Day 26: engine start!

The radiator plug arrived in the post today, so there was no excuse not to the start the engine!
I put in 20 l of fuel, and when turning they key, the bubbling and cavitation noises in the tank eventually settled down.
The immobiliser needed to be reset by disconnecting the battery for a few seconds. And it's still a bit hit-and-miss - I wipe the immobiliser fob around the wires surrounding the key barrel for a couple of seconds, and you get the satisfying 'click' and the dashboard red light goes out.

It started... first time! The engine note is surprisingly deep, considering the tiny engine.

There was enough oil already in the engine (which was a nice surprise), so I left it to warm up. Worryingly, the radiator didn't get hot at all, except for the top RH corner (where the inlet pipe is). I need to check if this is OK. There was plenty of heat in the heater, and the engine temperature gauge rose slowly to about 80deg. But somehow the main radiator remained cold.

A real sense of achievement today. Just a few jobs to go, and then off to Caterham for the Post Build Check. I have my IVA paperwork through from VOSA (only took a couple of weeks), so I am all set for the big IVA test.

Day 8: engine installation

Using a standard Clarke engine hoist (hired for £25 for the weekend), we put the engine in.

The hoisting points are not particularly helpful:
- the obvious one is on the rear LHS of the engine, and is oval in shape
- the less obvious one is on the opposite corner - RHS front - and is a circle milled into a hose bracket. This hole is fairly small

So, using normal thick lifting strops is a non-starter; the holes are too small. Instead, I doubled up smaller tie down straps, looping them a few times to make a circle. Even then, when the hoist begins
- the engine is trying to twist around, which you need to counter
- the centre of balance means that the gearbox will point downwards if left alone

Lifting in the engine

The engine does go in fairly easily. A few bits and pieces do almost catch on the chassis pipework, plus the tunnel is narrow.

Now it's time to connect everything up. The Assembly Guide assumes a few things that are not safe assumptions:
- that we know the names of every part of the engine (though there isn't a detailed guide)
- the photos in the Assembly Guide often are taken after subsequent parts are installed. This can be really confusing, so it's worth reading and re-reading ahead, before you go ahead!

Day 7: engine preparation and anti-roll bar (a sailor's solution)

ARB
The anti-roll bar didn't look promising at first. Just offering it up showed how much bending was needed to seat each nylon ball in its socket. In fact, the first ball took a bit of persuasion (pushing, gentle tapping) to go in. But at the other end of the ARB, the ball stood out about 1" beyond its own socket. Hmmm.... My solution was to use a purchase to pull it in gently, as I wasn't convinced that I could just manhandle it in.

Controlled and gentle way of getting the ARB nylon ball into its socket

1. Tie off one end of a spare bit of polypropylene rope onto the chassis inside the engine bay (bowline is the ideal knot, of course)
2. Bring the rope through, and make a couple of loops around the upper wishbone and ARB, acting as a purchase
3. Gently pull on the rope, which draws the ARB close then just popped into the cup perfectly

LH ARB end from above , capped off and cable-tied securely

Engine prep
It was very satisfying to put together the engine, gearbox and other pre-fitting bits and pieces.
Nothing difficult here, except for one bolt which I cannot get a torque wrench to, so will have to be left to the Post-Build Check. I've marked anything for the PBC with a red luggage label, and all torqued up nuts with a dab of bright yellow nail varnish (Maybelline, from SuperDrug, if you're interested!).
The 'dowels' mentioned are actually rods about 3" long, with an M8 thread on each end. They need to be fitted first into the engine block, and then act as both the guides for fitting the gearbox, and then the means of tightening it all up. (In the Assembly Guide, they can be seen already fitted to the gearbox, but mine were loose in one of the many plastic bags of nuts and bolts).

Engine RHS, plus gearbox

Engine LHS, and ready to go into the engine bay

It is a fun exercise to figure out what everything around the engine actually does. (If you pull away the brown paper covering the exhaust manifold, you can see the tiny impeller that drives the turbo.)

Turbo impeller, inside exhaust manifold

The engine isn't as precarious as it looks... I've propped it underneath to avoid leaning on the oil filter cartridge and prevent tipping backwards towards the gearbox

Next job: install the engine