December 5th, 2016

Spend: £17.26

 

 

Refitted the high level brake light and roll bar back onto the car.  Also connected up the high level brake light to wiring loom and tested it to make sure it has never have to come off again 

 

December 9th, 2016

Spend: £923.00

 

Got a message from @windy at the beginning of the week telling my that my gearbox and diff were ready and were being dropped off at @Marto303's on Thursday.  So quickly arranged with Martin to collect the rest today.  Graham informed me that it's been a miracle that my gearbox and diff survived the "bodge" job that a previous builder had performed.  It did mean that it had now needed more money spend on it to rectify it but that should be money well invested.

 

 

 

December 10th, 2016

Spend: £248.70

 

Started off with replacing the roll bar set screws with new 10.9 M10x30s and nylocs as the originals were a little too short to my liking.  Then onto the axle along with the newly bushed trailing arms and the new Protech rear shocks supplied by Luke from @Plays-Kool.  Small issue with the new shocks which have a wider bush fitted than the old Spax, but after advice on the forums and some common sense thinking I fitted those without inner washers inside the bracket.

 

 

Got further stuck with the offside top trailing arm when I tried to mate it with the shock using a lengthy 7/16 UNF bolt. The bolt would not go through the bush, and when I tried to force it through without the shock, it got so stuck the only option seemed to be to take the axle out again and cut the bolt.  Cue, lots of swearing.  After Q jr arrived back home from work we removed the axle again from the car and left it for the next day.

 

December 11th, 2016

Spend: £0.00

 

A good nights sleep does wonders.

 

 

With a little levering against the brake drum and using a spanner to rotate the bolt, it finally came out again.  Pfew!  Compared the bolt to the one for the other side and it seemed to be identical, yet the other bolt went through the bush just fine.  Weird or what?!?  I then checked all trailing arms, and only one of them had no problem with this bolt.  So marked them up and asked Mrs Q to help lift the axle to slide it back into the car again.  With the assistance of the engine crane I managed to get all trailing arms bolted back up, and also the panhard rod was fitted back in.  Took a step back to admire my work and then thought that something was not quite right.  Looked through my pictures from the "before" moment, and sure enough, the brake drums were upside down!  The OSR and NSR drums need to be reversed and rotated.  Cue, more swearing.  Quick message to Martin and he's kindly offered to come round on Tuesday evening to swap them over.

 

December 13th, 2016

Spend: £0.00

 

 

In exchange for two cups of coffee Martin and his colleague made short work of swapping the half shafts around 

 

December 17th, 2016

Spend: £20.00

 

Spend all day getting gearbox and engine in.  It's not easy on your own to keep the engine at a certain level without help, and by the time Q jr arrived home from work I was short on time and light and then had to remove engine again.  Left the gearbox in the car on a new mount as the old one was cracked.

 

December 26th, 2016

Spend: £70.23

 

Put the car the other way around in the garage and on stands.  With the assistance of a borrowed engine leveller from @Marto303 the engine was put back in in a jiffy.  The inlet side engine mount seems to fit straight onto the position of the old Crossflow mount, but for the exhaust side it is a little more involved.

 

 

For the exhaust side I had bought a new mounting plate, after advice from the club I, and am re-using the old Crossflow mount.  Little by little taking a bit off the old mount until it starts to fall into place.

 

 

December 27th, 2016

Spend: £0.00

 

 

Continued to work on engine mount only to discover it would fall foul off the exhaust manifold on the drop.  Plan B starts here:  Will have to use the mount at the front of the engine instead.

 

 

The only issue with this is that the pedestal sits further forward on the welded ground plate so it will need a larger plate to make it more secure.

The exhaust manifold will exit in front of current exit point, so need to check it does not interfere with steering extremities.  Shame about the existing hole, but I suppose some flared panels in the future will take care of that.

 

 

Also re-fitted the alternator and although it fits, it has minimal space with the chassis bracing.  May need to replace this once the engine is on mounts with a smaller alternator.

 

 

Finally, I also tried to fit my old Crossflow starter, but it cant be put into position as it fouls on the sump.  Guess a new LRS707 is required.

 

 

 

Last month: £  3497.35
This month: £  1279.19
            ----------+
Total:      £  4776.54