8v Niggles

Tightened up the handbrake cable so it is now on at the second click. Took the quickshift off. The bearing was really tight so I decided to loosen it up. Soaked it in this:

Then used an appropriate sized socked and an extension bar and worked it in circles for 5 minutes. Applied some heat and repeated a few times and now have an acceptable movement in the bearing. As I am keeping the heatshields on the exhaust tunnel it is a proper mission to change the settings of the quickshift.

Fitted it all back on and made up an adaptor bracket so I can refit the centre console bit. This is just fabricated out of some 1.5mm aluminium strip bent to shape and then drilled for a self tapping torx screw to tie into.

Then fitted the leather gear stick gaiter onto the surround and ta da, hidden away:

Tonight I still didn’t get the quickshift quite right as when I drove the car I couldn’t select second gear and then the bloody thing came loose so the gear stick was sliding up and down in the bushings. All four grub screws were tight when I put it back together. I have a plan B!

On going to replace the faulty N/S rear indicator buld I discovered the light cluster was akin to a small fish tank sans le poisson. A good litre of water came out as I took it off and then was still lots more inside. Amazingly the electrics were all still working despite being submerged. The indicator wasn’t working as there was no bulb fitted. I drained the light cluster and cleaned it all up and reassembled. It can’t have been sitting in water long as there was very little corrosion.

I inherited a rear bumper with car. The one fitted was a bit scuffed up and had a big gouge taken out of it. Fitted that on tonight. The old one was only held on by one bolt rather than seven. The replacement bumper was in much better condition and had a full compliment of number plate lights working so saved a job.

In doing my final checks in the hope of taking it in for an MOT tomorrow, I found the screen washer jets were not working. The reservoir is full so I can only assume the pump is bolloxed. So was I, so I called it a night.

Not done the ‘boot rust’ yet. Welding is still needed on both sides – it’s very thin and rotten, but this should not affect the MOT. The current plan is to pick up some bits this weekend and get it to the MOT station on Monday.

I have a growing list of bits I will be looking for to finish the car off, but theres on great rush on these. Currently I just want to get it MOT’d and road legal now. The brakes are fricking awesome. I was locking the car up with ease last night on our private road with a good stomp on the anchors. Bit different to when it arrived! The discs were well below the recommended thickness so definitely needed changing on the front.