During the time that the car was away for bodywork and painting I refurbished many of the ancillaries; most parts were in such poor condition that a year wasn't long enough and I still have plenty to do. To keep my spirits up I've bolted on some of the larger items so at least it looks like progress. It feels like the last year has consisted mainly of cleaning, wire brushing and blasting but now it's getting more interesting. These mud shields were rusty and very bent and if it were not for previous experiences with non-fitting repro parts I may have replaced them but with some reworking, blasting and painting they look good enough to refit. The 'in dash' water transfer pipes were replaced with copper ones before the engine was installed as there's not much room to fit the rivets afterwards. The copper pipes, although expensive, were a good choice as unlike the steel version they submit to a little bending which made the job relatively easy.

I'm not happy with this gear reduction starter as measurements made during fitting show that it only meshes with 60% of the depth of the ring gear. Are all these Denso based kits like this or do I have a bad one? If anyone has the answer please let me know.

Not all replacement parts are bad, I've heard good things about the JEC oil pressure gauge and have fitted the new transducer which in this case is for negative earth. When I run this engine for the first time it will be good to have a reliable indication of oil pressure.

As I'm fitting 6 inch wheels the bump stop fixing points have been cut back as far as possible and the bump stops reversed from their normal position. The white stuff is Waxoyl which has been sprayed into all box sections as the rebuild continues.

New wiring loom placed approximately in position..... now where are those drawings I made 18 months ago!

For parts not exposed to the worst of the weather zinc plating is simple, cheap and is probably what was used originally, although from observation it didn't stand the test of time too well in this case. The thought of sending out several hundred small parts like these with the expectation of getting them all back doesn't seem sensible so, like others before, I've gone down the home plating route. The kit was from Caswell and following their instructions I get good results although I do use a power supply with a higher current capability to increase the throughput.

This boot latch appeared to be past saving but after bead blasting and plating will be reused - the water mark in the picture is barely visible to the naked eye. I have entrusted most parts of this size and upwards to a local plating company but a few odd items keep turning up and owing to the minimum charge it's better to put them in with the next batch of small parts. It's rather tedious cleaning and plating small parts like these hard to find fuel tank sender screws but the 'as new' end result makes it worth while.

A service kit type CSK provides all the rubber, cork and seals to overhaul one carburettor - well almost everything! Inexplicably some vital parts are excluded and I found it necessary to re-order dashpot washers, piston lift pin seals and the split screws for retaining the throttle disc. A rebuild kit type CRK contains these missing items as well as a new throttle spindle, disc and bushes but this is only necessary if the carburettor body is worn.

I chose to overhaul one carburettor at a time so I could refer to the others if something were not obvious but after the first one it was so simple that occasional reference to the enclosed service kit leaflet was all that was needed. A few pictures of the linkages were helpful as these differ on each carburettor.