IACV Mounting, Quick Shift and Exhaust Manifold

Lots of work completed that doesn't really photo well - the engine loom is fitted and well, you cant see it! (which is the general idea).

I spoke to GBS about mounting the IACV and they didn't say there was a specific place for it and recommended somewhere near the swirl pot.  No room there so I posed on Rhocar to check my thoughts on mounting towards the front of the car near the radiator.  I was concerned at the distance increase, no real consensus.   I found on another builders blog they had mounted the IACV on the same bracket the coil pack sits on - that is what I went with and am really pleased with the result:

It looks almost stock!  Great, filter required on the underside on one of the inlets and a vaccum pipe required other side going to the plenum - the end result should be nice and neat as well as functional.

Next up was the Exhaust Manifold - the manifold purchased from GBS must have a slightly thinner flange on it as the bolts don't nip up tight, they are about 2mm too long and as a result there is no way the manifold will seal.   I did a fair amount of research on what type of bolts to use (with a couple of reference to GBS supplied ones) I came to the conclusion shortening the stock bolts was the way forward.

Using my vernier, dremmel and some patience all 6 bolts were cut to length and the manifold is now on:

Next up was the MT75 quick shift from Kitspares, the instructions are clear and it was easy to fit.  I had to take off the existing "spider??" which was attached via circlip and pin, the left hand is the GBS replacement:

One thing I found easier was to keep the pin to temporarily connect the quick shift up to get the required 90 degree angle when in neutral.

GBS instructions say to finger tight everything up and then adjust the angle but the problem is to adjust the angle you have to take the bracket off.  To find what the angle will be the selector needs to be connected to the gearbox, hence using the pin to temporarily connect.

Not too much of a faff and it feels really solid and well engineered:

I need to return the exhaust silencer I purchased from kitspares and swap it for one including CAT (I ordered the wrong one).   I don't think I am too far off starting the engine but some big purchases are in order (clocks + ECU).