Since the start....

I figured once I had the car started......another few nights in the garage would see it finished! Another wise Birkin owner (lets call him Maurice!) told me I would be surprised how long these simple finishing tasks would take to complete.........

One of the things I did leading up to the start was have a To Do list that had all the preceding tasks prioritised. Post engine start, I had prepared a list of tasks to finish the car (about 80 tasks), but had not done any prioritising. So many a night has been spent in the garage about to start a task, followed by 60 minutes of pondering (Steve call's it procrastinating ;) the preceding tasks and then walking back into the house having done nothing. For example:

• To mount the reservoirs and expansion tank on the scuttle
• Needs the scuttle to be mounted
• Which means all the wiring has to be finished and checked
• Which means all the lights have to be fitted and tested
• Which means the mudguards need to be fitted
• Which means I need to move the exhaust and finalise the wheel alignments

As a result not a lot of progress. I have managed a few small jobs and these are leading to the chance for me to at least drive the car up the driveway for the first time.

I have modified the pedal box to remove the existing cable activated throttle in order to mount the Focus drive by wire throttle. This involved cutting two parts of the original pedal box off that held the throttle pivot and removing some spacers. Those who have this pedal box will recognise where I have cut it and how neat I have been! This also meant switching the brake pedal pad to the left side of the lever to accommodate the larger throttle. I have since fabricated throttle mount prototype 1 which didn't fit well, and am now half way through prototype 2 which should be the winner. This will allow the throttle pedal to be mounted and a potential drive up the driveway.

I have also removed the Fuel Pressure Regulator and reconnected all the fuel lines and run the engine in that configuration.

 As part of the finishing the wiring, I needed to connect the reverse lights to the reverse switch in the Type 9 gearbox. This is what the switch looked like - missing the connector pins!. So I have purchased a new one and fitted it to the gearbox and completed the reversing wiring. 

On top of all that I have been testing wiring into the dash, and have pulled the main loom off the engine and put rubber grommets into all the body holes, cable tied up the wiring to be in spec, and wrapped all of the engine loom wiring in plastic shielding to protect it in the engine bay. 


I have all the lights arriving this week and will make a concerted effort to get the finger out and get more done.