Overdrive Refit

I refit the overdrive today. Sadly, it had leaked some oil so I replaced the copper crush washer on the drain plug with a Dowty Washer. If that doesn't work, I'll be looking at a replacement Roamerdrive at some point, but it's not urgent. The Dowty should be better, and the leak is only drops per day anyway.

The refit was straightforward. I put Rocol inside the overdrive where it mates the clutch sleeve. The old mainshaft nut lock washer was actually broken when I removed it, which explains why the mainshaft nut was only finger tight. I fit a new one and torqued the nut to 85 ft lb (having the box in gear was enough for this). I couldn't feel any play at all in the mainshaft itself while I was there.

There's various tips and tricks written about getting the O/D back on. I had the inspection plate off the top of the transfer box anyway from fitting the mainshaft nut lock washer. The O\D didn't slide all the way on when I offered it up but instead of pulling levers or rocking the vehicle I just reached through the inspection port and turned the O/D mainshaft by finger until it slipped over the clutch sleeve. Easy.

A broken lock washer was behind the loose mainshaft nut.

New lock washer fitted. There are three tabs to bend back. They will not align to the gaps between the teeth of the mainshaft nut, so you fold them over the edge of the nearest teeth. Two of the three should fold on the CCW side of a tooth, but you'll probably have one you just have to fold over the CW side. (In hindsight it's worth experimenting with the two positions you have to choose between. With the two prongs inserted into the clutch sleeve, you can have two of the tabs you will bend at the top and one at the bottom, or two at the bottom and one at the point. Try both, torquing up to 85, and see which one gives you the best positions to lock the nut from before you bend any tabs over.)

Rocol anti-scuff compound where the O/D mates the clutch sleeve in the transfer box.

Overdrive Drain Plug Helicoil Fix

I've been busy and have had the tools lined up for this job for weeks. The thread was so badly stripped I didn't need to drill it out, I just used the tap straight away with plenty of oil. Then I wound the helicoil in, broke (and found!) the tang, flushed it through with some petrol while turning the main shaft, and left it on a wheel ramp with some fresh gear oil inside. I used a 9/16" x 12 UNC helicoil kit.

No leaks yet.. but if it does leak, and too badly to live with at that, I think I'm more likely to put a new "Roamerdrive" on than try to source a good Fairey casing and rebuild this one into it. Fingers crossed. If the tray is still dry when I'm next in the garage I'll be putting it back on with some anti-scuff paste and a new gasket and the floor and seat box and seats will follow shortly after!

First Dumb Iron Repair

I've spent the last couple of days making a first attempt at a dumb iron repair. I was successful in that I've gone from a very rotten dumb iron with no crush braces left inside to a lot of new metal welded in and new internal floor and supports. I also learnt a lot, which is all part of working on my Land Rover for me. All that said I wouldn't do it this way again and I'm making plans for a quicker and better job on the other one.

First, the pictures. What follows after that is probably too much information for most people but if you're considering a first attempt like this I would encourage you to give it a go and read this whole post because it might help you plan ahead and know what to expect when the job gets underway.

Starting point..

Inside I found the base of the rail needed replacing too, and the "crush tubes"..

This side had thinned out and needed replacing (see later for what I think about this in hindsight)

You can see the new rail floor already welded in here and the new side being aligned for tacking.

Keep checking the bumper still fits..

New top tacked in..

4mm angle steel welded in as a crush brace..

Front tacked in square and straight

Tidied up with first coat of paint..

What I Learned

Cutting it open and welding in repair pieces as I went resulted in a lot of awkward welds in position on the vehicle and a lot of inaccuracy later on when trying to make up the square front of the dumb iron. Your accuracy is limited when cutting new metal with an angle grinder, so planning an approach that involves as few cuts as possible and as much fabrication performed ahead of time off the vehicle is the way to go rather than building it up in place. Or you can spend a lot of money on more accurate tools or a lot of time on using a hacksaw. I almost resorted to the latter but 2mm steel is actually quite a job to cut manually and my cutting accuracy with the grinder did improve a lot during this work.

