I'm pleased to say that the local engineering firm who did the re-bore and the crank grinding, delivered on time and at a cost a good bit less than I had expected. I learnt that the piston and shell supplier had slipped up in the stock department and, despite assuring us that we could get what we wanted, didn't have anything less than .040" in main shells. That was a bit too much to take off what seemed to be an almost OK crank. A quick polish of the journals revealed that we could indeed replace the old standard shells with new standard shells and re-grind the big-end journals to take a plus .010" shell. All I've got to do now is try to remember where everything goes.

So whilst I was waiting for the gasket set to arrive, I thought I'd design the indicator mechanism. A simple cam affair on the end of the old hand throttle lever would do the job.

The bracket behind the tube is the original support on the column for the hand throttle and A&R lever spindles. A couple of momentary switches operate the electrickery.

And then I put it all in place and found that nothing fitted so it all had to be trimmed up on the lathe - now it's fine although I'm struggling with the wiring. Sparks not only gave me a wiring diagram but also, at my request, wrote it out long hand; 'put the orange wire.....', and so forth. It's just not my line of country. I managed to solder up the connections from inside the box to a couple of blocks on the lid and that, (though not without its moments because it's such a fiddle) was straightforward enough.

But, reading and understanding what goes where from there - simple stuff for the average chap - is something I have real difficulty with. Each time I look at the instructions, they appear to mean something completely different from the previous reading. Anyway, the little plate for the tell-tale LED's looks nice - I enjoy that sort of thing.

And on to the problem of finishing off the backs of the seats. The Ambassador's Daughter had done such a grand job of the upholstery that I was determined to get the final touch right. The beading that went round the seats originally was a very complicated mix of metal strip with pins attached by spot welds; folds of calico to form a 'D' section and then covered in leather cloth. Quite a complex thing to replicate and I think I could if I had the time, but I haven't. It struck me that the pin beading for the side of the car was much the same profile and if I covered that with leather cloth, that would be ideal.

All went well and I nailed it to the seat back, congratulating myself on my ingenuity until I got to the end. I'd started the run in the middle of the seat but had got the beading one nail out (measuring!). In trying to take it apart it all went pear-shaped so I've got to do it again at some point.

That's the problem with upping the pace - mistakes come faster.