September 28, 2003
Day 15 - bolt engine in place
Bolting the engine mounts and manifold on is a bit tricky as the access is tight but after extensive use of extensions there were only two bolts I couldn't use the torque wrench on and had to do by hand. The manual isn't amazingly clear about when the manifold goes on, but basically the engine has to be pretty much 'in' and where it will eventually sit before you put it on. The manual also tells you to centre up the gearbox in the chassis as clearance is very tight (you can say that again!)
Because of the different heights of the various gearbox bit and pieces it's pretty impossible to know when it is centre so I just made sure it wasn't touching either side and bolted it in. It's quite easy to adjust if I need to.
At this point I had a quick check of the assembly guide supplied with the kit and compared it with the printed version I was using (downloaded from the web and with loads of scribbles all over it). Unfortunately I hadn't noticed the bit about bolting the engine negative lead to the engine mount so I had to undo one of the bolts. I then noticed that I had the lead the wrong way round as the holes in each end of it are of different sizes! So another bolt had to come out before finally putting it all back together the right way.
I attached the speedo drive and reversing light switch - all pretty straight forward. I started looking at the Apollo tank and working out where best to locate it as it's pretty tight to the chassis members and engine. Decided to call it a day.....
4 hours today, 51 hours total.
Posted by charles at September 28, 2003 8:06 PM