The crush tubes I tried to weld in only had a 1mm thick wall, so were very easy to weld through, would have been less resilient to time and rot, and positioned near the walls of the iron would have been less structurally beneficial anyway than the thicker angle steel I eventually welded in instead. I think I would use angle steel again rather than thicker tube. Easier and stronger and more durable, and works well as a crush piece too. (One memory also influenced me here. I can remember to this day standing on a very muddy corner in some woods at a 4x4 meet some time in the early 90s watching someone prepare to pull a stuck Series Land Rover out the mire. To the stuck man's credit, the rescue vehicle didn't take up the slack first and just tore off instead which no doubt didn't help - but when contact was made the bumper and its bolts and all was ripped right out the front of the stuck man's dumb irons. And that's why my crush brace is placed where it is.)

When welding where something needs to fit, like the bumper, consider if the weld bead will be in the way, and how much weld you need. When I welded around the underside of the new inside floor piece the next time I checked my bumper fit (do this regularly!) it wouldn't slot in because the weld was in the way. I ground it down with some grind stone drill bits. It took about 15 minutes and was a bit inconvenient but not a major drama. When I photographed a ready-made dumb iron at the LRO show in Peterborough recently there's a 1" bit of weld just to join the inside floor to the vertical support beneath it. Here's a picture:

Where I got the idea for angle steel as a crush piece, although I welded mine between the bumper bolts and the direction force would be applied when being towed.. not behind.

Another approach in an unfinished Marshlands chassis..

That 1" weld on the prefab piece connects the rail end to the support beneath it, but the support isn't welded to the spring hanger metal (at least not this side, so not both sides..), and it won't prevent water ingress into the back of the dumb iron where it will sit and pool (note also, no drain hole on the underside). So why weld so little? I can't speak for who made it but the approach ensures a customer won't be on the phone immediately with a bumper not fitting because there's weld in the way. I welded mine more completely without thinking about that and had to grind some weld down to get the bumper in. There's room to do it but it takes some work and consideration and isn't compatible with selling ready made sections that don't generate requests for refunds - despite them being less water tight and arguably less structurally sound. Anyway, in future I'll offer up the fitting piece before I weld to have a look at what clearance I've got and where I can weld as much as I like and where I might like to have a lower weld profile.

Accuracy is important. Land Rovers and their 2mm chassis steel can tempt us into thinking "close enough". The trouble with that is when a number of inaccuracies collect together you can end up being far enough out to give you problems with either fit, squareness, or welding up - or all three. Chassis repairs are not precision engineering, and a good square, level, and ruler marked up to at least mm should suffice if you actually use them. You don't strictly need a band saw or pillar drill if you practice and learn to use your angle grinder and hand drill. I can cut good shapes with straight edges with my grinder now by taking a good measurement to the nearest mm, scribing it on my sheet metal, and then cutting it by first letting the angle grinder walk gently along the line I want to cut, just on the surface. If you hold the angle grinder the right way it will want to travel the cutting surface along the line going away from you. Walk it gently a few times and then you can cut that straight line with your eyes shut because the grinder will follow the furrow you've started to plough. Then turn the metal to point the next cut away from you and do the same. I am not yet equipped to cut curved lines. If I can't grind down to a curve I need from a starting straight edge I will need another tool. I haven't found any need for curves yet though.

Fabricate as much as possible off the vehicle. A simple example is what I did instinctively with the rear tub outriggers. They have brackets welded on connect the chassis to the rear tub. I clamped the new outriggers to the chassis and put the fixings through the bracket into the mount points in the tub and clamped the bracket to the outrigger and tack welded the bracket to the outrigger. Then I removed it all to the garage and welded the bracket where I was more comfortable and it was easier to get at. It applies more so for fabrication, but this first time on a dumb iron I didn't do it. The front of the dumb iron is a cube. The inside floor is the base of this cube, extending further back inside the dumb iron. The sides are short but the shape of the spring hanger mounts could be cut out the cube once it was made, and the top is a straight face up until where it starts to curve, but even that can be shaped when it's time to fit if you're replacing more than the very front of the top. A cube is very easy to make, quite square, with corner magnets, so this could be done off the vehicle very quickly and comfortably, and then transferred to the vehicle to replace what's been cut out, lined up with the other dumb iron as a single piece, tacked on, check bumper still fits, then weld it up. Much easier than cutting and aligning and welding and checking every single piece of the dumb iron as you build it back up.

