I have been busy! Lots more to talk about so here we go...
The radiator is in! The new bracket fitted beautifully (and far better than the original one) and was eventually secured with a small M5 bolt. I have also attended to the wheels and spent quite a while filling and sanding all the minor imperfections in them. They're almost ready for paint (just need a wipe down with a rag and some spirit followed by a quick going over with a tack rag) and because the weather is good this weekend, guess what I might be doing??? I managed to get the oil cooler lined up and on its mounts. Just got to top it up and finish tightening up the bottom bolts.
Now comes the important bit: Tink came over and he brought his knowledge of wiring looms with him. I should point out that I have precious little knowledge of wiring and electrics, so having him come over was an absolute godsend. Firstly we laid out the loom to find out where best to cut holes in the body. When I bought the car, the loom came through the main bulkhead in a crudely hacked hole with no grommet. I didn't like this and really hated the way that it just was basically chucked around the engine bay. So we looked at alternative options. Another thing was that I didn't want the fuse box connections to be in the engine bay - a land of heat and dirt is not an ideal habitat for electrical gear. We shall work on that one. So rather than take the loom straight through a hole in the bulkhead, I started looking for alternatives, and the solution was REALLY simple. I have no intention of using the "fresh air vents" in this car (I have windows the crack open a bit for that job) so we kept the vent in the inner wing and removed the centre of it. We then fed the loom through the top of a spray can with a hole it in which fits perfectly over the vent. The loom was then channelled under the front wing until splitting into two for the engine loom and lighting loom. These were then fed through two newly cut holes (love the holesaw!!).
The loom has only got one thing connected so far - the oil light switch! More will follow once I figure out what this strange stringy things do...
Radiator in with much more clearance
Wheels filled and sanded - paint soon
Oil Cooler in
Loom laid out with Tink sorting what should go where
Through the air vent!!
And out by the battery...
...and the inner wing near the lights.
I now have to figure out what to do with all this!!