SUCCESS!!!

I hooked up the partially charged battery and the full booster pack - to give it the best chance of starting, and within a few seconds of cranking - it fired straight up!

It idles really nicely too.

I checked the charging circuit - working perfectly!

I then wired up the rev counter, voltmeter and water temp guage and ran it for a good ten minutes to check their operation - all working great. The oil pressure gauge isn't yet working as the thread on the pressure sensor doesn't match the engine, I'll have to make up an adaptor for it.

The exhausts are also blowing on the joints between the manifolds and the front pipe, and the passenger side is blowing beween the manifold and the head. Hopefully this shouldn't be too difficult to sort, and was something I had been anticipating.

So not all good news, but I'm really chuffed to have it running properly. I may have left it till the last day, but it is running in 2010!!! It will be finished in the next few months, at last.

So to all, a very happy and prosperous 2011. Happy new Year!

Good morning people!

Well the booster pack is fully charged, and the car's battery is now on charge. Hopefully, today, I will finally get the engine started, again.

Well I have been enjoying my time off over the Christmas break and have been getting some good time in up the garage, at least 3 hours a day for the last few days.

So this week I've:

made and fitted the front side panels
fully welded the exhausts (including the lamda sensor boss)
sand blasted and painted them before finally fitting them
covered the dashboard in black vinyl
Begun the long slog of wiring everything up

The wiring is taking a long time, I was completely expecting this. My plan of attack is mounting all the components (lights, horn etc) and running the long lengths of wire back to the centre of the car, then connecting each circuit up in turn.

So far I've made the front end loom, including lights, horn, instrument sensors and charging circuit. I had previously made the rear loom, but today I made the connections to the new rear lights. I completed the starting/charging circuit today and had a go at starting the engine up, unfortunately I didn't have enough power in the battery to get it going, but maybe tomorrow!

My goodness - where did November go???

It's been bitterly cold, and I've been absolutely slamming the overtime in at work in preparation for Christmas so yet again, the locost project has suffered delay.

However in the few small sessions i have managed to sneak in up the garage, ive made and fitted the drivers side panel and exhaust system. I next plan to repeat this on the other side, then make the front side panels.

I've also bought and fitted the rear suspension, and replaced the rear lights - the last set fouled the wheels through the wheel arches. the new ones require a slight modification to be able to fit in the same holders but it shouldn't be too difficult.

I have a week or so off over Christmas and i plan to get as much finished as possible during that time.

CKC are agin running a trackday at Llandow in May and my aim is to be there! So really I need the car to be done by April so i can have a test session in it first.