Next Time

I want to be very sure a new bumper will fit when both dumb irons are completely repaired, so I will buy a new bumper before doing the second dumb iron. Then if something is out by a few mm I can fix it during fabrication, rather than being stuck with newly repaired dumb irons that only fit my battered old bumper perfectly, but not a new one.

I need one or more tools to allow me to cut out the rot from inside the dumb iron without resorting to cutting through the spring hanger to get to it prior to welding the "incisions" back up. It's as strong as it was before, being welded both sides, but it's just more welding and more cleanup. A reciprocating saw would get the inside floor out really well, and either a multi-tool with cutting disc or small angle grinder would get the lower support out, and also allow me to get at the underside of the rail. Thinking about it, possibly one really good multi-tool and cutting discs would allow me to do all three things. A cut off tool would be ideal but I'm not equipped for air tools and don't plan to be any time soon.

A second trolley jack would be useful and this is not the first time I've wished I had one. I've used a scissor jack as a second before when doing suspension work, and that actually toppled and dumped the Land Rover on me sideways up against the garage wall. I was incredibly lucky that day and vowed never to use a scissor jack for anything but changing a car wheel again in future. In this case, two jacks would mean I could use one to level the front crossmember as a reference (my floor is not entirely straight and my front N/S spring needs renewing), and the second to support the front shackle so I can take all load off the dumb iron while I work, which means I can cut as much out, even the main floor, as I need. A second jack means I could get it perfectly balanced so the shackle pin can just be slid back in at the end of the session - unlike on this first attempt where I drifted it out at a bit of an angle and then spent an hour at the end of the day trying to get it back in without dismantling the whole front end..

I will fabricate the new top, sides, and rail bottom, as one piece, off the vehicle, possibly even with the top side corners as bends instead of welds. I'll have a better tool for removing the old rot as drilling a line of holes and then abusing your best cold chisel is at best not very time effective.

I may replace the main (underside) floor with the top off so I can do the first welds from above, on the inside, and then run a straight bead around the edges from underside, which will let me move quicker when I'm upside down knowing the penetration is already mostly achieved from the other side.

If I have the right tools and the pieces I need already cut and ready to go in; the new main floor section, the top and sides with bumper holes already drilled, the angle steel crush brace, and the inside floor and lower support.. I should be able to do the whole thing in a single session of a few hours, rather than the three sessions this one took me. Now I know what's involved I can do almost all the prep before starting the job which will also allow me to work on getting ready in short sessions as I get time and then take a day at it to execute when I'm ready. We will see.

Electrics (2)

Rear Plate Light

The rear plate light is now done and working. I increased the gauge of the wiring as I thought it felt warm before. Instead of soldering the bullet connectors I replaced the inserts the light came with and used the solder-free approach where the wire is trapped between the wire and the insert. Both connectors were snug and tight and I read about this method in a book on period vehicle wiring recently so I'm happy with that.

Indicators (OK, for now)

The intermittent right indicator is definitely the switch. It can be encouraged to work by lifting it a bit further and you know when it is working because the ignition light flashes with the flasher unit as it should. I'll leave this as it is for now as I need to fit a Series 2A indicator stalk at some point anyway.

Panel Lights

I fit the new switch for the panel lights and re-wired them to work as they should when switched and when the side lights are on. I also removed an LED illuminated cigarette lighter while I was there as its wiring was entangled with the changes someone had made to connect the panel lights switch to a rear work light. I had a short in the process but luckily it went as far as the extent of the wiring I was removing so nothing else melted - it actually showed me exactly what I needed to remove. Everything behind the dash now looks original and is very neat and tidy.

