Starting up

I gave everything one final check and then cranked the car with the fuel injection relay still removed.  The belt stayed on and all the clearances looked fine so it was time to put the relay back in and go for it.  It started first time.  And ticked over at 3000rpm. Clearly something was wrong.  After a bit of checking around, and a call to Simon Knapton, I decided it had to be the throttle cable.  Simon told me he'd modified the throttle pedal end of his cable and I had noticed that the new one had an additional rubber washer and a slightly different end piece.  Rather than risk damaging this cable by removing it I worked on removing the rubber washer using a pair of pliers with my head jammed in the footwell.  Frustratingly this took nearly an hour.  A tough little washer!

But then it was done and the throttle cable had the required amount of slack.  I started it again and the problem was cured.  I checked all the clearances again while the engine warmed up and then adjusted the idle and checked the timing.

The first run

I couldn't wait until the next day so I took the car for a spin around the block.  It was everything I'd expected and perhaps a little bit more.  Lots more low-down grunt, lots more power all the way around the dial and delicious supercharger whine. I took the car back to the house and Mary had a go.  She also came back smiling.

The future

Since then I've fitted the MSD and tidied up a fair few parts of the install.  My "artificial elbow" to avoid the ABS servo is still a bodge and I'm sure I'm losing power due to all the twists and turns. Moss now do an "ABS kit" that resembles my solution in some ways (their technical chap had a peek at my install) but uses a single plastic (silicone?) section.  It's £90 but I might go for it at some point.

So would I recommend other to go this route?  Absolutely.  If you have about 2000 quid spare and you want more power then this is perhaps the least hassle route. I'm impressed with the easy fit of the system and driveability is excellent.  Idle is normal and stable and only a squeak from the supercharger that I'm assured will go after 500 miles lets you know anything is different.  Acceleration is vastly improved over stock and I'm sure with a bit more work and adjustment it will be even
better.

Many thanks to all who advised, particularly Simon Knabpton who got a 'phone call regards the 3k 'idle' and gave me confidence to molest the throttle cable.

Regards

Ian Oliver