I am now tucked away in Chamonix for a week's snowboarding holiday which is no hardship.  It gives me time to reflect on what I need to do next to get the car running.

Fuel system:

Remove the tank and check the drain plug, trim the outlet pipe and drill the holes for the rear section of the wiring loom and the spare tyre retaining bracket.  Refit the tank and connect the fuel pipe and fuel gauge wire.  This really shouldn't take very long.

Exhaust:

Make a bracket to connect the rear pipe to the middle exhaust mount.  Connect the pipes together without exhaust paste.  Trim the rear of the pipe so that it doesn't hang out too far.  It has been suggested that I wrap the front section of the pipe, I'll look into that.  I also need to connect the front bracket to the engine and the down pipe.  This really shouldn't take too long as the exhaust has been trial fitted and is essentially there.

Electrical:

Make a battery mount.  Fit battery, battery cables, engine to chassis earth strap, fuses and check the wiring for shorts etc.  I am going to tape up any unused leads on the wiring loom such as the wires for the lights.  Fit the wiring to the gearbox/overdrive.  This lot could take a few days at my current work rate.

Odds and sods:

Fit the throttle return spring.
Make a new abutment for the choke cable and install it.
Fit the oil pipe and washer to the gauge.
Fit the radiator temperature plug.
Fill with oil/water.
Check timing.
Check oil pressure.
Start

Do a dance, have a beer, post a video on Youtube, Instagram and send a copy to the BBC.

Once running:
Rebuild the drive shaft so that the arrows line up and fit the UJs.  Send it off for balancing?
Fit the handbrake cable and lever (new pawl?)
Bleed the brakes
Fill the differential with oil
Connect clutch linkages
Fit a seat

Double check all nuts/bolts are tight.

Drive

I had given myself the target of getting the car running by Christmas when I installed the engine at the end of the summer holidays.  Obviously I've missed that but I don't feel like I am a mile away from it so I don't feel bad on myself.  There were a lot of things to buy and that hampered progress a little.  Now that Santa has been and gone with wonderful generosity I don't need to buy very much for a while.  In fact that list I have just written only has diff oil, brake fluid, handbrake pawl and the balancing of the drive shaft to sort so not too bad at all and certainly not a barrier to success at this stage.  So, what about the end of February for a little spin then?  No, ok, how about Easter?  Yep, that seems reasonable.

I am convinced that the overdrive will not work straight out of the block so that will take some fettling and ultimately, time.

Once it has been for a run I need to get all the panels out of storage and then work on getting the filler done, now that will be exciting.  Getting it running will also be very exciting.