Bad Earth

After the short while working on the panel lights I found I had "no electrics". The multimeter showed the dash was not getting earthed. I earthed it directly from the battery negative post with a test lead and that fixed it. Earthing the bulkhead directly also fixed it, so I checked the earth strap at the battery and found it had come loose, probably during the recent short. I cleaned it up and did it up tight and this cured the problem. The battery earth strap to chassis connection is a good first check when you have "no electrics".

Ignition Switched Circuits

Side lights will and should work without the ignition on, for temporary parking on the N/S at night. Indicators and other lighting are ignition switched, as are the wipers. I think everything looks correct now. I removed the radio wiring. I'll re-add something of my own if I decide to add a radio later.

Wipers

Wipers are now working correctly on their new switch and with the fixed earth at the wiper socket.

Everything on the dash now works as it should and I've removed all the non-standard wiring I could find.

Further Work

Still to do is a Series 2A indicator stalk, Series 2A steering wheel (rewire horn to centre push button), and I'd also like to fit a battery cut-out somewhere I can reach from the driver's seat. The short circuit I had went fast and I was lucky the battery leads were only pushed on loose so I could rip one off easily. If they'd been secured I'd have had a full on "dash fire" on my hands, and very likely a re-wire much sooner than intended. Being able to disconnect the battery quickly, even while driving if need be, would be useful.

More "modifications" removed

Panel lights now operate the panel lights.. radical, I know..

It's the Final Outrigger..(!)

I welded on the fifth and final outrigger today. As usual, most of it was prep work, especially with these rear tub outriggers where I've cut the tub bracket off the old outrigger and cleaned it up for re-use. I've also made up aluminium plates for these to see if I can stop the steel / birmabright corroding the tub. We'll see how that goes in time..

Now for the fun bit..

This one didn't need a rail repair behind the outrigger because it was one of the older makes without a back plate so there was nowhere for water to get trapped.

I also got the last bit of chassis cleaned up and painted beneath the seatbase so now that can go back in along with the floor and gearbox tunnel. That will feel good.

Front Crank Seal, Timing Cover Mod, New Water Pump

To get the timing cover off I pulled the starter motor out just far enough to reveal the ring gear. You don't need to remove the exhaust manifold for this as you only need to pull the starter enough to get something in one of the holes in the ring gear to jam it so you can undo and re-tighten the starter dog on the crank pulley.

Someone had previously knocked the heads off the crank seal mud plate rivets and pried it away in order to fit a new front crank seal without removing the timing cover. This is why the mud plate was spinning loose on the crank shaft behind the pulley.

I drifted out the remains of the old rivets and tapped new M4 threads in their place so anyone can now replace the front crank seal without removing the timing cover, but also still secure a mud plate properly to protect the seal. I fit a new seal while I was here.

I fit the new water pump at the same time the timing cover went back on and so I've left things much better than how I found them. I'll get the rad installed with new hoses soon and fill her up with some new coolant and start her up to see if everything is water tight now and if the new thermostat is working properly.

Jamming the starter ring gear

Under the timing cover

Tapping M4 threads for new mud plate fixings

Back together..

Water Pump Rebuild Fail

When I found the water pump was leaking I decided to try and rebuild it as the kits are cheap enough and the casting had ROVER stamped on it. I like to keep original parts when possible.

I took it to a place in my village this morning that does a lot of agricultural repair but before I'd even finished saying 'water pump' the man was shaking his head. He told me he'd rebuilt loads over the years in combines and tractors and if they didn't break during the rebuild they almost always still leaked afterwards. He told me to buy a new one.

When I got home I couldn't just give up. I don't like throwing away original parts, but there's also something inside me that mourns the passing of our ability to fix things. The people still restoring traction engines today can't just buy new parts. If they need something fixed or replaced they have to machine it.

