Magazine Superstar

Another brief update...

One idle Sunday, recently, whilst I was stood in WHS Smiths waiting for my good lady to hurry up and get served, I happened to pick up Complete Kit Car from the nearby shelf and flick through - to my surprise, I was in it!!!

Signed copies available upon request

I remember having a chat with the editor, Ian Stent at the Exeter show; and he mentioned that he would be keen to include it in the mag in some form, and potentially run a feature when finished. I had forgotten all about that and the amount of photographers that were cooing over it on the day, so it was a nice surprise and a bit of reward for all the hard work. I were dead chuffed I were.

Leave me a comment below if CKC brought you here :)

So, back to the business of building...


After the show, and as per the last update, attention has continued to focus on all the small and menial but no less important tasks. I spent a whole evening on eBay ordering "finishing pieces" like clips, rubber edging, nut covers etc. and many an hour on tidying and finishing tasks like pegging back looms, routing wiring, securing pipes with cable ties etc.

I have also been nagging Peter (who has been very patient) about the few remaining electrical gremlins. First one, headlights that flash on and off with the indicators. Go on... see if you can spot the deliberate mistake...

Don't cut the yellow wire! or the red wire! I think it's the white one... BOOM.

That's right, you guessed it. I cut the wrong wire. Peter gave me some instruction over the 'phone but I cut and joined the wrong yellow and green wire (the one with the spade terminals in that picture) I should have cut the OTHER yellow and green wire. D'oh, and apologies to Peter who spent a fair bit of time wracking his brains only to find it was yet another foolish customer mistake!!

Also managed to fix the hazard tell-tale flashing in time with the right indicator, this was just a simple snip and re-solder. So now, everything works 100% perfectly. Right down to the buzzer that tells you when you have left the lights on when you take the key out!!

I sorted out my dilemma with the petrol cap tethering - seems you can simply trap the wire between the filler neck and hose and clamp in place with the jubilee clip. So simple and effective.... why didn't I think of that! I had started fabricating all sorts of weird and wonderful clips, brackets, jointing pieces etc.

The roll-bar/hoop is also ready and being posted down to me, along with a tonneau cover for the boot. I hadn't planned to fit that yet, but might do as it will neaten up the back area for IVA (even though they will undoubtedly make me take it off).

So progress-wise, about 94% through the build list - the big things remaining are roll bar, seatbelts and re-re-re-fitting the ally panels for about the 7th time (getting to the stage where I wish I'd have rivnutted them or tapped them by now!!) But this is the last time now... or so I keep telling myself every time I end up drilling a load of rivets out!

The snagging list, which is running parallel with the build list now, is at about 70% complete, with mostly minor jobs left such as nut covers, sharp edge patrol, and need to flip the exhaust three into ones as they're upside down.

I forgot to include this pic last time, which shows the engine bay nearing completion in terms of neatening up wiring and pipes etc. Oh and the now-fitted PiperX air filter, complete with Land Rover rubber air duct hose part number ESR1611L HOSE AIRFLOW TO PLENUM V8 DEFENDER RANGE ROVER CLASSIC, £23 +vat from Brookwell.co.uk,

Getting close to finishing now! Will seriously be looking at filling in the IVA paperwork after Christmas.

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas if I don't see you before!

Update of menial importance

Hello dear blog readers

Just a minor update covering a few jobs I've ticked off recently. Unfortunately it's that stage of the build  where all the tedious and necessary jobs are screaming out for attention.

Ty-wrapping looms and cables seems to have occupied my time of late. Boot area is done though

Fuel filler and vent in place as well.

The main loom up through the car and the engine bay is also similarly neat. Beneath the scuttle is still a bit of a bird's nest, but I've uncovered a few interesting features with the wiring that need sorting out, hence can't tie it all up yet - headlights that flash in time with the indicators and stuff like that. Nothing too disturbing, but need putting right. Peter has been very helpful and the problems seem to stem from updates required to the loom from IVA such as foglight changes and the fact I've gone for all-round LED indicators etc. Peter is working tirelessly on a solution, and has boffins on it around the clock!

I also changed out the aluminium hose joiners that failed. As you can see, it's no wonder why

Old left, new right

I then fixed the rad fan which was catching something .... A piece of cardboard used to protect it during shipping. Remove cardboard, easy fix.

All this work dismantling the cooling system may mean I have to bleed it again, as it seemed to be getting too hot the other day - probably got an airlock in there.

Other minor jobs include - VIN plate and stamping chassis number onto chassis, rectifying assorted pop rivets that were missed, making brackets for all manner of things like diagnostic plug etc, fitting the nose cone properly, safe edging and IVA nut covers, wiring up dash switch for horn etc. All done, not really worth a photo, and as its colder now (about 5°C up the workshop) the iPhone camera has started doing its usual trick and playing up so fewer pics this time :-(

So that leaves us 94% complete on the build list, and 62% complete on the snagging. Last big component remaining is the roll bar, which Peter has, just need to get it. That will then allow the seats and seatbelt a to be fitted, the remaining ally panels, and then it can be prepped for Pre-IVA MoT and soon after IVA!! Great stuff.

Pic as of yesterday:

Thanks for reading