I've finished the front brakes; well, I haven't put the reservoir on because that needs the firewall but all the lines are in and secure.

I've put the springy bit between the 3-way junction block and the brake master cylinder because there's a tiny bit of flex in the pedal bracket; it's almost imperceptible but it's there and over time could be the source of  problems. At the front of the engine, the brake pipes run from the radiator mount to the chassis rail, crossing the path that might be taken by a broken fan belt so I'll have to make up a shield to protect the pipes from that eventuality. There's a couple of handy bolts in the vicinity so it's not an onerous task.

I popped into the sheet metal works earlier in the week - the pattern for my fuel tank is still sitting there waiting for them to roll a new cylinder for me so I can't get on with that for the minute. Meanwhile I've started to tackle the instruments.

The works of the Rover rev counter slipped very neatly into the old Cooper Stewart speedo body. I had to cut a few holes in the back for the connections and then blank off the odometer hole in the face (I haven't tidied that up yet). The biggest palaver was measuring the angles for the figures and doing the face on Photoshop. In order to match the speedo....

as closely as possible, I lightly rubbed off the old numbers, printed the new face on acetate and glued it on. It looks fine; not new but with a bit of age to it. Encouraged by this success, I tackled the clock. That was a jolly sight more difficult than the rev counter.

You'll recall I bought a cheap clock in Morrisons the other week with a view to ripping it apart and using the motor for the car clock. I couldn't use the original hands because the bore of each of the spindles was too big so I've had to file down the plastic hands to some sort of shape. They'll pass muster but they're a bit lumpen at the moment. The worst part was thinking out how to fix the mechanism to the body so that it was easily detachable for changing the battery. A bit of wood, a machine screw and some Araldite has done the job and, despite my attentions, the clock still works.

Then I started to cut holes in the panel. This was always going to be the tricky bit as it involves measuring - not my best suit - and so far I've managed to get the mag switches not quite in the middle. So that's the primer, the ignition and fuel pump switch (I haven't got mags) and the starter button. The speedo and the rev counter bodies are going to be a bit tricky to get in because the brackets that secure the body to the panel are welded on and have a much bigger circumference than the 'ole. I'll have to think that one out..... aha!, got it! The inspection panels on the Jodel had tabs like these instrument bodies and there was a square cut-out at a tangent to the circumference into which the tab was introduced, then the panel was rotated to lock.

Another snag overcome. That's good.