So I made a start myself, with the plan that once it was apart I could freeze the casting and the new spindle/bearing assembly overnight, which would hopefully make it possible to get back together without a press if I worked quickly enough.

To cut a long story short, the casting broke in the process. I think I can sleep at night fairly certain it would have broken anyway even if a press had been used - you've got to put force on the casting at some point in the process, whether with a press or through the shock of drifting the spindle out.

I started by trying to drift the spindle out from above. No chance!

I noticed I'd got the whole impeller/spindle/flange assembly to move through the casting though, so next I tried to pull the flange off the spindle, trying to keep the casting out of the equation as I'd been told it was the weak point. There's hardly any lip on the underside of the flange so the puller kept jumping off. No joy.

So I tried a bigger puller, this time trying to pull the casting and flange back (up) off the front end of the spindle..

..and the casting broke. Sad, but it does mean now I can just buy a new water pump. And I don't have to worry about not having tried.

Two steps forward, one step back

I've been busy this summer so far and have only got some small jobs done.

Thermostat

I've fit a new thermostat and gaskets. I painted the housing in DEB so it rather stands out at the moment. Over time it will fade and fit in again, and the water pump and timing cover will be painted the same colour anyway, as will the engine block if I ever take it out. I am hoping the thermostat was why it was running so hot so quickly when I started her the first few times. I'll find out when the front end is back together.

Wiper Switch and New Blades

The new wiper switch worked as expected and the wipers work and auto-park correctly. I've also fit new wiper blades, so the wipers are now done.

Front Crank Seal

I want a fit a new front crank seal and tap threads to make it easier in future, but this time I need to remove the whole timing cover. I've had a couple of attempts at getting the starter dog off but have now arranged to borrow an air-gun and a socket big enough. I'm hoping that does the job or I'll be dropping the sump in search of a way to prevent the crank turning while I work.

Water Pump

I have a rebuild kit for the water pump which has a slight leak. It's an original pump so I'd rather rebuild than replace it with a reproduction part, but I will do that as a backup plan if I have to - I need to find somewhere to help me with a good press, about 20 tonne I'm told.

Solenoid

I fit a new solenoid as the old one was just that, and failed when I was trying to undo the starter dog with some Stilsons and the coil unplugged and turning it over and.. bodgery does not pay! I'll try again with the right tools..

---

I'm going to have more time available over the next month so I'm hoping to finish the front crank seal, water pump, and that last outrigger, and then put her back together for some simple test runs.

Wiper Motor

I had a fun Father's Day fitting a new wiper motor as the old one was dead. I'd never seen inside one before so I didn't know I'd have to transplant all the gearing from the old one. That took some cleaning up but the parts were all in good condition under the old grease.

I also cleaned up and re-greased the drive cable when I moved that over, and took out and cleaned and greased the wiper drive wheels so they were loose enough to turn with my finger before re-assembling everything.

When I get that new wiper switch hopefully I'll have some working wipers..

Electrics (1)

I recently made a start on my electrics checklist with a view to ensuring everything works before taking to the road. The front wings are still off so I'm starting with all the rear lights, instruments, and wipers.

Electrical gremlins.. don't add water!

Rear Plate Light (In Progress)

This was working but the back case had cracked where the screw fixes the front cover on so I ordered a replacement light. The one that arrived expects bullet connectors rather than the lucar connectors that were on the wiring, and after trying red insulated bullets I found it actually wants the solid brass style typically found on British classic cars. So now I'm just waiting for some decent solder to arrive in the post and I'll fit this new plate light.

Brake Lights (Fixed)

These were not working but it was easily tracked down to a faulty switch on the brake pedal. There was infinite resistance across the pins when the switch should be closed. Taking the switch out the circuit brought the brake lights on. I fit a new switch and now the brake lights work.

Tail Lights (OK)

Rear side lights were working.

