Wiring

I started today by finishing off the dynamat, to the wheel arches and roof.

Then it was wiring time, I need to get the rear loom installed, and the feeds to the door switches, roof lamps, screen heater etc, and see what is missing (the car had a sun roof before, so the roof light wasn't in its normal position), and see what does and doesn't work.

Loom in, connected up, and testing begun

It all seems to work OK, but I need to extend some of the roof wires to the lamp and the tailgate. I also seem to have mislaid the wiring for the heated rear screen, so that's more cable to buy.

I have completed another door seal too, so just 2 doors left to do.

I want to be sure the wiring was OK, because my dash and other wood trim is due back from Chapman and Cliff anyday, so I will be able to fit this and the reconditioned instruments. Next task, is to modify a carpet for the tranmission tunnel, but thats for another day.

hours worked now 748 - 7 hours today.

Dynamat Day

I spent all day fitting Dynamat Extreme sound deadening pads to the estate, supposedly better than the original bitumen pads for sound deadening, and I have covered the entire floor area, including the boot floor, and the inside of the doors and the rear wings.. Its an attenpt to ensure it doen't "boom" with exhaust resonance, which the estates are prone to, and I suspect the Stag exhaust won't help either. I used 32 sheets at 4sq ft each, and I still need another 5 to do the roof and finish the rear wheel arches.

However when thats complete I can then rust proof the box sections and doors with waxoil or similar. Its no good waxoiling first, as the adhesive on the dynamat sheets will not stick.

I did a little more on the brakes too, started making up brake pipes, to find I had no male ends in stainless steel - the ones I had were all metric.

So next job, door seals, what a PIG to fit into the c section channel on the doors, still I finished one door and have started another - its really a job to spend an hour on, and then go back to later, as your hands get very sore pushing the seal into the channel with a screwdriver.

 741 hours worked, 9 today

costs now £14545 - £450 on Dyanamat, new bonnet scoop and misc parts. It doesn't include the painting as that's not finished yet

Brakes and other bits

Firstly, with my thanks to some new friends and their FF cars (Jensen Interceptors) and no I won't mention my new Interceptor here, a plumbing diagram for the Maxaret Brake system - although my estate uses a Mullard Electronics box to control things, not a Maxaret valve

On to todays work - thought I'd get the propshaft on, handbrake cable fitted, and the brakes plumbed in.
Well the propshaft went in OK,

Fitted the handbrake, and the cables, and then found that I couldn't find the handbrake compensator - its about somewhere, so I busied myself with a few other little jobs such as the heater vents and tubes in the passenger compartment -the black gunge near the edges of the heater tubes is Dum Dum sealant to keep the hot air in the right direction

That done, fitted the brake flexible hoses, and was going to start making the pipes up, when I found that I couldn't locate the brackets that connect the front brake pipes to the crossmember - they are probably with the handbrake part!

So next it was install the electric fuel pump on its brackets in the boot. Although the pump's not now an SU, it has the same fittings, is solid state, and doesn't have points to corrode. Got that from LDParts. I think this is the correct position for the pump, the old one was just loose on what remained of the boot floor, with no trace of the mountings remaining

Next job was to get the fuel line in, and the rest of the brake pipe mounting clips - all done.

That was a total of 8 hours, these bits and pieces seem to take an age, or maybe I am just getting slow.

The dynamat insulation pads arrived today, so thats a pending job for the car interior.

732 hours now, 8 today. I will update costs when I have fitted the dynamat

Its been a long time.

Sadly due to work commitments it has been a long time since I have been able to work on the estate, but fortunately work has slowed down a little now, and I have been able to look at the project again.

It was quite strange going back in the garage again after all this time, and I spent a fair bit of time just inspecting the car and remembering where I had got with it, and remembering what was left to do.

Some more history of the car has come to light over the past months from the Manx Vehcile registration dept who have confirmed the following:-

The vehicle was first registered in the UK on 18/09/1972.

The vehicle was then re registered on the Isle of Man on 19/05/1975. The vehicle was then exported off the Island on 17/11/1983. The vehicle had one owner whilst it was registered on the Isle of Man.

I had some luck on ebay and I managed to purchase a new bonnet scoop, so thats another item taken care of

So the jobs of today were to finish the front wiring loom, replacing the connectors for the alternator and battery, and getting the starter motor wired up

I then did the bonnet release cable and windscreen washers

That was it for today, but I do know what I am doing next on the car

Thats 724 Hours now, 4 worked today