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DeTRitus, definitely a good name.............
After the Troll in the Discworld novels of course.
Yeah thanks Bruce, that names now stuck!
So, this weekends job was to see if I could get Detritus started. I did a compression test to see if there was enough compression to get it to start, nothing so the bores were soaked in diesel overnight and some sprayed down the inlet to free off any sticky valve stems.
Compression test the next morning and we had a bit of compression.
Checked the wiring behind the rev counter, had to connect some wires to make it work and run a wire to the coil.
Changed the oil and filter.
I blew out the carbs with an air line and the fuel pump filter, this normally helps free of any sticky floats and valves so they don't over spill and p**s fuel everywhere!
Replaced the coil, plugs, leads, cap, rotor arm, points and condenser. Pulled the dizzy to do this and gave that a clean up and lube at the same time.
Tried to start - no fuel. I connected a line to the pump and it wasn't sucking so I replaced the pump with one in my parts bin.
Tried again.... yep we have fuel, the rear carb was overflowing dramatically, the upside of this is that it cleaned off all the rubbish from the block! Blew that out again.
Crank crank crank - pop
Er hang on, dizzy must be out 180 degs! Checked TDC, yep, whoops! That's a bit embarrassing.
Next try...
Click on the picture to view the video!
Woo hoo it fired into life! Engine wobbles a lot when it stutters, the mounts are toast but it runs!
Then I thought, I'll bleed the clutch and see if I can get it to move....
Nice! I have another in my parts bin somewhere.
I stopped there and drained the tank - I now have 10 litres of circa 1990s stinky 4 star!
Pulled the headlights off to inspect the front end better, NS is excellent, everything behind the outer panels is intact including the eyebrow. Just needs a really good clean up and some patches on the wing.
OS needs a new headlamp panel really and has a couple of small holes in the inner valence, nothing bad, easily repairable.
I found some pieces of an old pair of eyebrows that were attached to a valence so they can be used to repair these. The rest of the repairs on the front end should be simple sheet metal fabrication.
Even the headlamp gasket retaining rings are in good condition with just surface rust.
I noticed a strange puddle in the footwell. My first thoughts were windscreen, so I closed everything up and put the hose on the car and it doesn't seem to be leaking, but the carpet isn't wet. Strange, of course I could have just left the door open a bit accidentally when it was raining!
Unlike RUK, I am not in such a rush to get this finished so am going to take my time with it, but the next thing to do will be to pull the engine out and do the welding.
Need to get RUK back on the road again this weekend and make a start on finishing the MG so I can get NWL in the garage over the winter so it will take a back seat for now. I may get the clutch working in due course so it's easy to move. I will swap parcel shelves though, I want a radio in RUK this one is cut and has the radio pod etc... I want to keep RUK's original one uncut.
Onwards!