I was still thinking of mounting the brake master cylinder aft of the pedal but the actual bracketry was going to be too far away from the chassis to be rigid enough without a massively complicated structure. Bearing in mind that I envisaged hanging one end of the clutch cable from the same mounting, it was all getting a bit out of hand. So the next thing I thought about was mounting the cylinder in front of the brake pedal so that the pedal acted directly on the piston; sensible enough. So I devised a mounting using a couple of bolts on the bell-housing and one from the starter motor. Then Learned Counsel popped his head round the door, saw what I was up to and told me to think of something else. The bracket had to be attached not to the engine but to the chassis - like the rest of the pedal arrangement. So it was back to the drawing board.

And I'm glad I did go back and think again because I've now got what I think is a very simple and effective set-up. It was difficult fitting everything in and a bit of a palaver working out the angles but...

This is just the mock-up to prove the idea; the actual bracket will be 6mm steel to give it some rigidity. I'll put gussets in the corners for further stiffness and it'll be bolted to the engine mounting - the chassis in effect. I'll knock up a couple of bits to take the fork of the brake rod and the eye of the clutch cable and when their relative positions have been exactly established, I'll weld them to the pedal shafts.

I drew up the plate (the most difficult part of the operation) for the laser-cutting people and sent it off. The bits will be back by the Easter weekend so there'll be plenty to keep me going. Then all I've got to do is fix the other end of the clutch cable to the bottom of the centre engine mount, make up an extension to the clutch lever on the bell-housing and we should be in business.

I'm a bit disappointed that the 1/8th brass strip for finishing off the mesh fixing on the radiator shell hasn't arrived yet but I've plenty to get on with really. As has Learned Counsel...

Feeling pleased with my weekend's work, I glanced into his shop looking forward to commenting on his lack of progress and saw that he'd taken the Jowett Jack-in-the-Box's front bulkhead out - it looked like it had been used for target practice - and had bent up, swaged and welded in a new one.

And he'd whistled up a couple of side panels and was busy tacking those in as well; a very nice job he'd made of them too.

I'll have to keep an eye on him - he doesn't need to get too far ahead and be roaring round the yard lookin' all superior-like while I'm still trying to sort out my wiring. I must get him more involved in some of my engineering problems or tell him he looks a bit jaded and needs a week or two in Spain. Yes, that should do it.