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Day Six - The garage is getting emptier! |
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What a frustrating week, I was unable to do anything on the car as work was getting in the way. With the bank holiday weekend I have three days to work on the car. I spoke to MNR during the week to get hold of some bits that were holding me up and that I haven't been able to source locally. It would seem that no one needs to build anything from aluminium in Andover as any of the local suppliers look at you with a blank face when you ask for it!
Chris sent me bits to make the battery tray, mount the fuel tank with and mount the engine with!
The cradle was sent to another customer by mistake and was due back to MNR early in the week, fortunately it arrived before he sent the package down to me! Unfortunately it got damaged in transit and was missing large chunks of powder coating. I was fortunate in that one of my wife's friends knows a powder coater! He got hold of it on Thursday evening and I got it back first thing Friday!!
Saturday was very tiring, my Dad joined me in the garage for the day. It's amazing how much quicker you can work when you can see ways around things, he finished of 2 or 3 little bits that I just didn't know where to start with! We fitted the sump baffle and mounted the cradle to the engine.The 5PW engine uses 4 M10 x 1.25 bolts to mount into the cradle, the ideal length for an MNR cradle would be 60-65mm. Unfortunately I had 80s which has meant I'm using spacers as there wasn't enough thread to cut the bolt down. I'll most probably replace them with shorter bolts as I don't t like the look of the spaced out bolts.
The engine was dropped into the hole and we then struggled to get the holes to all line up! With some juggling and levering it all lined up and was bolted in.
All of the hubs have now been built up with new bearings and are ready to be mounted which is a weight off my mind as I didn't really want to do that bit! The steering rack is half built but there's a bearing missing.
My Dad has raised an issue with the routing of the clutch cable. With the new pedal box the lower height of the clutch pedal means that the cable can't follow a straight route from the bulkhead. It's fine with the pedal in the rest position but when the pedal is pressed the cable has to bend to follow the pedal which could lead to premature wear of the cable, the only way to get a straight run is to mount it through the chassis rail! I've raised this with MNR and hopefuly get some suggestions.
Sunday was back to being on my own so I figured the best thing I could do would be to start a job that I've never done and I should really have asked my Dad for help with! So I added the second clutch spring! It was actually quite simple, the only thing I'm not sure of is the clutch arm now feels like it's stuck and there is no free play anymore.
I've p-clipped up the rest of the fuel lines and finished the mounting of the two pedals, I just have to split pin them in but can't find what I've done with the split pins!!
The Diff was next on the list, the build manual says to insert it in at a 30 degree angle and point the diff nose in to the tunnel, I'm sure Marc has taken lessons from the writers at Haynes! I just couldn't see how to get that to work, the back plate was in the way and no amount of jiggling would help, having the lower support arm as a rose jointed brace would have been fantastic. Anyway, off came the back plate and it just slotted into place, with a bit of a wiggle the back plate was fitted back on and it all screwed in to place.
With the diff mounted I could start with the fuel tank, with some foam strips to lay the tank on I could bend the straps in to place and screw it all in. THat's pretty much how it happened, 2 rivets and 2 M6 rivnuts and the tank is now held in place and also easily removable.
The plan for tomorrow is to fit the sender and mount the bodywork. Here are some pictures from today.
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