My nice shiny new annodised fuel lines arrived this week, so there wasn’t much else that I needed before I could do a quick test start. Another thing I’d always wanted, sad eh?. Well, I think it looks cool anyway. A new carb gasket, and a quick clean of the top of the blower and it’s looking better. Last weekend I put the starter on, found it needed shimming, shimmed it and found it struggled like hell to spin the motor. It didn’t have the best electrical feed, but there were no plugs in either. And to top it all off it fouled the headers. It was time to get a new mini starter. One shiny new starter arrived, and after an hour or so rotating and angling it, then a few shims, and I had a starter that didnt foul the headers. Well, almost. But a bit of careful grinding on the one edge will give me plenty clearance. Even with the poor supply, this spins the motor easily. So that was it. I had everything I needed to give it a quick test fire. No cooling as yet, so only a couple of seconds. I wired in my MSD ignition and coil, and carefully plugged all the leads in on the spark plugs from the spare engine. A quick check, then another check, and im out of reasons not to start it. I poured a splash of fuel into the carb, stood well back and spun it over. A few turns and BANG. A backfire through the carb and blower. After reading how much damage a backfire can do, I felt sick. I went and sat down for 5 minutes, then pulled the carb and spun the blower over to look for damage. It all looked fine, though the carb was definately cleaner!. I decided to check the spare engine for the rotor position at TDC, and noticed the numbers on the intake manifold. I had the left and right bank reversed. Every book I’d looked in said number one cylinder was on the left bank. I never thought to check which side they meant by left. Wires off again, and plugged back in the right way round. Another splash of fuel, and nervously spun it over again…. RRRRRRRRMMMMM!!!!!!!. My first supercharged V8 was alive. And boy did it sound good to me. I rang everyone I knew, and got Bob round to start it while I videoed it. Have a listen for yourself. Now I’m motivated!