Build day 24

Engine

The following sequence is composed of frames from a video my father-in-law Stewart took of us dropping the engine into the car. (I'm the one in the grey T-shirt.)

We fitted the engine mounts after their bolt holes had gone below the chassis rail on the driver's side. (The chassis rail on the passenger's side was unbolted and removed for this.)  The mounts will foul to some extent on the rail so I think this worked pretty well for us 

I had removed the ZETEC's air unit to simplify the job but found that its bolts aren't all accessible with the engine in. So you will see that we raised the engine enough to refit the air unit. Then we found that the mixer valve under the air unit fouled on the rail. I removed the mixer valve and re-fitted the air unit and proceeded.

I wanted to fit the engine on the ground however my engine crane wouldn't fit under the car so I put it back up on stands.

Otherwise with some care and attention the engine slid into place pretty straight forward.

Build day 23

Wheels

I took delivery of my wheels and tires just before Xmas. Birkin have set up the car to have wheel nuts on the front hubs and bolts on the back. The holes in the wheels were just a little tight for a standard 17mm spanner and I wanted security anyway...Autobarn had keyed SAAS wheel nuts to suit and after a couple of days I found Keith 4 Wheels had hex socket wheel bolts.

Starter motor

Fitted the gear box  to the engine only to find the starter motor didn't fit due to the web on the front of the Raceline sump. I burred the web back a bit, made sure the starter would fit and tried again. All good!

Flywheel, Shyster, Clutch, Clutch plate and Gearbox

I used a flat blade screwdriver on a bolt I temporarily stuck in the bellhousing-engine matching plate to hold the flywheel while I torqued the bolts for the flywheel and then the clutch cover plate.

As I had the engine on the bench I centred the clutch by eye and feel; gearbox went on reasonably easily.

Engine, flywheel, clutch, clutch cover plate and gearbox all assembled; ready to drop into the car.