Sunday Feb 17th. A better day-eventually!

A hard frost had set in overnight, so the first task of the day was to unfreeze the estate so I could run out and get some petrol for the Red Shed. I thought that the petrol was really low on the car because all throughout yesterday the fuel light stayed on. However, I now believe it to be a stuck sender unit as even after more petrol being added to it today, the gauge remains in the same place and the fuel light is still stuck on!

With the petrol added I started investigations as to why said beast wouldn't rev correctly. I also decided to set the valve clearances and set the timing. This obviously didn't go to plan as after messing about with the distributor the damn thing wouldn't run at all!  A cup of tea and a warm up beckoned  and a ponder on the non-starting dilemma.

Once suitably refreshed I turned to the distributor again and found that there was virtually nothing left of the points. I changed these and the condenser and then found that the car would now start. However, it still wasn't right and was pretty much the same as yesterday. i.e well down on power. After taking some advice from Colin Wake on the phone I started the car and pulled the plug leads off of cylinders 5 & 6 which made it run worse. I then pulled the leads off of cylinders 1 & 2 to find there was no difference at all. This was my problem. The front carburettor wasn't doing its job and the car was only running on three cylinders!

So I removed the front carburettor and cleaned it out thoroughly. I also found a stuck needle valve where the fuel should flow into the float chamber, so this was cleaned out and lubricated. As soon as the front carb was refitted I started the car to find that it had been transformed. As soon as it ran on tickover you could tell there was a world of difference. It responded sharply when revved and even sounded quieter and smoother.

I took it for another sneaky test drive and it was like driving a different car. It's still not 100%, but it's close. Certainly good enough for a run down to the Mot centre next Saturday.

it's quite smooth as well. It must as I'd left a washer I'd been using to do the mixture on the front wing and it was still there when I returned home!



 I'm looking forward to getting this car on the road now and then the bodywork will be the next thing on the agenda. Who knows? I might even be able to be ready for a couple of HRCR events before the season's over. (But the spotlights will have to come off first!)