The engine
Going by the somewhat difficult to follow Workshop Manual,
we took the engine components apart as much as we could without
removing it from the car. The carburetor was completely cleaned
out, blown out, and wire brushed. We also had to fix the choke
which had been bent and mangled so that it was on permanently;
once the offending customisation had been rectified it worked
as it should, which was nice.
The generator was to be the cause of a great struggle as we
had to remove the fan housing in order to replace it; we tried
to remove it with the engine still in situ bay but it
was too much of a struggle. We decided we would have to try to
remove the engine after all, but just as we were about to
separate the engine from the gear box we made one final attempt
and it just suddenly popped out! Just like that bit of apple
from between your teeth, it lurks there stubbornly for ages and
when you finally threaten it with the toothbrush, out it comes.
With the top of the engine exposed we were able to remove
the tin plating, to our horror (the thought that we'd driven
it like this!) discovered several of the crank case bolts loose
and some ready to fall off. We used thread glue to stick them
in position and screwed them up tight in the hope that they never
came loose again. We were also able to replace the generator
with one which we'd got from a scrap yard, and cleaned the fan
housing.
The points were cleaned, spark plugs replaced, the condenser
replaced by the garage at the first MOT, they also kindly tuned
it up for us at the same time. This engine rocked!
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