August 2000

• Try cardboard up against chassis and realise that I'm not exactly sure where the long side panel will end so I don't know where the front side panel should start.
• Clip the long side panel to the chassis to see where it comes to, but realise I'm not exactly sure where it starts from at the back so that it is completely hidden by the rear GRP.
• Temporarily fit the rear GRP, but realise that until I have it the right distance from the seat belt anchorage bit, I still can't be sure of the correct placement.
• Realise that the GRP mould is hardly symetrical, so it sticks out more to the right that the left and is higher at the left than the right. To be sure I have it in the centre (rather than relying on Tiger's markings) I need to fit the wheels.
• Can't fit the wheels without jacking the car up and moving the axel stands in a bit, so do that.
• Fit the wheels
• Cut the GRP with the Powerfile. This is seriously nerve-racking as the file goes through the GRP faster than Matt goes round roundabouts.
• Mark the chassis where the rear GRP comes to.
• Mark the chassis where the long panel comes to.
• Mark up and cut out the cardboard template for the front panel.
• Realise I'm too knackered to continue, so pack up for the day.

14 August
Succeeded in burning out the power drill trying to cut a three inch diameter hole out of the ally panel. Switched to the cordless, which was too weedy, then to the brace and bit - hopeless. Ended up using the aviation snips which worked a treat. Applied the Tiger supplied edging strip and riveted the panel on. Sadly used up well over half the strip supplied by Tiger, so couldn't do the other side panel. Also realised that I had folded the panel too tightly over the chassis at the back edge instead of leaving a bit of slack. This will be needed when I attach the long side panel as that needs to be riveted behind the front one. I might be able to ease things round, but for now, that's a 'wait for inspiration' problem.

15 August
Cut out the other side panel holes (the power drill had miraculously recovered, although not well enough to cut the hole properly). Used the snips again. I was going to try and get some more edging strip at lunchtime, but took Sam out for a meal instead, so we didn't finish the side again.

Dad called round and we stared at the track rod ends together, wondering how to lengthen the thread to allow us to keep the, now acknowledged as indispensable, locknut. In the end we both hit the same conclusion at the same time - shorten the 'screw on' track rod end a bit. Five minutes with the hacksaw and we have adjustable, and lockable, track rods.

16 August
Sam visited the scrappies and found a cover for the steering column switches and also a centre for the wheel. I had to rummage round in the bin to find the bit's I had thrown away, because we now needed them to fasten the cover to. It looks good. I'd tried to get some more edging strip, but failed, However I did pick up the windscreen wiper motor and worm. They're very dirty/greasy, but they'll clean up ok. I just need to work out where and how the motor attaches to the scuttle.

17 August
Phoned Sue at Tiger early and just managed to arrange to have another three metres of edging strip organised before the post went, so hopefully it will turn up tomorrow. While I was phoning Sue, Sam was working with the camera photographing the dashboard and the dials, switches and lights. Tonight we transferred the pictures to the computer, resized them so they were all in scale and made several attempts to create a pleasing layout. In the end we produced one that I really like. However, we did need to extend the middle of the dash down to the tunnel to fit everyhting in, so that calls for another bit of ply or MDF. That's not such a bad thing, as the one Tiger supplied was so badly cut round the steering column you couldn't get a fag paper between it and the shroud on the left, but you could get an entire cigarette machine between them on the right.

Sam had also found some large washers, so we made a proper job of attaching the steering column and put a couple of extra washers between the aluminium bracket and the chassis to move the switch stalks back, giving them more clearance from the dash. I can actually use the lights switch from the Sierra, so if I can work out which connectors I need to use on the column, I might keep that instead of cutting it off (leaving a nasty hole) and using the switch supplied by Tiger.

Steve had emailed from Aberdeen asking me to take a few more piccies of the tank area and email them to him, so I did. I also included a copy of the dash for his opinion.

18 August
Sue worked her magic and the strip arrived in the post. We finished the offside front panel and fastened it on using a couple of offcuts to allow us room later to slide the front edge of the long panel behind the back edge of the front panel to rivet them together. I'm not putting the long panel on just yet as I think the engine will be easier to fit if I can still get my hands in from the side.

Sam had spent a happy half hour tracking down a mark II Cortina heater matrix and fan. He started local and worked outwards, eventually tracking one down near Doncaster. I popped over at lunchtime and picked it up. It has clearly seen better days and the foam rubber that surrounds it falls apart if you breathe on it, but it's fixable.

I'd started a snagging list which included 'shorten the handbrake balance bar' which we did. I don't think the clamps are going to fasten the cables in tight enough, so I might have to add those 15amp electricians connectors as well.

Used a big hammer and a bit of guile to get the front shocks on. They look nice.

