After a break for summer activities, today was a big day - engine installation. We started by lowering the car off its trestles so that it stood on the ground for the first time; We attached the engine crane to the rear of the chassis, lifted it to remove the rear trestle, then slowly lowered it whilst making sure the front trestle didn't fall over. To our surprise it was possible to lower the rear almost to the ground before (manually) lifting the front and pulling out the front trestle. Wow, you forget just how low to the ground these cars are! We then decided to turn the car around to fit the engine, which required the second and third momentous occasions of the day - the first time the car rolled, and its first trip outside!
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| Rolling chassis ventures outside! |
Then came the first engine fitting - "first" because we knew from a preparatory measurement/comparison of mounting hole vs. gearbox mounting and a subsequent conversation with Westfield that we'd need to drill new mounting points once we knew where they go from the first trial fitting.
The installation itself went more smoothly than expected; we removed the gear lever to make it easier, but then with a slow, repeating "back a bit, down a bit" routine everything lined up perfectly with no squashed pipes or cables in the process. Getting the propshaft splines lined up with the gearbox took a bit of wiggling, but by then we were on a roll.
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| Engine in place! |
Still plenty of time left so we moved onto the lower steering column: We'd previously identified that the bracket didn't fit, but Westfield just advised us to "put it in the most suitable place and shorten the mounting plate to fit"! This turned out to be just behind the engine mount, needing a new hole to be made in the bracket and two in the chassis. Once done though, the column went together easily and cleared the engine by at least 10mm. Engine and steering on one day - result!
Still more time available though, so we couldn't resist putting in the driver's seat for that "it really will be a car" feeling. Although there are pre-drilled holes in the pre-fitted lowered floor pan, they were in the wrong place for our upgrade "Sport Turbo" seats (The name coming from the model they were designed for, not the Halfords boy racer pretensions the name might suggest). We made the new holes for maximum adjustability, with the result that the seat will go far enough forward for Matthew to reach the pedals.
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| Matthew trying out the driving position |
A lot done in one day then. We even had time left to tidy up the garage.
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