Misc items before removing engine

I had a few miscellaneous tasks to complete after the engine heat cycle testing...

When I fitted the radiator and hoses for the first engine start, I found that horn mount (behind the radiator) was in the way of the lower radiator hose so I had to relocate the horns. I chose to mount them in the passenger-side lower wheel arch, behind the indicator. The Hella disc horns are "spray-proof" however I made a shield so that there would be no direct heavy water spray or debris from the wheels.

I've clamped the mount in place to confirm fitment/clearances however I have to wait until the engine is removed to drill mounting holes for it. Note that I've also drilled a couple of water drain holes at the bottom of the enclosure.

I had previously made a custom radiator hose adapter between the radiator and engine but the rubber hose was really close to rubbing on the radiator filler neck, and the adapter diameter looked quite small (the size was only a visual issue). With some slightly larger pipe, I remade it with an extra bend to clear the radiator filler neck.

Old adapter :

New adapter :

With the engine installed, I found that the coolant hose that runs from the heater core bulkhead adapter to the water pump inlet (between the engine and firewall) had a high chance of rubbing a couple of things. I plan on replacing the long rubber hose with a single hardline and only have a rubber hose to join either end. I mocked up a route for the upper part of the hard line and will finish the piece after the engine is removed.

Mock piece to confirm the correct bend angle (which was bolted to the back of the inlet manifold) :

With a hard line behind the engine, there is no chance of the hose rubbing on anything behind the engine.

I also found that there would be a local high spot in the coolant system above the cabin heater core, which ideally needs a bleed valve for bleeding off air pockets. All of the coolant bleed valves I've seen allow an uncontrolled coolant flow out of the valve and make a mess. Instead, I chose to repurpose a brake caliper bleed valve repair kit for a coolant bleed valve, so I can attach a hose to bleed nipple and have minimal coolant leaks whilst bleeding.

I remade the heater hose adapter in the bulkhead (that connects the cabin heater core to the coolant system) include a 10x1.0mm threaded bung to screw in the bleeder adapter.

With the fuel lines, brake lines, wiring loom, brake booster, carbon canister, heater hoses and intake piping squeezed into one area of the engine bay, the bulky VH44 brake booster ended up causing far too many clearance issues. I decided to forgo the use of a booster and remove it, however had to make a new mount for the carbon canister against the bulkhead. The brake line from the master cylinder (used to go to the brake booster) will also be remade but this will be done after the engine is removed.

With all these last jobs done, I removed all the ancillary parts from the engine bay and proceeded to fit some new split tubing over the wiring.

The wiring was then wrapped with Tesa loom tape. This made a huge difference to cleaning up the look of the engine bay and gives the loom a very professional finish.