02/01/05
With the new mounting on the O/S refitted, a small plate is used to lower the N/S of the engine by a similar amount.
The radiator/bonnet mounting bracket bolted to the subframe. The holes for the bottom radiator mounting pegs are offset to the N/S to give the best position for the top and bottom hose routing.
The hose arrowed has to be rotated rearwards by 90 degrees, so that the bonnet will clear it. I need to get a large metal P clip to secure the hose to the aluminium strip. This will give the O/S of the radiator some support.
A brace was made from steel strip to support the N/S of the radiator. I've also mounted the ignition coil and the horn on it.
The coolant cross pipe is reversed, to enable easier routing of the hose from the water outlet (arrowed) to the expansion tank. The cross pipe needs securing somehow, as it's currently just dangling on the hoses.
02/01/05
Radiator and pipe work in position, scuttle clamped down ready for the bonnet trial fit.
The expansion tank and centre bonnet support bracket. To clean the expansion tank, I put a handful of 8mm nuts in the tank and shook vigorously for 10 minutes.
I only intended to place the bonnet in position, to check that it clears the radiator and plumbing. However, I thought I might as well do all the drilling and fitting, so that the brackets can be powder coated along with all the other bits.
The scuttle panel and bonnet clamped in position. They fit together surprisingly well for a first attempt. The bolts at the front of the bonnet will eventually be hidden by the number plate.
I also want to have the seat support bars powder coated at the same time as the chassis and the ever-increasing number of brackets, so they need to be marked and drilled. The O/S ones were first to be done...
...followed by the O/S (there will be 2 bolts at each end of all 4 bars eventually).
Unfortunately, the spacing of my seats' mountings is not the same as the bars on the chassis, so I'll use some slotted channel in between. It's strong, low-profile and allows some fore and aft movement. I couldn't find the correct channel nuts to fit (I'm sure I had some somewhere!), so I'll add those to my shopping list.
09/01/05
OK, it's wiring time. I had originally planned to use the fuse/relay box and the complete loom straight from the Metro. Having tried to lay it all out neatly in the chassis, I found it was just too bulky and complicated. I'll probably only need about a third of the wiring, as the Firefox is so simple and basic.
Plan B is to strip the Metro loom and extract only the wires the Firefox will need. These will then be taped/wrapped into a new loom. I'll keep to the original colour coding to make any future trouble-shooting easier.
A new, smaller fuse box and 6 individual relays will be mounted on this new aluminium panel. All wires will terminate here. The dash panel will have a removable plate, for access to the fuses. The scuttle panel will be quickly detachable, enabling easy access to all the relays and junctions. This lot should keep me out of mischief (and the pub) for a while.
The first of the wires pulled out of the loom These are from the column switches, ignition switch and instrument panel. There's no going back now!