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.

I fitted the freshly painted handbrake and then grabbed the cable that came in the original box of bits way back when I bought the car only to discover that I need a bracket between the cable and the pivot lever on the rear axel, oh.

I removed the front section of the differential to fit the required two thin shims.  I read somewhere about making a bracket to hold the diff still while it was tightened, I used a piece of angle-iron which worked well.

That was it for the day, not much to show for it.

Whilst running down the list of tasks I have to do before I attempt to drive the car I started the day by ordering some oil for the differential and rear axel.  I then ventured into the garage and tried to put the track rod ends into the track bar that I had shortened last week and of course the threads were stiff as anything and the ends too long to go all the way in.  I spent a lot of time running them backwards and forwards to ease the threads and then cuts the track rod ends 5mm shorter.  This process damaged the paint on the bar so I had to repaint it.

Then I turned my attention to the handbrake which is one of the few original comments that I haven't yet worked on and it needed some work.  Really I need to have it re-chromed but I haven't the money for that so I rubbed it down and painted it silver apart from the section of the handle that one holds when using it.  It was quite enjoyable.

Having done the handbrake I was idly sitting around thinking of things to do whilst paint was drying and noticed that one of the core plugs had a blister on the paint.  When I touched it the paint burst and water came out which must mean the core plug is not sealed properly.

I am kind of glad that it is this specific plug that has gone because I can easily access it.  Some of the others would cause a real problem.  Naturally I am going to forget all about it for now.

Today, it being half term means I can have Wednesday garage action, I did some lovely little things on the car.

I sorted the petrol gauge out, I have a quarter of a tank.  Some idiot had connected the wires to the back of the gauge to the wrong terminals.

I then fitted the new rev and speedo cables and started the car again to see if they worked, they did.  I noticed that the flange coming out of the back of the box turned a little whilst the 'box was in neutral which is odd.  Next was the bracket that connects the exhaust downpipes to the sump.

I then fitted the new UJ to the prop shaft and I can tell you that this was a pig of a job and probably because I didn't know what I was doing.  I also separated the two parts of the shaft to get the arrows on each section to line up.  All cool in the end.

Quiet weekend this time as the Triumph needed a new chain and that is something I haven't done before so it took a while.

I am making some progress with the little things though.  On the AHEXP website Graham Foster heard about my plight with the incorrect thread size on the radiator meaning I couldn't fit the temp sensor and sent me a separate unit to fit in line on the top hose.  Very decent of him.  I have found out the thread size and ordered a fixing on eBay to mount on to it and the sensor.  Just need to get a tap for 5/8 BSP now.

I ordered a new set of cables for the car as neither the speedo or the rev counter worked properly and they were not expense along with a couple of hose clamps for the aforementioned sensor mount and a cold air valve for the bulkhead.  I had been wanting to get this for ages so it is good to have it.  I was a little flummoxed when it arrived though as the lever that opens and closed then valve was on the wrong side.  I was even more disturbed when I called A Head 4 Healey's to outline the problem only to be told that they knew it was an issue but the manufacturer refused to change it.  In other words they knowingly sold me an expensive part that had been made incorrectly.  I had to strip it down drill fresh holes, rub it down and paint it before putting it all back together and pop riveting it correctly.  Anyway, it is done now.

As supplied:

As modified and fitted:

I had a bit of a scare last weekend.  When I went to try to start the car for the first time I discovered that the lock on the garage door had been smashed in with a brick in an attempt to get into the garage.  It scared the living daylights out of me because I would be so devastated if the car was stolen, it has been ten years of my life.  Anyway, I made some effort to make the garage more robust and this took pretty much all of Saturday morning.  I did try and start the car again having checked the basics in line with some suggestions I had received on the AHExp website but I had no luck.

That night, ie Saturday night, I had a few beers and a good meal before retiring to the sofa and a session of surfing.  Now I thought I should go back to basics and one of the basics I considered was that the very front cylinder wasn't actually number 1 cylinder and so I went surfing for details on that.  It was quite late when I came across a post that mentioned that they had been an idiot and assumed that he distributor rotated clockwise when it didn't.  I had done that too, I was an idiot as well.  I said to my wife that I think I may have put the spark plug pleads on in the wrong order and she asked if that was a long job to change.  I said it wasn't so she replied that we should go and try it now, so we did.

I have got to say that my weekend has been heaven sent ever since we visited the garage very late last night.

Today I bent the exhaust around to make it fit properly and secured it to the car.  I tried the engine again and without the smoke it certainly looked better but was raving very high.  I adjusted the throttle stops, took the choke off and moved the distributor around and got it running much better.

I then fitted the clutch lever and tried the gearbox and clutch out.

Boy, am I a happy man.

I have a few little issues that have serviced.  The ignition light doesn't work but the alternator is charging.  The fuel gauge doesn't work and neither does the overdrive.  I am not remotely surprised that the overdrive doesn't work but I am not going to worry about that now.  All in all it has been a great couple of days.  The engine is running really well and the clutch / gearbox working; it is all too much.

Oh, and I finished the weekend off by watch Spurs win this afternoon.  Pinch me, I might be dreaming.

Spent the weekend finishing off little bits then trying to start the engine, it was very exciting.

I made a cap for the radiator temp outlet out of an old nut that was very big, I have no idea what it was fitted on originally.  Then I filled the engine with oil using the kitchen measuring jug.

Almost immediately the engine started to leak oil, looks like I need a new cork seal for the rocker cover.

I also had a few petrol leaks which just needed a few nuts tightening.  I then tried to turn the engine over only to discover that it wouldn't, the starter motor span but the engine didn't.  I then realised that I hadn't fitted the earth strap to the engine.  This sorted that and the engine span up nicely and the oil pressure went up well too, phew.

I had to do some work to get a spark including setting the points but I got there in the end.  I took the car out and tried to start it.  It'd didn't want to know but did splatter back through the carbs so I took the distributor out and moved its drive shaft along one of the splines, tried again and it was worse so I moved it back the opposite direction.  It almost went but by this stage the battery was flat.  Next weekend.