Big update

Where to start? I've been acquiring parts left right and centre; fuel tank, header tank, shiny air intake, engine bay cladding (shiny), hoses, radiator, cooling fan (large) and wheels. Yes, wheels, not so shiny to start with but they are improved alread. Some chap had to sell his part built kit with additional spare wheels so I helpfully took his 16" rims with black centres off his hands.

16s were always my plan as surrey council don't seem to think pothole repair  is their responsibility so a rough ride should be tempered by these.

I'm very taken with the look though. Oh, and they came with my choice of tyres too.

Fuel line connecting to tank taking place here - Jon welded the AN bungs onto the inbuilt swirl pot for me. Just the cover plate to go over the hoses under the diff for additional protection from bumps.

Happy with exhaust position now so have fully tightened the brackets. I won't seal the joints until I've test ran engine in case I have to pop it out for any reason.

 Above view from tank. Held in place with 5 M8 bolts that are in threaded holes directly on the chassis. I will probably loctite these once I'm happy with everything so I don't lose tank when out and about.

 

Bit of tweaking required for water header tank position. I will use a couple of pieces of 1/8 aluminium flat to raise it up under the brackets to help along to radiator position.

The water thermostat position is a bit of a challenge with the L99 engine as it's further out in front of the engine meaning the hose can't take the usual LS3 route without fouling the serpentine belt or steering column shaft. However a bit of work with a protractor and a 180 degree bend trimmed from Viper Performance and the convoluted result can be seen. 

The white tie is supporting the stainless lower tube in position to help with alignment before fixing down. Or up.

I think there's a certain Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells album cover look to these bends... Jon at AK described the look as 'cosmic' but think he added an s with a typo by accident. If it works then I don't have to either make a spacer flange or order a different thermostat takeoff from the US so it's all good. Might be a nightmare for an airlock but will see how that goes when I fill it all up.

One big fan. A Kenlowe 17" dual speed. Can operate as a push or pull. I wanted as big as possible to ensure the transmission cooler is taken into account. The engine computer has dual speed fan output based on temperature parameters that I can control so also wanted to take advantage of that too - efficiency, lower noise etc. 

One small bit of tweaking to do before installing pipe work properly is to just file out a bit more on the steering spline lock bolt position as the bolt won't go through as it is at the moment.