Chinky nears completion.

Those following the FIAT Cinquecento electric conversion may be please to know the project is nearign completion - or at least roadworthiness - I have a feeling this will be a work in progress once it hits the road, one of those projects which will be continually tinklered with until it breaks.

I took the plunge today as I had to take Jenny's Honda for a new tyre, so while I was going I stripped off the two dodgy wheels off the CHINKY and got new boots for them too. The front nearside was worn out and had a puncture. The rear nearside was worn right down tot he steel wires! I hasten to point out that I never drove it like that - that's the way it came to me on a trailer. Any £70 changed hands at EasyFix Tyres and for the first time since she arrived Scintilla now sits straight and level. Moreover she looks beautiful again, as I have replaced the wheelarch liners and the front bumper. (Beauty is of course in the eye of the beerholder)

I had charged the batteries in anticpation of a bit of a test drive around the private driveway, but I think one of the battery cells has failed, resulting in somewhat sluggish power output. She was reluctant to move at all in reverse at first, and only pulled half heartedly forwards, so teh dodgy battery will be replaced before the road trials commence. I am awaiting a shunt to wire up the ammeter and voltmeter, and then theres just a problem with the horn, hazards and headlamps to sort out before she's ready for MOT. (The heater/demister can wait until next winter - for now there will be a big hole in the bulkhead where the heater used to sit, whcih will allow pleanty of ventilation into the cab)

Maybe tommorow I'll post some photographs.