Not so Fast . . .

Well it was too good to be true. After fitting M5 rivserts to the battery box and then riveting it to the chassis (contrary to the manual, I had to put it in with the tall side facing the driver, as it wouldn't fit in the other way around), the battery was too close to (actually touching) the steering rack. Not good.

Damnation, the battery doesn't quite fit

After a little swearing and pondering, I decided to cut a notch in the box to go over the chassis rail, which would allow me to move the box back slightly. Here we see it drying in a friendly Ocotillo cactus:

Finally found a use for the Ocotillo in front of the house

It worked, perfectly - just enough clearance to get the retaining strap in.

Problem solved! Will turn the battery around later - see below

After all that, I hope the battery works!

Now, do I hook everything up and switch it on to see if my fancy digital dash thingy is working?




















Well that was an exhausting day. It is getting a little warmer here and it was well over 100 degrees in the garage. After sorting out the battery I did a bunch of cleaning up of the wiring for the engine, fitted the temperature and oil pressure senders and plumbed in the cooling system.  I did have a few pieces left over!

I think I did it right, but I do have an awful lot of  bits left over!

In particular, I was not entirely sure what the bent aluminium pipe was for and I couldn't see the point of using the short one. Was able to reuse one of the Honda pipes (they were all new). The one hooking up the line to the expansion tank was at just the right angle, so I just shortened it and put the pipe in there. I don't seem to have any tubing to connect the radiator breather to the expansion tank - not entirely sure what to do. Will need to see pictures of other cars I think, before deciding - the old build manual I have for another car says to blank them off.

Some general plumbing

Lower radiator pipe is squeezed against the chassis

Can't say I am too happy about the lower radiator hose - it gets crimped slightly against the chassis rail, but it shouldn't impede flow too much. will have to see if I can find a hose with a small "s" bend in it

Beginning to look ready to go

Still, everything seems quite neat and tidy around the engine now (still some more to do on the starter solenoid wires - I can't for the life of me figure why one of the brown wires is longer than the other two, if they all go to the same terminal. I still need to adjust the venting and remove the feed to the fuel pressure regulator.








I will need a longer +ve wire for the FIA master switch (allows you to cut all power quickly in the event of an accident - essentially a big red switch that should say "Don't Panic" in big red letters under it), which I want to put in the dash on the passenger side. For the time being, I will just put the wire I have in temporarily. When I do put in the switch, I will turn the battery around, so the positive terminal is on the passenger side, and at the back, which will be a neater fit.


Still a bunch of small jobs to do: Inertia switch (I wonder if i will keep it, what with this being a track car and I do like riding the curbs - fortunately the harness comes with a bypass already installed), fuel pump wiring, connecting the fuel lines (temporarily, while I await the swirl pot), terminals for the handbrake switch (they finally sent some), and then making more sense of the under-dash wiring. So much of it is not being used, I am wondering what to do with it all. If I was really adventurous I would cut a lot of it out, but what if I want it later???

I need to buy some coolant - the Honda manual of course says you have to get genuine Honda stuff or you will destroy the engine. Twaddle, I say.  I think the Hondas use blue coolant - quite what the different colors mean I don't know, but I should try to get something similar to what the Honda engine would normally use.