Week 4

I've been concentrating on the panels this week. All of the panels (except the drivers footwell) are cut to size with appropriate bends and such, and they're waiting for me to put them on (couldn't face the noise of the drill with the hangover on Sunday - spotted a pattern yet...?) Made a neat job of most of them, except the passenger footwell. It's in a really awkward place, with notches to cut for chassis members, nothing handy to mount it to at the side furthest from the tunnel and a bit the rivetter won't get into. Not to mention the interesting taper towards the top on both vertical edges. Might have to get some more ally sheet and redo that one....

Also got the fuel and front-rear brake line out and straightened them. I'm happy enough with where they go, but the kit only had p-clips for the brake lines. According to Richard, they either force the fuel line into the smaller clips, or use ally offcuts to make p-clips to hold both lines. I think I'll do it that way. The 3/16" clips are *way* too small for the 1/4" fuel line.

Oh, and I'm now the only person I know with a phone line in the garage.... <grin>

Week 5

Panels are gradually going on, and more sealant round all the ones already on. Went round to see Neil Wain, pick up the cheap carb linkage and take (yet another) look over his car. There are so many changes in the chassis and fittings, even in just 2 years since his car was built. There are a considerable number of extra strengthening beams in the chassis compared with Neil's which would have made panelling a whole lot simpler! On another note, have you seen how far Neil Jameson's got with his Storm? *jealous* Still, I've booked that week off I've been promising myself, in 2 weeks time.

Well, the week ended quite well, floor's much better held on now - rivetted all over. The halfshafts are off having new bearings pressed on, and it's looking much more car-like now. Almost all the panels on, and all properly sealed. Fuel/brake lines on next week, along with some of the axle/suspension bits...

Week 6

Got the shafts back, looking good. Hopefully found a *nice* engine too - more details later....

Everything took a bit of a knock this week as the heater matrix sprung a large leak on the BMW. So took a couple of days off work to figure out how to fix it, get the parts and do it. (I didn't fancy paying nearly 90squid + fitting for it, so surprisingly managed to find one in a scrapyard and fit it myself - not a nice job).

The upside of all this is that I had to spend some time in a scrapyard, so picked up (heh!) a Golf Mk2 steering column and linkage, and the Sierra gear lever. For those who want to get the column themselves, remember to take your junior hacksaw - you've got to cut the bracket off, thanks to VW and their shear-head bolts.... I also got along to the VW dealer to collect the camber and caliper bolts (over 25 quid in total!) So I've got pretty much everything I need to really get somewhere - except new brake bits which I really ought to sort now....

Oh, pressed the remaining bushes into the wishbones, trailing arms and panhard rod. Those metal bushes are a bit of a pig, filed the powdercoating off the inside, greased well and set to it with my little 1ton vice. Creak.... Erm.... Groan.... Erk.... Time to stop. The lightweight vice wasn't up to the job, and now feels rather unhealthy. Borrowed Neil's 2 or 2½ton vice, and they just popped in (well, at least they went in). So don't try and do it with a cheapo 10 quid 1ton vice....

Week 7

I've got the whole week off to work on the car (among other things). Spent Monday mostly sorting things out - picking up new wheel cylinders, stripping the steering column to get the old ignition switch off (no key) and checking it. New lower bearing required on the column, so that's on order, and I've got a new ignition switch with keys - just 8 pounds from German and Swedish who (unlike what they sound like :-)) are a VW/BMW/Merc/Saab specialist parts shop whose prices tend to be between 25% and 75% of main dealer parts. Their parts are often even the same parts boxed up as main dealer stock....

As an aside, I've been completely unable to find any spring compressors which will fit onto these tiny little coil springs. The coils are just too close to fit the hooks inbetween. Best suggestion so far is to take them to a motorbike service outfit, since it's all rather like a bike suspension setup. Keep your fingers crossed for me..... ;-)

Well, got the springs on. A couple of mechanics at a friendly local garage, and a few from the bike workshop opposite managed to get them on. No tools, just sheer strength to compress the springs and slip the caps on. I'm impressed..... All the front wishbones are now bushed and have balljoints fitted.

Front to rear brake and fuel lines went on, after lots of planning of routes. Got to avoid the handbrake mechanism at the back, as well as the diff. Pictures are below.... Managed to get the axle and rear suspension on in an evening. It was all pretty simple, and involved lots of pushing and pulling bits around to try and make the bolts and holes line up. A few taps with a hammer were involved too....

I'm now happy that I've got all the panels the right shape, and it's just the tunnel top, drivers footwell and battery tray left to go on. I've got to figure out exactly what holes I need and what goes through where before I do that, though. The steering column, lower shaft and rack don't *quite* line up enough to do it all up. Need to spend some more time staring at that to understand what I'm doing wrong. In the meantime, if anyone's got any hints for how I might find an extra ½ inch (oo-err!) I'd be grateful.....

More time spent finding a broken spark plug on the BMW, and unblocking drains (not to mention four days drinking our way round the Midlands....)

Hopefully next week I'll manage to finish up the rear end stuff - wheel cylinders and brake lines on, shoes and drums. Then I'll be onto the front suspension, along with tidying little things like filling the diff and painting the diff backplate.

Week 8

Not a good week for building cars. Leaving do's, birthday parties, shopping, brakes on Sam's car..... Still, I managed to get the rear axle built up and made a start on the rear brake lines. I also trial-fitted the body tub. Needs a few mods to it, mostly extra holes to clear brackets and more room for the front suspension to move about. Dodgy moment when we dropped one side of the tub and it twisted horribly, but absolutely no damage (which was nice).