First hole drilled!

First on today's agenda was the low pressure fuel pump bracket. This comes with six pre-cut holes, four of which I will use to fix the bracket to the chassis with the rivnuts supplied. I held the bracket in place with a couple of mini clamps and used a centre punch to mark where the holes would need to be drilled. Pilots were done with a 3mm, followed by 6 then finally 9mm bits. I de-burred the holes and then gave a good squirt of waxoyl to give a bit of protection.

Fitting the rivnuts

I've never used rivnuts before, so was treading new ground. Many of the blogs I've read have described how people have broken their setting tools after fitting just one or two rivnuts. With this in mind I splashed out on a decent quality tool and it made light work of the job. After setting the four rivnuts it was a simple case of bolting down the bracket and then fitting the pump and filter, making sure the direction of flow was correct. The thread on both the brass filter (inlet side) and the brass outlet is slightly tapered, so shouldn't be over-tightened. To help prevent any leaks I used a single wind of ptfe tape. To make it easy to change the filter at a later date, I fixed all clips with the screw heads facing up so that they were accessible from the luggage compartment inspection panel (yet to be fabricated).

Pleased with this result. Time for a brew 🍪🍵













So far, so good. I decided I would celebrate my achievement by having a sneaky peek at some porn.....

Ahh so shiny

Not fully satisfied, I gave them a little stroke.... and then trial fitted them. 

Whoops! Wrong way up!

 Note: good job they were just trial fitted...Simon (formerly of GBS) kindly pointed out that I'd fitted them upside down! They have since been "re-fitted" the correct way round!!!

Then the driveshafts and hubs. The driveshafts are different lengths but it's fairly obvious which side is which, plus the nearside hub nut is a left hand thread. The calliper mounting bracket sits behind the hub with the calliper bolt hole at the front.

I've decided to postpone torquing up the hub nut until the Zero has been dropped onto axle stands:

1: Because I'm unsure if the trestles can take it.
2: I can't get a definitive answer as to what the torque figure should be....

Next in my schedule was the handbrake, two bolts with nylocks, a nice five minute job.

 There are two holes to choose from when connecting the cable to the handbrake lever, I opted for the lower of the two as this allowed full travel of the lever without the cable fouling the front to rear brakeline.
Note: taking advice from Simon I have repositioned the handbrake cable to the upper hole in order to give greater efficiency (crucial for the iva).

The cable routes through the chassis next to the brakeline three way splitter, which I fitted at the same time.

By now, I'd almost run out of steam so it was kettle on and stand back with a cuppa to admire a good days work. Now every fisherman knows, that, if you've had a successful session, when it's time to pack up for the day, it's difficult to resist having one last cast.....

...and here it is. Master cylinder in and Front to rear brake line roughly routed and cable tied to the chassis.

All in all a busy day. Loads done and I've popped my "first hole drilled in chassis" cherry.

Tired but happy...