Having had (yet) another look at the fuel pipe I decided that if I fitted it differently
I could get enough clearance between it and the gearbox. So, I took off the existing clips and replaced them with
some large P clips, which essentially allowed me to get the pipe nearer the chassis rail.
The curious note in the photo is to tell me where to drill a hole to get at the gearbox oil filler, as discussed before.
After that it was on with fitting the footwell panels.
These fit quite well, but need a lot of drilling and clamping. They are an incredibly complicated shape, I wonder
how they made the moulds?
Anyway, after a lot of faffing about, I had both the panels in place. It's makes quite a difference to the car, as it now seems to have an engine compartment and a passenger compartment; quite a step forward.
You will notice in this photo that I forgot to take off the masking tape that I used for marking a bunch of drilling positions off. Duuuuh. That's the rear loom making its way up the same line of P-clips.
I next installed the clutch slave cylinder (the thing I had to chop
the hole in the grot plate for) and the starter motor. You can just see the slave cylinder peeking out from
under the starter motor in the photo. You can also see that the slave cylinder is nice and shiny and the starter,
errm, isn't.
I have absolutely no evidence that the starter works, of course, it'll have to wait for the wiring and everything else to be done. Of course, once I fit the side panels getting at it is going to be hugely difficult.
in case you've got to this frame directly and can't get out, go here.