May 28th 2013 - "O"s

With the IVA application form now awaiting attention in Swansea it was time to get on with the final few items, particularly the various under-bonnet hoses I've been putting off for ages.

First up were the pipes from the steel fuel lines to the fuel injection rail.  I had to look at someone else's blog to find out which to connect where and the best routing, but I'm pleased with the end result:

A long-standing previously-documented problem has been that the L-shaped three-ended steel pipe that runs from the expansion tank to the front of the engine appears to be bent incorrectly and this was preventing the fitting of many of the cooling system pipes.  Not wishing to be held up any further, I decided to fit the pipe anyway, but used a rivnut/bolt to secure it to the bulkhead so that it can be removed when a solution to the problem is found and the other pipes can be fitted in the meantime.  These pipes were:

1. A short tapered one from the bottom of the expansion tank to the first of the three connectors on the rigid pipe. 
2. From the lower heater connection to the middle rigid pipe connector.
3. From the upper heater connection to the near-side edge of the thermostat (this required a pipe that is slightly larger on the thermostat end
4. A piece of leftover fuel hose from the side of the expansion tank to the overflow on top of the thermostat.

This still leaves to be done on the cooling system:

1. A blanking plug on the off-side of the thermostat (haven't seen that anywhere)
2. A blanking screw in the remaining expansion tank outlet
3. The connection from the front part of the rigid pipe to the t-piece just below it (but currently at the wrong angle).

Still some time left, so I had a go at the indicator side repeater, which has to be mounted on the front wing to satisfy the IVA requirements.... even though this means having to route cables across moving suspension parts and around a moving wheel!  This is one of the few areas where I've decided to make a break from the standard hardware and use smaller more streamlined versions that don't look (quite) so daft.

To fit these I had to remove connectors on both the loom and the e-bay-sourced LED lights and connect them with bullet connectors.  It was then a matter of covering the cable with a flexible tube and tie-wrapping it along the wishbone, up the cycle wing bracket and then using tape to attach it under the wheel arch.  This worked better than expected:

I then re-attached the wheelarch, removed the IVA-spec edging, attached the self-adhesive repeater and replaced the edging to hide the wire.  The end result is quite neat - let's hope it works!

May 6th 2013 - Doors

No real progress this weekend due to a weekend away at the Stoneleigh kit car show..... where I collected a pair of slightly used doors from a fellow owners club member after I posted a "wanted" ad on the club website.

Fitting them wasn't quite as easy as expected due to the need to drill out the mounting holes on the windscreen pillars to 5mm with drill access a problem.  I'll need to source a couple of press studs to attach the rear retaining straps, but the doors fit well:

Whilst at Stoneleigh I took the opportunity to discuss options for getting a pre-IVA check (plus a few final bits of wiring and maybe plumbing) with both Westfield and GBS.  The former know the cars like the back of their hands and have some responsibility for the car being capable of passing IVA.  GBS seem really competent though, know the engine fitment, are far nearer and far cheaper. Hmmm.......