6th April 2007
Too many other distractions last weekend, but it's easter bank holidays this weekend, so that gives me four days to make up for lost time. I've been mentally compiling a list of things that I need to do, and of course in the trivial world of my mind, it's only a days work, somehow I doubt it will work out like that in reality!
Firstly however, another distraction, but it is car related. I popped out to meet Jim from whom I have purchased an Autocom intercom and radio system. When I got it all back home I spread it all out and started to understand what I had got and what else I needed. It looks like the only grey area is in connecting the radio to the intercom unit, which I'll have to do some research on later.
Whilst I was here I did the recommended modification to the practice headsets - there's a separate page detailing it here.
Into the garage for the afternoon, and I spent some time looking where I am going to locate the Autocom unit and the radio, within the realms of where the cables lay well and connections can be made. I'm not 100% certain yet, but it looks like I will locate the unit in the boot box, as this puts the headset cables quite close to the seats and should negate the need for extension leads for these. Also somewhere around the rear of the cage is probably the best place for the radio, but I'm not settled on that yet, as I would like to give it some sort of weather protection, but have the antenna as clear of the car as possible. The power lead will just reach, but I will need to attach the one on the PTT cable along the side of the tunnel - then it will be just a single connector near the handbrake to allow all of the expensive bits to be removed.
The main job after messing around with all that, was to look at the headlamp connector. It took quite a while to dismantle and extract the damaged bits of wire and connector. I probably could have left it where it was and just cut the wires, but I wanted to try and post-mortem to work out why it failed. Unfortunatly it took quite a bit of abuse to get the connectors out, so it wasn't wholly conclusive. I have to assume that it was some sort of mechanical failure which caused the connector the overheat - the same configuration is used on alot of other cars, so I am sure I wouldn't be the only one if it were a problem with the spec of the wire or connector.
   

7th April 2007
A full day in the garage today. Yesterday I also got the car up into the air, in readiness for sorting out the fuel hoses, and also to enable me to give the car a good spanner and visual check all over. So first job today is to replace the persished fuel hoses between the tank and rigid pipes which run down the tunnel. This is always a bit fiddly, but is pretty much straight forward - I thought I would have to drain the whole tank, but soon realised that the fuel pump will hold it in enough, although the return pipe did drain quite a bit out. Whilst I was here, I swapped the remaining jubilee clips for proper pipe clips.

The majority of the second part of the day was spent looking at electrics. First on this list was to sort out the headlamp wiring. I decided that I would split all three of the headlight wires (sidelight, dipped beam, and main beam) out of the large connectors and into a separate connector, reconnect it all, and see if there are still any problems by leaving the lights on for a while and seeing if any of the wiring gets warm. Jim kindly gave me some connectors yesterday which will do the job nicely, although they are for 5 wires rather than the 3 that I actually need here. The rewiring is something of a fiddly job, not least because there isn't much slack on these cables and grovelling under the dash is not entirely comfortable or accessible.
Once the connections are done, I reconnect the battery and test the lights are all working ok (they are). Then I left the lights on for a while, checking the wire and connector temperatures by hand to ensure they are not getting hot, and wiggling them around a bit to ensure the connections are good. All seems to be ok, so I'll go with that.
After that I spent far too much time working on trying to find an appropriate power feed for the Autocom. This resulted in getting lost in the wiring, and having to step back and work out what all the wires and fuses are doing. In the end I find a few of options: there is an auxilliary feed I left in the dash loom (but I haven't quite sussed out if it fused yet), there is a feed for an immobiliser (ditto), and there is an unused fused feed for windscreen wipers.

8th April 2007
More wiring. I decided that the best method of attack would be to use the ignition-switched, fused feed which is normally intended for windscreen wipers, as this means the Autocom is on a totally separate, ignition switched, and hopefully safe circuit. It would be nice to have a separate switch on the dash for it, but I think that's just making work for myself for now - maybe sometime later (like next Winter!) It also meant that the Autocom wiring is independent of the dash wiring, which will make dash removal / troubleshooting easier, in theory. So I spent the morning neatly modifying the chassis wiring loom near where it meets the dash loom, to create a separate spur for the Autocom to plug into. Jim had already fitted a connector to the power lead, and gave me the matching female half to attach to my loom.
It took a little while, as finding the right place for the earth was a bit awkward. Then it was time to test it out, after checking it all looked good using the meter. So I plugged my phone (playing some music) and both practice headsets into the Autocom unit, and powered it up - it all seemed to work spot on :-)
The next thing I decided to have a look was to test the battery voltage to check how much drain the Autocom was having. I was pretty sure it would be very low power, but it seemed like a good time to check my charging anyway after the problems Craig had with his last year. So I hooked up the meter to the battery, and then tried various combinations of engine running at idle and fast idle, with electrical items switched on. The general conclusion is that the headlights take quite a bit of power, and at idle the battery gets gently drained, but as soon as the throttle is lifted a little, the alternator picks up and charging is restored. As expected, the Autocom made no perceivable power drain. I think the only time I'd be in trouble would be idling with the lights on, my foot on the brakes, and the engine fan running - it struggled a bit in that situation, but it's not all that likely to happen for anything other than short term. So that was reassuring.
So after testing everything out, it is time to start re-assembling what I've had to undo to make the changes, and to work on installing the Autocom power cable and routing the cables as necessary. So I (remembered to) properly tighten the connections on the back of the FIA cut out switch, and then re-attached the dash loom to the back of the dash. I then decided that I would install the Autocom power lead along the edge of the tunnel on the passenger side - this will allow the Autocom unit to live in the boot box, which puts the headset connectors near to the headsets, the radio will have to be positioned somewhere around main roll hoop or rear bulkhead, and all of these bits can be removed with one single plug.
The downside of this plan is that in order to P-clip the cable along the tunnel edge, I need to drill out one of the rivets which is obscured by the passenger seat slightly, so I need to remove that. The advantage of the having to do this is that I fitted the lap belts the wrong way around last year, so I can swap them over at the same time.
This is fairly soon done, however getting the seat bolts back in was a bit of pig that took far too much time and caused too much stress. So once that was done - and I realised that I need to remove the tunnel top to attach one of the P-clips - I decided that was enough for today.

