build diary

May 23, 2004: Whoops - left the memory card for the camera at work, so no photos yet.
The garage has been wired for 220V, the reinforcing plate is welded in place, new seatbelt mounts have been welded in to replace the incorrectly located ones - and the tube that forms the back of the rear body has now been properly aligned. This latter job had me swearing, as it required the removal of the gas tank again and this is a VERY tight fit now that the rear bulkhead has been riveted into place. I'm not looking forward to having to reinstall that once again. It would have been a lot easier to start with a frame that wasn't crooked. It's too bad I didn't have the camera, as the Hi-Lift jack was brought into play to help "massage" everything into place. Add another use for the Hi-Lift - welding clamp! A quick test fit shows that the rear panel will now fit correctly. Because I was dealing with supports that had been straight before, one of them is pretty ugly now that everything else is in alignment. Hopefully this will be well hidden by the gas tank once that gets reinstalled. First I need to repaint the welded areas.

I also picked up a pressure switch for the brake lights. The first cruise through the parts catalog unearthed the perfect candidate - the same one used on all the British cars in the 60's, including my Land Rover! I've even got a spare one of those but it's been through a fire and I don't trust it. The cool thing about that would have been that it's probably the same switch used on the Lotus Seven during that time period. I did decide to get one from 50's Detroit iron instead, as it was both cheaper and in stock. It just means I'll use bullet connectors instead of spades - odd, given that Lucas really liked bullet connectors.

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