New year, new start. Happy new year to everyone, hope all is well.
I telephoned Pilgrim this week to place an order for the body shell, exhausts, wheels and tyres. Also requested all hinges, clasps and bolts required. This should now see the engine that has been sat on the chassis now start to look like a car. There's a fair bit of work to be done, but at least I should now be able to fit the bodywork and align it correctly with the correct wheels in place. Having the exhausts will also mean that I'll be able to start the engine more often. I must say that I am looking forward to hearing what the car will sound like with the exhausts fitted. I know now that it is bloody loud without them.
Anyway, with a deadline now fast approaching, I'm busy trying to make sure that all those little jobs that I never got around too are done before the next lot of goodies arrive (mid Feb).
Today I wired up the fuel sender to the fuel gauge. This required the extra wiring looms from the sender into the loom, and from the loom to the gauge. Having worked which wires go where, the needle eventually moved. What I didn't see though was the low level fuel warning light. It never came on. If anyone else has seen this (with ETB gauges) please let me know how I can test it (thanks). I also made up a bracket to hold the speedo sensor in place on the differential. Plugged the sensor in place and ran a couple of wires up to the bulkhead ready to plug into the speedometer. I'll test that tomorrow.
The other job that I've been looking at is to place a nicely polished sheet on top of the bulkhead, inside the engine bay. This will make the final appearance of the engine compartment look much tidier. I found a local steel wholesaler who has a range of all sorts of metals - aluminium, steel, stainless - and at a very reasonable price. An aluminuim panel to cover the top of the bulkhead works out around £20.00. Polished steel works aout around £28.00, but I'm not convinced that it won't rust. I'll be looking to get an aluminium panel, polish it up and the lacquer it to ensure that it keeps it shine.
From what I can remember, the last mechanical job that I have to do is to obtain and fit a choke cable for the current SU Carbs. Without a choke the car does have a bit of a problem starting. Next week will see another trip to a breakers yard to see what is available. I do plan at a future date to replace the SU's with a Holley or Weber (most likely), but that will have to wait a little until there are some more coffers in the pot. Oh, and then there's the gearbox rubber mountings that I need to order.
All should be in order for when the new goodies arrive. We'll see.
Never quite got around to testing the speedo yesterday partly because I'm not too well and feel extremely tired, and secondly just waiting a few weeks will have exhausts on the engine and things will be much quieter. I did, however, think of a way in which to test the low level fuel warning light. Simple really. I disconnected the fuel line to the engine, dropped the fuel line into a jerry can and then turned on the ignition. With the fuel gauge connected and the ignition switched on, fuel was pumped out of the tank lowering the fuel level. The gauge did show the level dropping and the warning light did come on.