0037 Gidget on her own wheels for the first time !

26th January 2018 - Australia Day !
One small step for a car, but a giant step for Gidget !

Happy Australia Day !

Happy Australia Day to everyone far and wide !  And we celebrated one day early by getting Gidget off her support (invalid ?) frame, and back onto her new wheels for the first time !  Definitely a  momentous day in Australian folklore - Even though it might only be officially recognised as such on July 9th 2019 when she drives into Paris !!  But before we could do this, there were unumerable small things that needed work.

0036 Pedals, heat shield, and much much more

We decide on a new work schedule
13th - 19th January 2018

Making progress !

This has been one of the busiest and hardest weeks so far since we started work in May last year, some 9 months ago.  Ashton and I decided we needed to have a different approach - We seemed to be endlessly churning our wheels (figuratively speaking), working every day but not seeming to make any real progress. Our original plan was to have the car at least out of CCC, if not running, by the end of 2017.  With 2017 finished, we needed some improvements in productivity, so we agreed with CCC that at the end of January we would take the car out of CCC and back to my house, where we can not only recover a little financially, but also I (and any friends who can help) can work on the car any day of the week.  One of the biggest delays at the moment is that Saturday and Sunday are the only days that friends can come and help us, but those are the days when CCC is closed.  So we all sat down together and discussed whether this schedule was achievable, and once we dicided it was, we prioritised all the tasks we had listed, and set about completing them one by one.  We then got more done in two days than we had got done in the previous two weeks !

0035 Fuel tanks, brakes, and more rust

We keep heading in the right direction - I think !
2nd - 12th January 2018

Well, Christmas is over and we are into 2018, so we can now say "It's next year" when we talk about the P2P - And then panic because there is still so much to do !!  As soon as I got back to Queensland from my very enjoyable break away in WA, we hit a snag - I don't know if anyone remembers, but way back when we took the engine apart, we found that the timing chain cover was "sick".  The

Original timing seal bodge

previous engine rebuilder had not only fitted an incorrect crankshaft oil seal, but it was so "incorrect" size wise that they had to weld tabs all around it to hold the seal in place !!   We had hoped that it would be any easy task to repair the damage, but we found out this week that it is "irreparable" - Or at least, it would cost more to repair it than to buy a new one.   As these are another part that are like hen's teeth, we had trouble finding one (they are normally sold on an "exchange" basis - You send your old one back, but ours was considered too badly damaged). We did eventually find a new one which is now on its way.  And these new ones are better as the seal is fitted from outside instead of the inside like originally, which means a replacement seal is much more easily fitted. Unfortunately, this is holding up the engine installation.........

0034 - OMG, now it is "next year" !

Jan 6th 2018
Engines and brakes

The engine takes shape

No longer can we say "P2P doesn't start until the year after next - Now it is "Next Year", and this time next year we will be doing final preparation prior to shipping the car to China !  Yikes !
And to keep us on our toes, there seem to be more and more unexpected small issues cropping up just when you thinking all is going well !  One minute it is a really minor brake part that has been forgotten, the next minute it is a recommendation that we change the whole mounting and clamp system for the distributor !  But we seem to be making progress.......