REPLACING THE BODY
This was actually much easier than expected and was completed in a little under an hour, including the bacon butties (it was early on a Sunday Morning). The bunch of well oiled (an relaxed!!) muscle that is on display in the photos turned up at around 1000 and were all gone by 1100. There was one little area of fettling left for the welder as we realised the profile on the outer end of the large diameter outriggers was 180 degrees out and hence the chassis was 5mm wider than the body. A little work with grinder and welder and this was soon sorted though and the car sat down nicely and only needed on hole in the fibre glass slightly extended (3-4 mm) to allow the seat belt mounting hole and bolt to align correctly. Then cam the reconnection of the ancillaries.
| The Start | ||
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The car all aligned up ready for the lift, body cleared and unbolted from the dollies with the chassis in front. This is positioned across the drive to give me more level ground. | |
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| The Crew | ||
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"two - six - heave" to use the nautical expression. The jiggling required at this stage is quite intricate as the back has to be held very high whilst the front is slowly dropped and the chassis manouevred into place before the final lowering of the back can occur. Note watch for the speedo cable it gets trapped easily. For those who don't understand the expression above - numbers 2 and 6 were the members of the gun crew on the ropes when using cannons on sailing ships, so when the gun was loaded the team leader called "two six heave" and the gun was drawn forward into the gun porthole ready for firing. |
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| In Place | ||
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Final position, note the back is still slightly lifted due to the width issue mentioned above | |
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| Stuck | ||
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Bugger why won't it go down? Yes it's me on the floor | |
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| Women have a Use!!! | ||
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I knew SWMBO had some use - the bacon butties, tea and coffee arrive. Oh I forgot also to do the washing up!!! (only kidding or I'd be wearing the laptop by now) | |
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| Well that was over Quickly | ||
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Now what to do for the rest of the day | |
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| Still Stuck | ||
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Still can't suss it, but Bart the welder can!! | |
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| That's it for Today | ||
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Oh well enough for today until Bart can visit with the welding machine later in the week | |
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| Bugger, Bugger and Bugger again | ||
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As above - Bugger was said a few times!! | |
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| The Body Dollies | ||
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The Dollies arrangement promised in the earlier pages. Total cost approx £15 and worked perfectly giving full roll ability and access to the body when off the car. I bolted the body onto these using the standard securing holes in the floor. | |
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Having got the Body back on it was all bolted down and the all reconnected. I had one or two issues before the engine ran, firstly I connected the ignition positive to the negative side of the battery (nugget - it was even clearly photographed and written in my book) but even once sorted the car wouldn't start and the alarm kept going off. Indications were of the immobiliser not de-activating so I chased the alarm circuitry for two hours before I noticed the Oil pressure gauge reading 25% and the temperature gauge reading full scale even though the ignition was off. Earth fault thought I. Sure enough disconnected all 3 engine/battery associated earths, cleaned up the connections and tried again. Hey presto starter motor kicked in engine turned but no fuel pump.
As I had replaced the connector on the fuel pump I looked at this first and removed/replaced it all to no avail. So I line checked and found no voltage at the connector. Chased this back to the fuse box and found of all things a "loose" fuse. Turned the engine over and after 3-4 seconds she fired and died. Tried again and she fired and ran (not bad for 4 months with the body off).
She was running a bit rough though as the air meters didn't seem to be working too well, but as she warmed up she got better and once the fan had cycled she ran beautifully and still does. I don't know why this AFM issue occurs, but it seems common check this thread.
Now for the bonnet lights and re-trimming, but that's for another page.