Update, and hopefully the last I need to make.

This morning I went out to the car and got everything open and out for me to get to work on the loom. I'd left the battery out of the car all night, so once I had my tools and stuff out, I was curious to see what the tester would show. Tester showed 9.9V, ok not where it should be but at least it's not giving me problems like it was before. I then decided to put the charger back on to see if it was still being dumb, and to my surprise instead of saying 100% and turning itself off, it showed it was between 75% and 100% and then proceeded to start charging the battery, result!

So, whilst that charged for a bit, I got to work on the loom. Like I said yesterday, I needed the car to be usable today and tomorrow and so I was only doing a temporary fix for now until the other stuff I need arrives during the week. After about 2, maybe 2 and a half hours, I connected the last cable. My hands were sore given the huge lack of space in that area, and with the cables having no slack at all you're at the mercy of how little room there is. I'd removed the boot off the hinge temporarily to bring the loom to the other side to make it easier. Once done, I got in the car with the key and held my breath as I waited to see if that was the only thing I needed to fix.

I put the key in and turned it, nothing. No lights, no sounds. Then, in the corner of my eye, I saw the stupid battery still sat there in the garage on charge! My mistake out of the way, I put the battery in, and as soon as I heard the little spark of the negative terminal touching, I knew I was getting somewhere. Back in the car, ignition on and we were a go.

I tidied everything back up, got the loom back on the correct side of the hinge and tightened that back up before taking her for a little drive just to make sure the power wasn't going to vanish over the first bump. Everything went well, and after a stop at McDonalds for lunch, all was ok.

Next week I'll have to remove it all again anyway to do a more permanent fix still I suspect, but I'm happy and I'm thankful for all the advice and input everyone had on this thread. It's this sort of engagement and community that keeps these cars alive.

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