Build Day 73

Build time today 5.0 hours - Total build time 211.0 hours.

Man time today 7.5 hours - Total man time 241.5 hours.

First thing I did was check the battery had changed. Switched the ignition on and could hear the car come into life, but did not start it.

decided to tackle the wipers first so took the switch off the dash and plugged into the loom so I could run them to get the park position. Once fitted the wipers did not look correct at all. it was as though they were parked on the wrong side.

I next tidied up the head lamp/indicator wiring as it was stopping the bonnet closing unless I moved the wires. I covered the exposed wires that connect between the chassis and bonnet in protective wrap and on the drivers side secured it to the top radiator mounting plate with a cable clip fastener. On the passenger side I could not secure so easily so fastened it to the top water pipe, I think I may have another look at that side though. The bonnet can now be closed without the wires getting in the way.

Next I had another look at the cycle wings trying to determine where they should fit but without committing to anything.

Wife was popping out so decided to go together so I could pop into a DIY store to buy some glue to re-secure the interior panels.

Armed with the correct product I quickly glued the vinyl back down and moved on to completing the dash. At which point Oli arrived on the scene and continued to look at the panel fitting. He used masking tape to mark up where he thought the panel should be marked and checked and enlarged the holes for the harness mounting points.

Oli had a look at the carpet for the centre tunnel and found that it would foul the section where the harness enters from the tunnel and I had secured the additional relays. I thought it best to check with the factory if it was usual practice to have to cut the carpet.

With the car on its wheels and the battery charged it seemed like a good point for the first drive. So armed with some old cushions and the make do steering device the car was started and driven out of the garage. It was videoed but its starts in portrait before shifting to landscape so does not make very good viewing.

Oli even had a go an manoeuvring on the drive but we did not run it too much. steering with mole grips makes the process rather difficult.

With the car in the sun we did some more work preparing for the cycle wing fitting. There are no holes in the wings or the mounts so these needed to be planned and drilled. I decided that placing the button head bolts 10cm apart looked to be about correct so started to line up the supports with the tyre centres, but trying to get the the point on the bracket consistent left and right. If I measured inwards from the bracket edge the same distance left and right I could not get those points consistent with the tyre centre.  So after much deliberation decided to use the tyre centre point and then measure 5cm either side to get the hole points.

Knowing that there were rules on the cycle wing position I printed the relevant checks from the IVA guide and Oli got his geometry set and we checked where the cycle wings needed to be to meet the requirements. There is quite a bit of allowance to meet the requirements so it was really a matter of trying to put the wing where it sat and looked correct. I settled for getting the front of the wing more or less in line with the indicator line. I used masking tape and a marker to mark the points on the wing so they were in line with the brackets so that they could be placed correctly.

Time to tidy up a little, having the car outside meant that I could do a decent sweep and tidy up, removing any loose rubish where the car had been standing since the project started. Once done the car was pushed back into the garage and I continue to work on preparing for the cycle wing fitments. I knew the front wheels would need to come off again so the front was jacked up and put back on stands ready. I was happy with the bracket hole points so drilled them using a block of wood between the bracket and tyre.

I then marked the centre point between the brackets and commenced in trying to mark the centre point of the cycle wing. It measured 198mm across the centre section so I just needed a good method to mark a line down the centre, but that was for another day.

I had not completed as much over the weekend as hoped but the end is most definitely in sight. If only the tasks that I hope would be simple had been.