19 August
What a day!

Started by painting the front suspension with black Hammerite. While it dried we went to Halfords to return a wheel nut spanner that didn't fit the alloys. Found some huge penny washers that will do a good job of fixing the scuttle down. Got some split pins to lock down the castle nuts on the front hubs. Then went back to Dexel to return those wheel nuts I'd bought last week. They were too big to get a socket into the hole in the alloys, so we couldn't tighten them up. Apparently we needed 17mm nuts which Dexel said should have been supplied with the wheels, but Tiger hadn't. Dexel had some, so we took those instead of farting about trying to get them off Tiger.

Assembled the front callipers and fitted them. Then started trying to attach the flexible brake lines, only to see that I'd put the callipers on the wrong sides (the left on the right and vice versa). This had meant that the bleed nipples were at the bottom - which is where they shouldn't be if you're trying to get air out of the system!

Attached the two front brake lines, after Sam had paid a visit to Ossy's to get them to shorten one by a foot. Filled the master cylinder and bled the system (I didn't do a proper job here, because I'd asked for a one way valve from Ossy and ended up with a simple piece of tube. So I need to get a proper tool and do it again later. If I forget, I'd like a ham salad reception after a simple funeral.)

Added four wheels to the car and then jacked it down off the axle stands. This was harder that it might have been because the stands are taller in their lowest position than the jack is in its highest. Ultimately used brute force (Pat's) to pick the thing off the stands and there it was - stood on its own four wheels for the first time. I was so damned proud I nearly cried. We pushed it out of the garage to show it off to anyone who was passing and we all posed for photos. It looked so good we unpacked all the GRP and roughly fitted it round. Then posed for more photos.

Cleaned out the garage, sorted what was left of the big box of goodies onto shelves and into cupboards, then wheeled Kitkat back in. Beacuse it would be so hard to put it back on the axle stands, we decided to leave it on its wheels for a while. The dashboard is going to be next, and we can get on with that without breaking our backs. And while we are working on the dash, we'll probably have a smart idea about how to get it back on the stands. Borrowing a bigger jack is favourite at the moment.

21 August
Streuth! Today it rained and rained and rained. If Piglet had been here, he would be sat on a chair, panicking and Gene Kelly would be giving umbrellas to policemen right left and centre.

Now it wouldn't have mattered so much, except the street drain infront of our house got blocked and so the flood took over our driveway and poured into the garage. The carpet tiles I was so proud of are now soggy and there's a puddle under Kitkat you could float a duck on. Fortunately I rescued anything that would suffer before too much damage was done, but it's going to take a while before everything dries out. That could put paid to any building activity for a while at least.

22-26 August
Well, the flood subsided and Sam and I set about trying to squeegee most of the water out of the tiles using a snow shovel. We managed to get about a gallon of filthy water out and then we let it dry over the next couple of days. It smells terrible!

While it was drying we did the dashboard - that easy. We got a piece of MDF and drew round the cardboard template. Jagsawed and power-filed it to fit. Using a couple of screws, fastened it to the scuttle. Then we clamped the cardboard template to the front, and using hole saws and big drill, cut out all the required shapes. Evo-stick all over the MDF and the back of the vinyl and stuck them together. Stanley knife star shapes through the holes and push the switches. lights and dials through. It worked wonderfully. And it looks just like the CAD plan we did.

Then we cleaned up the windscreen wiper motor and worm, realising that we hadn't got all the wedge shaped spacers for the wheel boxes. I went to the local scrappies, but he wouldn't sell me the bits, only the whole motor and worm as well. I didn't need two, so we drove all the way across Sheffield and got the spacers and nuts from MiniBitz, where I got the thing from in the first place. Drove back. Pulled the plug out of the wiper motor which also broke the corroded terminals off inside. Drove all the way back to MiniBitz for another set of terminals and while we were out, picked up a new clutch pressure bearing from the Ford dealers.

This bearing fits inside the bellhousing and holds the lever in place against the fulcrum pin. All that would make sense if you could see it. Anyway, the old one needed to come off so we could fit the nice new bellhousing and the bearing felt a bit rough, so we decided to replace it.

Once home again, we opened up the wiper motor and turned the nylon cam round inside to make the wipers park on the other side ie infront of the driver (necessary for SVA), shortened the middle worm tube and drilled the holes for the wheel boxes. Struggled a bit to get everything to fit (and in a moment of inattention, managed to powerfile all the way through the GRP putting a hole in the top of the scuttle). In the end, the wedge shaped spaces had to be chopped up and filed down to make them fit and I had to make a bracket out of scrap ally panel to fasten the motor inside the scuttle. But it all went together eventually.

Turning our creative talent to the ventilation tubes that carry the warm air from the heater box to the vents below the windscreen, I pinched the extension hose from the Hoover and using a hot air gun, softened and re-shaped the end so it was the same size as the green GRP piece that channels the air to the vents. Then we filed a slot in the channel, pop riveted the hose to the channel and siliconed the gap. Beautiful job.

