Last weekend:
Off to a crap start. Went to drive to my yard where the Prelude is, and the seatbelt of my stupid Toyota had wedged the door open enough to put the interior light on and drain the battery...for the second time that weekend.
Bye bye VTi! Finally got rid of the BB8. It was taking up the space I needed to put the BB1 in (I wanted it in front of the cabin so I could hear my music while working
and wanted the donor ATR alongside just so stuff was easier to see how it would come together)
Hooked up a battery to it just to see the dash go through it's startup sequence, so satisfying! Also nice to still have a fully working EL dash after it being sat getting damp for 6 months.
Tried my mate's set of Rays/Volk TE37s on it, just because they were there and 4x114 fitment! Looks ace, but I think they'd need to be at least 16" to suit the Lude. They're 15" and suit his DC2 perfectly.
Absolutely love it from this angle:
The last breath of the ATR. Yes that's my new engine, on 173,946 miles
By the time I'd got the Toyota running, borrowed my mate's jack, scrapped the BB8 and got the BB1 and ATR into position and supported in the air it was getting dark.
So stripped a few bits off the ATR and went home. Where I finished the interior work!
Turned out absolutely brilliant. Couldn't be happier. Can't wait to fit it, although I'm holding off until the car is road ready as I don't want it to get damp and or mouldy! Took a bit of thinking to get the sunroof panel to match up to the surrounding headliner but we did it.
The plastic bits of trim turned out ace and look great fitted, time will tell though as I don't know how long it'll be before they start flaking. Could be 5 minutes, could be 5 years!
And the bit that'll be distracting me from driving
It's all sat in my room now, kinda don't wanna fit it to the car as I just keep looking at it!
This weekend:
Bored night shift purchase number one turned up!
Hooked it up to my compressor this afternoon and actually hurt my ears. (Garage compressor, not the tiny one in the pic that will be fitted to the Lude!)
Bored night shift ebay purchase number two!
Found some nasties. I always knew the arches would need doing but they're really looking pretty sorry for themselves at the minute! Something to do over summer I suppose.
I get the feeling that this is gonna be really quite nasty once I start digging....
Never have I had a car where it's such a ballache to get the headlights and bumper off! Broke one of the headlights where the side marker light locates. Had to break out the Dremel and got through a fair few discs on rusted clips and bolts. I think when it goes back together it'll mainly be held together with cable ties...
Thinking I might wire brush and hammerite this lot today. Not a great deal of rust so I'll try and keep it that way. Power steering cooler won't come off even with Irwin bolt grip sockets (smallest is too small and next size up is too big). Are new ones of these available as a direct fit? Preferably as the mini radiator type like an oil cooler as these look nice and tidy.
Created a mutant
As it stands now. Plans for tomorrow, (possibly) hammerite and tidy up the front panel. Get one of the engines removed.
The two side engine mounts don't seem to want to crack, even with a Snap On impact gun. I've never seen it fail to undo a bolt before. Front mount bolt came out no problem.
Shopping list now includes:
A/C radiator. Can be had for £30 off ebay as a brand new pattern part, is this worth a shout?
Pre face front nostrils - mine are both broken on the back.
I'm sure there's something else but it's 4:23am and I've had plenty of cider.
The engine rad on the ATR looks fairly new so that's a winner!
(or possibly also turn out mega tacky 
He said at the time someone with a JDM BB4 wanted it as a donor car for theirs, I guess that'd be you?! Glad I got it as I don't think it'd still be alive otherwise 
