Latest update from Mike.... cam bearings have been inserted the wrong way up, the oil journals feeding the big end bearings are blocked with swarf and nothing internally has been torqued to the correct value! Quote "you would have probably made it to the end of the village"! On top of this the skirts of the pistons have been butchered in an attempt to balance them, not that this would have made any difference as the likely hood is that a con rod or such like would have let go before this caused any problems. I'm glad I had this checked out!

Mike has sent over the details of cost implications and all things considered it is a no brainer at a couple of hundred quid difference to have the engine rebuilt properly as a 383 stroker rather than stay at 350ci. This should give somewhere around 400bhp+ given the performance goodies - too right it's a no brainer!!!

Whilst the engine has been out I've fitted the aluminum skin to the engine bay properly as it was just sitting in place and not attached. Rather than just bonding it in with Wurth as Dax suggest I've used Rivnuts (a rivet with a thread in it - who knew!) and domed socket head bolts. All things considered I'm happy with the look of this. The job was a pain as the lining doesn't fit particularly well especially the long thin bulkhead piece which was sitting proud of the bulkhead itself. In the end after much fetling and the application of the no. 1 tool it all looks like it should. I've also polished it to bring back the shine.

I now have some more room in the garage as my other car has gone to her new owner in France...

Built by my father in '98 (Blackjack Avion) she's was massive fun over the years. Fare well my beauty.....