A little more progress the last couple of weeks (promise to get some pics soon!). Spent far too long faffing with the modified lower engine mount as the XU10J4RS 'box clutch & flywheel on XUD9TE means the driveshafts sit about an inch lower relative to the engine block and the engine lays back a tad further.
I did think I had a standard mount that would work so laboured in the heat removing the mount & bracketry only to find the 3 other mounts I had wouldn't work, then had to reassemble it all again!
On the plus side I now know how it all goes together & it looks solid as can be, plus I got the heater hose routing, PAS line routing and driveshafts in whilst I was rolling round in the dirt & discovered that the alternator/PAS pump bracket will in fact work as it was, with the pump/integrated reservoir & alternator that I had already. Changing the hydraulic clutch arm to work with the cable proved easier than expected too, the throw of the arm being largely similar to the cable pull which I didn't expect. Simply drilling the clutch arm to accept the cable & modifying a cable bracket to fit in the right place resulted in a decently working clutch in less than an hours work. So now the car is capable of starting, charging, steering & moving under it's own power.
Over the last few days we also managed to locate most of the brake parts we were missing at a local breakers including some brand new (and larger) discs/pads/calipers/hoses from a C2 which somebody had rebuilt the entire front end on and driven about 0.5 miles judging by the discs, before scrapping the thing for some reason. Would've grabbed the struts/springs/hubs/ball joints etc too if I thought they might work but they are quite different sadly. Master cylinder from a Saxo should work out by my reckoning, although it did need a shallower reservoir from an HDi Partner van in order to fit under the scuttle panel properly.
Also the rear brakes proved elusive, being 180mm Bendix type drums. Everything at the scrappy seemed to be at least 200mm drums or disc, apart from the above mentioned Saxo which sadly has been a "lower bunk" car (supporting a Transit Connect on it's head!) at the yard for a few months now and the drums were seized solid to the shoes, and a 2010-ish Fiat 500 which happily yielded the auto adjuster parts we were missing as well as brand-new looking shoes as a bonus.
Waiting on a few bits from evilbay and we should be able to add fluid to the brake system in the next week or so, front suspension & steering is pretty much buttoned up just need to fit drop links & one ball joint & then it's pretty much the "home stretch" of-:
front end/radiator back on to weigh up whether a Xantia TD intercooler will fit without cutting anything up or if we're off to the scrappy again hunting
fixing up the exhaust properly so it's not fouling the gear linkage
Locating suitable Bitron relay & getting the GP relay to function as it should
getting a set of decent matching tyres on it & tackling the windscreen whether it be via a company or DIY.
That ought to see it through the MoT at least, then loose ends such as getting the diesel tach. to work with this flywheel (or picking up a new trigger point from the pulley maybe) adding oil pressure, EGT and boost gauges/controller since the senders are already in place & this may be turned up a little at some point and whatever other little niggles that crop up from building something almost-but-not-quite factory. Pretty much 100% PSA though, as it should be
& as such the itch remains unscratched. Ho hum, at least it leaves more time for Black & the ZX.
