So the car is finally road worthy again
A couple of minor hiccups along the way but what's new. With everything all plumbed in the electric fuel pump kicked into life first try and seems to be working a dream, it was a big relief to watch the fuel pressure regulator fill with fuel for the first time. Sadly having reached the fuel station and brimmed the tank I spotted that there was a leak, as it turns out the factory brazing on the fuel return hardline into the tank had failed and was leaking.
30 minutes and an arm covered in fuel later I'd got enough fuel out to stop the leak, cleanup the area in prep to repair with JB Weld steel stick. Thankfully so far it appears to have done the job and I've touched the paintwork back up after the fuel tried stripping it. Car back on the ground and its done a couple of test outings where its been running nicely.
IMG_4870 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
IMG_5342 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
IMG_5483 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
Next slight hiccup is that the OEM front valance setup clearing sits slightly further back than my fibreglass replica did so I now have tyre rubbing issues at full lock. Time to book the car back in for a wheel alignment and dial the caster back slightly to give me full clearance back. That said, it seems to look the business and I've now got my new Blem indicators fitted up too which look the business. With some decent weather the car finally got its first proper clean of the year and is thankfully looking more respectable again!
IMG_4696 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
IMG_5149 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
IMG_5281 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
IMG_5328 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
A couple of little extra touches have been added too, I've been given a lot of stick for my very tired looking bonnet badge so the old man finally decided to pick one up from the USA. It looks sooo much better now! A shame they're so plasticy though, it looks like it should be a solid metal piece. I'm not sure if any ever were?
IMG_5479 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
IMG_5482 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
Finally, some big credit to my dad who came up with an executed a great little mod. Having lost the cabin airflow pipe through fitment of the MJP airbox he's wanted to come up with a solution to get airflow back into the car for summer. Having raided the merlin motorsports parts catalogue he's used some ducting which has been stepped down into the groove and added a lovely looking aluminium trumpet out of the spare bulkhead cutout to ram feed cool air into the cabin. Having tested it out last journey, its really done the job and looks pretty smart so happy days.
IMG_5091 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
IMG_5089 by
Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
There's still a few minor jobs to get the car back up to scratch when I've got spare time however the good news is that good progress has been made with the engine and gearbox rebuilds which we're hoping to get installed later this year to really transform the car. With the current engine now leaking some coolant from a coolant gallery plug and the oil leak persisting, timing will be perfect. Anyway hopefully we'll get some sunshine and put some more miles on the car again soon.