Build Day 68

Build time today 2.0 hours - Total build time 193.0 hours.

Man time today 2.0 hours - Total man time 217.0 hours.

First thing I did was glue a spare cable tie fastening (the sort that is normally riveted to the chassis) to a fibre glass off cut to see if I could get a decent bond. If successful I would use four to fasten the grill in so that I would not have to drill holes, plus the wire for the number plate lamp is loose in the rear body section and could do with holding in place.

While waiting to see how it took I had a go at the windscreen washer tube. I first had to enlarge the pre-drilled hole to allow the washer jet assembly to be secured then I had to decide how to route the tube. I decided to route it with the coolant pipes that go to the heater. I drilled a hole just big enough between the pipes and carefully (very fiddly, why did I drill the hole there) pushed the wire from in side the scuttle through the hole into the engine bay. I decided the spiral wrap the pipe in the engine bay and then routed it to the bottle using pairs of cable ties to keep it in place, not too tightly secured so as not to pinch the coolant or washer pipe.

Once done I checked the cable tie fastening I had glued to the off cut and it seemed be holding well so decided to use that method. I glued one on the inside of the rear body work to hold the number plate light cable in place and four on the inside of the nose cone to hold the nose grill. Only time will tell if they really are secure and i will need to keep an eye on the mesh to make sure it stays secure for a while.

Could not quite decide to do next but finally took the plunge and fastened the boot inner in place. Not sure if I should really call it a boot as some cars have larger door bins. Initially could not decide how to fasten but having decided I could not get behind it to use nuts settled on using large headed rivets. Hope I don't have to remove it. Next the boot lid, this will need to be trimmed as the return is too long in several places and will need to be trimmed to suit. having checked around the boot it looks to need to be trimmed to no more than 17mm to allow it to fit. Started to tape the edge of the lid ready for trimming but called it a night before starting to trim the edge. Once its trimmed and can be fitted the locks will be next. I have also added some temporary straps using masking tape because getting it out once in place with the boot inner attached is likely to be very difficult, thankfully the first time I tried it in place the inner was not present and it could be pushed from underneath.