It's alive, really alive.

Ref. my earlier comment of Toad of Toad Hall I am now truly bitten by the bug. I drove the fledgling Cobra for the first time just before the new year and again on New Year's Day.

Not far, just to the end of the unadopted road which is the shared drive with 7 other properties.

It was below freezing hence the water vapour in photo up above, that's not engine smoke!

And with friendly neighbour Tony on hand  with a few thoughts too.

If I can find out how to put video up here I will post a short video or two too.

What can I say, what a feeling of accomplishment that everything I've done so far is ok, and behaving as it should. 

The brakes were dire the first time but given that the discs were probably still coated with grease, wd40 and who knows what else combined with brand new pads it was akin to trying to stop an avalanche with a small snow shovel.

However a few runs and the brakes started working better and it felt a lot more controlled (I was coasting in 1st with engine idling at this point!)

More important to me (odd as it seems) was that I had put the transmission unit back together again correctly and that the reprogramming was right. On New Year's Day I did a few quicker runs that got 2nd and 3rd gear involved too - clearly on gravel it wasn't that quick but everything responding as it should.

The downside was that whilst I'd had over 3" clearance of the sump to ground when last checked, now the body was on, all the fluids filled up etc it was down to 2"... Meaning I clonked the sump on the 2nd run going over a small speed hump too quickly. A sign of things to come?

Looking at the front wheel arches there wasn't much clearance there and one of the tyres rubbed against a body bolt that had been put in from the wrong side too. So turning round the bolt and raising the suspension up from starting position gave 3 1/2 " clearance plus no snagging.

The wheel sits better in the wheel arch now although some will find this too high.

Steering column

Having rebled the brake system (thanks Dave S for being chief pedal pusher) one of the last jobs to sort before the car can technically move under its own steam in a controlled manner is the steering column.

The final piece of this puzzle after sorting the lower shaft clearance against the water thermostat cover is the bearing as the upper shaft passes through the drivers footwell wall. Again it's all pretty tight but the AK body comes predrilled with a hole to locate this shaft through however it does need a beering to keep it supported, running true and not snag on the cladding.

AK make a custom fit nylon bearing which is my last resort but I'd rather have a metal roller bearing designed for shaft support if possible.

The issue with the steering shaft is that it's a bit over 3/4" (19.05mm?) where the splines are that join to the UJ and then narrows to more like 16mm or thereabouts where the shaft passes through the bulkhead in the footwell. This makes locating it centrally in the bearing and securing it more difficult.

Enter simply bearings (.co.uk)

I purchased an oval bearing with an eccentric collar that I hoped would allow me to lock it to close to 16mm once tightened. See below you can just make out the non uniform collar profile.

I tried a few ways of getting this to grip the steering shaft but it was too loose.

What also became apparent was the need for a spacer behind the bearing to allow the back of the bearing to be proud of the housing due to the downward angle of the shaft as it comes through the bulkhead.

So, for another £7.50 I ordered the non eccentric version and designed a split shim setup which would interface with the two grub screws in the bearing insert being 3/4" outside diameter and 16.05 mm inside diameter and Tony next door machined his magic again and produced the shims and spacer for me from my plywood template.

Above are the parts and below rough fitting

So just a bit of fettling and contouring needed to get a better fit.

The finished result has enough clearance for exhaust headers and makes the steering feel very smooth with no 'hard-spots' which would be an IVA fail so this is a big tick in the box I think.

Diff cover version 3

Just when you thought I'd forgotten about it, it's time for version 3 of the diff cover.

(You might remember that earlier last year  I had two failed attempts at getting a cover to fit on the underside of the differential which covers the fuel hoses that run underneath there protecting them from bumps but also heat from the exhaust pipes)

So having hit and bashed Jon's second masterpiece of stainless steel a number of times in trying to get it to fit, and then used it as a welding spatter shield, it was time to send it back with the next set of requested modifications.

This time I've used a Shreddies packet to help with the template (I think the Rice Crispies last time was perhaps a bit frivolous) plus I managed to talk through exactly what was needed before the article was made which always helps.

And the above is what I got back, we kept the 'wings' which I had formed to fit past the exhaust pipes and I had Jon graft them onto a new 'u-channel' with a better cross section profile.

The result

Hurrah, I can finally finish scrabbling around under the fuel tank and diff with fitting this thing. It's done! Just the exhaust joints to deal once I'm happy with their fitment.

Happy New Year and much to report

I had no idea it's nearly a month since the last update, and there's much to say. The last 4 weeks have been spent frantically squeezing car time in around Christmas and December socialising activities.

I had held off getting new spark leads until I was sure that the coil pack relocation would work with the body on, heater position, vacuum take off for brake booster etc.

Once I was happy a quick call to Fastlane performance with some measurements and 3 days later the below were in my possession.

These look in keeping with my other blue hoses however when I got the headers back on I wasn't happy with how the leads sat over the header flanges so I've lead them underneath and they fit much better that way.

The next challenge with the body on waste headers themselves, a very tight fit on both sides, the nearside unfortunately touching the cladding. See below

This unfortunately won't do... A call to Jon at AK suggests that the cladding wasn't factored in when making the headers. As we thought there would be a bit of room under the corner it was time to get out the hammer and bash sorry - reshape - the corner to allow for the header tube. If need be I could dremel a gap or take the hammer to the header itself but I was hoping not to.

Happily there was enough space with a bit of a tap. Photo to follow.

The picture above shows how tight the header is but also gives a view as to how my relocated spark leads look. 

Next up, somehow either it wasn't noticed by the company doing the rear hub refurbishment or more likely me being hamfisted, one of the studs on the offside rear hubs was damaged. This was discovered as I took the wheel off ready to fit the handbrake cable properly.

This wrote off one of the Image wheel studs which is a pain.

However an email chat with my friendly engineering neighbour Tony revealed he possessed a die nut - a thread cutting die with nut hex shape profile - meaning the small nick in the stud thread could be repaired as opposed to taking the entire hub assembly off and sending away for a new stud to be fitted.

Above, one damaged and unusable wheel nut... 1/2" UNF thread and below the die nut - meaning it can be turned with a spanner in situ as a full thread cutting die would have been a challenge to turn with the other studs on the hub.

These are really only for thread cleaning and repair as you cannot cut new threads  well with these. Not enough control.

The next instalment coming soon includes home made grommets, spacers, eccentric collared oval bearings and if Toad of Toad Hall was writing this probabaly a bit of 'poop-poop' too! 

I bet you're on the edge of your seats now?