..... to get things done, mistakes are made. You can probably guess what's coming....

You can just see part of the head of a coach bolt under the pedal board. I managed to bore the hole 1/16" off-line which pulled the firewall backwards, bent the aluminium and then the pedal board wouldn't fit in its slot. Before this fiasco, during the gluing up of the aluminium to the plywood firewall with the silicone sealer, the clamps conspired to shift the aluminium sheet about an 1/8" off to one side. I didn't notice this until the following morning (when it was impossible to separate the two sheets) and I had to spend a couple of hours truing the whole thing up. Getting one of the mounting holes wrong after that was deeply frustrating. Anyway, I've managed to correct the mistakes and although I've wasted a lot of time, I'm still on track.

Instead of a gaping hole in the firewall and having an icy blast up the trouser leg, I've cut slots in the aluminium to accommodate the pedal levers and the steering column. I'll cover these slots up with either some thick cloth or split rubber; actually, some carpet might do the job equally well. I haven't quite resolved the steering column universal problem; I've got the bits but haven't been to Chumley's as yet to turn the shank of the correct spline down to size. That might be this weekend's entertainment - after a visit to the Classic Car Show. It's always a long day at the NEC but it's worth it. Every year, I say to myself that I must make a list of all the things I need to bring back with me; I never get round to it. It used to be important to pre-plan all that sort of thing but, with next-day delivery the norm, it doesn't seem to matter anymore.

Before I go any further with the assembly of the body framework, I've got to sort out the seat fixings. The boards to which the seats will be attached will have to be screwed down to the side rails for security and the driver's seat will incorporate a couple of adjustable runners that I rescued when we refurbished the forklift truck at work. All this messing about will be a lot easier without the body framework being in place. You'll recall that The Ambassador's Daughter was pressed into service to get the ergonomics about right and I've marked the seat positions on the chassis with one of those very handy non-permanent white markers. I've devised a simple method of mounting the old Austin 8 seats..

.. I'll get the laser people to sort the supports out - the bends will be quite tight and in 4mm steel that'll be tough going with a vice and hammer. As the driver's seat alone is adjustable, I must remember to compensate on the height of the passenger seat supports for the adjuster rails not being there.

That's just the sort of thing I might miss in the rush..