One advantage of buying a semi sorted car is the pleasure of sorting it, making it your own and gaining a bit of cred without doing too much work.  A case in point is the steering, Bob King told me in no uncertain terms that  “A Bugatti should have no play in the steering” my car had plenty of play and in at least three places.

1. RH tie rod end was loose so needed adjustment (more shims).
2. RH steering arm was loose on its taper also no split pin to stop the nut falling off,  the reason: split pin hole was originally half drilled with the broken drill bit still embedded. With much fiddling and the use of an ARTU cobalt and tungsten carbide tipped drill bit (bought on Ebay)  I drilled the  broken bit out and finished drilling the split pin hole, also had to use some shim steel on the taper as it still wobbled.
3. Steering column leather joint had a fair bit of play, I could not figure how it was supposed to work, the way it was assembled the leather part was superfluous and obviously the original assembler did not have a clue either. Having a good look at a cross sectional drawing showed it had been assembled without washers.

This ends the chapter of fixing stuff that might actually kill me.

Lastly I did take the car for a drive to Olinda searching for mid corner bumps but could not get it out of line, so the smaller wheels and no play in steering may have fixed it or the bumps in SA are engineered to some herd thinning Darwinian principle.

I always thought a crown-wheel and pinion change involved some black magic or at least a human sacrifice or two. However that was before the Internet, before YouTube videos of helpful chaps telling you exactly what to do and of course you can watch them over and over again….resistance is useless.

The videos I watched were telling me how to adjust the back lash on a Toyota Tundra as it seems Ettore did not do any YouTubes although I am sure he would have used them if available, probably instructing from the back of his horse.

On my first test drive I was astounded to hear absolutely nothing from the back axle, previously it was the lovely straight gear howl of first, second, third and then the howl of the straight bevel crown wheel and pinion necessitating ear plugs to preserve the last vestiges of my hearing. Now it’s the same lovely howl through the gears but silence in top, it does trouble me so I stop every now and then, pull the back of the seat forward to check that the diff is not hemorrhaging, seems too good to be true.

I had a list of at least 12 things to do while the floor pan was removed, things like split pinning nuts in the brake circuit, moving the blinker switch, installing the new alternator etc etc. they were all attended to although after screwing the floor pan back on and wiring all the screws, I realised there was a number 13, it will have to wait.

I have since been on the Five Valleys Rally in South Aus. Which involved reasonably short drives on glorious roads with long stops for food and drink, perfect really.

Yesterday I fitted the new wheels, these are standard at about 2.5″ wide so much narrower than the ones that were on the car, it steers much better now. The other problem I’m hoping it will fix is the under steer when I encounter bumps mid corner, the front end would skate over the bumps and go straight…..bloody terrifying, so I will report back later as I am off to find some corners with bumps and no oncoming cars.