Great day

Definitely. First did an interview for a new contract, offered the role in the afternoon, and start next Monday. So I'll be back earning money again. And in Bournemouth, a nice part of England to be in as I have friends down there from a previous contract.
Then the parts I ordered from ESM I ordered last Friday arrived. Brilliant service, and they all look ok on initial fit, even if there may be some botching to do. So with the money coming in again we can order the last of the panels so that we can do a bit on the weekends when I'm at home.

Rich went karting with some friends in the afternoon, in the rain, and said the drifting was great.

Let's hope this continues.

Garage cleanup

Since the Irish weather was it usual self this weekend not much could be done outdoors, so it was a weekend of cleaning up the garage. Or at least the covered area at the side of the garage.

Managed to get shelving and storage bins up (only waiting a couple of years to do this) and are in the process of putting light & power in. It means that the compressor and welder along with their components are now easily accessible. Also means we have shelving for the new panels we ordered on Friday - can't wait for them to arrive.
Still no progress on removing the clutch/brake pedals or the master cylinder. But if all comes to all then I'll just cut them out & order new ones altogether (when we have the funds).
On the brake front we're seriously considering putting in a dual circuit system if I can only figure out (or get advice from someone) how to connect up the pedals. Rich has also located a potential scrapped Mini, so we hope to go there and try and get the heating system out of it.

Ready to rebuild?

A fabulous weekend weather wise and from a progress point of view.

Gearbox out Sunday (garage now stinks of EP90 gear oil). Also all the dash, heater, loom & wiper mechanism. So from here on in it's rebuilding time.




Managed to get photos up on PhotoBucket (unfortunately some slightly out of focus due to camera) but it'll give you an idea of what is happening.

The gearbox is in good condition, however having major trouble getting the pedals out, it appears the spacer between pedals has welded itself to the shaft & I can't get the grinder in to cut off. So on with the thinking cap!

Engine out

A beautiful dry autumn day. We managed to get the engine & gearbox out today.

For a small car the gearbox was an absolute curse to extract, but it's done. It looks ok, all the seals etc are bone dry, so that's a start. I know that when we rebuild it we'll put all new seals etc in place. That is if we don't get around to putting in a MKII 1300 or Sierra 5 speed in. It all depends on ultimately what timeframe we have left when we are finished all the bodywork.

One piece of good news is that the chassis rails are in very good condition & only the left hand side needs any repairs. So we'll either patch or do just a front portion replacement.

The bad news (as to be expected) is that both sills are totally screwed and that is a piece of work I'm not looking forward to. Also both A pillars and door hangers are rusted through. I'll probably leave that for a while until we're confident enough in our welding skills.

So a good days work. Hopefully more tomorrow.