Hood

The final major item required to finish my build is the fitting of the hood and tonneau cover.

I took the car in my new race shuttle to Intertrim at Telford on Monday and was able to go and collect it yesterday. As the sun was shining, I couldn't resist driving the car back on trade plates and wow - what a satisfying feeling.

Hood up, no side screens, bright, cold, dry afternoon the sound of my big V8 roaring through the lanes and B roads back home - roll on the summer and lots of hot sunny days.

This was the first time I had driven the car on public roads for more than just a mile or two up the local lane and there is still a bit of adjustment needed to the suspension set up in my opinion. The car still seems a little stiff, particularly on the front end and seems to skip over the bumps in the road rather than absorbing them. Also, there seems to be a rattly noise coming from the diff/rear axle under low revs which will need looking into.

My other dilemma following the driving experience was the steering wheel. I have gone for a Mota-Lita wooden rim and it looks a million dollars but it is very thin and so different to a modern wheel. I might end up swapping this for a leather trimmed wheel on track days and long drives.

Really pleased with the work done by Graham and his wife at Intertrim and certainly recommend them to any body else needing trimming work. While the car was with them I asked if they could fit a piece of carpet to the rear bulkhead inside the boot. I have always felt that this made the boot area look a little unfinished. Graham duly obliged and cut and fitted a piece for the princely sum of a tenner in cash!!

Speedo and Tacho Swap

Saturday 15th February

Well the dash is back out and the speedo is to be sent back to Speedy cables. Why? Well, I didn't calibrate it properly and when I test drove it a 20 mile run put 800 miles on the clock!! As I'm not planning on doing much more than 3,000 miles per annum I wanted it setting back to zero.

I had hoped that I would be able to get the dials out and swapped over without removing the dash but they were fitted really tightly so end the end it was another (and hopefully for the final time) dash out job! This is certainly something worthy of warning other builders about as it is impossible to reset the odometer without returning it to the supplier.

Saturday 22nd February

The dash is back in a looking good with the new instrument set up. The steering wheel has been realigned and the indicators cancel correctly.

Another job that needed sorting after IVA was the horn - I had asked Andy to look at this when he prepped the car but it must have been over looked and the tester didn't even the horn at IVA. The way I had it wired meant it worked on the push back position but not in the self return position. There were some mods that were needed to be done to the relay wiring which I had overlooked during the build. Essentially there is a thin purple wire that is looped across two relay terminals which needs to be cut and then an earth fitting to terminal 86 (not terminal 85 as per the build notes)

Headlamps

Sunday 2nd February

Swapped the headlamps today for Lucas P700s

I once saw a GD at the factory with these fitted and I was blown away by them