March 4th, 2021

Spend: £566.00

 

  

 

Look what the parcel man delivered today!  The JK Composites seats I ordered a month ago; a standard N4246 for the driver side and a modified N3946 for the passenger side to fit in the reduced space that that side has.  Keith stretched the area for the hips to be as wide as possible within the dimensions I had passed to him.  A perfect fit!

 

 

 

March 6th, 2021

Spend: £0.00

 

  

 

I didn't make this decision lightly, but the only way to get more leg room and ensure that I can still look through the windscreen is by cutting a bit off from the front so that the "bum part" rests on the floor and is as far back as possible.

 

 

 

March 7th, 2021

Spend: £28.65

 

Whilst waiting for hardware to arrive for the seat fixings, I started on fabricating a diffuser.  First a template using the tried and tested Cardboard Aided Design that's traced onto the aluminium plate.

 

  

 

Then some strategic bending so it follows the floor and avoids the diff.  And then affix the two centre wings with some rivets.

 

  

 

Need to look at mounting it somehow next, and giving it a coat of paint, but I'm really pleased with the mockup.

 

 

 

March 9th, 2021

Spend: £0.00

 

 

Realised that I need to keep the diff visible (jacking point) I cut a hole today and used some M4 rivnuts in the chassis to hold it in place.  Not sure yet how I'm going to mount it at the back end yet.  Have ordered some M4 rubber bobbins to see if they are suitable.

 

 

March 13th, 2021

Spend: £22.83

 

Those bobbins I had ordered where way to small, so I got thinking and found a nicer solution by using the old mounting brackets for the number plate/spare wheel holder using some eye bolts.  Will do the final fitting once I've painted the diffuser.

 

 

 

Then it was time to start on the seat brackets.  Got some 3mm thick, 20mm wide steel delivered and after hammering them into submission, drilled them and used some 5mm rubber spacers to fix them to the seats.  Tomorrow time to see how I can fix those brackets to the chassis.

 

 

March 14th, 2021

Spend: £11.40

 

 

 

Continued with the mounting brackets.  Got all 4 in position using some M8 rivnuts and all they now need is some paint for final fitting.

 

 

March 20th, 2021

Spend: £25.15

 

Every day of the week a layer of primer/paint on the brackets and diffuser.  Keep running out of both as you use a lot more than you think.

 

  

 

And then it is back to aluminium bending for the bottom brackets.

 

 

 

March 21st, 2021

Spend: £0.00

 

First layer of black (before I ran out again) on the diffuser

 

 

 

Then bolted the seats into the car and marked the bottom fixing holes.  Waiting for my harness to arrive before final fitting.

 

 

March 22nd, 2021

Spend: £9.99

 

More paint arrived so quickly a new coat on both sides.  Final coat tomorrow.

 

 

 

And removed the seats again so I could put rivet nuts in at the marked positions.

 

 

March 23rd, 2021

Spend: £19.99

 

 

 

Too windy outside for painting, so started with fitting a CTEK panel charging point.  The battery lives in a aluminium box above the diff, so I had to remove that first (at great difficulty!) to get the wiring in the right location.

 

 

March 24th, 2021

Spend: £0.00

 

No picture, but managed to put another coat on the diffuser and then continued with the CTEK charging point.  Swapped the traditional nuts&bolts for bolts and rivet nuts and modified the battery tray to be a little more accommodating.

 

 

 

 

March 25th, 2021

Spend: £486.85

 

 

My Schroth harness arrived yesterday, so whilst waiting for various work processes to finish, I kept sneaking in and out of the garage to finally fit them along with the seats.  Now I can finally take the car down from the axle stands and get it out of the garage.

 

 

March 27th, 2021

Spend: £65.80

 

Got the car out of the garage and started it.  It ran straight away but as I'm still SORNed, I could only drive the 30 meters behind the house in the courtyard.  didn't stop me from grinning ear-to-ear again though!

 

  

 

I then went on to service the car.  Thought I'd start on the differential, but couldn't get a T55 socket in so need to get a stubby version of it before I can complete it.  Then replaced the oil with Valvoline VR1 Racing 20W50 and put on a new K&N HP-2004 filter and had a good look at what I need to do for the gearbox.  Finished the day by adding another layer of lacquer on the diffuser.

 

 

March 28th, 2021

Spend: £9.49

 

  

 

Time to get rid of that awful bottom ridge of the body work.  Cleaned up the area and used 3M knife-less tape to mark the boundary for a "fake" diffuser using the same vinyl wrap I used for the boot lid.

 

 

 

March 31st, 2021

Spend: £64.99

 

 

Final touch for this month, installing the quick release hub so I can get in/out of the car a little easier...  I'm getting on a bit you know .  Car is now taxed for tomorrow so we're good to go!

 

 

 

Last month: £   661.43

This month: £  1311.14
            ----------+
Total:      £  1972.57