There's still quite a lot to do before SVA, but nothing major. The driver's
seat still needs to go in properly - unfortunately I made a mistake ordering my custom-made harness from Willans
and the shoulder straps are 11" too long. Happily Willans are going to remake them to the correct spec for
a very modest sum, and in the meantime I'll use the passenger side's harnesses from the Striker - this has the
added advantage that they're E-marked which means there's no dispute as to whether or not they meet the required
SVA spec.
Apart from that, there's lots of little things to do - adding trim here and there, finishing off filling the cooling
system, mapping the engine to run at a 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio at idle and at 2500rpm, etc. However, the main thing
on the things to do was to fit some headlights and front indicators.
The headlights present something of a problem given the car's low ride height. The SVA regs require the headlights
to be a certain distance above the ground, and even with the normal chassis the classic Fury bonnet is very marginal
on this point - Fisher used to provide little lifter blocks for SVA to lift up the front suspension a touch to
make sure cars passed. With the suspension having had a 3 inch drop all round, there's no prospect of it passing
if the headlights are put in the usual position.
I had thought of fitting the wishbones in the lower positions at the front of the car, with the effect that the
front of the car would be lifted up by 3 inches, but I don't think this would work - for one thing, the steering
rack would remain in the position required for the suspension mounted in the upper positions, and the resulting
steering arm articulation would be pretty grim. Also, I wouldn't be able to raise up the rear of the car by that
amount, so the car would have masses of negative rake.
In the end it seemed easier to simply raise up the headlights relative to the bonnet, rather than going to inordinate
lengths to get the bonnet higher than it wants to be. |
