The Long Old Road Ahead (Time to Strip!)

[Advantage]

Errmmm, what exactly is Iain doing to your crankshaft?

[dazmans3]

Can Finally see all you photos & work so far, now that I am home again. Great work, keep it up & keep up the momentem, there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.

I still reakon you'd be better with a HC inlet manifold, think it would save you a lot of time & hassel.

Daz

[dodgy]

Awesome work can't wait to see it in the flesh mate!

[Simon350S]

Cheers guys

Iain was... erm... enjoying the... errr... greasy bits? Who knows!

Anyways, my other pipes arrived today so here goes.

It fits

The 90 degree silicone pipe fits nice and snug, a little trimming to do of the manifold and a bit off the carb but nothing too much and it should clear all around.

Using the HC manifold I think would have involved more than expected as its much bigger than the LC one so I'd probably need the HC plenum and air pipe and so forth from there!

Happy days

Next up, brake calipers.

To be honest although they were more than a little grubby I thought they looked ok with what looked like almost new pads, new spring clips and bits.

I'd always been a bit concerned thought that the handbrake was useless, the fact the cables couldn't be removed because the arm was pulled back tight by the cable. Ah the handbrakes on I thought, I was very wrong!

The handbrake cables had been wound up to their limits leaving the brake perminently on! Some people hey.

Anyways, looking at the piston seals reveals a horrific sight, they surely must be the originals, god I hope the pistons are not too badly screwed!

Ah well, more money to spend!

Edited August 12, 2009 by Simon350S

[Bibs]

Either brake calipers or unicorn drawn carriages, you know what makes sense

[mayevora]

That is looking soooooo nice now Si.

[arbell9]

Dont forget you can have my front brembos.

Just need to sort out getting them to ya.

[AJay]

Nice solution to the clearance problem, the mother of invetion and all that....well done.

Sorry to see the break calipers one step forward...

Andy

[Simon350S]

Brake calipers are a bitch, just need them stripped so I can see if I need new ones or just a seal kit, problem is they are not here as they are being sized up for new hoses.

Bought a load of new hose clips so I could start final assembly of a few parts, but unfortunately, even though they are in spec size wise, to make them fit they go out of round and I'm not happy with that, so will need to source more.

New fuel hose arrived yesterday, 8mm ID diameter ordered. 7.5mm arrived, thats how its supposed to be apparently, which I find strange, surly you order 8mm as advertised and you should then get 8mm? Its not a massive issue, its just that its prooving VERY difficult to get the pipes onto the fittings.

Hopefully today should see the fuel hoses fitted (minus jubilee clips), not much else I can do at present as I'm now waiting on other people and other parts.

I should be able to make an ALMOST final list of bits that I need and get those next week ready for final assembly and engine refit very shortly

Edited August 16, 2009 by Simon350S

[Advantage]

So should I be digging the tent out of the loft again soonish?

[Simon350S]

Todays progress,

All new fuel hoses, new fuel filter, pipe clips

Alternator and Air Con pumps fitted

Dinner

Bed!

[Simon350S]

Well some pics this time.

Finished off mounting the Aircon and alternator today, had to make up a bent washer so I could use the new style nylon alternator tensioner and also had to modify the secondary air con mount as the newer cars had a different oil pump casting. Oh yeah, sealed in the boost pressure take off from the plenum.

Heres the new filter with the new blue braided pipes, these are cotton braid, I expect the colour to last all of about 3 days before its black!

New silicone heater hoses

Still slow, but still progressing...

[USAndretti42]

Keep up the good work, Simon. It's looking really nice.

Don't forget, working on your car at evcery chance helps you lose weight.

[Simon350S]

Well Steve the trimmer came around yesterday to fit the headlining and dash top piece of leather.

So today I decided to have a test fit to see how well it fitted togeather, its looking pretty good, a few bits need attendion but appart from that I'm pretty happy for the money, its miles away from a Nick Fulcher job and part of me would have liked him to do it but money is just far too scarce.

It should provide me with a nice place to sit for a good few years

Just noticed all those loverly reflections in the windscreen, can't wait to drive in the sun....! LOL

[silverfrost]

Simon,

Looks the dogs nuts to me very nice indeed

Its all slowly starting to come to together good work mate, regards danny

[Simon350S]

I agree it does look fab in the photos, its the close up scrutiny which shows up the differences between an ok job and a expert professional A1 job.

This is where it falls down, so please don't look too close when you see it for real!!!

[Simon350S]

Mrs T2B trying it out for size

Having got rid of all that rouched crap, the new tight leather looks really modern and the Elise seats really make it look just right and up to date, whilst retaining the period look to some extent. I'm loving the suade look, its very lovely just wish I couldn't see the not so perfect bits....

[rocket63]

Interior looks the nuts Si

[Simon350S]

Well in light of my inability to go to Daves fix it weekend I thought I'd join in remotely and get some bits done on mine, whilst servicing Lisa with food and drink via walkie talkies

Coolant hose installation complete.

Some investigatory works on the chassis/bulkhead mountings reveales a massive amount of movement. This will be sorted first thing in the morning with some new OVERSIZED M10 bolts and by adding an additional one each side, so 3 in total both sides. Thats the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes. The movement is about 6mm, which is A LOT! no wonder it was banging so much...

I had to slightly oversize the holes in the body so i could connect up the petrol tank earths and started to get my heat sheild set ready for fitting, they will be test fitted tomorrow.

Then it was time to drop her down, she's sitting nice & low, thats withough any coolant weighing down the front and with no engine. Should look nice when she's fully weighted up, may have to put her up a little, see how she settles though....

Exhaust manifold on, all belts on, engine mount arms on.....

Whats happening tomorrow I wonder???

Edited September 5, 2009 by Simon350S

[silverfrost]

Good luck with dropping the engine in tommorow mate

Coming along well pal, regards danny

[Simon350S]

Today so far!

Polly trusted the new hoist 110% and decided to prove her faith by standing underneath chewing a bone whilst we roped the engine up...

A sight I'd not expected to see for a very long time, thanks guys for helping me by bringing her up and doing all that work

The long reach hoist was no where near long reach enough, about 10" short.... D'oh..

Iain suggested swinging her in from the side, so we did exactly that.

And there it is in....

Polly decided I wasn't preocupied enough tightening the engine mounts and wanted me to throw what was left of her chew bone, cheers!

Thank you Iain for helping out again.

[Advantage]

Splendid.

[Andy67]

Well done lads! Maybe this next?

[Bibs]

Beautiful

[rocket63]

How good is that