Shifting!

I had been checking the web for pictures of other Aries or Stuart Taylors to see how the gear pivot was placed. I noticed that no one had the lower shaft on a 90º angle with the footwell chassis tubes. Maybe I could still use the holes I started drilling... So I undid the bolts that linked the lower pivot to the engine but it was no good.

Marked new places for drilling, got it done, some more filing on the gear knob and it all became assembled!

Jumped inside the car making engine noises and shifting gears. Then I realized I don't know how to really shift gears (forward moves me from 1st to 6th or is it the other way around? and where is neutral?). Jumped out, fiddled with the clutch cable nuts to make the clutch harder and then turned around the bolts that hold the pivot on the passenger footwell to make it look nicer. And there we have it, another major task done!

Last task was to drill holes to hold the handbrake lever. Measured, drilled the first hole with the 4,5mmØ so that I could then enlarge it with the 10mmØ. The idea was to then put the lever in place and drill the second hole with it there, so that I wouldn't miss it. Turns out that the chassis rail I have to drill is resisting the 10mmØ cheap drill bit. And it also resisted the 8mmØ cheap one I tried to make it in three stages. So I packed up and finished for the day. I'll be buying quality 6, 8 and 10 mmØ bits before going on the car again.