Steve's escape from the Swedish winter: Easter Weekend

Not a great deal happening with the car as I concentrated on getting the exit sorted out, I should say on the way to getting sorted as it's not a days project. I started digging holes for the metal posts, 11 in all which will then support "byggtimmer" what ever that is in English, like construction wood for fencing. The holes should go down below the freezing level which in this region is 1 meter, then cemented in place.

The metal posts are T-shaped so the beams are held in place behind the cross of the T.

The pipe is from the gutter pipes, I just need to sink it further in the ground before the 0-30mm stones are placed over the whole area.

I did manage to get something done on the car:

The second sensor arrived from BMW, not too bad for £50 new. I could have bought a second hand one through ebay but it's quite a delicate item and the last one sent in the mail was broken on arrival. I was a bit worried about the tank vibrating so I cut up a bike inner tube and put the lower tank supports through it. I'll do the same with the front support.

New fuel sensor, I also had to order the cable connectors.

Lower tank support bracket, makes a slightly tighter fit and perhaps less vibration.

It was then onto one of the jobs I've been avoiding, bending the rear panel around the chassis tubing. I tried a few times using clamps but gave up as the damn things kept slipping off. I made up wooden blocks which I then tried to clamp but they failed too - a few blue words filling the cellar! Then I bought a 1m 20cm long clamp which stretched from one side of the car to the other so it sorted both sides at once. I then used the 1m clamps I already had to pull in the rear of the panel.

Obviously it's good to use wood to get a nice straight edge which supports the panel on the outside and stops it deforming during the bending process.

I was told the bending the complete panel would take all day but I think it was slightly shortened using the extra long clamps. I'm pretty happy with the drivers side but I may have rushed the passenger side a bit as it is slightly deformed around the edges. I intend to get the car painted sometime after it's finished so I'll have the opportunity to fix problems like this.