Day 1 - Taking it apart and putting stuff on

OK, so the build has started - by taking things off. My six year old nephew was a little non-plussed that by mid-afternoon it still wasn't finished. He seemed to take comfort in the fact that it would have been, but I'm missing a few pieces. In order to keep the peace I think those pieces will remain missing for some months.....

So, the nose is off, as is the scuttle. Nothing tricky there. However, in order to feel like I've actually achieved something, I though taking the first steps of installing the steering rack and front wishbones would at least show some progress.

The chassis arrived with most of the steering already installed, although I will be giving everything a good torquing to later on when I get a torque wrench. So it was just a matter of removing some more stuff and bolting the one extra part in.

And it's now that I understand why these things take a year. Dad and I must have put that thing in six times, each time realising that this bit should actually go over that bit, or that to put this in, week needed to have done this and that in step 1. All I can say is thank goodness for digital cameras.

It's probably also worth describing my build sequence at this point as well. The idea is that the build will go in, say, four stages:

• Stage 1 - prebuild. Dad and I will fit everything possible to the car, making sure we have all the bits etc, but will not tighten anything to it's final levels at this stage. We'll drill the holes for the tonneau, windscreen washers and bottle, seat rails etc, fit the rollover bar, suspension etc. The idea is to get a rolling chassis. This will also give us something concrete to start planning colour schemes etc.
• Stage 2 - paint. The car will head back to Perth, get put on the paint stand, and have most of the various bits removed before painting.
• Stage 3 - rebuild. The car, once painted, will be rebuilt from the start and everything torqued up, nylocs etc replaced where required etc. After Stage 1, this should be a meccano set build.
• Stage 4 - drivetrain, wiring etc. The final bits and pieces.

May seem a little slower (there are two Birkins in Perth that were delivered a few weeks prior to mine that are almost finished....) but time ins't the important thing here. I say that now, of couse.....

Anyway, the steering rack eventually went in, although it's not a terribly good fit, and I'm assuming that the aluminium blocks holding the rack will crush in around it to hold it secure.

The upper and lower wishbones were also a simple plug and play operation, albeit with a few exertions to get the ends into the brackets. It's a tight fit in there ;-) I'm just waiting on the front sway bar and shocks / springs to arrive before these are fitted, along with the uprights. Then I can put the wheels on a see what they look like.....but now, looking at my hectic social calendar, plus time commitments from my MBA, it will be a few weeks before I get back to the build.

However, there's still the engine to talk about, plus a few car related events to occur between now and then, so my faithful 150 readers, stay tuned ;-)