Today I fitted the boot lid, after my dad had painted the inside of the boot. The instrument panel and dashboard moulding were temporarily fitted. This took a lot of fiddling to get right, especially the part left of the instrument panel didn't fit very well. I had to file off a bit of the instrument panel to make it fit.

A few smaller jobs were also done today: I fitted the 3 core radiator to the radiator moulding. My LHD blower unit had a faulty resistor, so I replaced it with the one from the RHD unit. The holes for the roof panel were also drilled and Dremeled.

Boot lid fitted

Instrument panel and dashboard moulding

Roof panel fitted

Last 2 evenings I worked on installing the very small central locking motors that I bought. I figured out a way to mount them without a single visible bolt. The motor is fitted to a plate, which is attached to the door with countersunk M4 screws. The inner door panel will hide these screws when it's fitted. It is even possible to place the inner doorframe without removing the motor, but (I have to admit) this is pure luck!

Getting all the lock operations to work properly is a very fiddly job. I had everything working perfectly, until I fitted the inner door frame. The rod that's attached to the push button interfered with it. After some re-bending of the joggle at the end of the rod, everything worked satisfactory. Then I tried to fit the inside door release cable, but it proved to be impossible to get the cable loop trough the lock with the inner door frame in place. So, it had to come out again. Luckily I didn't forget to fit the door mirror at the same time! I trust that doing the second door will be a little easier.

I also riveted the VIN plate to the tub. I wonder if the load figures printed on it make any sense?

Right hand central locking motor with fixing plate shown on left hand door for clarity.

Central locking motor fitted

VIN plate riveted

Quite a lot of jobs were done today. In anticipation of the new engine frame, I removed the old one. 

After fitting the door pull wires, both doors are almost finished now: They need some minor repairs with gelcoat and the wires for the central locking have to be fed through near the hinges. If anyone knows the best place for this, send me a photo!

I fitted a few of the hard trim panels. There is a gap between the end of the left hand A-pillar panel and the recess that GTM sawed out of the windscreen opening. I'll need to find a way to extend the panel a little.

An attempt was made to fit the door weather seals, but they're too short! I must get some longer ones at my next visit to the scrapyard. I also found that the door strikers and the supplied nylock nuts don't match. I'll have to find a pair of M12x1.25 nylock nuts.

Door pull wire installed, heatshrink used over wire and connectors to prevent rattling.

2 Doors ready to be fitted

Left A-pillar panel fitted

Same job done on the other pillar

Gap is too large on bottom of A-pillar panel

Door weather seals are too short!

11-3-'03

Tonight I visited Oracle to get the parts that Eric picked up for me at the Stafford show.

From GTM I got a new engine frame, mountings and a gear change rod. However, it looks like I'm missing the gearbox mounting rubber. I couldn't wait to find out if the new frame would match the holes that I drilled for the old frame. So I quickly trial fitted it and it looks all right! All the bolts went without too much hassle. I'll need to Dremel a few holes very slightly to make it a perfect fit.

From Reyland motors I finally received my MG TF rack! One M10x1.25 nut is missing from a track rod end, but now I'm nitpicking.

Eric also brought some lights with him that I bought from SVC: a pair of clear front indicators and a pair of clear side repeaters. I'll be fitting them after SVA. They might be ok, but there's no need to take the chance.

New engine frame trial fitted

New TF rack in front of Metro rack

New engine and gearbox mounts (clear indicators in background)

15-3-'03

Yesterday I had one face of the engine mounting rubber machined down to fit the new mounting plate. This was necessary because I couldn't get the bolts in otherwise. I placed the gearbox mount, but I still have no clue about the rubber mounting needed for this side.

The MG TF steering rack is now finally on the car! The manual says to use the T0217 plates both as shim and as a spreader plate on the inside. But there's also one needed on top of the rack on the passenger side. This makes for a total of 5 plates, were only 4 are supplied. I made myself one more, so this was easily solved. All openings were thoroughly silicone sealed. Next job was the pedal box, complete with the brake and clutch master cylinders. The mounting plate and the clutch master cylinder were also sealed with silicone.

