New Windscreen

The car went off on the back of a truck this morning to have a new windscreen fitted. The old one had a sandblasted look which was worst when driving at night or into the rising or setting sun. Time for a new one, paid for by insurance.

Had to adjust one rear brake as it was binding, making moving the car around more work than it should be.

The painted lettering is just visible through the engine cover. :-)

There is life!

Today is a public holiday in Oz, so a chance to get some work done in the garage.

I finished fitting the exhaust, connected up the lambda sensor and filled the system with coolant.

First thing to do was to turn the engine over with the plugs out to build up some oil pressure, then put the plugs in and see if it would start.

Good news! It started instantly! The tappets were noisy until oil pressure built up. Temperature built up to 86C and all seemed well, just a little topping up of the coolant as it filled the radiator and heater matrix. After a spot of lunch I restarted the engine and ran it until the radiator fan cut in. All seems well!

I fitted the rear brakes and tightened up the large hub nuts.

So now it is possible to put the wheels on and move the car around. I hope to get the windscreen replaced next week, then put the bodywork back on and have a proper suspension geometry set-up done.

Hopefully it will all be ready for the next sprint on 12th May.

With the wheels back on I reversed it out of the garage. It looks so small next to the Fiesta!

Update: rear bodywork is back on.

Windscreen replacement is booked for next Monday.

Getting ready to fire up the engine

After a break of a couple of weeks due to my wedding and honeymoon, I have made some progress towards getting the engine running.

Marty made some brackets for the new exhaust heat shield and it was trial fitted, along with the new alternator heat shield.

Today I was going to replace the CV joint boots, but after cleaning up the old ones they were in such good condition that I decided not to change them.

This probably saved me 4 hours' work. The driveshafts are now back in which means I can fill the gearbox with oil, then the engine with oil and coolant. I've bought some Redline oil for the gearbox. Expensive but recommended by other Elise owners.

I also noticed that I have missed a washer on the inboard right toe line, so I that will have to be fitted. (Now fitted!)

I also bought a new battery.