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Hi Dave you are making really good progress on the car to sort out the niggles its looking really good........good luck with the electrical problem.
Cheers Ian.
Another bit of progress... While the dash was apart looking for my electrical Gremlin (still looking!) one thing _had_ to be addressed.
Before:
After:
It's amazing what a lick of paint can do to improve morale!
It's only painted for now, i'll replace it with a proper alloy dash and some nice Allen headed securing bolts at "some point" in the future when i re-do the dash and fit the proper warning lights. But that is WAY in the future
Note: you can also see the current wireless in this last pic. note the use of the word "current"
Only a minor progress as I've not done too much due to the cold weather sapping my morale!
I've now had the engine running constantly for over an hour and a 1/2 and the temperature stayed constant at just over 1/2 It also came as a bit of a surprise exactly how much hot air comes out of the vents on the back of these things, the visible heat haze is quite impressive to see!
I know this test only tells me part of the cooling story, but as i was running it in the garage with no real airflow (door was open, I'm not suicidal!) i am happy that the new rads and fans are going to cope with at least normal driving and traffic. So it's a starting point!
I've also fixed a minor fuel leak on one of the balancing pipes and now i'm busy taking the (mainly brown/green/black ) wiring loom apart and rebuilding it in order to find my electricity leak.
Radiator grills and covers refitted.
Alternator now wired in properly and battery no longer decharging overnight
Horn repaired (sounds like a truck!)
Seats refitted.
Bonnet shut line adjusted.
Light bulbs replaced and while I was at it I removed the headlight surrounds and painted them black to look more OEM as they were niggling me being red!
So just a few bits of interior trim to refit and I'm going to go with a generic gear gater for the moment as the open gate is proving tricky and..... as far as I can see.... its ready for an mot!
Yes there will still be a list of to-do's, but hopefully nothing fundamental
I have 2 tubes of sealant and a few cans of underbody spray ready to be applied to the rear wheel arches and the underneath of the car when the weather warms up.
I still have to panel in the front wheel arches and to also improve the ducting to the air to the new rads, but I want the car MOT'd and on the road first otherwise I will just tinker with little jobs and miss the summer!
Dan, which vents were you after? Drop me a pm as I've got an attic full of Countach odds-n-sods, but I'm going to be using some so it'll depend on exactly what you're after.
Not quite the summer experience of the Sammio (open top cruising and all that), but should be great fun nonetheless!
Not sure that my Miglia Speedster will be ready for Stoneliegh now, as I have a manic April at work, but i will definitely be ready for the scorching summer! (not!)
Big Red Car (that's what my sons call it!) is now booked in for it's MOT next Tuesday!
All going well i am hoping to take it to the Bristol Classic Car show the weekend after, as long as i can build up some confidence in it quickly before then!
Fingers crossed there is nothing found that can't be sorted on the day!
Steering wheel dyed black.
Dash board sprayed metallic.
Gear gater replaced (still a work in progress).
New leather gear knob replaces old chav-knob.
Centre tunnel switches slightly moved and new side pieces fabricated (also still a work in progress).
Handbrake cover and location slightly modified, with still more to do, hence the rumpled leather.
So, i'lll be much happier with a those niggles removed as they were very visible to me when driving, but still plenty to redo after the mot.
Delivered to local garage at 9, got call at 10.30 telling me that they couldn't get in on their ramps so they couldn't test it and I'd have to take it to a garage in the next village over!
Bit annoyed, but these things happen.
Took Lambo home (there really isnt _any_ visibility!) and then popped to new garage, spotted crypton tuner on way in (old skool tech is good for me!) Had a good chat with the owner about what ive got and what i need and he confirmed hes got a sunken ramp so no problems there! But the bad news was that they can't fit it in until next Tues, so I won't be taking it to the bristol show this weekend
But..... they were very positive and said that they'll start by mot'ing it. Then see what (if anything) needs doing, and also tune the engine!
So apart from the time delay, I'm actually quite happy how things turned out!
I feel for you Dave , I have a concern about mine when it comes to ramps as it grounds going into the garage. I wonder how it will be on the drop into the sunken rollers...
Well good luck for Tuesday next, at least you got drive out..
As the postmistress put it as she handed me my Tax disc this morning:
"there you go, now you can go and play!"
Car finally passed the MOT this morning! It did fail yesterday on _really_ minor things. i.e headlight aim, loose fuel hose that i hadn't spotted, split gater.
Nice new garage fixed them all in 1/2 hr this morning I was also advised that while they're more than happy to MOT it again in future (and i'd certainly use them again!) that if i didn't mind, if anything needs fixing then i'd have to do it myself as its "a bit of a bug*er" to work on
Just took it for a spin now for fuel and at the petrol station a car pulled in behind me just so that her son could come and have a look (to much embarrassment from me!)
Then in order to keep up with my kit car owning traditions, just as i got home and pulled up on the drive one of the old coolant hoses split! <sigh> and ended my 1st big drive in a dramatic cloud of steam
New temp hose already fitted from spares box and 2m of nice new hose ordered from CBS to replace all 5 large bore flexible hoses over the weekend.
) wiring loom apart and rebuilding it in order to find my electricity leak. 
