May 29th. New manifold and something I forgot!

The new 6-3-1 manifold finally arrived today and luckily just after 9am too, so I was able to get started on the car straight away. A new urgency had now developed as something was nagging at me last night and my worst fears were confirmed when I checked the MOT and found that it expired last Thursday! I'm normally on the ball with MOT's and as a rule present the cars for test a week early. However, with all the issues that have plagued me recently, it just completely slipped my mind. The car hasn't been used since the previous Wednesday anyway, so the expiry wasn't an issue, but with it booked in with Picton Sportscars tomorrow for a tune up and supposedly heading north of the border Friday, time was running short.

So I cracked on fitting the new exhaust manifold and re-fitting the inlet manifold, carbs, throttle and choke cables, air filters etc and then dived underneath to fit the rest of the exhaust system.

By 1pm, everything was done and the car was up and running again. A quick phone call to my local MOT station revealed that they weren't busy at all and a test was booked for 2pm. I had a quick check round the car and after adjusting the back brakes left to meet the appointment.
The guys at Phoenix MOT in Basildon are as good as gold and I've been taking my cars there for years. The newly fitted exhaust was fine while driving but knocking against the gearbox cross member on tickover, so the guys let me borrow a socket wrench and move the exhaust whilst it was on their ramp. Gertie was given a clean bill of health and passed with no advisories.

Gertie's MOT being due made me realise that I must have had the car for a year now. She'd only been MOT'd two days before I collected her last year. As you can see from the two photos below, she has changed quite a bit in that time. The lower photo was taken the day I drove her home.

I could use these two photos for a 'spot the differences' competition with a bonus point  for identifying the classic car in the background at the MOT station. :)