The Story of a Kit Car Build

First Real Outing

02/06/07 – The first longish run we went on, we went out to visit people we needed to see, and with it being a nice day we took the risk and used the Haldane. I’d checked the kick down cable settings and they were as per the book and it made a difference as the car went OK.

We were out for about 4 hours in the car with Dave and his wife Christine in their Westfield and came back with sunburn!

Brilliant day and many more to come I hope!

But... as usual, along comes something to wipe that grin off my face. While out on one day trip, one of the hoses decided to give the tarmac a wash, which resulted in an overheated engine, which then seized. Superb!

So by the time you’re reading this, I have spent close to four figures on the engine and the same on the gearbox, which Shirley insisted we have done while the engine was out. Made perfect sense, of course, even though it was an expensive couple of jobs.

They were going to need doing at some time soon, so now that’s over we can start to get on with driving the car as much as possible.

So to cap it all off, since passing the SVA, I’ve replaced the distributor, carburettor, radiator and starter motor, plus I’ve had the engine and gearbox reconditioned. Some will think I should have done these things before now, but they all worked OK when I got the car, so I didn’t. Hindsight? I’d do the same again.

I think that just about wraps it up. So if you’ve got this far, then thanks for taking the time to read.