Made a few purchases this week including picking up the Corbeau Classic Clubman style seats (wide size for my fat a***) which come with head rests and white piping, a bit tarty but look pretty good in the car.
Also had delivered a few missing parts that I found on 105speed forums, these included a boot handle, a wiper motor, a pair of front indicator units and most importantly (and most difficult to find) a set of door locks and associated mechanisms. These all need a bit of TLC but as I am planning to colour code (paint all of the trim then that is fine.
Also had delivered a few missing parts that I found on 105speed forums, these included a boot handle, a wiper motor, a pair of front indicator units and most importantly (and most difficult to find) a set of door locks and associated mechanisms. These all need a bit of TLC but as I am planning to colour code (paint all of the trim then that is fine.
So, having got the engine somewhere near clean last weekend I thought it would be easy to remove the sump, sort out the mangled sump plug and then give it a clean. But, no, the sump on this engine seems to be glued on so once you have removed all of the bolts it does not just drop off (like when they have a compressible gasket) it needs prizing off. I had no joy so may have to shell out for a tool to do this.
So, instead I thought I'd use my new toy, the 2 ton engine hoist, and see how the engine looks in the car. The outcome is plenty of space around the engine, exhaust side looks quite easy to route the exhaust around the cross member and the steering column. The sump bowl is slap bang in the middle of the cross member so a new front bowl will need to be fabricated. The oil filter looks like it will clash with the engine mounts so I may need a remote system adding to the parts list. Finally, the engine had a large casting on the rear to mount the coil pack and to route coolant to the radiator and the heater. This has been removed as it would mean moving the engine forward 100mm+, I have managed to source a low profile version (at a cost) but worth it to get it in the right place.
In addition to the engine I have chatted to Caprisport about brakes and looks like the XR4x4 bits I bought (an ebay bargain) are the right ones and will fit my uprights and axle with significantly less outlay that I was budgeting. They sell through Ebay and so I will be ordering caliper bracket for their GTR260 kit and rear axle kit and then sourcing some RS Turbo front brake discs (rears I can use from the XR4x4). Another bonus is that the rear hubs will not need machining but the downside is the fronts will.
So a fairly busy week in terms of planning and sourcing some hard to find parts but I can now see a plan coming together where the engine, brakes and gearbox will work in harmony.
In addition to the engine I have chatted to Caprisport about brakes and looks like the XR4x4 bits I bought (an ebay bargain) are the right ones and will fit my uprights and axle with significantly less outlay that I was budgeting. They sell through Ebay and so I will be ordering caliper bracket for their GTR260 kit and rear axle kit and then sourcing some RS Turbo front brake discs (rears I can use from the XR4x4). Another bonus is that the rear hubs will not need machining but the downside is the fronts will.
So a fairly busy week in terms of planning and sourcing some hard to find parts but I can now see a plan coming together where the engine, brakes and gearbox will work in harmony.
