MX5 Fisher Fury build diary

One more day at the car and Nev was there too, wonderfully with bread and bacon for hot sandwiches at lunch as it is bitterly cold just now. I started off by making a better anti-chafe edge on the bulkhead loom exit then re-attached and secured the cockpit side trim. Following the format Nev had started I edged the aluminium knee roll with leatherette wrapped around pipe insulation. While bits of this were curing etc I made sure all the bulkhead grommets were secure. Next was the missed bolt on the roll bar, bending the copper securing edges on the Nylocs at the top of the uprights, and adjusting the screw on the interior mirror to stop it wobbling. Sadly too much pressure from me and it came off again so we've tried to resecure the mirror base and we'll see if that works. Once more over the SVA fail list. Other than the mirror and headlight alignment that seemed to be it. First though with this cold weather I wanted to flush the engine and cooling system which was full of rust from when the engine was left outside in the rain when taken out of the original car all that time ago. I let the water drain from the bottom hose then flushed the system from the header tank. It took ages to clear and I then flushed the radiator from the bottom and top and up the upper hose into the engine - probably blocked by the thermostat, so I flushed it up the bottom hose and that was better. Eventually the water looked fairly clear so we put in some anti-freeze. The system takes ages to fill due to my home made pipe arrangement but eventually seemed OK and was left running for a 1/2 hour. Finally with Barry and Neville's "near enough" headlight alignment idea (a line on a board) those seemed better. The offside dip still seems low but the headlight "can" can be packed out a little with washers if we need to at the test on Friday.

So is that it? We'll know at 2.30pm or so next Friday. Nev is confident enough to suggest that I make an appointment at Wimbledon DVLA late on Friday afternoon..................................