To compliment the new radiator, Dave had decided to do a lightweight replacement for the front spoiler, bumper and bonnet. This gave us the opportunity to fit a huge three foot wide scoop, similar to the one on the Elise but bigger, to take air from the front of the radiator out over the top of the bonnet. The end result was quite impressive with all three parts coming in at a combined weight of about 4 kg. The bonnet is pinned and has to be lifted off but it is a lot easier to work in the engine bay with it removed.

The gearbox was reconditioned and strengthened to cope with the extra power by Tower View. Their gearbox guru also does similar work for Martin Short. This was getting just like a real race team. Here was I chatting with the guys who did for the rich and famous in the racing world! The rest of the drive train was left as is. The car already had the heavy duty and larger drive shafts and universal joints and the Salisbury differential is renowned for its strength and was acknowledged to be able to cope with the power. Bigger brakes and further improvements to the suspension were planned but not a priority as the car already had SEAC spec suspension and 300mm discs with 4 pot callipers.

If you are planning on anything like this, start early. Anticipate for problems and delays. Even if you do be prepared for late night sessions. Everything was done and simply waiting for the engine and bits to arrive so that we could drop them in the car. The engine was delayed when John’s dyno broke some bearings and there was a delay in getting replacements. We were now into the new year when the racing community springs into life and demand increases. My radiator had been delayed due to some higher priority work coming in. Fortunately this was not a problem as I didn’t have an engine. A lot of juggling later and parts started to arrive.

The engine was delivered which meant that I could start wiring in the ECU and the rest of the computers systems.The traction control and ECU were going to talk to a new data logger to give me a blow by blow account of what was going on. I could see what speeds I was doing per wheel, time, engine revs, air intake and water temperatures, how many degrees of advance on the ignition and so on. Slight problem with writing the software but it is marvellous what you can do while watching the telly with a laptop on your knee. More about the wiring later. The problem was that the delays had really started to bite and the slippage that I had planned for had gone. Dave and Mark were also very busy and were finding it difficult to spend all the time needed to complete the job. I had kept some holiday and so started the period of oblivion. Get into work early, work unto lunch or early afternoon, take some holiday time and go down to Tower View to work on the car until late evening. Drive home, have a bath, go to bed and get up next morning for work. This went on for about three weeks. It was a very eventful time as all sorts of problems started to arise. I was honoured to be awarded the title of Garage Lacky grade 2, complete with my own mug for the numerous cups of coffee that were consumed. I've since been demoted to grade 3 after asking Mark whether the gearbox was in upside down! It also opened my eyes to the other side of working on cars - but that is something for another time.

The engine was a serpentine version whereas the original 390SE engine was not. This meant that all the fittings for the ancillaries were different. Water pipes were different sizes or missing. The fan fittings were designed to bolt onto the radiator. As the radiator was made of aluminium, it was no longer capable of taking the weight of the fans and steel fittings. An aluminium alternative had to be made from scratch. It also couldn't take the oil cooler and this was moved into the empty headlamp pod space. The PAS pump could not be reused and a new one fitted but none of the hydraulic pipes fitted and new ones had to be made. The PAS pump didn't have a reservoir so I needed a new one of those. The remote oil filter was a different pipe size and so that had to be replaced. It was during this time that I got very quickly used to spending the odd £40 here and there and then wondering where all the bills we coming from. The long and the short of it was that effectively the whole engine bay was rebuilt. After we had finished only the hydraulics and the coolant expansion tank were the same. This would have taken longer if it was not for access to Tower View's extensive stores and having the right tools for the job. In particular, I got very used to using air ratchets and guns and now have my own set in the garage. In moments of extreme madness, I can now pretend to be a QuickFit Fitter in the comfort of my own garage!

The changes did not stop there. The fuel system required modification as well. John asked me what fuel pump I was going to use. I replied the standard one. "No you don't" was the reply from John. "You will need to fit an uprated one so that the fuel pressure is maintained when you are on full throttle. You need a system from a Porsche Turbo or something similar." The something similar turned out to be a Facet 16c competition 140+ psi pump that in the installation we have delivers fuel at about 6 litres a minute. This is just about enough to keep up with the engine. The car lapped Goodwood in about 90-95 seconds with my foot to the floor for most of the circuit. That means the engine will get through about 7-8 litres of fuel to cover the two point something miles. It was obvious that was not going to win any prizes for fuel economy.

Despite overcoming all these obstacles, the car still did not have an engine installed. With the deadline of the season's first sprint only 48 hours away, it was decided to pull out of the event to give us another two weeks to finish the car and thus get it right. Later that next week, the engine was installed with all its systems and the moment to fire up the engine came. At this point, disaster struck as it would not run correctly: the engine's inability to run for more than a few seconds was a real body blow. Visions of an error or damage to the engine immediately came to mind. After checking the mechanical components, it looked like a wiring/ECU problem. Being in mind the extensive work I had done on the loom, this seemed sensible.

The DTA ignition system has its own wiring loom which had to be spliced into the existing one. This was made a little easier because the removal of the old ECU meant I had to cut several wires and as luck would have it, these would be a good match for the new circuit. A couple of the wires were meant to control the fuel pump and these were going to prove interesting to say the least. John gave me the details of where each wire went and I went and spliced the looms in using a fused connection matrix. Every connection between the original loom and the new ECU is fused, just in case I got something wrong. This proved invaluable as it enabled the wiring and signalling to be easily accessible and straightforward to check out. This would be used later on. When it came time to start the engine, it would turn over and then die. After much worrying and cursing, it was decided that I would return armed with all the diagnostic equipment I could muster to see where the problem might be. After much probing, it turned out that the existing fuel pump control relays were switching the pump on but that the ECU was not taking over control of the pump on signal so that it was switching off. This was why the engine was dying. A quick rewire and bypass cured the problem and the engine burst into life and stayed running. The sound was simply awesome and you could feel the relief that at long last the car was running. I worked out that it had taken about 200 man hours to do it because of all the problems and obstacles we had to work around and solve.