Trying to Finish - Part 1

Happy New Year! I thought I had better update the diary as there has been some progress since the drive, although I have been limited to night time building and wet weekends only as a new pool and Christmas were priorities.


I have managed to prioritize my To Do list and I now know what needs to be done and in what order to get to engineering and rego. Also as an early Christmas present the NSW RTA was merged with the Maritime agency, to create the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) dept. They subsequently released a new certification scheme called the VSCCS the week before Christmas. This makes it somewhat more predictable to engineer and register an ICV now in NSW. This is not a short cut, as you still need to build a quality car to the current ADRs, but it makes the certification process more consistent. All good!


So what has been done since I drove it back in early December? Lots of deconstruction in order to finish things off. A quick summary of tasks completed, then some photos:

• Completely rerouted the engine looms and ECU loom to hide the wiring, and rerouted the fuel lines and evaporative lines. This has made the engine very tidy (photo below). Many thanks to Steve for his help with this.
• Modified the throttle mount angle and notched the pedal box frame for the drive by wire connector. The drive also proved the that I had moved the pedal box to far forward, so its now back where it started. Pedals are all now finished. Once the cable is secure the pedal box cover will go on.
• Removed the cooling expansion tank, and rerouted all the cooling lines to face backwards in preparation for the mounting of the expansion tank on the scuttle.
• Fitted all the interior carpets.
• Had the seatbelt lower mounting plates modified to be compliant with ADRs.
• Successfully tested all of the dash switches and wiring (so the scuttle can go on)
• Fitted all of the wiring penetrations with grommets, and checked all the wiring cable ties.
• R pinned all the front ball joints.
• Tested the reversing switch and lights.

I have also purchased all the lights and started preparing them for mounting, either by fabricating mounts, wiring up adapters or painting brackets.

A couple of photos of the progress.

Engine wiring tidied up and fuel lines rerouted.

Seat belt mounting plate that had to be replaced with a 90 degree pivot mount that has the forces in a direct line with the bracket. Hemco are replacing these this week.

This is the headlight mounts before the first modification.

This is the headlight mounts after the holes were machined larger to take the light stalks. I still need to machine down the height of the adapter so I can get some thread to bite underneath.

These are the front indicators and mounting stalks as I received them, all chromed up.

This is what they look like after 3 coats of satin black! I have decided no chrome on this car, so every chrome part is being either painted or etch primed and painted satin black.

This is the rear license plate light (painted black), fitted, wired and working. I suspect the fuel filler may have to be painted black as well :)