I have put an alarming number of hours in to the car this last couple of months, many jobs are obvious, just as many are not and it's sometimes hard to see where all the time went.

A few days back I did a job list, I got three or four things done and decided I should do another one, given that every time I look at the bloody thing I spot something else that needs attention. It's good to have a plan so I started at the front and worked my way backwards,by the time I had finished I had identified about 30 jobs that needed doing. Today I finished off the wiring at the front, fitted the side repeaters for the indicators, made up proper steel cables to stop the bonnet opening too far, rounded off the door hinges to IVA spec ie 2.5mm radius and fixed the handbrake light, which had stopped working. Turned out I had knocked off a wire when I was messing about connecting up the aerial the other week, 10 minute job to sort that. Another 10 minute job not on the list was to put cable ties on the track rod gaiters, something I only spotted today but would have been a failure point.

With the Astra Mkt GTE now nearly done thoughts are turning to the Audi Quattro UR project, the one we picked up from down Oxford way a couple of months back. When we collected the car it had no engine, gearbox, diffs or very much else really, it was just a restored shell on a rolling chassis and a few boxes of bits. The seller had promised to bring the rest of the stuff up to us, I have to say I was extremely nervous from day one.

A few people have asked me about the progress of my RC163 replica so I thought I would just do a very quick update in the highly unlikely event that anybody else gives a toss.

Quick bit of background for those that have not read my previous ramblings about my Arduino adventure. I am new to all this,a retired electronics man that hasn't really done any electronics for many years and am now looking for a more relaxing past time than playing with motorbikes and rally cars. Engines are heavy, diabetes makes hard work harder, it's time to replace an engine lift with a soldering iron.

We had made several attempts to start the aged Escort over the last couple of years but it was always either inaccessible or we would be distracted with something else. The decision was finally made to get it out of the museum and in to the workshop to sort it  and give it a proper run, it had last been run at a charity event about 2 1/2 years ago.