September Update

27 Aug-18 Sep

Holidays and family visiting have prevented much progress, though I now have all three looms joined together and most of the holes drilled in the dashboard. Windscreen fitting is required before finally fitting the dashboard. Other than that I’ve been making components for the new handbrake. Hope to get stuck in better before the end of September!

21-29 Sept

The handbrake lever’s finished apart from the weld required when the lever that connects with the cable is in the ideal position. The cable’s also fitted temporarily. The capscrews didn’t help the manifold problem – they were even more impossible than the hex heads! With some difficulty it is just possible to get a spanner on the offending screws and tighten them, but it needs patience.   I’ve replaced the Lucas starter motor with a geared  one from Powerlite. The Lucas unit needed repair to the main terminal which wouldn’t have been easy, and when all’s said and done its condition was unknown. I wanted to have the best chance of startup when the time came. The Powerlite unit is much smaller and lighter.     Faced with an ultimatum to clear the spare bedroom (!) pending guests staying, the windscreen is now fitted! A bit of a struggle drilling the holes for the retaining screws, and a bit stiff the day after! Fitting needs careful measurement to ensure compliance with the dimensions recommended by Gerry’s Build Manual.         Following this the dashboard’s been drilled for the instruments and switches, and is now in place, though will need to be removed for covering with leathercloth. The intermediate steering columns been removed and had the grooves milled in place to receive the clamp screws.   I’ve fitted the trim covering the seat belt mount, and the seats are loosely in place. I’ve also fitted the nearside door trim – though this will have to be removed later for remedial work. I made a template from thick paper and accurately drilled the holes for the ‘firtree’ fasteners – but really these are one-shot fasteners, and are damaged by removal. Unfortunately the fit around the GRP moulding that covers the door hinge isn’t good and I need to re-work the trim panel to increase the clearance here and make it fit better – which means fitting new firtree fasteners which in turn means separating the cloth from the hardboard backing.   Gerry’s propshaft has arrived and is now fitted. Good to see it’s fully greasable!   The next major job will be the exhaust. At the moment I’m proposing to build the system myself, using primary and secondary absorption silencers, and 1.75” pipe. This is really a bit too large but silencers taking smaller diameters are not readily available, it seems. I propose to make up a couple of dummy silencers with wood and card to find the best positions.   I have the remaining ignition components – leads, coil and ballast resistor – on order, also over-riders. As of tomorrow – 1st October – I become semi-retired, so hopefully progress might be a bit faster!