Monday, November 1, 2010

McArlus Cars - 11

Simon feeling good about the plan coming together.

For the last week or so I have been assembling a lot of the car for what should be the last time. It is finally now that I am really appreciating the time and effort that has gone into making and fitting all of the parts so many times prior to this final time.
It is so relatively, easy to do now. Everything has been fitted many times, most holes are drilled and all of the parts are nice and clean and painted. It has literally been a matter of taking a part “off the shelf” picking out the correct nuts and bolts and bolting it on!
Sometimes the hardest part is to not scratch things!
All of the nuts and bolts are new, and I made a list of them all and placed an order for them all together. Most of them come zinc plated, but any that weren’t (mostly the socket head bolts) were sent away for plating as well. It makes the world of difference to the final appearance.
Incidentally, a handy tip when doing the initial set up is to use short pieces of threaded rod as a substitute for bolts, particularly the longer ones that you may not have floating around in the garage. It is cheap and can be cut to any length and it allows the job to proceed without making numerous trips to the bolt shop and can be replaced later on.
There is a minor concern with the fitting of the exhaust but I’m hoping it will be ok.
I foolishly left a chain cover off the LHS of the engine that also forms part of the clutch slave cylinder. The rear header just fouls the chain cover (which is actually redundant) but it means that the chain will be close to the rear header. Hopefully not too close!
Overall I’m really pleased with the way the whole thing looks and is coming together. God forbid though anyone gets too close to be on the track, or I spin off into the sand trap. I couldn’t bear to get it dirty or scratched!
Regards
Simon

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