Nothing is for nothing

Got my new multimeter in the post this week so checked battery and it read 12.5V and when the cars running it went up to 14.2V so it looks like the alternator is okay. The latest problem I've got is the handbrake cable appears to be sticking and then releasing in a series of rather off putting twangs. I've left the handbrake off when returning the car to the garage and this appears to help but I need to regrease the cable and see if this helps. I haven't got a trolley jack or axle stands at the moment so need to get these purchased sooner rather than later.

List of stuff to sort:-

1. Rocker cover gasket & check rocker clearance (need to purchase gasket sealer)
2. Grease handbrake cable (need to purchase jack, axle stands..oh and grease) 
3. Check rear brake with manual adjuster (thank god nothing to purchase)
4. Check timing (need to purchase timing light)
5. Tune carbs (need to purchase carbalancer & colourtune)
6. Align steering wheel (need to purchase correct size socket)
7. Get dent out of bonnet (need to purchase panel beating equipment)
8. Repaint bonnet, rear light panel and other areas (need to purchase paint)
9. Try to mute my luggage board symphony (might need to purchase a washer (only joking))

Nothing is majorly expensive but when your skint it might as well cost a fortune. The MOT is due to May so need to get the mechanical bits sorted by then at the latest.

The plot thickens

Okay so I've changed the HT leads, spark plugs and still it fires but idles really badly and dies. I don't know why because it doesn't make much sense but I think my battery (which went flat the other week) or alternator are somehow to blame. I took the battery off to charge and it was very low again so my feeling was even more that this was to blame. While it was charging I started looking at other alternatives. I removed the air filters and noticed one was on upside down blocking the vents.

Right way up

Upside down

Changed it round so hopefully this will help when I start to tune the carbs in the coming weeks. Anyway after charging the battery for about 6 hours I thought I would give it a try. It fired up first time and idled as per normal. Whats that all about??

New bulbs but I'm not going anywhere

Got some new bits from Rimmer Bros, bulbs, gaskets etc and decided to fit new rear bulbs as a couple of the old ones had blown.

Sorted this out pretty easy but then when I came to start the car up it idled really badly and I couldnt get the revs up even with full choke. The engine then just died after about 20 seconds leaving the ignition warning light on. Went to restart and couldn't get it to fire. Left it about 15 minutes came back and tried again and it fired but again died after about 10 seconds. Reset the points and put new HT leads on which I'd had for a while. The distributor cap looks good inside so cant see a problem there but it still wouldn't run. Is it the battery giving me trouble again or is the fact that the ignition warning light was permanently on telling me the alternator is dead. Im not sure as I couldnt get it to rev much above 500 RPM even with the choke pulled out to the max and I dont think the alternator kicks in at really low revs but don't quote me on that.

Luggage Boards

The luggage boards bouncing around in the back have finally tipped me over the edge so I had a look at them this weekend. I had added additional padding to the board over the spare wheel to see if this would help but although at first it seemed to make some difference it appears to have failed in the longer term. The boards are very well made from plywood about 8mm thick and painted black. All the clips look to be there for the board to slot in near the rear lights but where the studs on the board go into the support rail appears to be a small problem. There are two sprung clips riveted in position and I think these should hold the board in position. When you press the board down on mine the studs just spring back out. I tried to bend the retaining part of the clip upwards a bit but it still didn't help. It was at this point that the snow started to come down quite heavy and standing in my garage was like clinging to the north face of the eiger so I called it a day. I think I need to take some measurements to see if I can add a washer behind the studs to give them a touch more length and then hopefully the board wont spring back up but I dont think I will have much room as the clips are a V form and obviously if I make it too long the stud will hit the bottom of the V. To be continued...