I started off on Saturday intending to have a look at the parking brake and a few other bits, but after a bit of checking realised I couldn’t get away with using a long one as there just wasn’t any room to put it. I marked it for the length I needed and moved on to wiring again. I had a few more wires to run that I had left coiled up till now, and a few of these were for the alarm. I had another look at the way the rest of the wiring ran to the core support and decided I wasn’t happy leaving it like it was even temporarily.

I cut and shortened the lights and horn wiring and fitted a waterproof plug to it which gave me enough room to run the alarm wiring neatly. I taped it all up and fitted the siren which coincidentally is bright green too which just left the bonnet pin switch to do for the alarm at the front. I drilled the two holes for it and fitted the wire then gave it a quick test by accidentally setting it all off which was a surprise in a quiet garage. I then found that the horn wire was loose and I couldn’t get to the screw to tighten it. It was also nearly impossible to get to the bolts that held the horn on, so after nearly an hour of messing about I had the horn wiring tightened and it back on. I did the same to the wiring on the other side as well and re-made some other bits that I didn’t like too. There’s nothing much to see, but it’s a lot better now.

I’ve been popping in to Zannetec to see how it’s been getting on and was extremely happy with the progress. I wanted the exhaust done in stainless with an X pipe crossover, and a bung for my datalogger in the centre of it. For silencers, I bought two ebay stainless ones so it was a bit of an unknown how it woul all sound. I also got the seatbelt and seat mounts put in while it was there. It came back on the trailer as a pretty complete car, but I need to connect the heater hoses up so that I can fill it with coolant. I’m also waiting for the oil for the diff to turn up as its currently dry.

It’s way too heavy to push up the little ramp into the garage now, and when Zane said to me “drive it in slowly and gently so you dont hurt the axle” I nervously sat behind the wheel and fired it up. It sounds incredible, and you can see the blower hoses flexing as the boost comes in. I gently reversed it in at about half a mile an hour, then ran out of petrol. I had to push it back out, hit the central locking button and leave it on the drive while I went to get some more. With it topped up I started to reverse it back in again, and gave it the tiniest amount of throttle to go up the ramp. It spools up and lifts the car immediately, and scared me to death!. It may not be that powerful in this day of 1000hp+ cars, but it’s enough for me I think. It’s nearly four years to the day since it was pushed into the garage as an old wreck, and here I am driving it. I cant tell you how excited I am.

Zane rang me a week or so ago and told me he was ready to take the car. I was pretty much ready to go and just needed to empty some of the spare parts and boxes out of the car. With it all stacked up in the garage, I pushed it out into the daylight and waited for Zane to turn up with the trailer.

I had to take some pictures as it left the garage for the first time in nearly four years. For all the faults I have with it, it looked superb on the trailer. I felt really strange seeing it dissapear up the street, but it’ll come back pretty much ready to test drive. I’ve been to look at it since it’s been there, and the exhaust is looking good. I’ll take some pics once it’s all done. The driveshaft turned up as well, so that’s the last of the drivetrain ready to go. Should be back home in a week or so.

Skint and not enough space in the garage with all the rubbish in there. There’s 2 fridges and a dishwasher from moving house, and a barbecue etc that should be in a shed that I haven’t bought yet. Then theres all the bits I took off the 55 plus the old and new engine and boxes. Oh and a crane! Time to tidy up. As they are still building the estate I live on, there’s plenty of pallettes and wood knocking about. Using my best woodworking skills (ie none) I cut a pallette down so it would fit between the legs of the crane and lowered the old block onto it. Some of the left over pallette made a few handy supports.
That’s the old one out of the way, onto the new one. That was already on a pallette with a box section frame supporting it. I’ve given up on the TH350 and I’m gonna look for a short tail one that’ll be an easier swap for the ‘glide. So plan B is to put the glide on for now. I got it hung on the crane and lined it up behind the new block, bolted up the flex plate and started bolting it all up.

All OK so far. Bolt the starter on. Bolt one OK, can’t get bolt 2 to line up. A quick look underneath and I can see why. The mountings are in a different position on the new block. A quick search on the net shows up a standard starter and a “staggered” one. OK. Off to find another starter. Turns out there are different amounts of teeth on certain flex plates. How many teeth are on mine? Dunno. I’ll have to pull it back apart and count em. Doh. I’ll leave it all hanging on the crane for now, and start tidying up. A few hours later, it’s looking much better.

I had seen the car for sale on Duksville’s web site before I bought the Dooster. It was more money than I had, and although I was very tempted, I stuck with the Dooster. A month or so after I got the car, I decided it wasn’t for me, and asked around if anyone was interested in buying it. A guy from just down the road in Cardiff bought it and the money was going to go on the new house we’d just bought. And then I had another look at the advert on the site. It was £600 cheaper. I rang Geordie Paul and told him I was interested, and he offered to trailer it to his yard in Cheshire for me to look at. I took my wife Lisa with me by offering to buy her lunch on the way back, and off we went.

When we got there, I fell in love with it. I said “Wow”. Lisa said “What a piece of Shit!”. It was leaking like a sieve, was in a mess internally, but looked solid and amazingly rust free. Paul showed me a few patches that he’d spotted, but nothing major. He made us a cup of tea, I gave him a deposit and that was it. A few weeks later after we’d moved, he trailered it down to Wales for me for sensible money, and helped me push it in the garage. Top bloke. It didn’t fit in the garage, despite me getting the builders to check the length of the garage, but it was only an inch or so, and the door could be sort of locked. And then I started to take it to bits.