The first mistake occurred here. I installed the diff in the housing with the larger MKII Escort flange (4") instead of the MKI Cortina Diff Flange 3 3/8". I will need to pull this out and put the correct one in – Ho Hum.

I have given the Nutsert tool a special section, as it is the most useful tool I have EVER bought. This is a big call, but I suspect that most people will find this the same. As well as the Westfield I have used it on household repairs and on other cars. $135.00 well spent!!

I fitted the handbrake to the tunnel top using the Nutsert tool. When I tried to hook up the existing handbrake lever I discovered that the MKII escort handbrake mechanism WOULD NOT WORK. The main reason is that the panhard rod is in the way, so I cut off the brackets for this setup and started the thinking process for an alternative.

I replaced the disk pads on the front and shoes in the rear drums and overhauled the slave cylinders. Then measured up the brake lines. The master cylinder that I had looked OK so I decided to use it without overhauling that. Took the measurements to the brake place and they made them up for overnight. Bought a brake line bending tool and installed them without much difficulty. And not a single leak out of the line junctions. One note here is that there are 3 types of master cylinders from TD Cortina. Mine is a two-outlet system with 12mm outlets. The other options are a three port with 12mm outlets and a third alternative of two outlets with a 10mm and 12mm. With my master cylinder I needed a t piece for the front two brakes. If I was searching again I would by the master cylinder with three outlets, which does not require the additional T piece.

The brakes pressurised up nicely and we then took the car for a spin. My neighbours pushed me down the road for about 100m and then a three point turn and back again!! A two human powered car is no speed machine I can tell you!!

A small problem that occurred was that the master cylinder leaked out the back. This was fixed simply by installing a new kit. The bore looked OK so no honing was required. I suspect that the old rubbers had dried out and lost their pliability while it was out of service.

The fibreglass body fitted over the car nicely, no major problems were expected or experienced. The fit was Ok. One thing to note is that you actually need to cut the bonnet off as it is about an inch too long. This is done I presume so you can have the nosecone mounted further forward.

I could see from early on that my dash that I made earlier was not going to fit. There is just NO room around the steering column for anything but a 75mm gauge. No to be outdone I continues searching. While I was pulling a steering universal from a triumph 2500 PI I noticed that the dash comprised of round smiths gauges. These looked the part, especially the fact that a separate "gauge" existed with 8 pieces of pie, for all the functions like indicator signals, ignition light, brake warning etc. etc. etc.

While I was doing this I extracted the entire wiring loom and decided that this would form the basis of the harness I would use in the westie. I could see that using the gauges out of the Triumph would also save A LOT of time in wiring up the gauge harness!!

When creating the dash panel itself, I considered putting the panel on the outside of the scuttle (conventional place) and on the inside of the scuttle. I decided to put it on the inside as this would them remove the necessity to finish the edge of the panel.

I have secured the panel using 5mm stainless cheese head bolts through the scuttle.

The moment of truth!!

Will it or wont it. I fitted the clutch up to the flywheel (thick side towards the gearbox) and that happened with no problems, (A good omen?) and bolted the gearbox up to the engine. The next morning, I was so anxious to get it in – I decided to go to work late one morning and started at 6:30am. By 8:00 am it was all over the engine was in!! The gearbox was bolted up to its mounting and everything was rosey!. Too EASY!

A couple of niggles along the way, which were easily sorted.

• Take the alternator off;
• Remove ALL external water plumbing;
• Take the support brace between the inlet manifold and the block off;
• Move the Master Cylinder back about 15mm.

The fourth thing was the most difficult as I had to undo the pedal box and drill a couple of holes 15 mm back from the original. I then had to let the master cylinder fluid out and grind the bottom of the mounting flange to enable it to clear the firewall bracing. This took a sum total of 15 minutes however. Anything that holds me up for less than and hour is not a problem its only a nuisance. (Incidentally visitors fall in this category too. A less than 1 hour visitor is a nuisance; a greater than 1 hour visitor is a problem!!). The reason that I had to move the master cylinder is that the air inlet ran into the master cylinder. This is not a problem with the 88kW motor apparently.

A good point however is that the alternator fitted without modification to the brackets. It appears that the 100kW 4AGE alternator fits Ok, but the 88kW 4AGE alternator brackets requires modification. The only thing I did have to do was shorten the peg that the charge wire attaches to. Oh and of course I had to re-pressurise the brakes (I hate the smell of brake fluid.)

This is a turning point in the construction. The next thing to do is the wiring harness, and I suspect that the easy to do jobs have run out!!