Had a bit of an action night. Changed the oil. Fitted Black Diamond "Predator" pads. When I removed the old (almost new actually) pads I saw from the wear pattern than the discs were 10mm undersize. Need to check that out. Also degreased all the gunk from where the sump leak splatters oil everywhere. Fitted two new exhaust rubbers because the 12 month old ones had perished. Finally had a look for the source of the fuel leak. Couldn't see anything. Wonder if it's due to the temporary fuel filler cap not being air tight.

Removed the steering rack. After clamping the rack into a vice then the input shaft seemed very firm. Odd that. So were the mounts coming off of the bulkhead? I inspected them and they seemed fine. So bolted the rack back into place. Once in place I could move the input shaft around and there was a bit of a clonk when I did. Looking into the engine bay, the rack seemed firm as ever. Odd. I gave up on the shaft at this point. Maybe they were just like that, a bit of flex in the mounts.

However, when I was refitting the tie rods I found that the driver's side one was loose - the clamp bolt on the track rod end was loose. Very interesting. Maybe this was why the car felt a bit wibbly when doing left turns at speed?

Took the car out for a quick brake bedding in run. Steering feels really good now. Just need to have the tracking set. Very happy.

I had a good look at the gasket issue too. It looks like, with a bit of cutting, the 16v gasket can be used. Pictures. The reason that I can't use the 8v gasket is that I don't think it will seal round the enlarged oil feed of the 16v block.

In the evening I fitted the uprated SBD oil pump. It took a few hours to clean all the old sealant off the faces. Pictures.

The petrol leak smell has got worse again. I'm having to drive with the rear windows open to control it. Can take it no longer. The smell is definitely related to petrol sloshing up the filler pipe. It seems to come from the inside of the car where the filler cap housing is. Someone following me had seen petrol spill out of there too when I had gone round a corner. My current theory is that there is a crack in the filler pipe.

MIG member RDS had sent me a missing spacer  for the crank pulley on the new bottom end. I fitted this and finally got to turn the crank over with a socket on the end. Lovely.

I'm trying to save some money at the moment, so the car is a bit on hold.

I've been enjoying driving the car as much as ever recently. Seems to go really well.

My first impressions of the seats was that they were very firm. But I liked the way they gripped my sides. I've tried some other seats, like Cobra Clubmans and found them a bit too big.

Then we took the Stickmobile out for a test. Yeah, always nice to have someone else commenting. I get annoyed with the car for various reasons. So it was good to remember the good things. It is a a bit difficult to drive at first - the throttle is very reactive and the steering does take some careful input. It takes a while to learn what a car is like. Mainly the Quickrak I'd say. It really makes the car lively. Though it can be a handful on roads with odd cambers.

This is what Simps had to say:

Well just met up with Tom and experienced the wrath of the stickmobile!! The handling really is spot on. I did find it difficult to drive tho and i think its something that would need time to get used to. It's just so accurate. Its like playing TOCA on the playstation, one slight tap too much on the steering button and you're off track.

It was also fun watching somebody else man-handle my Nova and hear the tyres squeal - was quite good fun. We took a favourite B-road and blasted for the horizon.

Had some new front tyres fitted.

Went down to Castle Combe in the afternoon for a quick track session. Yes. The seats are good.

Spent the evening looking to see if I could easily  lower the seats.

I created a mystery rattle today. With ear plugs in I hardly noticed at first. When I was parking I took the plugs out and then I really noticed it. A loud ticking. With the bonnet open it was less clear what the source was. Not the cam. Seemed to come from the injectors. Hmmm. Inside the car it was very clear. Under the engine bay it was not. I gave up.

Starting the car a little later, the noise had gone. Good. After half and hour it returned. It was the usual mixture of fear and denial on my part. The car seemed to pull as normal, so I wasn't too worried. Then I started to run all sorts of theories through my head. Maybe there was more noise coming from the engine bay because of a hole in the bulkhead. Maybe it was the injectors.

At the next stop I opened the bonnet again. People had heard the noise. Definitely mechanical was the verdict. I still couldn't find the source. In desperation I looked under the engine. Aha! Clutch cover plate was hanging on with one loose bolt out of three. The ticking noise was where it was catching the teeth on the flywheel. Sorted! Looks like I need to thread lock the bolts in.

Spent the evening doing jobs. Replaced the brake servo pipe with new hose. Fitted the clutch cover plate. Replaced the headlamp stalk. Then decided to drill a hole in the steering column shroud for the immobiliser key slot. Took two attempts to get the best location. Then had a minor disaster plugging the key wire back into the immobiliser. Bent a pin, which snapped off when I bent it back. Luckily it was the pin for the flashing LED and not the key. Also fitted some grommets to the holes where the heater matrix pipes used to go through. This involved cutting off the ridge on the grommets and Super Gluing two of them together, back to back.

Went round after work. Picked up the block, put Allen head and breaker bar into plug. Pushed. Pushed. Pushed. Creak. Aha! Movement. Checked to see that the head was turning. Result. Plug no1 was liberated. I felt a great deal of satisfaction.

Maybe leave no2 until tomorrow? Nah. Repeated exercise. Removed plug no2.

Ditto plug no3. Now this is the great sense of satisfaction from doing jobs yourself.

Whilst I was there, I got talking to a valued customer. Who turned out to be the rolling road man. Had a great time talking about engines and tyres and suspension.

At home spent three hours polishing the car. Really good fun and very satisfying.

The car is not starting quite as instantly as it used to. I suspect that the distributer cap needs replacing again. They only last about 6-9 months before getting pretty burnt on the contacts.

Fitted new plugs, distributor cap and rotor arm. Spent the evening polishing the car some more. Quite compulsive once you get going.

On to October 2003