Well apparently some 139 days have passed since I last updated my blog but somehow it feels like it was just yesterday.
Since my last update, I’ve been working on installing the gearbox bracket, put the wheels on and my latest win was installing the new alternator bracket that was designed by Jayne White and manufactured by John Karnon. I promise not to take as long for the next post :).
Much umm-ing and ahhhh-ing have taken place and eventually I decided to buy a Bright 6 T. I scoured the internet and finally found a GREAT place - Car Buildiers Solutions - UK (www.cbsonline.co.uk). I downloaded their catalogue - all 216 pages and wow - I now have a list of about 7 things that I want to buy. And yes they sell the Bright 6, so and for the bargain basement price of AU$68 delivered to the door I figured I couldn’t go wrong.
It took about 9 days but it’s here now and looks fantastic!!!! One of my workshop buddies at work, Sir Nigel, even made me a drilling template out of aluminium to make it easier for me to install 
- thanks Nigel.
Well here it is - complete with drilling template, front cover and full instructions………
After some much loved banter with my friends on Oz-Clubbies (http://www.oz-clubbies.com/forums/index.php?) I think I have finally settled on some sort of dash set-up.
Of course, there were the obvious comments from friends about the car needing the following items:
I think I might still need to look at purchasing some indicator lamps, warning lights for low oil pressure and depending on what indicator set-up I go with - I will either need an actual switch for the hazards and headlights or if I’m lucky it might just come as one unit - and work!
Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement and good wishes.
Finally I’ve been given the green light to start getting my life back to normal and attempting all the things I used to do before the car accident - BUT I have been given strict instructions that I MUST take it easy, no more that 1 hour a day working on the car and stop when things start to hurt!
With all this in mind - I thought I’d start small. The Dash!
I took all my gauges to work and photocopied the dials so I could cut them out and blu-tack the images to the front of the dash whilst I work out where they go. Here’s a picture of my first go including the front of the stereo.
Since I took this photo I’ve moved the gauges up slightly and will now put the stereo closer to the speedo and tacho and then bring up the three smaller gauges leaving room for some toggle switches at the bottom. There’s still work to be done on fitting the dash but I feel like I’ve taken a small step forward.
Some 72 days have past since my last post and you would think that I’d be nearly finished by now!
Well I managed to pick up my finished wheels from the painter - and they look fantastic! Then came the issue of the fuel tank. Just when I thought it was all going well - it was time for some minor modifications like moving away from an in-tank fuel pump to an external fuel pump, blocking off the hole in the top of the tank where the in-tank pump was supposed to sit and putting in a new fuel line directly into the fuel pot.
All this twoing and froing took me another month - then everything stopped!
On the 23rd of June my kids and I were in a car accident in my Ford Focus. Luckily both the kids are okay but I’m suffering some neck, shoulder and back pain, am seeing a physio twice a week and have a list of things that I’m not allowed to do like: working on the car!!!!!!!! There are other boring restrictions like: not lifting anything over 5kg, not lifting anything over my head and no riding my motorbike just to name a few 
Prognosis = anyones guess. Still not happy Jan!
It feels like I’ve achieved nothing in the last 30 days!
I finished my in tank fuel pump thingy and when I went to put it in I discovered that two of the nutserts that had been used for the tank hadn’t been put in properly and they just pulled straight out again. So this meant borrowing a 6mm nutsert mandrel and putting in two new nutserts. Then just when I thought I had it nailed, one of the other three has come loose and now just spins freely when ever you try to put in a screw. What does that mean I here you say? Well it means putting the Vernier calipers inside the tank, measuring the diameter of the nutsert, finding a matching size drill bit and drilling it out before I can put in yet another new one! Expensive custom made tank - not happy Jan!
In between time, I’ve been doing lots of twoing and froing with the painter, you know the kind, “yeah, I’ll come for a visit - see you Thursday”, then thursday comes and you don’t hear anything and they don’t show up. Finally he showed up after 3 weeks of trying and then I had to take the parts to him because he didn’t have room in the van. Then his work sent him interstate - oh and he couldn’t match the colour I wanted but he forgot to tell me! Now I can supposedly collect the finished product tomorrow morning! Stay tuned for that one!
What really annoys me is that all of this stuff takes time and whilst I muck around with this sort of rubbish, I don’t actually feel like I’m getting anywhere, hence the “1 month later and no further forward”!
Catch you on the flip side, less peeved I hope.
Back in February of this year I bought a VN Commodore In-tank fuel pump holder thingy for my custom made fuel tank but had no idea how to go about cutting it down so that it worked in the vertical rather than the horizontal - but a big thanks to Peter Muller for talking me through it. Now it fits! Next step - to get it all connected.
From this: 
to this: 
It seems like I’ve spend just over a month doing very little other than work, take kids to scouts two nights a week, take one child to soccer practice one night a week and a soccer game one a sunday morning!!
Whilst I don’t feel like I’ve accomplised much I have managed to do lots of thinking about the dash, and you can see from the pictures that I’ve got a template in place rather than the cardboard I was using (thanks Peter for your help with the template). I’ve also managed to secure some real nice tyres, have had them put on the even nicer wheels I’ve had in storage since forever and now they’re on the car! Sweet!!
Time for some serious work!
Graeme Burton of Tonkin Engineering came to visit and has given the all clear so far. He wants to see it again when it is mechanically complete so there’s something else to work towards.
I picked up the seats from the upholsterer on Wednesday and they look FANTASTIC!
Now to work out what I need to do next???
After 8 months or so of the engine sitting on the floor of the shed, it was finally ready to go into the car. It took a team effort of 3 of us to get the engine in but it fits - just! Now to make a tailshaft; finish the handbrake cable; install the radiator and intercooler along with associated pipework; finish the aluminium panelling like the sides and boot; install the seats; and last but by no means least do all the electrical work! Phew - from the look of that list - it’s going to be another 500 odd days before I’m finished.
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