26th & 27th Jan. New core plugs and washy time!

       The new core plugs I'd ordered arrived during the week along with a new throttle arm bush which meant I could resume work on the Red Shed. Luckily, the weather had turned warmer too so it was all systems go. (I was helping Darren Sharpe refit his diff in a freezing cold lock up the night before with Dave Maton and Nick Peskett-it was so cold I couldn't even feel my feet when I left there!)
     While the inlet & exhaust manifold were off I took the opportunity of fitting the new superflex throttle arm bush. The old one was absolutely knackered which was making the arm float around and affecting the throttle response.
With this done then I then cleaned the block out and fitted the new core plugs.

With this done I then refitted the inlet and exhaust manifold and carburettors. I then also decided to refit all of the heater hoses that were missing or knackered when I bought the car. This was going well until the heater hot & cold valve promptly fell apart while I was tightening up the jubilee clip! These are getting to be quite rare, so it could take a while to find one of these. For the mean time I have taken the remainder of the valve off and fitted the heater hoses straight onto the matrix. So the heater (If it works!) will be on hot all the time. I need to find another valve before the summer then!

   Sunday I managed to get into the garage a bit earlier and the first task was to have a good tidy up. This took some time but I did manage to find a good many tools that I had 'lost' in recent weeks.

With this done it was time (and well overdue) to pull Gertie out for a damn good wash. The Essex rally a few weeks back had left her minging, plus she still had the dirt and mud from the Dutch rally under that as well! Two buckets of soapy water were required to get her back she's supposed to look. I don't think I've ever seen her as dirty as she was.) And how on earth did I get mud on the rear windscreen???



   While I was in the washing mood, (It doesn't happen often!) I pulled the estate into the garden and did her as well. I've been using her as my everyday transport in all this snow and crap so she was minging a bit too. (I've taken a deposit on the Beemer so I can't really use it)



 With all of this done time was getting on. There's not much else I can do with the Red Shed until some more exhaust parts arrive so I got her up on axle stands for when they do. Due to HRCR noise restrictions I'm going to run a standard exhaust system for the time being. I think I have all the pipes I need, but I'm short on some of the mounting brackets. More ordering to do and more money to spend then!