Sooo, having the shell away and not being able to get a lot of work done on the car has left me a lot of time to research parts and plan things out. It's been good week for planning and researching but has led to me looking at doing things I never intended to do until the car was up and running.
I started first by creating a spreadsheet which should of been a simple "keep track of costs". A day later it was a comprehensive part log, all devised into categories, lots of auto updating boxs and hyperlinks to everything. I then created a service log with colour warnings for when various items require sorting. I then thought it would be a great idea to add a to buy/to do list which created my first headache.
As I started planning what I parts I wanted fit a bit of mission creep came into play. Especially with the engine. I had originally decided to keep the engine standard and just fully service it, change all seals and gaskets, timing belt and paint it. That was it. I hadn't wanted to break into the engine and remove the head. Then after talking to a few people it was suggested for the long term health of the engine I should put new piston rings, headgasket and bearings. That way I'd never have to open up the engine again and would be easier whilst the engine isn't fitted to the car. Seemed logical and sensible for an engine with unknown history. Especially as I plan to use the engine as intended.
Then crazy me came out. I was already planning on forging this engine at some point in the future and as I was going to pull the engine apart now and have all the machining done. Why not do it now? Might as well do it properly from the get go rather than pull it apart twice and have to risk scratching paint pulling the engine out.
Damn isolation creating thinking time. [emoji2357]