Getting colder again.....

Old and new lower radiator covers

Coils and starter solenoid now in place

Its been a slower start to the week this week - lost my way a little earlier in the week I think, and needed to focus on specific tasks. Still, I have managed to source the gearchange lever and fit it after cutting off the end (which is surplus to requirements). With my newly jointed gear lever linkage, it appears to be a much better arrangement than the turbo which had a slimmer gear lever arm at the gearbox shaft end, as this slopped around within the two pronged end of the gear linkage mechanism provided for the car.
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I've now managed to source a water transfer pipe which exits the water pump. Dire warnings have been issued by various people about getting the fitment of the pipe into the water pump housing anything other than exactly square. There appears to be two schools of thought as to where the rubber O ring goes. Some say between the ridges of the transfer pipe, and some (my expert included) says before the first ridge. I think I'll be canny and fit two O rings - one before the first ridge, and another between the two ridges - just to be safe. Talking of water pipes, I've spent a bit of time looking for 22mm internal diameter water hose on the usual car builder web sites, only to find that with the exception of a couple of bends, 22mm seems something of a scarcity. I eventually found one company - AP Motorstore - a range of not-too-expensive silicon hoses that will do the job nicely. As I've used blue for the shock absorbers and gear linkage, I've decided to go with blue hoses too.
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I've never been a great fan of Hammerite, but having decided that the floor of the car needed a coat of paint, and as I happened to have a tin of hammered silver grey, I gave it a go. Big mistake! The paint has not dried properly, even after 24 hours, and has brush marks everywhere. Looks like a sand down and repaint will be necessary.
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As promised, the exhaust downpipes turned up, together with the "blister" that provides more foot room by the accelerator pedal. I looked forward to an afternoon's session in the garage fitting the downpipes. Unfortunately, the afternoon's work was a lot shorter that I had expected. When I offered up the exhaust pipes, they wouldn't tighten when the clamps were butting up against the heads - there was still about 6mm fore and aft movement. Several attempts at removal and refitting produced the same result. Having had no previous experience of the standard 500 cc engine, I began to wonder if there were some bits missing. Unable to reach the supplier that afternoon, I looked at photographs of standard CX500 exhausts on the Internet. All seemed to have a much deeper flange that the 6mm or so flange on my new pipes. A final check with the ever-helpful UK CX500 forum resulted in a photo of a standard exhaust downpipe with deeper flange, and the observation that at least one after market exhaust system uses spacers. This seemed the most likely solution - spacers to pack out the gap. The following morning I contacted John Z and sure enough, he said I needed spacers and that he could provide them. I wonder why he didn't ask if I needed them 7 weeks ago when I ordered the downpipes?
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I've made up part of the aluminium cover for the lower part of the radiator that sits below the bulkhead, but am waiting for two dash type vents to arrive from Car Builder Solutions before doing any more as I need to cut holes in the aluminium to house them, and this is much easier done on flat sheet rather that the assembled box. Fortunately, the dash vents arrived in the post on Thursday so I braved the cold (-3 C) of the garage on Friday and finished making the unit. Whilst not wishing to brag, I do feel that my new cover is an improvement on the previous one (see photo).
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Having turned my attention to the exhaust again, I was concerned that might not be able to use the Dunstall silencers I bought last year as the ID of the silencer inlet is 44mm and the new exhaust pipe is only 38mm OD. However, EBay came to the rescue with two sets of reducers that will pack out the silencer to take the smaller diameter inlet pipe. Although the silencers were at the limit of their forward travel on the existing fixing bolt I rummaged around in the roof of the garage and eventually found the two metal straps that were supplied with the silencers. By using these I can attached the silencer to the bolt that holds the rear reflector in place which is some 100mm forward of the previous fixing point.
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By now I was getting enthused again and dug out the various throttle and clutch cables that I had for the turbo. Not one of them fitted, so now I've bought a clutch cable from David Silver (Honda agent), but I'm a bit bemused by the availability of a throttle opening cable as well as a throttle closing cable. I need to speak to my expert on this before I buy one.
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A little bit of despondency crept in again - everything I attempt to do cannot be completed because either the turbo bit is different, or because my lack of experience of the standard 500cc engine results in me hitting another "ignorance" wall. Quite why Honda found it necessary to re-engineer relatively simple parts for the turbo version is a mystery. Another example of the differences is the fixing of the coils. On the turbo, these were mounted on a simple aluminium frame that attached to the engine casing. That appears not to be the case with the standard 500cc engine so I've had to make two aluminium brackets - one for each coil - and mounted the coils on the diagonal chassis cross members. Similarly, I've made a bracket for the starter solenoid which I've mounted on the vertical chassis member that supports the radiator.
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The elusive water transfer pipe turned up on Thursday too so I need to get this to Sam Day (who is also warning me of dire consequences if this isn't fitted absolutely square) for modification. This is doubly important on my installation as the pipe will be cut to allow a 180 degree return behind the engine back towards the radiator, rather than running down the side of the engine (where there are supports cast into the casing) and round the front of the engine, as this seems an unnecessarily long route.
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I'll be picking up my tested CDI unit on Monday which will allow me to start the (dreaded)rewiring in earnest.
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Roger