Right a few pics as promised

Here's the bad-boy all fitted up and with my old bug pool ball knob (fnarr) fitted on the top



Thankfully my birds nest of wiring that's usually hidden under the carpet is just out of shot

Here is the base plate where it bolts through the floor. You can see that there isn't a rubber boot. You can also,see the exquisite workmanship and the attention to detail that make this a true thing if beauty



Here's what I have to make the boot to cover. I can imagine that my little pinkies will get a tad chilly with the draught coming up through the floor



Needed to make up a template to cut the rubber cab mat so it all fits nice and snug around the base of the shifter but so you can still see the lovely polished metal.

Cheers, Lee.

So onto cutting ( hacking) a hole in my as yet un-damaged rubber mat

First off found a bit of card to make a template and measured it out from the back of the hole for the handbrake



When I had drawn it all out it definitely looked wonky but I measured it all again and was straight and in line. I think it was because the bit of cardboard wasn't quite square at the edges

Taped it to the mat and made sure it was in position at least five times before I was happy with it. I know it looks off-centre but the current hole for the gear stick was slightly off to one side and this had caused the mat to ruck up a bit on that edge so I moved where the new hole was going to be over by about 10mm.



Took a nice sharp Stanley knife and cut the hole out, which went better than expected.
Unfortunately at is point LIttle Empi was going into one as he was getting tired and wouldn't go to sleep so I had to sack it for the day and take him out for a drive in the car to get him to sleep. Those with youngsters will now where I'm coming rom on this, it's the easiest way to get a baby to sleep
Put the mat back I. The garage and I'll have a bash at fitting it tomorrow if I get time.
In other news, I've also fitted one of buttys throttle linkages........more on this later

Cheers, Lee.

So having managed to get a chance to cut the hole in the cab rubber mat i was quite pleased with how it came out, no nibbled looking edges



And yes, that us the kitchen floor because it's bleeding freezing outside
Did the usual measure 4 times and cut once.
As usual the bloody hole was out as it finished up with the whole lot being about 2cm further back than I wanted it. To say I was f****d off doesn't quite cover it Anyway, I make sure I'd kept the bits I'd chopped out and managed to cut a piece off and using carpet tape I've attached it from underneath and it doesn't notice but I was still fairly p!ssed off about it. In fact I still am.
Put the mat against the radiator for an hour or so to get it warmed up so that it's easier to fit it. Every time I take it out/put it back it ends up with a few more tears around the accelerator pedal area or the handbrake area so I wanted to try not to damage it any more.
Then it started to rain so I sacked it off for a few hours and had some lunch

Cheers, Lee.

There's not two ways about it lee, it's a lovely shaft.....

I assume it's doesn't use the reverse lock out plate?. How much did it cost? I need to start the justification process with the wife....

jonthebuilder wrote:There's not two ways about it lee, it's a lovely shaft.....

I assume it's doesn't use the reverse lock out plate?. How much did it cost? I need to start the justification process with the wife....

Have a look on this thread, there may be(hopefully) a discounted bulk buy in the near future.

Helps if I add the thread info haha
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=112869

jonthebuilder wrote:There's not two ways about it lee, it's a lovely shaft.....

I assume it's doesn't use the reverse lock out plate?. How much did it cost? I need to start the justification process with the wife....

Cheers Jon. I fully expect to be approached on a regular basis by folk telling me that they've seen a picture of my shaft on a public forum and how lovely and solid it looks
Yeah, no lock out plate so you don't have to press down, just across. The springs are fairly loaded though so there's no chance of hitting reverse by mistake unless you've got Arnie Sschwarzenegger arms
Got mine via the deal on here, think we got 20% off in the end. My justification was that I've yet to hear anyone say it's not worth the money, it's a fantastic looking and very well made bit of kit plus if I couldn't get on with it I could always sell it for what it cost, possibly more due to the discount.
If you've got the cash to spare I'd say go for it, you won't be disappointed. And it looks f*****g awesome

Cheers, Lee.

So here it is all fitted up with the mat back in



Close up shaft and knob action just for Jon



And a pic of the base just to show how cool it all looks against the black of the mat



Just wish the weather would cheer up a bit so I could go out for a drive It's been freezing and I can't subject little Empi to another blast out in the cold as he's been a bit poorly this last week or so. Oh well, hopefully it'll warm up a bit for the weekend and if it doesn't I'll crawl under it and connect the heater pods back up, which I need to do anyway really.

Cheers, Lee.

Meanwhile in a garage in Essex......



a prototype Canterbury Pitt repo table is coming together


Cheers, Lee.

Not much been happening at Empster towers really due to work and cold dark rainy nights
Myself and the next door neighbour have continued with the repro table project, trying different size tops. Depending on what additional interior parts your Pitt came with dictates how long the table is. Getting the correct brackets and hinges has been a complete nightmare but hopefully we may have solved a few of the problems.
Also the wood for the legs was originally a bit of an odd size thickness but we've used a special machine he has access to and basically thinned down all the wood for the legs to what it should be and it looks a lot more proportionate. More about tables another day though....