However, when I checked where the hose needed to go through the front of the scuttle - of course it had to go exactly where I'd just fastened the wiper motor. Re-design time. Motor off. Change the nylon cam back to where it was. Re-position the motor on the driver's side and fasten it back down. Ok, the solution didn't come that fast, and I did try a different design of bracket first. But that's how it ended up.

27 August
Went to Tiger's open day armed with a list of things I had to pick up (I had worked out I was the gearbox mounting bracket, the gear stick and cover plate and the entire clutch short from the donor pack), as well as a list of things I needed to ask about and photograph. As we got out of the car, Matt gave us a wave. It was only as we were leaving I noticed the back of Matt's tee shirt. Very apt!

Sam and I had decked ourselves out with new tee shirts with the email signature on the front and the Kitkat logo on the back and we'd posted a message on the newsgroup asking anyone who spotted us to make themselves known (so we could put faces to names next time we read the emails). During the day we met Giles Cooper, William, Matt, Ben Marriott, David Buckeldee, and Ed and Sue Needham. Giles handed us a copy of the individual wiring diagrams that he'd put together very professionally (it's what he does) - vital stuff - but then he told us he was colourblind!

We found someone who had used the lights switch on the steering column, so asked him for the wiring connections. Hopefully, he's emailing them to me. I'll give him a name credit when he does.

Took loads of photos, checked out loads of Cats, picked up all the parts, including the Tiger stickers that I didn't realise I hadn't got in the kit. Also picked up some burgundy gel-coat to patch any more holes I might accidentally create. I put it in an old yoghurt pot - and when I got home I found that gel-coat eats yoghurt pots! Luckily it was also in a poly bag, so all wasn't lost.

Once home, we took the bell-housing off the gearbox and made a start on cleaning everything up. Managed to pour a load of oil out of the box onto the carpet, but we have a few spare tiles, so that didn't matter too much. Worked all day turning the donor gearbox and bellhousing into a work of art. Gunk, toothbrushes, K'a'rcher pressure washer and paint. It's a joy to see, but sadly it will all be covered up when the car is complete. However, I'll know it's there.

Also cleaned up the gearbox bracket I picked up yesterday and knocked the remains of the two original bolts out of the holes. These are like big rivets and the scrappies had just sawn them off, leaving the stumps behind. I filed and angle ground them flush, then hit them with a hammer and out they popped. More Kurust to keep them smart.

Struggled a bit with trying to work out how the clutch cable fastens at the pedal end. There doesn't seem to be anything to fasten the outer cable to. Perhaps that's yet another bit I didn't get from Tiger with the donor bits.

Glass fibre'd the green air duct to the inside of the scuttle. This was my first go with glass fibre - and a right old mess I got into. However, it all seems quite solid now and if I blow down the Hoover hose, I can feel a good jet of air out of the scuttle vents.

Got an email from Mick Atkinson with the wiring diagram for the stalk lights switch - good man, very handy. Also Giles posted an message in the newsgroup covering the same topic. Having checked both to each other, they are not the same. Giles' is theoretical in that it should work according to the plans. Mick's is practical in that he has one built and working. So I'll try Mick's first and if that doesn't work for me, I'll try Giles'. If neither work, I'll get Sam to walk infront with a torch.

30-31 August
Painted the engine dark blue and decided to make all the bits that attach to it gold. Looks a bit gaudy at the moment, but when it's in the engine bay and there are exhaust pipes and Webers attached it will tone it all down. Realised I was the crankshaft pulley missing from the front of the engine. I'd spoken to Tiger on a couple of occasions about a few other missing bits from the donor and in one call they'd recommended I fit a new water pump. I'd had to order this, so I'd not been able to fit the engine when I'd intended. Then I'd had a right struggle getting the old pulley off the water pump to fasten to the new one. There's a big nut that holds the viscous fan unit on and I couldn't shift it. Neither could the local scrappy with an enormous great hammer. The scrappy gave me another pulley but it was too big,. However when I tried to get at the nuts that hold the old pulley to the pump, I gave the viscous fan unit a tap with a little hammer and the damn thing unscrewed as sweet as you like and fell on the floor!

So when I found I was also missing the crankshaft pulley something inside me snapped. I guess it had been brewing for a couple of weeks. I was getting frustrated with lack of progress and everything I tried to do seemed to make it worse.

In the end I posted an email on the newsgroup which really stirred things up. All I'd intended was to find out whether I had been unlucky with the donor pack or whether others had had the same experience. What it did was provoke a flood of emails, some sympathising with me, some not. It also upset Jim, which was definitely not my intention. I posted a public apology and also wrote to him personally. Tiger have always been very helpful when I phone - I wouldn't want to alienate them.