You broke arp bolts? That's almost impressive.

Hope it goes better tomorrow

Engine back together, almost, got to replace a gasket on the front cover after checking for debris today. Bought an alternator and bespkoke bracket unfortunately its chromed and a bit out of place. No doubt the pish will be taken

 

 

The garage owner, sizing it up for his own car, more.. rather taking the pish.

 

 

Taylor came along and gave me a hand today, thanks Taylor,   so got the fiddly job of cutting the carbon dash pretty much done other than a final trim and a few holes.

 

 

Expecting a new clutch fork and a few other bits tomorrow, once arrived the engine can be married up to then box and slotted in the hole.

 

 

New steering column in and wheel trial fitted so dash can be made ergonomically.. where ever the dials will fit...

 

 

Engine and gearbox mated, I didn't break anything today.. except the ignition switch, but that doesn't count because it was sh!te anyway. Image below with the man from Delmonte looking on..

 

 

Engine in the hole

 

 

I want the engine as far back as possible, going a slightly different route than "standard" if there is such a word with these cars. Fitting a Morgan gearbox mount and a few minor mods on the chassis.

 

Huge thanks to the Lads and Lass, at Snodhurst Service Station, for their assistance reaching this milestone.

 

Edited 15 February, 201610 yr by B33fy

Quick update tonight as I've got a headache,, nothing to do with banging my head on the car lift about a thousand times today.. Engine is almost in on its own, needs another hour tomorrow morning and it'll be on its own custom mounts. Wheels should turn up tomorrow and maybe exhaust, forgot camera again so some images tomorrow.. off to find a box of aspirin..

Edited 16 February, 201610 yr by B33fy

Image of the gearbox mounting on the chassis, the holes are slotted because there is little up and down movement to drop the studs of the rubber mounts into the hole from above.

 

 

Proper bearing fitted today at the base of the steering column.

 

 

Brakes trial fitted today also. Need a little tweaking to get perfect, some slight pad overhang and minor clearance issues on the inner pad against the custom mount, should be sorted tomorrow for a refit.

 

 

Tidied up the engine bay and engine mounts painted (thanks Jay) in readiness to put the engine in. Pleased with progress, all going in the right direction 

Forgot my camera again..so poor quality blackberry images.. Engine is now in the hole.

 

 

Brake mounts are now modded and on the car.

 

 

and the wheels turned up.. The full effect.. (17x7 front 17x9 rear, now fitted with nankang trackday kitty litter finders..)

 

 

Other jobs today, sourced a starter that fitted, the Lucas jobbie was too big, found a direct bosch replacement. Alternator bracket adjusted, thanks Chris. Non bling alternator now on the car, the chrome one will be carried as a spare. Lift and HP pump fitted, clutch slave cylinder fitted along with pita bellhousing dust shield.

 

Trial fitted prop, was gonna shorten the car to make it fit, luckily Kenton gave me a spare with the engine so the machine shop can have another go at it. Exhaust not due to next week now, problems with the bender.

 

Fitting up the injectors and manifold tonight ready for tomorrow. Got a list of bits to order, then I can get some sleep 

Looking good Mike! keep it up mate

Few more bits added today, rebuilt the injection/manifold/plenum though struggling to find a couple of gaskets for final fitting, so looks like some home made ones are in order.

 

 

Tidying up the engine loom so that can go on tomorrow.

Engine loom fitted, gaskets made and fitted for the trumpet base plate and plenum, all done up nicely now. Master cylinders fitted along with low level warning floats/ switches, which involved modifying the caps. Forgot camera again...

Forgot to mention, propshaft now fits just need to find some bolts.

Edited 20 February, 201610 yr by B33fy

Fuel rails swapped today as the fuel out for the ninth injector was in the wrong place..  :roll:  A bit more wiring tidying and the beginnings of a plan. The MAF (flapper) needs repositioning towards the front of the car so the loom will need extending. Distributor cleaned painted and in (not timed up) Had a go at the steering cowl and have drilled a few holes in the dash. Battery obtained (063 Bosch) don't think a lead acid battery will make much difference in the bigger scheme of things.

 

Dash all cut except steering column cowl, still umming and arring about that..

 

 

A huge, huge, thanks to ****, Jay, Chris, John, Dan, Simon and Kelly, at Snodhurst Service Station, for their hospitality and assistance over the past fortnight great bunch, I've learnt a huge amount..  especially not to expect sympathy when I bang my head on the corner of the car lift for the 20th time in an hour,.. also learnt a few things about mending cars  :lol:

 

Back to the day job for a little while, then on the home straight with the car.

 

 

Swirl pot, Battery Holder and a few other bits arrived today, ordered a header tank, grill and some more pipe fittings for a bit of a push on Saturday.

Some more progress on the Viento this week thanks to Chris. Radiator fitted along with the fan. Engine stabilisers, aka classic mini, fitted. The engine isn't going anywhere now... Couple of images below:

 

 

 

Flexible brake pipes made and fitted on the front today. Sized up the remote oil filter housing for fitting. Finally got a game plan with that. first of all order the correct size hose and an extra 135 degree fitting so it can be connected up. Continuing with wiring hopefully have the dash wiring finished tonight for a fitting tomorrow.

