All Ready for the Big Show - Stoneleigh 2014

Just a last few jobs done this weekend to get the car ready for Stoneleigh next week!

First was to insulate the diagnostic cable from the exhaust heat. Tried several prototypes in the vice to come up with the optimal method. (heated a piece of steel to about 400°C with a blowtorch and held it against it) The foil backed polystyrene insulation just melted and so was ruled out. The self-amalgamating tape did withstand fairly well, but did go quite soft; but by far and away the best for the job was a plumber's blowtorch soldering mat, designed for normal usage up to 600°C. So I cut into strips and wrapped it around the cable, finishing with lockwire.

Not desperately pretty, but will do the trick and thankfully sharp edges aren't part of the test under the bonnet

 Next I had to fill the gap on the rear panel left by what would have been the normal light mounting arrangement. I made up an ally blanking panel and got some natty badges to put on it.




Despite then spending an hour painting the panel I realised it was just a bit too small to get both badges neatly on it, so gave up and just glued the badges on covering up the holes

 

So that completes the last few jobs, other than a clean and polish! Results of which below, although the keen eyes amongst you will spot that the above jobs are missing from these photos, and that's because I did them after cleaning and polishing :-)

The rest of the day was spent arguing and fighting with the trailer to get it ready, including a modification to the jacking mechanism to aid loading and unloading the car (pics to follow) and freeing all the brakes off which were jammed solid.

Busy couple of weeks ahead then - Stoneleigh next weekend, which the orange peril will be gracing the GKD stand (hope to see loads of you there) and then IVA the following week!

There's that horrific steering wheel again - will take off for the show, but put back on for IVA

 Et Voila - Finished! Although I'm sure there'll be another to-do list after the show when everyone points out all the obvious IVA fail points that I've no doubt missed!!!

Thanks for reading...