Bits and bobs....

Previous posts have mentioned a 'slack' dash forming and fitment but I got onto sealdirect.co.uk and found a great solution to cover the 3-4 mm gap and it works very well but whats more it looks very professional. One thing I didnt like was the facy that on the curves of the dash the seal buckled and lost the curve. I got some battery earthing lead which I cut down.....

Then using a slicone spray I inserted it in the tubular part of the seal.....

As can be seen above it nows have a perfect and professional looking curve!

Covers redone and final fitted with fixings sprayed in my little pant oven.....

Sill covers trimmed even further and just waiting edge trim.........

A VERY HAPPY CHAPPY TODAY!!

So after a few weeks of dissapointment and things not going well..... today she fired first time!! I took the injector loom off and tested them with a meter and all good, I wired a 9 volt battery to each injector and could hear them firing. So I was a bit lost but pleased at the same time as I knew that the wiring loom and injectors were good. It obiously meant fuel wasnt arriving at the the injectors which could only be mechanical.
I'd like to call this a school boy error and if I ever do it again I will but this is the first fuel injected engine Ive built and so its all a learning curve. Basically the fuel pressure reg was connected with the wrong hoses and as soon as I  changed them over and ran a line check I had fuel pi**ing out of the regulators union. I took it apart and saw the O ring was shot. I had a spare fuel rail dismantled it and swapped the O ring, tested it again and all good!! So next to connect the coil and see what happens..................................................... this is what happened!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKuE0Htc5zA    YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!

Emotional will just about cover it and I am back on form BIG TIME. In addition to this the black wheels arrived and really do add that final dimension to the build and final look. This could be the last update for a while because Lollys got a date now to be induced so I could be having the best week ever!!!!

On and on and on.......

Well the ECU arrived back from Omex telling me everything I knew they would, ie it works and it works with my lead and my serial converter. They said they'd uplodaded a start up MAP for it and had geustimated the inlet allowance for my GSXR 1000 throttle bodies. So having had the VIN plate welded in by a mate I fueled the car (nervously) and set about trying to start it. I have good spark, I have fuel to the injector rail and I have air. So why wouldnt it start?!!!!! After a bit of fault finding with my mate Matt. I removed the fuel rail and cranked the engine and it seemed that not one of the injectors were firing, so in essence its looking like either a fuel rail or ECU problem. So tomorrow I'll be on the phone to Omex to see if  what they think.
OK so not the result I was after but  the crank position sensor and others are functioning so its not the end of the world. I know for a fact its going to start.

To add to the delay this weekend some new parts arrived, all of them the wrong bits even after explaining in detail over the phone what I needed. Well anyway my new wheels arrive on Monday so I got my faithful paint oven out to spray the wheelnuts black. I also trimmed, cut and trial fitted the stainless steel sill covers.

Chip Foose wont be jealous but this is my little paint oven :-)

Stainless sill covers needed quite a bit of trimming....

A notice for my workshop landlord or his gardener....

Things to get on with

I am adamant about the finished quality and I dont want the interior to look like a long shopping trip at Halfords so I turned my mind to the gear and handbrake gaiters. I trawled the websites and mod shops but couldnt find anything on my line of thinking. Soooooo........ I got some genuine BMW italian leather items and set to work........

Some of the cars Ive seen have really limp looking leather in these areas so I went to the shed and dug out a gaiter from my old Porsche, it has a hard rubber liner for the Italian leather so I pulled it out and cut it down to meet the profile of the new Beemer item.........

Once I'd sorted that I inserted it into the leather and hey! A really sturdy looking high quality bit of kit. Then I set about making a threaded insert for the gearknob........

The results in my opinion are well worth 3-4 hours labour and will make it look loooooooaaaads better!

No plastic surrounds, clips or other malarky. (thank you BMW & Porsche for the inspiration)