UPDATE;
Had the day off yesterday, was supposed to put the engine back in but a myriad of ancillary issues stopped that.
Spend 5hrs drilling one snapped stud out of the manifold, what an absolute pig of a job, did it though. went through 6 drilled, **** you hardened studs!
Got a call yesterday from the chromers, my inlet pipes are ready, so thats a plus.
Also got the old rear section of exhaust off, its rusted out. Found a good used cat back system on eBay for £20 that I have to go pick up so that will tide me over till I design a stainless system later.
Got the AC pump, power steering pump and the aux belt on.
Just waiting for the Oil Cooler to come back from the engineers which I was told last night its done.
I removed the cooler pipes from the rad as I could not vouch for the condition of any of it. Sods law it was all fine and I did not need to split it but I believe in doing it properly.
My engineers made new cooler fittings and cut the pipes, removed the nuts, re cut the threads as they were blocked with stripped thread, then welded the pipes all back together, all for £70 which means I have a good cooler and pipes then can now be separated. I will be sure to grease the unions when it goes on.
So, other than the exhaust I pick up on Saturday, everything is good to go back in. Not going to make Brooklands, I recon I missed it by a week if the engine starts and runs fine.