I've also had the Buttys throttle linkage fitted. Although it doesn't really feel any smoother this is probably because mine wasn't too bad to start with and wasn't notchy feeling at all. I've certainly got more/full throttle movement at the pedal now though whereas I didn't before. Nice to get them 40's fully open and hear a bit of induction roar I've noticed that I don't have nearly as much side-to-side movement on the pedal or linkage now, which must be a good thing. It's also nice to know that the whole throttle linkage isn't 50 years old and could and probably would fall to bits at any moment and leave me stranded down a dark lane in the rain at the @rse end of nowhere For what it cost is say it's a good bit of kit and worth having if only for peace of mind as its one less thing to go wrong. It's very well made, fits as it should without having to file this and cut that and bend this and alter that, which is a rarity in these times of sh!t aftermarket parts so cheers for the quality parts Butty
Pics when it stops raining as I'll have to crawl under the bus to get them plus I've just had some more tattoo work done on my upper chest and it's all a bit sore at the moment and I don't fancy scrabbling around on the floor right now

Cheers, Lee.

Ps if you want a repro Canterbury Pitt table let me know and we can discuss options

Ok, as there were no pictures in the last post, here's a picture of what I was getting up to at the weekend......oouuch!!!!!



Although this time I didn't tell the tattooist "last one for me, I'm not having any more" Already booked up for some more chest work. Gotta say though that the chest area hurt more than anywhere else, including upper inner arm and we all know how painful that is....

Cheers, Lee.

C'mon then, what does it say?

You can't pop that up without explanation!


Nige

Fingers kill as do the top of your inner wrist.

Nice tattoo tho

Cheers mate
Dunno why the bruising has come out like that though as it didn't happen on my back when that was done. Fingers and wrists are out for me though as work won't allow it The plan is to carry on down to the bottom of my chest with scripts but there's no way I'm going for the ribs Mrs Empi has got some on the lower rib area and I'm deffo not quite brave enough for it

Cheers, Lee.

Far too cold this weekend to do anything on the van but with the impending roof alterations I got it ,it and did some measuring (see my thread in the tech section) and I should be able to fit a 2 bow front rack and a pig-ugly commercial transit builders style roof bar and be able to strap the longboards across the top of any poptop roof I get. That's the plan anyway, whether it works or not remains to be seen
Then went out for a drive to the tip with Little Empi and Mrs Empi followed by a trip to the duck pond to feed the ducks as Little Empi likes ducks
That done he was about due a nap so we went for a mellow blatt up the dual carriageway and he fell asleep in his baby seat strapped in the front. Result.
Also got the engine up to temp to clear out any cobwebs that had accumulated over the last few weeks of it not being used.

Mrs Empi had very thoughtfully bought me a rack of maxi-bins that were of offer at Aldi
So spent the rest of the afternoon putting them up in the garage. Once I had done that I decided to sort through a couple of tubs of nuts and bolts I have and separate them into 10mm nuts, 8mm nuts, 10mm long bolts, 10mm short bolts, 8mm long bolts and 8mm short bolts. Exciting times at Empster Mansions To she honest there was a method in the madness as the last time I did anything I spent half the bloody time trying to rifle through tubs of nuts and bolts trying to find the right size so at least this way I can just go to the maxi bins and pick the right size out of the drawer.

So that was my weekend

Cheers, Lee.

So at last I had a day off yesterday where it wasn't chucking it down with rain
Decided that a trip to the seaside with Little Empi was the order of the day, plus I had to call in and see a man about a roof
As soon as Little Empi heard the bus coming out of the garage he got all excited and put my trainers on and started running up and down the hallway shouting loads of stuff I couldn't understand. He knows when the bus comes out that it means we're going out for a drive and proper goes into one
Packed the bus up with all the random stuff a 22 month old needs for a cold windy day at the beach, checked the oil (dunno why as it's just been serviced), strapped in the baby seat, mrs Empi sorted out a packed lunch and off we went
Nice little run on fast there lane carriageways for most of the journey then small village roads for the last 10 miles or so. It's about 65 miles each way so was a good chance to blow the winter cobwebs out as I've only been doing local journeys that are just enough to get the engine up to running temps since Slough.
Cruised at a steady 65mph with minimal fuss and boy, does that Red9 soak up the bumps a treat The temp guage sat at a healthy 190° all the way there at 65mph and about 3300rpm so more than happy with that. No rattles seem to have appeared over winter and the Bug-Tech shifter was a pleasure to use and only crunched one gear which was a bit of "operator error" when I got a bit carried away at a junction
Anyhow, as soon as we could see the sea he started shouting again and pointing and getting all excited again as he loves being at the seaside and running about on the beach. He loves having his feet dipped in the waves as well but I wasn't planning on trying it this time of year in the English Channel
We managed to park right on the front. Right next to a sign that gave the parking restrictions as "no caravans, no camper vans, no caravanettes" I wasn't about to undo the good work of Peter Pitt and get arrested to prove it wasnt caravanette but reasoned that no one was likely to care on a cold winters day



You can just see the sign on the left of the picture. It wasn't packed so we could basically choose our spot. Thinking about it, I should have got a picture of the sign and had it blown up and put it up in my garage