Popped in to see Mark at Fishers this morning, picked up the hood frame, the additional door stays and the dash top that I was owed, dropped off the 1800 low level inlet and bought a fiberglass kit and dash lights. I also asked Mark about air filters as I was having problems finding one to fit, he suggested seeing a firm around the corner from him who do industrial air filters. A knock on the door and a bit of blagging got me a square meter of dual density filter material, this was then just cut to size and jubilee clipped to the front of the air mass meter, looks quite neat but I may need to put some chicken wire underneath if it looks likely that it is going to get sucked in.
Had a day off so decided to do some digging around at the scrappers. I ran up the fuel pump and it sounded a bit rattley so that was on the list along with any water tubing I could find and seat rails. First off I found a water pump on a D reg Astra GTE injection (note this comes on a plate with a filter and regulator, nice unit and easy to get to under the rear drivers arch), also from the Astra I got a plastic radiator pipe that runs behind the block with two outlets (ideal for the cooling system I am using). The seat rails came from a Mk.1 Fiesta, these were the only ones I found that bolted to the seat and the floor and were about 3/4" deep, these should fit the Intatrim seats well. Next tip is that if you need any water hose for connecting to the heater etc. the Cavalier has a 6 foot length that goes from the header tank top to the radiator, got one of them. Finally I found a pair of gas strut under the bonnet of a BMW 3 series, these may do to keep the bonnet on the Fury up. All this lot cost £30.
Started fitting the drivers door, cut the hole for the hinge and eased it out to fit, found it a bit tricky to drill the fixing holes for the hinge but managed. Cut a hole in the door inner so that the hinge would go through and fixed the hinge to the door. Using the Sierra door locks I placed then inside the door and cut the hole for the latch and then drilled the holes to fit this to the door. The door was hung so that the rear edge had about a 10mm gap, the lower edge had a 5mm gap and the rear was spaced using small strips of the door seal. Some fine tuning will be needed. The Fiesta door handles were then fitted. A hole was cut in the door inner and a bracket made for the handle to fit to (ally sheet). The bracket bolted to the same holes as the hinge and was glued at the top under the return lip around the door inner. A link between the handle and the lock was then made by cutting down the original bars. A decision was made to only have the door open and not lock therefore no outer door handle is needed and just the key lock will be used. The door was then put in place and the alignment checked, some fine tuning was required as the door was too far forward and stopped the door opening fully.
The dash loom arrived on time on Christmas eve but I am still waiting for the engine loom and ECU back. Anyway, for the exciting bit, I have taken the plunge and fitted the body to the chassis. The process was as follows - take off all of the panels, adjust the exhaust to fit the cutout, fit the pods making sure they are level and even front and back, fit the body part to check alignment, remove the body and bolt/sealant the pods on, refit the body and align (all alignment held in place with G clamps), rivet the around the door apertures, rivet along the front of the body, fit ally brackets under the wheel arches, fit any other additional brackets, place on bonnet and check alignment with pods, wheels and front height at grill, finally fit bonnet stays and check alignment at rear edge. Sounds simple but takes a while to jiggle (technical term) the panels around to get a good fit but it is worth the time in the end. The only jobs left to do are to refit the steering column and fit the bonnet latches (bought from NF Auto, rubber overcentres SVA compliant).
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October 2010
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