What a whirlwind it all is when the time finally comes to get your mits on the car for the first time. It’s a mixture of excitement, trepidation, hope and torment! The van arrived at my house mid morning and we drove around to the build garage.

It was all go go go to unload and it didn’t take so long to get everything in place. Chassis was a LOT heavier than I thought it would be! Most of the rest was a lot lighter!

And that was it really, until after work when things could begin in earnest. First opening and sorting boxes a little into sensible places, removing bodywork items that aren’t going to be needed for a while (bonnet, seats, wheels, nose) to get some more room.

And then, with the help of my neighbour, John, and my brilliant Aunty, Carole, we got cracking with the front of the car.

We got the steering rack in place, added the front wishbones and the front left damper. When you put it on paper, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was enough for one evening.

There were some difficulties along the way but they were all overcome by the use of brain and brawn. Here’s a summary of our sticking points from day 1.

Lower wishbone, rear attachment
It’s just a pig to get it, and the washers in place. It’s a tight fit and there’s not a lot of finger room. I got most success from capturing the first two washers on the bolt, jiggled the wishbone until the bolt was in the bush, put one washer fully home on the other side and jiggled and levered the wishbone until the other washer just got started into the remaining gap. Then, gentle use of the soft mallet and a small screwdriver to help final positioning. As soon as I felt the bolt head through the final washer, it was then easy to jiggle the bolt through the other side and encourage it home with the mallet.

Upper wishbone, front attachment
This wouldn’t be so bad apart from the need to put the front light mount on as well. This sits over the front mounting point and the bolt passes through this, the body mounting point and the wishbone bush. It’s easier to lower the wishbone right down to get the headlamp mount on (it has a lip at the rear that needs to hook under the body mounting) then return it to level to try and align everything. I visually aligned everything before trying the bolt and I could see that it was possible to get it in without needing to file the holes larger on the headlight mount (something that Steve Grubb did have to do to get everything in  alignment). A small use of mallet to encourage bits and bobs and they were both done.

Front damper, top attachment
What a pig! Even getting the bolt out (it comes supplied in the chassis) is a right pig! It’s a pig for many reasons – but here’s a summary. There’s a lack of finger room, there’s a lack of room for the bolt when it’s out, there’s a lack of room when the bolt is going in, there’s a lack of room in the damper bush… I think the lack of room issue is fairly evident! The solution was one of time, patience, force and luck! Initially lining up the inside the damper to the body work, you get a feel for the position it needs to be in. Then, with an extremely slippy bolt (from the copper grease) you have to somehow get the bolt in alignment and apply inward pressure to get it to go into the damper. Issue is, there’s a chassis part that stops any finger/tool from pushing the bolt into place. The solution was to lever against the bodywork and the back of the bolt using a long screwdriver. Once it started making its way home, bigger and bigger implements were then used to lever it further until a round head allen key could be used to finish off the job. I’ve still got the other one of these to do and I think it may also help to not coat the main body of the bolt with copper grease until it’s started on its way (obviously, the thread will still need to be covered before starting.

And that’s where we got up to. It was too late to think about starting on the other damper, so that will wait for the next instalment but hopefully the lessons learnt will be valuable!