Well, it's raining. A lot. So rather than spend the day doing as little as possible I have had another couple of hours' worth in the garage today. Firstly I have given the door panels and the pockets another coat of the textured paint. The first aerosol didn't seem to have much oomph in it and the second's nozzle simply went "Nope". I swapped nozzles and it was like someone had flicked a switch. MUCH easier. I think the quality control for this paint was a little haphazard to say the least. I didn't take any photos of this because, well, it's not exactly exciting.
Next up was the exhaust bobbin. I had to get my hand in the hole in the boot floor to reach it. However I quickly discovered that I didn't quite have enough stretch to lean over the back and do it (I am not the tallest). So out came the stepladder and I jumped into the boot (seats are fixed buckets, so clambering around those would have been a gymnastics event nobody would want to see). One minute reaching down into the depths with a UNF nut, lock washer and stubby 1/2" spanner and it's not coming off any time soon. I was texting with my brother at the time, told him what I was about to do and he suggested that he call the fire brigade in half an hour to extract me. Cheeky bar steward.
I then had a look at the dashboard again. I really didn't like what I had done to accommodate the main gauges. It would prove complicated to align and I doubt I would ever be happy with it. Standard Mini clocks came with a shroud which the main pod screws on to. Now, I don't like the main part of the shroud - I think it's really ugly. Plus It won't fit the Midas dashboard. However, it does have 2 quite fetching nacelles which go round the dials. If I could do some cutting and separate the part which houses the dials from the surround, I could make that fit into the dashboard much more easily.
When the surround was made, Austin Rover or whoever they were called that week did NOT want it to come apart. There were all sorts of strengthening ribs and little attachments that caused me all sorts of issues. I used in no particular order a Dremel, drill, chisel and a hammer. Eventually, after what seemed about half a day, I got it apart. It will of course need a bit of fettling before I even think of fitting it, but it doesn't need too much. I need to figure out how to attach the dials to it. I broke one of the attachments holding the little clip that the screw goes in. I glued it back on, but looking at the way it is designed, it will be much easier to lose these bits and attach a bracket to the actual dashboard. More soon.
The hole in the boot floor. There are demons down there. It's *just* big enough to get my hand down.
Figured this would be a much better idea than trying to make the clocks "fit" the dash.
The amount of swearing and different tools used before I got to this stage was ridiculous. Took AGES!
I mended the broken mounting, but I am now 90% certain I won't be using it...