Looking ahead to the point where the engine could be started, it was going to be important to have the exhaust system (and therefore the silencer) completed. This first required the Heat Shield to be fitted over the Collector. This was a simple task involving two jubilee clips being fitted to the lugs on the inside of the Heat Shield and then being slipped over the Collector to be tightened in position.
The Silencer is another piece of art, to complement the Collector and Primaries. The polished Stainless Steel looks magnificent. The right hand end of the Silencer has a pipe, with small longitudinal slits, that slides over the output pipe from the Collector. The left hand end has a bracket which is fitted onto the chassis via a rubber bobbin. This should be a straightforward task to slide the Silencer onto the Collector, and then drop the bracket onto the rubber bobbin (which in turn is mounted on the chassis via a simple bracket). However, the fitting is very tight and although lubricant helped, it was still a tight fit requiring a lot of manoeuvring to allow the bracket hole to line up with the rubber bobbin. The other difficulty was that the angle of the Collector and Primaries was such that it was forcing the left hand end of the Silencer (and the mounting bracket) very close to the side skin. As soon as I realised this issue, I taped a section of thick cardboard to protect the paintwork - and was later very glad that I done so. It's possible to see in the photograph below the considerable sideways force that the Silencer was exerting on the rubber bobbin.
Bracket fitted to chassis - bobbin added - sideways force on the bobbin once Silencer added.
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