82

82 - not the new meaning of Life but the number of holes I've drilled in the rear panel and shroud:

I managed to bend the rollbar supports up so that they don't need the wooden battens to hold them in place. In the picture above, I fitted the panel and shroud and then spent an age trying to get everything lined up and held in place with clamps. 

Now,  I'm not a perfectionist so if you are,  skip this paragraph. The nearside bend is not perfect at the top - there's about a 5mm overhang. I'll try improve it when I next take the panel off. 

With everything clamped I drilled the holes into the chassis underneath the panel,  using the holes I'd drilled before. While held in places with clecos,  I started marking the shroud for drilling. These are going to be on show so they need to be neat. Started with one hole in the middle and then another every 10cm along the back edge. One hole in the corner and then every 10cm up each side and all down the shroud arms. Finally,  more holes into various chassis rails - 82 in total! 

Next step is to stick the tadpole trim to the shroud... 

I also fitted the fuel sensor:

... and made up a connector for the fuel pump:

As you can see,  I've gone a little overboard with insulation tape over the plugs but I've had experience of plug corrosion on motorbikes - prevention is much better than cure. 

Cable tie Meccano

Before I can finally fit the rear panel,  I have to finalise all the various rear pipes and wires and get them fixed in their final positions.

To do this,  the standard method is a cable tie through a piece of fuel pipe. It actually makes a great support; a bit of flex but very sturdy. The area round my diff looks like some crazy cable tie construction site:

I'll actually need to check with GBS that these are all acceptable for IVA.

This is my earth connection,  before and after a dollop of hammerite:

                          

I'm just waiting for a crimping tool so I can prepare a connector for the LP fuel pump,  connect and fit the fuel sender and then the rear panel is ready to go on permanently,  I think.

For that rear panel,  I needed to raise the panel somehow. Reading other blogs,  most people seem to have had to re-adjust the rollbar supports by pulling them out. On Richards blog (him again!),  he used some wood pieces to push them out,  so I did the same:

This worked brilliantly -  as soon as I did it,  the panel almost popped into place. The advantage of this is that the panel is levelled from the supports and,  by extension,  that top rear chassis bar,  which is exactly what you'd want the rear panel to match up to. 

With the panel pretty solid,  I marked on the inside of the panel where the chassis bars sit,  took the panel off and drilled holes ready for rivets. I'll put the panel back on and then drill the holes in the chassis itself,  using the holes in the panel as a guide. This way,  I can be sure I'm drilling into the chassis and not the fuel tank. 

Rear of the Year

After spending an hour or so reading about the rear panel on Richard L's excellent blog,  I decided to have a go.

Using just mole grips,  I found bending the tabs really simple. The jaws of the mole grips decide the line of the bend so it's just a matter of lining it up right:

Pretty good result,  if I say so myself.

Next was the crucial bending bit which I was very worried about but unless I've done something weirdly wrong,  it was quite easy. 

Firstly,  I just laid the panel on the floor,  put one hand and my weight near where the bend needs to be and pushed the panel up towards vertical. This got the panel to about a 45 degree angle. Then,  I bent the lower section out of the way and used my wet wipe dispenser (same radius as the bend needs to be) to bend the panel up past vertical so that when released,  it was roughly vertical. 

I then put a cleco in the last tab and the side piece to get the rough shape:

The bend still wasn't really tight enough as there was quite a big gap between the side and the first few tabs. I used my workmate and held the whole structure on its end,  vertically (if that makes sense). I then pushed down on the top to get the panel to push up against the tabs.  While held like this (hard work),  I drilled through the tabs and the sides.  Repeated for the other end. 

I put clecos in initially but then decided there was no reason not to rivet it as there was no adjustment possible now unless I wanted to drill more holes in the side panel:

                         

Finally for now,  put on the car:

(actually this pic is before I riveted but it looks the same).

Having said there was no adjustment possible,  the panel is a tight fit between the chassis rail under the fuel tank and the top where the crescents start. I may need to bend that panel under the car or maybe pull the roll bar supports up more.

However,  feels great to have done such a major step as this panel which I wasn't looking forward to and thought would take me days,  not 2 hours.

Looming ahead

Soon after the terror that was the gunk comes the unadulterated horror of the wiring loom. OK,  a tad over-dramatic and in fact,  it's so well-labelled I'm not sure what I was so worried about:

I'm just getting this roughly in place so that I can make a start on the rear panel soon. But quite a bit of work needed; I need to sort out a good place for the chassis earth and build up a connector for the fuel pump and the speedo sensor (GBS kindly include some spade terminals and plastic connector blocks - just need to work out how best to make them).

