Christmas Drive

Managed to fit a new oil sensor without breaking anything.  Removed the extra baffles so we are now down to the standard unmodified Dave Brookes exhaust and is not that much louder,  you can still talk to your passenger under 50MPH or so then it's the wind noise that gets you.

My intention was to do 20 miles or so and get it warmed up,  then set the mixture and timing but as the father in law was here for Christmas we just enjoyed the fact that it was running (albeit badly) and had an hour or so out and about, did 60 miles or so in the end without much trouble.  It sounded a lot sweeter now with 20/50 valvoline mineral oil in it, I realised when I got back that we had gone out with no tools for emergencies but thankfully didnt need any! I thought I had fixed the wing mirrors and stopped them from folding in at speed but they are still completely useless.

Oil Change

Now, I've changed oil before on cars. It's not that difficult, however what the last 3 years have taught me is that its pretty easy for a simple job to spiral out of control. Yesterday we had a happy, working vehicle. Today we do not.

The magic 500 miles (or pretty close to 500) was clocked up yesteday so today I thought I would change the oil, as advised by the engine run in procedure from BAE/Custom Power and Paint. The oil oil filter was an absolute arse to remove, had to shove a screwdriver through and made a good old mess. The new one was supplied with the engine, a Fram PH25. Old one was an AC Delco PF454. They are not the same!

Oil filter mount in the engine below - the Fram filter seal position is wrong.

After much headscratching I realised the PH25 is meant to fit the oil cooler takeoff sandwich plate that came with our engine. We haven't fitted the oil cooler yet because it requires some creative bracketry at the front and in this weather its not really needed, so I was planning to leave it off for now. Unfortunately this means that until I get another oil filter I can't use the car. Word on the street is that the Fram filters are pretty crap anyway.

So, I had warmed the garage up and didn't want to waste it, I've been out the garage for a bit during the gap between IVA and registration and I'd forgotten how much I actually enjoy whiling away the hours fiddling around with the car, even if I then complain about things going wrong on here! Next job on the list was to replace the leaking oil temp sender. It's a 1/8NPT thread into a 1/8 - 1/2 NPT adaptor which then goes into the sump. I dug out a copper washer and put the new sender in the adaptor, tightened it up and.....

Whoops! So now I have a car with no oil filter and no oil temp sender, in need of new parts a week before Christmas. Hopefully we can get it sorted so the father-in-law can have a drive on Christmas day.

Now registered

Friday 13th December,  tax disc and v5 plopped through the letterbox so went to Halfords Saturday morning to get some number plates made. Car is new 63 reg as planned. Hurrah! First job ticked off the list - clear indicator lenses on, looks a lot better to my eyes. Haven't got a picture from the front yet, too busy driving it! The radiator mesh has been removed to improve air flow to the rad.

Hairy Canary

Next Steps...

The next task is to get the car registered and taxed. It's already insured on the chassis number (to allow us to drive it to the IVA). This will be transferred to the new registration when it comes through. I've got a V55/4 form from the DVLA for first registration of a new vehicle as apart from the engine, everything is new. You're allowed one major component to be refurbished.

I made a list of jobs to do and its surprisingly long. Longer in fact than any of the lists of things to do pre-IVA!

Just a sample of what's planned, from simple things to more involved jobs:

Lower ride height, reset toe/camber
Change oil, change oil temp sensor (leaks slightly)
Set timing to final value of 36deg all in at 3500 after a couple of hundred more miles run in
Open out holes in the body for the exhaust to give more clearance
Refit fog and reverse light below the body so it looks nicer
Fit more powerful fan for the heater blower and wire it up with slow and fast speed
Fit wind wings
Fit sun visors
Make new dash with better tacho position
Refit passenger seat so its more in-line with the vehicle
Refit doors so gaps are even
Paint (including preparing the bodywork
Set steering rack height properly to eliminate bump steer

Should keep us busy for a while!