She runs!

[Lippyp]

Well kind of anyway Today was a lovely day so I decided to see if I could get the old girl fired up. It has to be nearly a year since I last had her running so off came the cover and out came the tools. Didn't want to turn over well but I knew the starter was pretty much junk so I decided to play it safe, whipped all 8 plugs out, squirted some redex (old school upper cylinder lube/fuel system cleaner miracle fluid) let it fester in there for half an hour or so and then turned her over with the plugs out to puke it all out, the idea is to lube the cylinders and free any stuck top rings. She spun over fine with no compression so its pretty much I'm sure down to the starter being goosed. I cleaned all the plugs which are nearly new but were pretty black, in some gas with a wire brush, stuck em back in with a dab of anti seize on the threads, cleaned all the main grounds up and then wired it up to my 3.1L Diesel Trooper with some jump cables.

Finally she let out a big growl and burst into life along with a big cloud of smoke (that'll be the redex burning off then!) It was somewhat on the lumpy side and theres a big miss on each side under load but she idles OK, give it some gas and the drivers side pops and bangs outta the exhaust so its not firing on all eight. Its probably down to the poxy Mallory twin point dizzy needing some attention and the fact its running on four or five year old unleaded gas.

My intention is to get her back on the road for a big American car show near me which is held on the 4th of July weekend, my list does seem to be growing though! So far:

Drain gas tank, take it out, clean it with Marine clean, refit with new pipes and clean gas.

Swap stock intake for the Performer eps I have sat in the garage
Fit the HEI dizzy I have in my parts stash
Fit the new M&H engine loom to match the HEI
Time her up
Oil and filter change
Buy and fit a decent mini starter and new battery.
Fit the power brake setup from my stash
Change most of the brake lines and flexi hoses and any wheel cylinders that I manage to snap the bleed nipples off.
Drain the coolant, remove the rad and fabricate a fan shroud to take the big Volvo electric fan I acquired, source a fan controller, flush system and refill.
Take three wheels in to get the tyres refitted and new valves as they go down fairly quickly.

Check over the electrics. Pretty sure the rear lighting loom is toast.
Sort out a decent screen washer setup as the stock one is dead as is the cheap aftermarket one I fitted and its a legal requirment.

Then I should be ready to put her in for an inspection!

After that its the fun stuff, cosmetics inside the cab, new dash pad, new carpets, I need to get the screen refitted as the rubber leaks, if I get time I have a sub and a couple of amps to shoehorn in too. I also need to finish repairing the camper top and get that mounted too,

Thats before I even think about more rust repairs and a respray!

We're now on British summer time as the clocks went forward an hour last night so the evenings are lighter, plus the twins start at nursery (kindergarten) five afternoons every week after Easter so that also frees up a lot of time. That said they're forecasting snow tuesday/wednesday this week!

Wish me luck, I'm going in!