Hello again,
Okay, so my plan to get the tail finished in paint by the end of September didn't quite work out. Although I did return to it at the end of the month, it's not ready for varnishing or decals yet, and I'll probably now leave it alone for the winter...probably. The issue with the masking tape leaving an impression threw me off a bit, as it hadn't been an issue before. Perhaps it was a consequence of spraying in the cooler temperatures?
However, work has been progressing in other areas. Here's the mirrors I mentioned last time - still unpainted when this photo was taken, but with mounting brackets, stalks, etc:
I spent some time painting and detailing the master cylinders, getting them fitted to the front bulkhead, and threading the pipework through into the tub:
A lot of time in recent weeks has been spent on trying to organise the mass of pipework and wiring in the engine bay, prior to fitting the engine. I've also put together braided lines for the oil cooler, the rear brake line running across the top of the bellhousing adaptor, the gearbox breather, etc:
By early October I decided there wasn't much point in delaying, so the engine was finally fitted:
I added some lead-wire detailing around the top of the engine bay and A-frames to create the fire extinguisher pipework, and have secured more of the wiring to the top A-frame tubes. You can see a couple of the blue connectors on the left-hand side leading to braided hose - one of these is the brakeline and the other the clutch. It's been slow-going as there's so much going on back there - there's been a lot of checking, cross-checking, finding notes I made months ago, etc!
The bellhousing adaptor isn't finalised yet - I'm hoping to get this fitted in the next couple of weeks, but I need to do some work with the rear suspension first.
With the engine in, the focus for the last week or so has been to get the turbos and exhaust pipes fitted, and prepare the intercoolers and pipework. I've had to do a little adjustment on some of the connections, but overall both sides went in with little fuss. Here's the right-hand side:
The exhaust pipes clicked into place under the engine thanks to the magnets, and were glued to the rest of the turbo assembly, then the gaps filled and re-painted. Oil feed lines have been added and attached to the engine, and I've started making some more lines for the turbo control. Part of the pipework to connect the radiator to the intercooler is in place, with the blue locking collar.
Overall, the engine bay now looks like this:
Next job is to get the turbo wastegates fitted, add some more pipework, and apply some filler to the joints on the exhaust tailpipes. Once that's all done, it'll be time to fit the intercoolers and push on with the bellhousing and gearbox...and lots of other things!
More next time,
SB