10th April 2007
Had a small amount of garage time this evening, just enough to remove the tunnel top panels to allow me to undo the one bolt I wanted to use to P-clip the Autocom power cable - I figured it is probably good practice to check things out in there when I am doing my spanner check anyway.
Good job I did as whilst I was eyeballing things, I noticed that I appear to have lost one of the grease nipples from the slider section of my propshaft. I shall have to procure a replacement and regrease it.

13th April 2007
A quick hour in the garage this evening saw me getting the spanner and visual check done on the back end and down the tunnel as far as the footwells. Nothing much to report really, everything was tight. Only thing I did find was a smidgen of play in one of the rear wheel bearings, so I need to find out how to adjust those as I'm not sure - I think it is just a case of tightening the hubnut.

14th April 2007
Spent the morning seeking supplies and various bits and bobs, but time for a few hours in the garage this afternoon. Having procured some more appropriate bolts, I was now able to properly fit the Autocom power/PTT lead along the edge of the tunnel. I took some time to do this as neatly and carefully as I could, also ensuring that the lead was properly secure.
Once the power part was done I decided that whilst I do want to get the PTT onto the steering wheel, that is just making work and pressure for myself when I have deadline, I'll keep that for a pet project over the summer when I more time to find the right parts. So I just fit the Autocom PTT switch onto the dash hoop, which it just about within reach when strapped into the seat, but also secure and out of the way when clambering in and out.
With that done, I tested connecting it all up and had another look at where all the cables lie, and where to mount the actual Autocom unit itself. In the end I decided that it will probably be best just velcro'd onto the front face of the bootbox - I'll be getting a boot cover of some sort made up before the tour (all being well!) so it will be just fine there. The radio positioning is another thing, but I'll worry about that later as I've plenty of scope on the cables for that I think.
        

15th April 2007
Did a couple of hours work in the morning looking at another job which needs fixing. The grilles in the top rear vents of bonnet have been gently coming undone for some time now, but one of them is really bad, so I figured I should fix it up properly by removing them all, repainting them, and then re-affixing them using GRP. So a fun time was had removing them and scraping the adhesive sealant off the underside of the bonnet - tedious. I figured I might as well do the nosecone at the same time.
The weather in the afternoon was too good to be working the garage... unfortunately that means I didn't make any more progress on things :-/

28th April 2007
Back into the garage at last. I was away last weekend so there's not been much noticable action in the garage, though I have been doing a bit in the background working on getting the radio working with the Autocom. It's quite a long story, so I'll document it separately sometime soon.
Meanwhile, I have booked an MOT for next week, so I need to finish off a few things this weekend to make it ready. The first thing I had to do was to finish the spanner check at the front end. This is a bit of a tedious task, but it is quite important to check everything over, both checking tightness and also visually inspecting everything. Fortunately I didn't find anything untoward, just tweaked a few jubilee clips etc.
Another little job I did at this time was that I had obtained a replacement grease nipple for the one which I lost from the slider section in the propshaft. Whilst I was doing this I had a loan of Richards grease gun and re-greased both the slider and the UJs in the propshaft.
The other job which I just had time to have a look at, is that I need to swap the exhaust for the MOT. So I spent a bit of time trying to remove the exhaust can, which is always a tricky job as it gets a bit baked/wedged on. After a bit of fiddling I decided I would give it a squirt of WD40 and leave it to soak - this seemed to work last time, I think it softens the exhaust assembly paste which I used to ensure it is sealed properly.

29th April 2007
Not much left on the critical path to MOT, but enough things to keep me busy. First job was to finish getting the exhaust swapped over. As I'd hoped, it came off ok after having had a soak overnight, then I cleaned up the pipes on both exhausts so that it seals ok and hopefully comes off again ok. Then it was just a case of refitting the cat exhaust, and running the car to ensure it is sealed ok.
Once this was all done I refitted the nosecone and bonnet, and lowered the car back to the floor. I have got a loan of Jims big torque wrench and large socket, so I was going to tighten up the rear hubnut which has come undone a fraction (as they aren't handed). Unfortunately I discovered that the socket doesn't fit through the centres of my wheels - I must have used a different socket when I first did them up.
Later on I did a bit more fiddling. I refitted the side repeaters - and made note that I need to sort out a better more permanent solution to this. I also discovered a problem with the hazard switch whilst I was checking all the lights - one of the connectors had pushed out of the back so it had become a bit intermittent. A fiddly fiddle behind the dash sorted that out.
So that was pretty much it. The only thing that is really outstanding is sorting out the bonnet and nosecone grilles, but I don't need that for an MOT, so no immediate rush to sort that, I need to find some appropriate mesh. Another little job I need to do is to reattach the harness slot trims in the drivers seat, yet again. I've done this I don't know how many times, but I've got some different ashesive sealant this time, and was careful to clean and roughen the mating surfaces, so maybe it will stick this time.
After that I spent a little bit of time working on a template for a half door. I am hoping to take the car to a trimmer after the MOT, to get an opinion on getting some made up and a tonneau fitted. I figure that if I put plenty of effort in to weather protection, it will probably mean nice weather on tour!
     

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