Fitting out the body

June 2001
Now the body was on I could start the fit out. The first job was to put the petrol tank back. I had previously drilled all the holes so it was just a case of spraying the tank with the appropriate 'gunge' and bolting it in. Then I realised I had not cut out the hole for the fuel level sensor, so out it came. I cut the hole and made an aluminium cover plate, his is bolted to floor of boot using 8 counter sunk screws. Refitted the tank, one final coat of under seal and it's done.

Whilst I had and an extra pair of hands around (Joe), I loosely fitted the bonnet, this still needs final adjusting, but I'll wait till my brother is down as he is a cabinet maker and used to fiddling with doors till they fit just right!

Ordered the pedal box and a few other bits, which duely arrived.
Fitting pedal box: The plating on the pedal box metalwork was very poor, in one patch there was not plating at all the the bare metal was rusting, if I lived nearer to Harlow I would take it back, but it's a long way and I'm fed up of complaining. I fitted the frame without the pedals, as the manual says, 'it locates itself'. When I came to fit the clutch pedal, it fowled the bodywork. DAX suggested filing the bodywork, away!! This sounded a bit of a bodge, so I very carefully bent the pedal. As it turned out only a very small adjustment was required.

Had to take the pedal box out many times until all the bits the were fitted. I needed to cut a LONG slot in the roof of the drivers footwell to get the clutch spigot through. I bought the brake servo from DAX and a second hand brake master cylinder off a '94 Ford Escort from a local scrap yard, then finished routing and connecting the brake pipes. Are they connected wrongly?

At this point I put the engine back in, and bolted in the mounting bracket under the gearbox.

July 2001
I had previously sent the steering column to DAX to be modified, but needed to fit the dash first to see how it all lined up. So I ordered the fuel pump + dash (uncovered). The dash fitted OK, and I can can now cut-out for steering column, seems to fit OK. Have not yet fitted lower bracket as I would like to fit the exhausts first to make sure nothing fowls.

Fitted the fuel fuel pump onto the passenger chassis rail, just in front of the diff, but needed two attempts as the first stuck out the bottom of the car too far. Fitted doors, these seem quite a reasonable fit! Still need a little fettling.

Started to clean up the rocker covers (which had previously been painted) and carburetors, what a job!.

Very sad day, I learnt today that Brian, who runs the local car accessories shop died, he was a very friendly and helpful guy who will be missed a great deal :-((

August 2001
Major hassle with fuel pump...

When I tried to fit the prop shaft cover, the pump was in the way, I had to make a special bracket. Ordered the wiring loom and decided to change valley gasket as it is a bit rusty.