The HP fuel pump disaster is not too bad - the company I got the pump off says there shouldn't be any problem using an adaptor to link a 12mm pipe to 8mm,  which I've done:

I'll have to keep an eye on it when I finally get to the point of starting the engine, to make sure it doesn't leak.

Gearbox mount was delivered but I'm a little confused how it fits in:

I finally took the plunge and ordered the Smith's instruments from GBS - I just couldn't find anything else cheaper or better looking.  I ordered them about a week ago and while on the phone to GBS about another subject,  they said the instruments would take 4-6 weeks to arrive as they are specially ordered. I was in no rush BUT guess what arrived in the post 2 days later?

Finally tonight,  while away over the weekend in Bruges,  I found the perfect finishing touch to my garage:

Gunk overload

No big step forward but lots of consolidation.

I'd put the large driver side tunnel panel on and that's the last panel for the foreseeable future. As there was still a third of the gunk left in the tube and it would probably be rock solid before I needed it again,  I decided to go nuts and fill as many gaps as I could as well as going over some of the existing runs. Bit messy in places but it's not visible so not a problem.

Cable-tied the LP fuel lines to the brake pipe:

I realised i hadn't tightened the pedals,  went to do this and found the central tube wasn't sticking out of the bush enough to press against the washer,  so the pedals were rock-solid. I had to take the clutch pedal off and file the bush down to finally allow the pedals to be tightened up but still rotate freely.

Connected the swirl pot up to the LP fuel pipes:

Fitted some rivnuts and added brackets on ready for the HP fuel pump

... and then,  disaster - the bottom inlet pipe on the fuel pump is far too big for the 7.6mm fuel pipes I've got. Either I need some sort of adaptor or I've got the wrong pump. Bugger!

I wanted to tighten up the steering rack but the clearance on the off-side between the rubber gaiter and the wishbone bracket was non-existent - literally touching. So,  with my months of engineering experience,  I made a spacer out of some metal bar I had lying about. Fitted this under the existing bracket and voila - a whole 5mm of clearance. My feeling of pride over this tiny bit of Heath Robinson jiggery-pokery is out of all proportion to the difficulty involved - love it.

Revenge of the Gunk

I thought I'd done very well last time in not getting gunk all over me or anywhere it wasn't supposed to go.  Well,  made up for that tonight.

The problem was that the gunk had solidified in the nozzle so I had to take it off and try unblock it. After that,  it was like some slapstick routine - gunk slowly oozed out of the main tube so I couldn't easily put it down. I had one hand trying to hold the tube and clear out the nozzle with the other hand,  using a screwdriver. Screwdriver drops on the floor,  tube oozing inch long worm of gunk,  I stand on the screwdriver which sticks to my shoe. I wipe the worm of gunk onto the chassis roughly where it needs to go for the next panel,  which I then realise I haven't taken the white plastic layer off.  Spend next 10 minutes frantically scraping the layer off,  trying to get the screwdriver off my shoe and keeping an eye on the main tube,  which is oozing again. You couldn't make this stuff up...

Finally got some control and got these 2 side tunnel panels on:

Thankfully,  these are not on view because there is overspill of gunk all over the place.  Having p-clipped the brake line along the tunnel (my first p-clips),  finished the LP fuel lines to the tank and having some control over the gunk,  I decided to bite the bullet and fit the main rear panel. Hopefully I won't regret this but should be OK as I only have the loom left to go into the back...

Just after this,  I also left a little message on that panel,  should anyone one day strip the car down :-)

Very satisfying to finally get stuff permanently attached - no going back now.

Gunk from the Black Lagoon

A lot of rugby watching and a week long bout of botchelism (well,  some lurgy that kept me on the toilet) meant little progress until today.

The wheels arrived and look darn fine IMO:

Obviously had to put one on to see what it looked like:

Finally bought a load of Jubilee clips for the LP fuel pipes and connected all the rear pipes up,  with some natty supporting structures:

And finally,  with great fanfare and trepidation,  out came the Gunk and on went the tank (can't be bothered waiting for the fuel sender) :

While I had the stuff out,  on went the footwell and swirl pot panels:

Good progress today (well,  3 hours) - great fun :-)