Bodyshell Fitted

After making sure I had done everything on the chassis, I organised for some friends to come along to lift on the body - hopefully permanently this time!

I removed the bolts from the radiator mount and held the radiator back using some bungee cords to give as much clearance at the front as possible.

Everything was ready and so it was just a case of rolling the shell outside, spinning it around the correct way, and then lowering it onto the chassis.  I obviously supervised, while the 4 others lifted and guided the shell in place.  My son was the first to sit in to try out the passenger's sitting position.

It has certainly cleared a bit of room in the garage, basically going from 2 cars down to 1.  I do now have a spare bodyshell trolley........

Once the body was lowered, I fitted the windscreen.

I then passed the ECU connector and loom in through the from bulkhead into the back of the dashboard.  It was a bit tight getting it through, however I think the finished product is very neat in the engine bay.

I then fitted the air filter prior to re-bolting the radiator mount in place.  I actually dropped the radiator from its lower mount to get the filter in.  The filter is held in place with the rubber hose and stainless jubilee clips whilst being pushed up against the body by the radiator.

An excellent milestone!

Bonnet Fitted

I fitted the hinges to the bonnet after I had trimmed down the bronze bush that mounts them to the front of the car.  The bonnet was set on, and required a little bit of wiggling to get the line gaps even.  I had to file out one of the mount holes a little to sort out the twist.

I think I have managed to get the gap pretty good and may be tweaked once I install the handles and rubber.

GD had marked the holes for the handles, so I proceeded to drill these at 20mm with a cone cutter.  I then used my proxxon with a router bit to open out the parts for the handle.  I then bolted the handles in place.