Bottom end almost finished

The engine front plate I received last week has now been fitted, not without some modification though. I had asked for a front plate from a 1500 engine, which I knew would fit straight on, unfortunately they sent me a plate from a earlier engine, which meant I had to open up the hole for the crankshaft to pass through, add two more mounting holes and remove a small ammount of material from the back of one of the mounts. It was just as well that of the thread on the plate were intact, otherwise it would of been sent back.

With the plate on it meant I could get the new duplex timing chain on, mating up with the wider tensioner. The old head was sat on the block and then the water pump and inlet manifolds were also fitted, as much as a moral boost and clearance check then anything else.
With the water pump on I was able to carefully remove one of the water take-offs. This is no longer required as it was used to pass water through inlet manifold, this is not needed or wanted when using the injection throttle bodies.

Next jobs will be to get the fuel pipework in place and then have a go at timing up the distributor and the metering unit, should be interesting.