All systems are go.

Very productive afternoon and evening.



Got a 960mm 5 groove belt and a 975mm one from Halfrauds and some STP oil treatment for cam bedding...Went to some other places first no joy, Halfrauds had a really crap selection, ie not many, but just what I needed!


Checking which belt worked best, 960 ok or 975, so used 960.
6mm gap to the tower from my oil block, also the pipes clear the belt by a 3/4"...All good.
About the neatest I could come up with...
Small issue in the new location the alternator is too close to the engine mount for a bolt to be fitted, no biggy, just have to hack 1/2" off the top of the engine mount and weld it again...No bother. Had to stick the engine back in to check before hunting for a belt and proceeding.
You can just make the lower tension adjustment and mount...Its solid as a rock, 5mm steel braces with oval holes for adjustment of the tension on the belt..The braces are held on an M10 bolt which goes right through the mount, there is a steel sleeve taking up the area between the rear brace and the rear mount eye, so the bolt/alternator can load through the entire lower bracket not just one lug...Strenghr and fatigue reduction of course. All good, happy with that.
Simply enough system...
Only real task left is the water rail that will run over the manifold, over the top alternator mount and to the rad...
Fitted the starter and tested it, tad tight on the ring gear, but it'll bed in. Spins over like a gooden.

Made an earth strap. Things are really coming together. Hopefully by the weekends end I will have strung up and adjusted the wiring for the front, will be run along the chassis rail where it can't be seen on P clips. That leaves errrrrr...Not much, pull it all out, finally assembly everything, do bulkhead and tunnel and then its final build.

Got some followers from ebay, decent quality shame the tit sent BMW M42 engine ones...Funny they do fit, they are the same size, but they are heavy, they aren't Rover ones, what the hell do I want BMW items for, I want Rover items? Some prat selling BMW items for Rover just cause they fit? selling them as Rover items...They may fit but they are not Rover ones...I am disputing the sale atm as the seller is a prat and owes me £80.

I remember someone saying "engine swap, cop out innit" after my blow up..

Cop out, yes right? I could have 1000 triumph engines by now..Engine swap to this standard ain't a cop it, its plain madness! :)