So where did we leave things....!?
Ah yes.. Engine - delayed due to con rods, Fuel Tank - Back to Mulfab for re-manufacture and Axle still with JB Engineering getting sorted out.

So where are we now....?

Mulfab came up trumps... thanks for turning round a great tank in a short space of time along with custom swirl pot! JB Engineering also delivered the axle so we've had a couple of pretty major jobs on. We were aiming to have the engine back this weekend as well but it looks like that is going to be next week now – not that we’re short of things to do, but we are slightly behind plan on getting things turned around, handily I’d planned some slippage time into the programme so we’re still ok for the 5th/6th May first race.

First job on the list was to get the Axle back in, we were also installing anti-tramp bars as well so these jobs can get done at the same time.

The anti-tramp bars require some modification of the heel board to get them tucked through into the cabin to slide onto the front spring mounting bolt.



In the week the seats were removed and the relevant modifications were made to the heel board.



Peter up at Mulfab said that the metal bar across the rear edge of the heel board base needs modification (a notch cut out) so the anti-tramp bars can articulate to the lowest point without bending them. You can see the problem below, clearly the Anti-tramp bar is not going to go low enough to put the bolt through.



In our case this was not enough and in the end decided to remove the cross bar and cut the board back to the heel board and move the cross bar forwards. You can see where we have removed the bar and cut the board back.



Whilst this makes an ideal fix for the Anti-tramp bars it introduces a complication with the brake line mounting bracket which needs to be cut off the cross bar as the flexi pipe is too short otherwise. So what to do there? We decided in the end to cut a small piece of angle and re-weld the brake pipe bracket to keep it in the original position.



With the brake bracket re-welded



The Anti-tramp bars could now be easily mounted appropriately with no interference or potential bending issues.





Onto the Axle

The new Quaife loaded Axle casing was slotted back into the chasses and mounted up with the Anti-Tramp brackets and longer U-bolts. Unfortunately these do not clear the chassis at full articulation so a slight recess needs to be put into the chassis so that the bolts clear ok.



With the recess cut