Indicators (OK, for now)

The lenses had faded and lost most of their amber so I fit two new indicators. I tidied up some broken wiring while I was there by crimping in some new connectors. The right indicator works 9 times out of 10. When it doesn't work, no amount of fiddling with earth or feed wires will bring them on. I haven't checked the output at the flasher unit yet, but I can't get the left side to fail at all so I currently suspect the indicator stalk's Right switch. I will test this and/or replace the stalk with a period correct one at some point. For now, when it doesn't come on, operating the switch again brings it on almost every time.

Panel Lights (In Progress)

When I went to investigate why the panel lights (instrument panel back lights) didn't work I found the bulbs in place and working ok.. but not connected at all to the Panel Lights switch. I traced the wiring to a relay on the bulkhead operating a long length of cable strung down one side of the chassis to where a rear work light was installed. Call me old fashioned but I want the Panel Lights switch to operate the panel lights, and if I want a rear work light I'll route the wiring better than that.. so I removed it all. The panel lights switch also had a broken contact which only closed the switch when manually pushed up to make a connection, so I've ordered a new switch. When it arrives I'll wire it back up to operate the panel lights.

Ignition Switched Circuits (In Progress)

There are a number of circuits that should only operate with the ignition switch on (side lights, indicators, etc.). These circuits will currently close without the key in. There is some wiring for a radio hanging out the bottom of the instrument panel. It looks to me like someone wired that up to operate without the ignition being on, and brought those other ignition switched circuits with it because that's the feed they spurred their new wiring off. I need to remove this bad radio wiring (and the relayed LED illuminated cigarette lighter nearby!) and return those other circuits to be correctly ignition switched.

Wipers (In Progress)

When I went to investigate why the wipers weren't working I found the wiper motor was dead (supplying voltage directly did nothing, and it looked shot), and after some head scratching worked out the the wiper switch could never have worked..

Four pins, wrong switch..

The wiper switch had four pins on the rear. Looking at the wiring diagram you can see why someone might have bought a switch with four pins (30) and connected the wires like they did; G (fused, switched ignition) to bottom left pin and off again direct to wiper motor, RLG on top right pin and running to feed on wiper motor, NLG on bottom right pin running to auto-park input on wiper motor.. and when that didn't work, they left it there!

But the switch they bought was the wrong type, probably a DPDT (double pole double throw). Single speed wiper motors like this need G (always), plus the NLG and RLG connected to the wiper motor when the switch is off (auto-park), or the G (as always), plus the RLG connected to the wiper motor when the switch is on (wipers on).

Here's a handy diagram from http://www.land-rover-lightweight.co.uk Everything above the dotted line is your wiring and the Wiper switch. Below the dotted line is inside the wiper motor. Where a wire crosses the dotted line, it's where a wire goes into the wiper motor's input connector shown in the right-hand boxout:

Wiper motor wiring (click to enlarge)

When the wipers are on all the time the G feed passes current on RLG which completes a circuit via the motor earth that turns the motor regardless of what the auto-park cam and switch are doing.

When you turn your wipers "off", you still want them to return to horizontal, so you pass G (as always), plus NLG and RLG, which complete a circuit inside and outside the motor and drives the motor only until the cam switch hits the "parked" position on the cam, which then breaks the circuit by opening the park switch inside the motor just as your wipers reach home. (Look, G comes in on pin 4 at the motor, the park cam is turning so the switch is up, the current comes in on G and goes across the park switch, back up NLG to your wiper switch which is connecting the NLG pin with the RLG pin in this position (off for auto-park), then back down RLG to your motor and earths.. all until the park cam presents the park position hole and the park switch opens, breaking the circuit.. and your wipers stop at the horizontal position.)

So the wiper switch needs to connect either G and RLG (always on), or NLG and RLG (auto-park).

The wiper switch that's installed had four pins. By measuring the resistance across the pins I found when the switch was off, no two pins were connected at all, and when the switch was on, the two vertical pairs were connected (top left with bottom left, top right with bottom right). There is no way with this switch to pass G and RLG, or NLG and RLG.

What I need is a single pole double throw (SPDT) switch. And it only needs three pins. G, RLG, and NLG. With an SPDT switch, when it is off two pins will be connected (say, NLG and RLG), and when it is on, one of those two pins will be connected with the third pin (say, RLG and G).

