Last weekend I filled the brake system with fluid.  It should have been quite straight forward but it took ages.  My easy bleed system is very old and needed a lot of TLC to get it running.  I then realised that the rear brake bleed nipples were too short to reach past the rubber boots that sit on the outside of wheel cylinder.  I took a trip to Mini Spares to buy some longer nipples which helped but they were still too short.  I know I should have waited at this point, gone and bought some super long versions from eBay before filling the system but I didn't want to so I pressed ahead.  This meant taking all the handbrake connections off and refitting them afterwards, oh well.  The fluid went in well and the pedal feel is ok.  I did buy some longer nipples in the week and will fit them at some point but for now I have brakes.  I also fitted the rest of the handbrake cable system and that seems to work well enough.

Ahead 4 Healey's contacted me to say that my temperature gauge was back from the repairer which is good.

Yesterday I started by filling the rear diff with its oil.  The fill plug is on the underside of the car and so I rigged a funnel and tube up to allow me to fill the system efficiently.

The first lot of oil to go in was so think it took ages to work its way through the funnel/tube so I put some thought into it and decided I should warm the oil to make it more fluid.

I needed 1.28 litres of oil so the kitchen equipment was out again.

It took 2 and a half hours to fill the diff but it is done.

I then took the distributor out and checked the timing again and eventually got the engine running well.  It still ticks over way too high but it is good enough to drive the car which is my main goal at the moment.  

I had a more detailed look at the overdrive.  The videos I've been watching show that the ball bearing in the overdrive housing that sits on top of the control rod should jump up a little when it is engaged and mine does.  However, before I could measure it the solenoid stopped working.  I was inclined to leave it until much later and this was the final straw.  Once the car is finished and driving I will take the prop shaft out and spend time on this but until then I will forget about it and move on.  It'll be a good project in a year or two.

Whilst the engine was running some oil dripped off the rear shock onto the pipe and this generated a lot of smoke.  I need to replace that shock which is a shame as it is a chunk of money to replace, oh well.

I then removed the front off side engine mount off and replaced one section of it with one that I had modified to allow the rubber to line up with the engine mountings on the chassis more effectively.  

Now all I really need to do is fit the prop shaft and drive the car.  That is next weekends project.