Build Day 77

Build time today 2.0 hours - Total build time 228.0 hours.

Man time today 2.0 hours - Total man time 253.5 hours.

Managed to grab a couple of hours. Concentrated on the interior and first started to put the rest of the carpets in place. I think there is carpet for all panels but I don't think I will bother with some of the panels.

Once I had an idea what needed to go where decided that before fixing I would secure the lower edges of the side interior panels, these needed to be drilled and riveted and without the carpet in place vacuuming the bits up is easier. Once these were in place I next made the holes in the transmission tunnel carpet for the lower harness mount points checking that I could start the thread the bolts in. 

With the passenger floor carpet in place I marked the positions of the seat mounting points from underneath, before drilling small holes. I then put Velcro across the front edge, put the cross section cover in place and put the carpet back in place. Using a screwdriver I confirmed the small holes were above the seat mounting points and then used a cone drill to enlarge the holes in the carpet to the size of the mounting holes. 

Next on the the passenger foot well. I removed the screws I had left in place for the foot brace and fastened a piece of carpet to the inner side of the transmission tunnel and trimmed and fitted a piece to the very end of the foot well before turning to the foot well bottom piece. With the carpet in place I used a small drill pushed up through the rivet nuts that will hold the foot brace to mark where I need to drill some small holes. Then before applying Velcro made the holes ready for securing the brace. 

Getting the holes lined up and screws through took quite a while and in the end I gave up, I need longer screws.  I just could not get them to bit with the carpet in place. I have had a hunt about and have some suitable screws so completing should be quite straight forward from this point. I found the best way to line up was to push a drill bit up through each of the rivet nuts (the drills for the rivets were just right) and then use these to line up the brace. Rather than trying to line the brace up with the holes using the screw from above.

I checked that the mount points for the harness were OK and I could thread a bolt in, only to find them all very tight with the outer drivers one very very tight. I decided to check with the factory that I had not missed something.

Very nearly there.

  

Build Day 76

Build time today 4.0 hours - Total build time 226.0 hours.

Man time today 4.0 hours - Total man time 251.5 hours.

First task was to continue to check the side light. There is a screw on top of the head lamp once removed the top tiles forward but I could not get the section off. Checked with the factory rather than risk damaging it and they confirmed it should lift out, the carbon effect lamps can be quite tight.
Once apart I found the bulb was OK and there was power to the holder. Much fiddling later I got a bulb that would remain alight.
When fitting the scuttle I had not sealed the bottom. Decided it would be sensible so loosened the mounting bolts and lifted the scuttle a little to allow me to silicon under. Dropped back down, secured and tidied any excess Silicon and the job was done.
Next on to connecting the repeat indicators. This involved cutting the nice connector blocks from the harness and replacing with crimp on spade connectors. I then spent a few minutes checking the indicator functions and all worked correctly.
Back to the interior.

I started with the tunnel carpet and worked out as well as possible where to cut the hole to allow the wiring loom to enter. Once cut tried to fit it in place. I then realized that it needed to slide further forward so the hole needed to be slightly further along and the rear bulk head carpet needed to be fitted first. Before I could do this I needed to start to fix the inner side panels, securing the rear sections with the small black rivets supplied.  Fitting the rear bulk head carpet was a little tricky as it needs to slide up into the tight space between the body work and aluminium panel. I used a couple of trowels to lift the  body work to allow the carpet to slide up into place.
Before fitting I put Velcro tape onto the back of the carpet leaving the panel side backing on, once in place I pulled the backing off to allow it to be fixed in place.



Back to the tunnel carpet, this now fitted OK with the hole for the wiring loom to enter in the correct place. I  now needed to locate the point where I had fixed the relays and the earth from the heated screen.
I relocated the headed screen earth point further towards the front of the tunnel allowing it to be hidden under the carpet. To locate the mount points for the relays I used a small rivet with the end cut off. I could slide it into the rivet nut with the point sticking out and then push the carpet down, it would then stick into the carpet allowing me to locate the correct point and drill a small hole. As with the rear carpet I fixed Velcro to the carpet leaving the tape on the aluminium side and fitted the carpet in place. Only when I was happy with the position did I lift and remove the tape allowing it to be secured in place.
As I was tidying up Tracy and Oli came out to have a look and asked about the gear knob. Which Oli quickly fastened in place.

Very nearly there.