 

Other news, had the grant turned down for my home charger, installer says I'm liable for the extra costs, I say has he ever had a 4 metre charging cable trailing out of his arse before... (still attached to the charger). Down to him to apply for the grant, just in case you think I'm being a little harsh. FWIW got a registration for the new car though no sign of a delivery date. Not worth the hassle should have got another Golf.

Yesterday was one of those frustrating days when I couldn't get anything finished for one reason or another. James came along with me today so did a few jobs easier with two of us. Though not critical to getting the car running, they needed to be done nonetheless. So at least a couple of things off the to do list now.

 

Grill done, the holes can wait.

 

 

Seat sorted.

 

 

Started to swap out the fuel sender unit, made a plate up as the new one was a different hole size. ran out of time so will pick that up next time. Continuing with the wiring at home, after a bit of down time with James, to go through some Uni stuff to keep him on track.

Trimmed down cycle wings which are now on the car, along with the prop shaft which is finally bolted in place. Awaiting exhaust and rocker covers still.. usual pish poor service,, empty promises etc. Heard all the excuses when I built the other one they get boring after a while, at least I haven't blown my top yet.  Dash Wired up all bar half a dozen soldered joints and a few multi plugs on the tails.

 

 

Long weekend off, so hoping for some more progress, with the target of being on the road around week commencing 14th March.

Cycle wings are on though need painting up. I trimmed the outer edge so that the wheel could come off without too much difficulty and got the arches a nice snug fit to the tyre, so overall very pleased with them. I would say the cycle wings themselves are not the best quality, with gelcoat imperfections and rather thin.

 

 

Finally decided on a home for the remote oil filter housing and got that in place today. Just need to order one more fitting to make it all connect up. Has been a bit of a PITA as the hoses are not particularly flexible along with the inlets/outlets needing to be in certain positions

 

 

Other bits and pieces, new fuel tank sender ready to drop in the tank. Remote reservoir's now plumbed in. Off on A/L tomorrow so more of the same. Then off for a week next week for the final push  Luckily I had loads of leave to take before the end of the financial year (March), so it's worked out ok.

Exhaust has turned up... Looks loud lol..

In other news awaiting phone call from Mercedes re: delivery of the elusive 350, dropped the golf off for a little love and attention before it goes, hoping for a swappsie in the next week or so.

Been working on the car this weekend..

 

In other news, daily driver back from the body shop yesterday (again) and cleaned this afternoon.

 

 

ok..ok, didn't take any images of the viento, my bad, just too busy working on it and before I knew it,, its home time..

 

Lots of small jobs going on, connecting clutch, and throttle cable both need a few mods or parts. Finished oil pipes for the cooler and remote filter housing. Started making up and putting in the front loom. Doing it in situ, then removing tidying  up, wrapping and connecting not necessarily in that order. Rocker covers are finally on their way, they better be nice after all the aggro getting them.

 

Keep looking at my rear brakes might have to do something about them, they look a bit.. eerr..  small 

 

On the Viento for the rest of the week so hoping to make serious inroads into all the outstanding jobs.

Thought I'd better redeem myself with a few images of progress. luckily I only left my mobile phone behind this time.. :roll:

 

 

A few wires on the bulkhead, the fuse box will sit here eventually and it will all look neat and tidy, honest. Note the pulley less water pump housing and non bling alternator.

 

 

 

An image of the oil cooler plumbing and remote housing all finished, just needs the wires connected to the sensors

 

 

An image of the cycle wings with the wheel fitted, can't stand them when you can squeeze a small child between the wing and wheel, so a tight fit it is, for a more integrated look IMO. Also now self cleaning when going down the odd farm track etc..

 

 

Dash in situ though no doubt will be in and out a few times more whilst the wiring progresses

 

 

Todays work,,. somewhere in the above image, is a new wiring loom for the front of the car, incorporating all the usual including a few bits of the charging/ignition system. Tomorrows job is the wrap it and get it connected, might also put it on the car at some point too 

Seriously impressive stuff.

Seriously impressive stuff.

 

 

Thanks Jason, much appreciated, and thanks to all who have taken an interest in this project and are willing me on to get it done. The loom is now on the car wrapped terminated and connected, except at the fuse box/dash end where I have a mass of wires to work through. I've put a few hoses on and the Davies Craig water pump is fitted. I'll grab a couple more images tomorrow.

 

Finally the rocker covers have turned up and about time.. taken 2 months to get here. They look well finished etc. just hope they fit well and keep the oil in the engine. First Job tomorrow is to fit them on the engine which should make a considerable difference to the appearance. It also means I can get on and fit the induction pipework.

 

More progress today, starting to look more like it now.. lol The first image shows a bit of the finished loom pictured previously.. Main jobs left in the engine bay are connecting fuel lines, throttle cable, fitting exhaust, battery, swirl pot, fuse box, header tank. It all takes a little time as most stuff needs making or modding to fit, for example, the water jacket "hot spot" on the plenum had to be removed and binned to fit the rocker covers. Holes need cutting in the bodywork to fit the exhausts and brackets fabricated. Anyhow that's enough of the book of excuses of why it's taking so long, some images below..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 17 March, 201610 yr by B33fy

Starting to look like a car now

Starting to look like a car now

In the loosest possible terms.. looks even worse now with the headers fitted.. Lol.

In the loosest possible terms.. looks even worse now with the headers fitted.. Lol.

Darwin award today... drilled through the ECU.. all mended now with silicon and gaffa tape, proper job..