The steering column is also fitted, but a problem presented itself here. The supplied spacers are much too short. To get some clearance between the column and the brake pedal pivot shaft they need to be about 12 mm longer. This is temporarily solved by a lot of washers, but I'll have some longer spacers made. The support bar to the pedal box fits beautifully below the stack of washers.

Engine mounting rubber machined

Steering rack + pedal plate fitted

Pedal box, steering column and support bar

21-3-'03

This week I fitted the radiator ducting, the battery holder and the 3-core radiator. The battery holder will have to come out again in the future to fit the radiator pipes. The vacuum pipe is connected to the servo.

The hoses to the front brakes are also in place. I copied the manner of fixing them to the upper wishbone from Harry's site (thanks, Harry!). There's a short piece of Metro petrol hose wrapped around the brake hose to protect it from rubbing against the wishbone. Notice the arrow on the brake caliper facing downward. In this direction the car would be running backwards! Would I need to rotate this brake pad retaining plate?

The fuse box is fitted under the dashboard. The ignition wiring plug is the first electrical connection in the car!

Radiator ducting fitted

Brake hose attached to upper wishbone

22-3-'03

Today I dropped off the new engine frame and some other small bits to be powder coated. I started work on the Rover loom. The rear section has been cut off, it is roughly in place and a few connections are already made. The wires to the brake light switch were lengthened and connected.

In the glovebox area the GTM and Rover loom were joined together. I soldered the wires instead of using the supplied connectors. There are a white/green and a green/white wire in the Rover loom. I chose the green/white to connect to the GTM loom, but I'm not 100% sure it's the right one! According to the manual there should be 2 green/purple wires (correct) and 2 grey/black wires. I only could find one, so I'm sure it can't be the wrong one!

I didn't drill a extra hole in the bulkhead for the wiper motor connector (like the manual suggests). Instead I cut off the plug and soldered everything back together inside the dashboard.

Brake light switch connected, also notice new alloy spacers on column

GTM to Rover loom connection

25-3-'03

Last Sunday I couldn't resist placing the battery and connecting it to the wiring. I was very pleased that the wiper motor worked. I also successfully tested the washer pump. I expected the horn to work as well, but it didn't.

Tonight I first installed a socket to connect my battery charger in a simple manner. I found an excellent spot just below the fuse box. It's connected and already in use!

Next job was to fit the blower and heater. First I drilled an extra hole in the bulkhead for the 5AS loom. Then the (already cut down) blower was fitted, of course using a lot of silicone sealant. The last and most difficult job was to get the heater and ducting in place and to get the 2 bolts in. My homemade mirrored ducting is not a perfect fit, so it took a lot of fiddling, force, time and a bit of swearing (in Dutch) to get it in place! It looks like the foam between the ducting and the blower gives a good seal, but I'll only be sure once I've tested it.

12V socket for battery charger

Heater and ducting in place

30-3-'03

First job yesterday was testing the blower. It worked, but air leaked out of the unused opening on top of the heater. After taking the heater out I sealed it with duct tape and adhesive rubber foam. This time the heater went back in quite easily and it works satisfactory now. I also connected the hoses to the heater. A rubber elbow and a plastic one were needed on the lower connection, since I couldn't line up the holes in the bulkhead to the heater because of the LHD setup. The top hose is part of the original Rover hose and luckily it was just (but only just!) long enough to get the bleed valve on the outside of the bulkhead.

The washer tank is in place, but I still have to make a support for the rear end of the tank as it's only fixed with one bolt at the moment.

Both splash moulds are fitted. The supplied rubber weather seal was too short, so I'm left with an opening above the radiator.

There was also some progress made on the wiring: I placed the 5AS unit in the dashboard in the glovebox area. The speedometer loom was fed trough the grommet under the washer tank. Just like the wiper connector I cut it through and soldered it back together on the inside of the dashboard.

Hoses connected to heater

Heater hoses trough bulkhead, washer tank (temporarily) in place

Splash moulds fitted

5AS mounted in glovebox area

Overview of the wiring chaos, rubber weather seal is too short!