You've not left a bit of rod in the timing hole have you

Nah, I have done many silly things, but not that. The engine did turn freely by hand & then a couple of times on the starter (minus HT leads, just to get some oil round the engine before firing it up) but then stopped. I've read a thread on 2CVGB suggesting that old coke left in the cylinders may have got clogged up, peventing the piston making full travel. I took the precaution of sticking a hoover on both of the spark plug holes on the 2nd engine.

Oooh, I have. Several times.

Drill bits explode and fly everywhere.
Bent wire timing pins bend and get thoroughly wedged.

But neither stops the starter motor from spinning the engine.

IME, of course.

Talking of timing...

last night I drained the old oil, fitted a new oil filter & checked the valve timing. They seemed about right, although the exhaust gaps seemed a little tighter than the inlets so they were opened ever so slightly.

Although the engine seemed to run nicely, I went on to check the timing. Having checked the points gap (ok), I marked the flywheel (1st tooth & 7th tooth with staggered marks in between) via the 6mm drill through hole method and found that the engine was idling at the 5th tooth. Taking the engine to be too advanced I rotated the points box anti-clockwise and brought the marks back to where they should be with the 7th tooth spot on when revving the engine.

The trouble is, the engine seems to perform worse now and misfires a bit as well. I did mark where the points box was before I adjusted it, so I might put it back and see how it goes tonight.

By Jove, I (tentatively) think I might have cracked it!! I opened the points gap slightly (was .30, now .40), rechecked & slightly adjusted the points box and took her for a run to get some petrol from Horncastle last night. She didn't want to start easily at first and then we had a few splutters but after about a mile all was ok and I managed to sit at around 50-55 which isn't bad for a road that only has a couple of decent straights. There were still 1 or 2 hiccups on the way back but generally, all was well and it might have been that the engine needed a good run after so long. I'll take her out again tonight for a run to Boston I think and see how we get on before seeing what I can get out of her on the motorway tomorrow

Good stuff Bertie it must be a relief to be up and running again! Keep us posted on what the vne turns out to be on the motorway (Or should that be vmax? i forget, its been a while...)

A couple of notable things have happened to Belinda over the weekend. Firt of all, we called into see Uncle Ken Friday afternoon for him to waft some magic into the carb in the shape of a wider jet & various other adjustments. We hit 65 on the way home & sat at 55 on most other roads. I've found that I don't have to rev the engine so much now and she's generally more pleasurable to drive.

Yesterday myself & Mrs Bertie went to Castle Howard which was only about 30 miles from our house but this happened after hitting a pothole causing a list to 1 side.



Luckily we were able to get to the meeting & get home again and it's clear what job I'll be doing this week in the garage.

Well Belinda now has serviceable suspension thanks again to Mark Dunmore. Mark - I hope you're taking your drinking head to B&W this weekend because I owe you the equivalent of a brewery at the moment!!

Seeing as I had to remove the exhaust in order to sort the nearside suspension, I decided to try a spare torpedo silencer which originally came with the car. It's slightly fatter and the mounting points are ever so slightly wider apart but more importantly it fits much better with the swan neck so it's more secure & just sits a whole lot better now.

Belinda and I had a brilliant weekend at Saxilby beginning with picking up Mark Dunmore and then some display stands from Ruskington. Even with Mark, me, all our kit AND some heavy display stuff, we still managed to average 55mph up the A15 and even hit 60 at a couple of points. Therefore I'm more than happy with the performance at the moment.

Unfortunately during the convoy into Lincoln on Sunday, Belinda stuttered, stopped and refused to start again only 1 street away form Brayford wharf so had to suffer the embarrassment of being pushed into position. Uncle Pete Abbott offered another coil straight away which cured the problem. Hot starting & occasional missing has started to become a problem lately so I guess it's new coil time.

As Belinda had time to cool down through Sunday afternoon, I decided to try & make it home on the original coil. The journey was faultless until we called back to Ruskington to drop the stuff back off and this is where things got "interesting". The engine started to miss, then stopped again & refused to start again. Still being so close to Ruskington, Mark decided to walk back to borrow one but even after substituting the coil the engine refused to idle. The reason? Mark noticed that the idle jet had made its way out of the carb body & was happily sitting on the crankcase With this re-instated & a borrowed coil fitted, we happily made it back home. So, next on the shopping list is a new coil The question is - Harley or "Argie" ??

Harley.