Ventilation & Loom

Ventilation - Other jobs included the fitting of the ventilation system. The factory provide a fiberglass box to collect the hot air from the heater this is fixed under the scuttle. From the top of this I drilled 4 holes and fitted outlet pipes, 2 are for the windscreen demisters and 2 are there in case I want some sort of heating into the cabin (they're taped up for now). I cut two vent slots in the top of the body, underneath these are a couple of plenum units that I've bonded to the body, these are connected to the heater distribution box via a couple of flexible pipes. It's not the prettiest of installations and still needs some cleaning up, but it seems to do the job.

Wiring Harness - I've also made a start on fitting the wiring harness. I bought the complete loom from the factory. It seems pretty well made and instructions were good, identifying each of the legs and individual wires. To start the fitting you need to make a panel that will carry the fuses / relays, there are three blocks to be fitted and these don't quite fit side by side above the passenger footwell location, so I opted to fit the block associated with the windscreen on the rear, you can still get to it from underneath and it is held with a couple of screws so if you need better access it can be dropped down.

Rear of Fuse Panel with Wiper Relays

Fuse Panel from the Front & Installed

There are 4 main legs to the harness, front N/S, Engine bay, Front O/S and rear and the some connectors for the dashboard and other ancillaries, such as the handbrake switch.  The suggested routing for the front legs and engine bay is clear but I'm a bit unsure about the rear section where it routes under the wheel arch and into the boot. This will need some more thought.

Exhausts & Body Work

I needed to refit the exhausts now that the body is on permanently. This involves cutting a hole in the body just behind the front wheels. The precise location of the hole can't be measured as there are too many angles involved. When I originally fitted the exhaust I made up a template and I used that to mark the position on the body, to confirm (measure twice, cut once..), I ran a straight edge from outside corner of each header pipe. These mark approximated with the the measure I had from the template.

• Step 1 - Drilled 4 small holes through the body from the outside points of the pipes.
• Step 2 - Opened up these holes to make the initial cut
• Step 3 - Length of plastic pipe fitted into the header I opened up the hole to match the locations of the pipe.
• Step 4 - With 4 lengths of pipe in the headers I offered up the exhaust pipe and marked around that
• Step 5 - With the exhaust through the body I opened up the hole to accept the exhaust all the way. The hole is biased to the rear of the car due to the curve of the exhaust as comes through the body.

Step 1 - 4 Pilot Holes

Step 3 - Using Pipe to open up the hole

Step 4 - Offer the exhaust using pipes as a guide

Final fit

I'm tempted to remove the cover I have on the exhaust. I'm short of space in the garage though and worried that I'll scratch it so I'll leave until I next try the engine. Just got to do the other side now...

Steering & Handbrake

Steering Column Extension

It's been a while since the last update, but holidays are out of the way, the kids are back at school and I can get back into the garage. This weekend I managed to get the steering column installed. Originally I had an issue with the extension that links the column to the rack, but the factory have dealt with that and it all fits OK. The lack of steering has been a problem as every time I push the car out of the garage it moves a little off center and it was hard work to get back in the right place. I have one final issue with the steering and that's with the bush arrangement that the factory supplies, I can't get it to sit flush against the bulkhead. It seems to be the angle of the column as it comes through the bulkhead is forcing the bracket out of line. I'll have to have a play with this and see if I can get it right. Another matter is where I've run the clutch pipe, it is fouling the bracket for the steering column bush (that's why it's bent out of the way in the picture below). I've decided to reroute it over the transmission tunnel, others have done this and I think it'll look tidier. It's one of those irritants that get you every so often, I've already fitted the thing twice.

Steering Column - Upper

Steering Column Bush

The other job I've started, is fitting the handbrake. I connected the lever to the cable to find the natural resting place for it. The bracket needed some minor adjustment to stop it from fouling the body work or sticking out over the side of the ledge around the tub. I was surprised to see that the rear mounting bolt appeared to be immediately over the seat-belt  anchor point that is built into the chassis, or at least it was over the hole that the factory put in the body for this anchor point. A quick inspection showed the hole in the body was in the wrong the wrong place, I found this on both sides of the car. Good news as it meant I could install the handbrake where it 'wanted' to go on the cable, but did mean putting another hole in the body as you can see in the picture below. I'll connect the handbrake at the weekend and test it out.

Handbrake Bracket