A grand day out( or two.)

[tom]

Back home with paint, polishing compounds, cleaning materials, a box of front struts and a freshly skimmed cylinder head.
Tea bags, Marmite and digestive biscuits filled the crannies and crevices and I squeezed 1100Km out of the tankful which isn't too bad. Of the things I found in the spares box was a foot of window channel which will help to quieten the car, an undamaged boot light lens and a temperature sender which was a bonus. On a smooth, flat road, it drives nicely but on anything else, it is diabolical, rattling, thumping and twitching over bumps. Sometime next week, I shall begin the front end overhaul by draining the gearbox and cutting the lower engine mount free then pushing a new one in. I'll replace the gearbox mounting while I'm at it and give the lower ball joints and bushes a Hard Stare. I shall be changing the hardydisc as a matter of course and have already laid in rack and driveshaft gaiters. The struts will be given an internal lube, new leak off pipes and a set of new spheres, together with a rebuilt octopus and an LHM change. That used to take me a whole weekend but now I have time available I'll get the job down to a month!