So with the shell rolling it was time to get the engine sorted and built ready to to fit.



I've had all the engine brackets and panels powder coated in silver and the lower crankcase blasted to remove all the accumulated sh!t before giving it a lick of high temp paint. Only right everything's nice and clean to begin with!





Then packed everything up in the back of the car and off to see a Mr Pedley to actually build the damned thing!











Unfortunately even the best laid plans can fall apart at the last second. Having measured and checked everything and mock-built the engine to check all the fits and clearances I removed everything ready to be immaculately cleaned prior to the final build................





NOT what you want to find when you've committed to the final build, however, I'm VERY glad I spotted it before we built everything up and didn't find out the hard way the moment we showed the engine some boost!!!

However, nearly a grand later and the standard ST170 rods and pistons were replaced with some shiny PEC ones instead - although this was NOWHERE as simple as it should have been. Because I was now running aftermarket rods and pistons I had to send the block of for re-honing (original rods and pistons were 84.8mm bore and the PEC ones were 85mm) and the PEC rods and pistons come needing to be machined down to suit whatever compression ratio you want to run. Unfortunately there were a few issues with the first set of rods and pistons I was sent out (poor quality control spotting machining defects) and then, once we'd gotten those replaced and sorted, we found the gudgeon pins we'd been sent were the wrong ones (3mm too short) so they needed replacing. In fairness to PEC once they'd acknowledged the fault was with them they got new parts out to me very quickly but they should have picked up the problems in the first place. Also, with all the extra time (labour costs) lost to sorting out these problems in terms of finding out what was wrong and corrective machining I could have bought some known good quality items (Wossner etc) and they should have slotted straight in - so the slightly cheaper PEC items have been very much a false economy!!!

But, after all that faff, I did end up with shiny new rods and pistons in my block, all ready to be built up.











Using the ST170 multi-layer steel head gasket as they are bulletproof.















And the 'finished' article.





The 'bling' 4-1 exhaust manifold is not staying. I have a standard ST170 one which I will be heatwrapping and fitting.

That's as far as I've gotten so far as I've now started my job in the Middle East. I hope to do more while I'm back in the UK, including getting the gearbox rebuilt with the Quaife diff and Hewland final drive kit, get the engine and box mated together and into the car and then sort the wiring loom ready for the Link ECU. I also need to replace the crappy FRS Brembo mounting brackets and get those fitted as well.

It's nowhere near finished, but hoping it will be something special one it's done.