When the switch arrives I'll wire it up and hopefully I will have some working wipers. Because I fit a new motor too.. but that's another post.

Work and spot lights wiring and relays. Binned.

Alternator (And Alignment)

My neighbour looked over the fence recently and pointed out my fan belt wasn't quite running true between the fan and alternator pulleys. He was right, it was out by about 3-4mm, as shown below.

On closer inspection I noticed it was a Ford alternator and packed up for the day wondering if I could remove it and shim it up to get the belt aligned correctly. I had to fit a new fan belt anyway as part of going over things ready for the maiden voyage..

Next session I removed the old fan belt and took the alternator off. I cleaned out its contacts and gave it a brush up. It only has two mount points, enough for the two front brackets, but no mount point at all for the 'through-bolt' that holds the alternator to the engine block itself. I couldn't find a way to shim it 100% straight with the other pulleys. If I moved it behind the front brackets and packed the top bracket out to bring the alternator toward the fan.. I found the bottom bracket had to be packed out too which caused the notched timing indicator to fowl the drive pulley. Oh well.

So I fit the new fan belt and added a more suitable alternator to my list of future jobs.

I recorded the voltage across my battery at 12.4V with the engine off, up to around 13.8V at a fast idle. Opinion seems divided on whether this is "tired" or not, but it's certainly charging to some degree so I'm going to leave it to swap in something better later on. I can risk some road trips this summer I think as I won't be using the lights or heaters like I would in winter.

First Start

Yesterday I finally got to start the 2A after going on two years since I brought it home. If it had been MOT exempt back then I might have been tempted to road-test it a bit and get to know it better before taking it to bits.. but then thinking back, those brakes, those bulkhead outriggers.. maybe not!

Anyway, I put a canister of petrol in the new tank and connected up the old Lucas battery that came with it with some jump leads to my other car. I turned the key once, dash lights came on, the petrol gauge lifted slowly and slightly to the empty line.. choke out, turn the key.. And it started! Yahooooo! :)

It needed a little throttle to go with the choke to begin with and then it sat and happily ran on the choke. I could rev it hard and it wouldn't stall when it came back down. I let it run for a while and then pushed the choke back in, still running nicely. Then I switched her off and tried again on the key without the jump leads and she started quick and easy two or three times in a row.

I topped the water up before trying to start it and noticed it dropping out from behind the fan straight after so that looks like a pump seal, at least. There's also a very brief grating noise from the front of the gearbox immediately after starting up.. first port of call I think is to get it on axle stands now and take it up and down through the gears to check for anything obviously wrong.

Fuel Pump Rebuild and New Points, Leads, Plugs, Dizzy Cap

I rebuilt the fuel pump with new seals, gauze, diaphragm, and breathers, and refit it with a new gasket on the block. It's got a nice squeak to it now on the prime lever and after putting some fresh petrol in ready for the first start it filled the cleaned up glass bowl no problem. Some dirty fuel came through first from the fuel feed pipe and then the fresh stuff out the brand new tank which looked clean as water. Lovely!

I also fit some new spark plugs and HT leads and a new distributor cap as the contacts in the old one were in a bad state. The inside of the distributor was a bit of a mess too and when I went to set the points I couldn't budge the points set screw as it had been worn off by the PO.

Long story short, I took the whole base plate out and used a screw extractor to get the old set screw out. I then ordered a small set of replacement Lucas 25D distributor screws from a Classic Mini spares place for about £1.50

http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Electrics/Ignition/Distributors/17H5106.aspx?090802&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/17H5106.aspx|Back%20to%20search

With the base plate out I could clean it all up properly and fit the new points before refitting it and setting the contact breaker gap correctly.

Before..

Extracting the set screw..

Looking better!

100 cups of tea

The 100th cup of tea while working on the 2A was drank while swearing and mopping up brake fluid and trying to get a pressure bleeder to seal.. ;-)