Prior to the engine installation and before the new wiring begins, there are
several spots that are just impossible to paint with the engine in the car and
we are going to take care of those before anything else gets in the way.

The inside tops of the hood hinges and the lower areas on both inner fender wells.

You can see where Alan from A&E couldn't reach with the spray gun over near
each side of the transmission bell housing and up at the front of steering rack area.

OK, now that's done and the wiring harnesses for the Masters Headlamp Relay
Kit and the Spal Electric Fan Kit can be installed and run with no interference.

The Master's kit has wires for each headlamp, both high and low beam, with
separate relays for high and low and individual fuses for each filament of each bulb.

A nice neat and simple installation.  This definitely made a difference with the
TRF Halogen PL700 headlamps.  The Spal Fan Relay and harness sits next door.

Erik made a nice neat new harness to go to the lamps and fan up front. 

The power wires were run back through the firewall and out the other side
to feed directly from the connector that sits above the starter built into the
positive battery cable.  I always wondered what those spare terminals were for.

The blue/white and blue/red wires feed the headlamp high and low beams.
Good clean solid ground connections are very important.  There are several up front.

Nice neat connectors that are soldered, but easy to troubleshoot in the future.

This is all of the new wiring run across the front of the car prior to the shroud going on.

It was time to replace my trusty six (6) year old battery with more modern technology.
Note the heavy 10 gauge Yellow wire left of the battery?  That's one of the feed wires
that will supply power to either the headlamp relay or the cooling fan relay package.

I really liked the leak proof design and available custom chrome hold down brackets.

The wiring harness has all new connectors soldered on to insure bright lights.

We replaced the buckets and gaskets as well.  See that little devil hiding in the corner?
That's the only rust that I've ever found in the body and thank goodness it was easy to fix.

What's this??  That's no engine picture??
True, but while there was room and Erik was waiting for the engine from Mason's,
we decided that now would be the time for new steering shaft bushings in the column.

It's the best time to work in here for these kinds of jobs.

While there was room and the interior was apart, we replaced the
heater core hoses, clamps and this fitting and the seals that fit on the firewall.
Yes, I did clean the touch up paint off of everything that got sprayed by accident.

The engine is finally back home!  This time for good.

I hunted all over New England for these black oxide counter sunk cap screws.
When I was sure that I couldn't get them, Erik found them and cut them down to size.

It's starting to look like a complete car again.  Well, almost like a complete car....

Jeff at Advanced Distributors built this custom curved distributor to the new engine specs.

The Art Lipp shaft bushings and newly powder coated throttle pedal is installed.

Also please note VERY IMPORTANT new oil pressure hose to gauge installed.

The stainless steel line from the water pump to the heater hoses is now in place.

The completed column and steering shaft is now back in place and locked down.

This will take the play out of the top of the column.

All assembled, but ready to be cleaned and painted down there.

The newly rebuilt damper and the fane eliminator kit installed. 

Now I'll be able to see the timing degree marks when the light hits the white paint.

These lock nuts and Lock-Tite are very important on the water pump mounting.

The five indentations on the top left of the water pump pulley are for perfect balancing.

Before this goes back in, we're checking for junk in the bowls and all float level adjustments.

Everything was nice and clean and the floats and needles are fine,
so new gaskets were installed and this unit is ready to be installed on the engine.

Yes, the black overspray from the wheel well painting last fall was washed off too!

The carbs always look better when they are right side up.
The front hose to the water pump is in place and we're getting ready for the others soon.

These can be a little tricky, but Erik did a great job routing them to prevent any chaffing.

A better look at the stainless heater hoses and emission hoses all in place.

Those yellow wires at the rear are for the fan and headlamps and will disappear soon.

New fuel lines connected, belt is on, chassis paint touched up, getting closer every hour.

Erik was happy to see that it was finally starting to look like it would one day leave his shop.

OK, Erik, back to work.  Time to test fit Art Lipp's Wizard radiator.

This is actually the brass drain petcock for the side of the TR6 block, available from TRF.

Not too bad.  It looks like it will line up perfectly, just like Art said it would.

The brackets fit OK on this side with no modifications.

This side needed the top stud cut shorter to allow the canister to fit properly.

Everything else lines up and the attaching brackets fit perfectly.

Keep in mind that this is an ALUMINUM radiator and we used rubber insulators.

The (3) piece GoodParts stainless radiator shroud kit is in place.

Just about ready for the hood installation.

The TR6 decal was a gift from my friend Tyler in California.

His beautiful blue TR6 graces the cover of the new Moss catalog

The big moment and crucial cam break in period.  After priming the oil pump
and the fuel pump, the engine started right up.  We went right to 2,500 RPM
as soon as we verified that we had great (100LB psi) oil pressure at start up.

This was the initial reading after start up, while still on choke.  Not too rich for initial run.

It's now warmed up and on about the 8th minute of the cam break in run. Everything
sounds just great, there is no smoke, no oil or water leaks and this will continue for
a total of 20 minutes at 2,500 RPM before shut down and a complete oil drain down.

We drained the oil while hot, pulled the filter and left everything drain overnight.

New oil and filter and time for a test drive and tuning. 

That all worked out well and here it is, all cleaned up and ready to go.

I've taken shots from every angle to show Erik's great work and attention to detail.

The hoses, radiator and shroud get the most questions at shows this year.

I'm very happy with the performance of the engine and the cooling system.

Now that the final detailing is done, it's time to drive it a bit before the next project.

The new Fiesta alternator cleaned up well with some Mothers Metal Polish.

I did replace the valve cover and added the silicone gasket after this was taken.

Final shot, see you down the road...........

Thanks Erik!!