Last Piece of the Puzzle

Hi Everyone

So the greatly anticipated final component has now arrived...

Any guesses what's inside?

Before we unwrap the shiny gifts, need to focus on a water leak coming from the front of the engine. It's been bugging me for some time, and I assumed it was the core plug that had corroded. Upon closer inspection I was wrong (which is a good thing, because the core plug they sent me was the wrong one anyway, think they sent the much bigger one for the back of the head). See not-very-high-quality-pic for what was wrong:

Thermostat housing - note the pink crystallised coolant around the edges.

Upon further inspection, it was actually found to be cracked. So off to GSF for a replacement - bit shocking, a plastic casting (£15) a thermostat (£15) and the o-ring and a tube of hylomar came in at nearly £50!!

 

Still, necessary evil. Don't think the IVA inspector would be too chuffed with getting dripped on continually during the test. Fortunately the whole job was very straightforward, the longest way home was mopping up the floor from where the coolant missed the bucket and ended up everywhere :)

So, onto fitting the roll bar. I offered it up and all seemed to be in order - another nice piece of fabrication, very impressed. However, underneath there seemed to be no way to get it centralised in the car, and avoid the nuts underneath fouling on one of the upper suspension mounts. In the end, I decided to get one side OK and worry about the other.

The "worrysome" side would then need some attention from the grinder - just taking the edges off the weld to allow the nuts to clear.

Carefully ground away a bit of the corner pieces/welds to allow the roll bar nuts to clear; without removing too much strength from the bracket

And then, hey presto it fits:

Included in the kit was the Tonneau cover I ordered - really finishes the back end off, I like it

However, few slight snags for me as I fitted the rear cycle wings level with the top of the tub. I wanted it to look flush as well as give me scope for lowering the vehicle to its lowest (arguably too low there, need to raise it up a tad) but that means I can't fit the poppers around the side. I'll need a cunning fix for that, and Emma (seamstress extroadinaire) has a few ideas, so we'll see. I might well wait until after IVA as it's not needed. Plus, knowing my luck I'll introduce another rule-breaking complication such as lethally sharp vinyl that will cut your head off or some such nonesense.

I also fitted the legally-binding contract of  "thou shalt not twiddle with the brake bias" in sticker form

Won't be touching it. Honest guv. Oh and need to stick my skateboard non-slip tread back on the clutch pedal as it appears to have fallen off

So that was the weekend's work - not bad at all. In fact, there's not too many weekends left now I shouldn't wonder!





Looking at the various lists, need to seal and secure the remaining aluminium panels and the boot floor, and that's the car 100% built according to GKD instructions. (hurrah)

On the snagging list, just a few jobs remaining, mainly IVA stuff like the odd nut cover and sharp edges, need to check the mirrors have the right field of vision (from backing it in and out of the garage I've got a nasty feeling they are too low on the scuttle), need to fit a throttle return spring as occasionally the pedal sticks slightly, and find a way of mounting a front number plate (any ideas on this? I've got a holder like on the back)

Then I'll have to book a test!! I'm thinking that in the next few weeks I'll take it for a regular MoT and they can tell me if the brake balance, brake effort, headlight beam heights and emissions are OK, rather find out that and fail a £20 MoT then the £450 test... although I'm certain failure, first time, is always an option for the biggie...

To end... Some pics of the car looking very handsome. Thanks for reading!