With the engine and box out of the car I could get on and make all the little mods and do some final welding that was too difficult to get to with the Rover v8 lump hogging all the room. One such mod was to make clearance for the off side exhaust - the flange where the exhaust joins the header was right where the new front part of the chassis joined the old Ford metal. I had to redo that so there was clearance, I had a similar issue where the starter motor solenoid was a bit close. It did clear but it was a bit of a faf to change the starter motor with everything in situ. By cutting another inch of chassis rail and boxing it back in that job will now be much easier. Lots of black paint was applied to keep rust at bay and make it all look much nicer, I have stripped one suspension upright, which is being sprayed - when I got them they had been hand painted by brush and really didn't look very nice. I have done the same with the Spax coil overs, it should all look a lot nicer when it's finished.
I have worked out that it will be easier to get the engine back in with all the suspension out of the way, the exception being the steering rack. My current plan is to fit the firewall, fit the front brake lines, fit the rack, refit the engine and box, refit the suspension parts and then all the other engine ancillaries. Cleaning and repainting all the fiddly suspension parts is taking an age but it's well worth doing, the components are all in excellent condition as it has never been used on the road, everything is old but unused. A few rubber bits need renewing, I will do them while it's all in bits.
When the engine is all back in I need to start looking at making the exhaust, I have no idea where to start on that at the moment. My idea is to do all the mechanical bits. get a rolling / stopping chassis and then start work on all the cosmetic stuff. I am in no hurry to finish, it takes as long as it takes.
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