A very busy weekend, late finish yesterday afternoon after being at work in the morning, nigh on 8PM finish tonight. At least being a Bank Holiday weekend I can relax tomorrow
We've ticked off what on paper seems a small list but in reality was a big ask to be done.
A new indicator/horn/light stalk had been bought but was slightly different in the connections as they are actually reproduced by a kit car fella, same stalk and mostly same wires but some took a bit of figuring out.
Finally got the lights etc working. Not even that straightforward as we have installed 2 pairs of fuse boxes so we can protect individual circuits, the Imp doesn't have a single fuse anywhere as standard!
The interior lamp also has a slightly strange arrangement as it can either be set to door switch activation or plain on, with doors open you can't turn it off! We decided it best to put an isolator switch in so they can be turned off should he find himself at a show or race meeting etc with doors open all day.
The car originally had static seat belts which I find a pain so inertia ones have been bought and fitted. Again, not as easy as it should have been as when I welded all the floors up I reinstated the mounting point for the buckle at the tunnel but didn't do the one at the floor for the belt!
As the underside is all painted and sealed I didn't want to start grinding all that back to make mounts so I made some extra strong mounts and welded them into the inner sills, has gone quite well really and allows the belt to be neatly out of the way for rear passengers getting in and out.
Drivers seat wasn't quite aligned properly and the original mounting points for the front mounted hinges were poor so I made some new mounting plates and welded those in, handily above a box section so no heat damage to the painted floor underneath.
A genuine heat shield had been sourced by Rob, this needed a little fettling by him to clear the external oil pipe on this car, new mounting points again having to be installed for it as they'd all been welded up..
Incidentally for such purposes I use rivnuts which make a neat captive thread by simply making a hole and crimping the stud in, this allows a healthy dose of waxoyl to be put into the fitting to seal it, would be far better to dry test fit everything before paint but so much on this car has been unknown territory!
Numerous other jobs done, new choke cable which meant gear linkage down again, wiring tidied up, bearings set and locked, head lining finished off with visors etc fitted, all door cards and rear 1/4 panels installed. Loads of other little jobs....
Finally tonight the time came which Rob has been waiting for for some time, give it a wash!
Once cleaned we touched up the few chips that unfortunately seem to be inevitable, Rob wanted to paint a strip of metal under the rear seat that I wasn't aware would be on show...
He also got a set of original copied decals for under the bonnet etc., a nice finishing touch.
You'll notice a couple of things, the rear lenses kept falling off so we've put some sealant on them now we know they all work plus the rear wheels are the unpainted ones still as we haven't yet got the correct tyres for them.
It is booked in for an MoT this Wednesday afternoon........
