a bit more loom & start of cooling circuit

The Sierra's original wiring for the indicator stalks has been labelled up for reference. The stalks have been re-attached to the column but not yet soldered to the premier loom as I'm still looking at how best to support the bulk of the loom under the scuttle area.

The rear loom has been wrapped in split conduit and attached along the inside of the transmission tunnel using cable ties and bases.


I've made a start on the cooling circuit using the silicon hoses and aluminium tubing. On the ends of the tubing I put a few indentations using a plumbing tool which should prevent the hoses from slipping off. (another tip I picked up from locostbuilders!)

A couple more jobs

Silicon hoses for the cooling system have been ordered from Auto Performance. Once again, I've commissioned mate James to make and weld up a T-piece pipe to fit in the bottom cooling circuit. I'm using up holiday and have the week off work so I'm planning to get the most of the cooling pipe work finished within the next few days.

Engine fitted with a new thermostat today.

The wire for the speed sensor pickup has been lengthened today. The speed sensor came with the Koso digital instrument and I found the connector plug would end up half way along the transmission tunnel as the sensor's pickup point is on the driveshaft. Now, the connector plug will end up behind the dash making it easier to connect up later on.

I've been looking at the wiring loom again today and have figured out where to route most of it. The rear loom, front loom and engine spur seem relatively easy to route, amongst other wires, I'm still left with the wiring that connects to the steering column for the stalks and ignition barrel. I'm mainly concerned about keeping it looking neat so I can identify the various coloured wires at a later date. I bought a mini label printer a few weeks ago which has made wire identification easier and a lot neater than hand written labels on bits of masking tape!

gearbox panels

I've finished the remaining aluminium trim piece for the passenger side gearbox panel. Both trim pieces are fixed down with a few M4 stainless domed screws. I now need to make a hole in the top panel for the various looms to pass through and also to make a surround for the gear lever gaiter. The gear lever itself will need to be bent back and possibly shortened to clear the dash but I'll sort this later on once I've got the dash mounted.

I'm not 100% happy with the job I did on aluminium trim pieces where they meet the rear panel and I'm not sure whether the small gaps will be an issue at IVA stage. I'll try and find some flexible trim of some sort that will tidy the join.


Next job will be figuring out the best way to route and mount the loom and then to start connecting it all up!

more work in interior and start of loom

I'm stopping further work on the bodywork in case it gets scratched during other parts of the build. Instead, I'm concentrating on connecting up the wiring loom. It took quite a while to label up the Premier loom to identify the different coloured wires but it has helped figure out what goes where. The relay bases and the two fuse boxes have been bolted to the underside of the dash area to allow easier access when needed.


The rear light sub-loom needs to pass through the top transmission tunnel panel. This panel hasn't been fixed down as yet but I have already cut the holes needed for the gear lever and handbrake lever. The transmission tunnel side panels were fitted over the weekend using some countersunk rivets and the lengths of aluminium hockey trim have been bent by hand with a little heat to match the angle in the trans tunnel. I used some P-trim along the join between the back panel and the side panel to neaten up the appearance of the join.

I want to finish these three panels off so I can see where the hole needs to go for the rear light sub-loom