Cooling System (Fan, plumbing, fan switch, header tank, water pump)
The Exhaust system

It's farcical.

And the bits that are covered are out of date.

Sure it is a car for enthusiasts built by enthusiasts but not everyone is mechanically savvy to the degree that they can build it to factory spec as was intended. I place myself into that category.

I do realise that most of the assembly is self-evident, but even so...

When I started this I was assured that they (Birkin) had all the drawings and pictures needed on computer, and they were available on request.

Three months down the line and R200 000+ later I am convinced that is not true.

So what did I do today?

I fitted the horn, and the cooling fan and water-pump relays. And not even the horn fitted where I thought it was supposed to. I had to suss that one out for myself.
 

I then decided to man up and design my own water pump installation. You will see above the water pump mounting slot there is the open hole left by the
old Mondeo engine mount stud.

I am going to hang a M12 stud out the bottom and fabricate a bracket that will let the pump hang off that. A lot of the pump's weight will be taken up by the hoses. I will have to get some rubber mounts to null out any engine vibration. My problem with this idea is that the pump is no longer at the lowest point of the system guaranteeing flooded suction, but it is low enough.