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!