I’ve been collecting bits for a while, and having them shipped to a shipping agent in New York ready to bring across. I had collected most of the parts I wanted to build the 400 into a blower motor, with an all forged rotating assembly, along with hundreds of nuts and bolts to put the car back together.

I spent a good few hours going through it all, double checking everything was correct, and was all there. I’ve never seen forged rods or pistons before, and I think they are a thing of beauty. I spent ages just looking at them, then had to pack it all away for a few months at least. It will give me something to do in the winter I suppose. Among the boxes was a new gearbox cross member, and a new 700R4 gearbox which was too big for the boot on my trusty Volvo. I’ll bring it home from work in the company van when I’ve got five minutes.