Didn't leave the 'shop till gone 8 this evening, after a very welcome visit from Misters Kapri & Billy, up from the South Coast, & my brother Brock, over from Wiltshire. Great to see you all guys. Brock brought donuts, which I assumed were my birthday present, so I ate most of them. Except the custard ones. I
hate custard -bleurgh.
Where was I? Oh yeah, as usual, things didn't go quite according to plan & most of the morning was taken up with an iffy inhibitor switch, (an electrical safety switch fitted to the gearbox). I freely admit I'm no electrician, (& not much of a mechanic), so all I could do was potter on with bits of bodywork while Kev & Steve grappled with the problem. As far as I could make out, the original switch wasn't working, so they replaced it with one from Loony's spare gearbox. Then that one broke, (a terminal snapped off), but the original one started working again. It works, I'm leaving it alone.
Then Steve had to strip & rebuild the Holley carb after it sucked up a load of muck from the fuel tank. The truck's been sat for around 10 months without being run at all, plus we had to remove the fuel filter to fit the heatproof fuel pipe sleeving required for the SVA test, so it's probably our own fault -O.K,
my fault, but I'm slightly concerned it may be tank sealant breaking away from the inside of the fuel tank & clogging the pipes.
With the engine finally cranking over & a good fuel supply, it burst into life & settled down to a steady tick-over suprisingly well. Hurrah!
Kev checked the brakes, which also haven't been touched since the SVA test & pronounced them sound, then went through the forms I need to present to the DVLA. Thanks Kev.
With that, he & his sidekick Billy set off through the snow for home, leaving Steve & I to re-fit the interior panels, putting in the floors, footwells, seatbelts & dashboard sections, before handing over to Loony & Chris, who bolted in the transmission tunnel pieces, column switches & steering wheel.
A quick check of the switchgear showed everything working, except a dodgy fog light switch, (it works if you wiggle it -seem to remember Terry saying that when he wired it up), & one blown headlight bulb.
Steve tells me we can pass an MOT without the screen, wipers & washers. I'm not 100% convinced, so will try to get them fitted if I can. So all that's left before the MOT now is to put the seats in, get the driver's door latching & tidy up the sharp bodywork edges on the drivers side.
As always, a million thanks to everyone for their help today. Wouldn't be this far without you.
