February 6th 2017

A few more items fitted. Progress is a bit slow. Nothing fits straight away. Sometimes it's a case of 2 steps forward 3 steps backward. Do it again, because it doesn't fit quite right. Namely radiator, foot pedals, windscreen wipers, and so on and on. We are currently lining up the gear box tunnel for fitting. Having tried the SC parts split plastic cover + another unknown fibre glass cover and perhaps the best of the aftermarket ones a "Restorations" fibre glass cover. None of them fit very well. I could make them fit, but after some thought. Why not use the original cover ? Better sound proofing and we know it will fit. Luckily it was in a reasonable condition, and although some repairs were needed, it looked like a good option. So we have now decided to repair and fit the original one. Paul has undertaken the lengthy task of making the repairs and what a wonderful job he has done. Some more work needed, but nearly finished.

Clutch and brake master cylinders fitted.

Not very happy with the pipe clips or the bending. I'm sure it's a black art to get the bends correct. I'll be re-visiting those very soon. The wring loom is threatening in the rear. That's the old and the new one being compared.

Ali radiator and a Revotex fan. That took a lot of time to get positioned correctly. Might have to re-visit though, but reasonably happy. Power steering pump trial fitted, but not lining up properly.

Not sure yet, why the brake and clutch pedals are not level with each other, but it's certainly going to get another visit . More soon.

8th February 2017

Resolved the pedal issue. It was the clutch pedal master cylinder fork. The one supplied with the master cylinder was wrong and too short. Re-fitted with the correct fork and now all good.

Ran into another issue when fitting the power steering pump. The back plate wouldn't line up properly. After a lot of head scratching and comparing this fitment with the same on my TR6. The conclusion was that the mounting hole in the engine block was slightly different. Not much, but enough to put it out of line. So Paul bushed the rear mounting. All good.

Before

After

The gearbox cover, now finished and painted inside with stone chip and top with mat black. Now ready for fitting.

13th February 2017

The Heater

I re-furbished this last year. New matrix, re-painted, new seals, fixings and screws etc,motor cleaned and re-used. The standard fan has been replaced with a tube fan from an MGB. It seems to provide a stronger flow of air and it fits very well inside the aperture and you can get new ones. When I took off the old fan blade from the spindle, it became too loose to be used again and I couldn't find any new ones around. So using a new MGB fan overcame this problem.

The heater now fitted, the gearbox cover fitted and a trial fit of the metal dash.

Plus a few more items added to the engine bay, including a different water valve arrangement compared to the standard one, which always binds. This one has a very easy swivel valve and I had the main outlet stem on the engine block modified and chromed so that the new valve screwed directly into the stem.

I used this tool to get the correct alignment of the throttle bodies. The tool was expensive at £56, but I have peace of mind.

The top hose cut and fitted to accept the Revotec temp sensor. Awaiting the pipe clips to finish

Alternator fitted with chrome guard. Dizzy fitted, but obviously not set up yet.

14th February - 4th March 2017

More items added to the engine bay. Throttle cable, oil cooler, coil, dipstick, name plate choke assembly (made by Paul a great job) and numerous fitting adjustments. And at last the dash top and windscreen frame. We have also been spending a lot of time identifying and labelling all the connections on the new loom and checking/testing to see that everything works. Next job there, will be to modify/change the loom to accommodate the alternator and a volt meter instead of an ammeter.

Also I found this little beauty a while ago. A stalk operated dip switch, which will fit onto the steering column behind the light switch stalk and replace the floor switch. It's never been used.