This Scimitar came in today for some investigation into why the overdrive had stopped working following the installation of a replacement tachometer. It looks like they should have labelled the wires as that was basically the issue, this car has a relay to control the overdrive solenoid with the switch being used to earth the relay drive coil. It couldn't have helped that the wiring diagram in the manual didn't include this relay. with it all correctly positioned the overdriv

It's been a while since I made any mention of the Sizaire Freres 4RI renovation, it's been a bit of a roller coaster so far. Making up and fitting a wiring loom and mounting stop, tail & indicator lamps has been the most straightforward job, although it take a bit of thought and planning. SOrting the engine has been a bit more troublesome, the main bearings needed new white metal, I sent the engine down to Formhalls and whilst it was there they went out of business. That mean

The sharp eyed amongst you might recognise this MGB from when it came in a year or so ago for somewhat of a major overhaul. The owner reports that it's driving great and constantly putting a smile on his face but it's developed a rather ugly but intermittent grinding sound whilst depressing the clutch pedal. I have reproduced it, I'm going to have to take the engine out and have a closer look at clutch, flywheel, throw-out bearing and spigot bushing, it can't be much else. At

This Beetle came in today, the owner wants it lifted back up to a more reasonable ride height and there are a couple of smaller niggles that need sorting. The suspension is all adjustable, I'm going to start with one tooth on the rear torsion bars with it on the lift and then do the front end, a Limebug conversion, with it on wheel ramps and the trolley jack.

I've known this car, and its owner of course, for a few years now, and it's 8 years since I rebuilt the engine - how time flies. It's going on a road trip so I'm giving it an oil change and checking valve, points and plug gaps - which were all spot on, and sorting out anything else I can find. The v-belt was a bit loose, a new one is on it's way, and the Lucas 33117 flasher unit is causing issues so I'm going to replace that too.

I made a start on the '66 Mustang that came in a week or so ago, have been waiting until I had some shelf & head space. A day in and the engine is out and mounted on a stand with the rocker covers and intake manifold removed, that's enough to confirm that it really is about time someone took care of this 289. I don't have the timing cover off as yet but I can tell from moving the crankshaft back & forth that the timing chain is stretched. If it's going to need everything it'l

The TR6, the engine of which I recently rebuilt, has already covered 500 miles so the owner brought it in to have an oil & filter change and a re-torque of the head bolts, as well as a few jobs that need either correction (a leaking timing cover seal) or investigation (poor hot start, possible fuel vapourisation in the injector lines). I'll also be fitting a fuel tap on the tank outlet and a low pressure filter between the tap & the pump. Other than that the car is reported t

This rather tasty Mustang was dropped off yesterday for a few jobs, it's a car that comes in every once in a while for relatively small jobs, it's been restored and the owner is improving it and making it his own as well as repairing anything that breaks. This time it was in for a new driver's window regulator, oil & filter change, the hard wiring of a dash cam to the car's loom (he'd already located the cameras and run the wiring to the footwell) and the installation of an a

I've got a bit of a soft spot for this trike since first working on it a couple of years ago. Then it was to get it going and make it reliable and that seems to have worked out ok. Now it's to sort the gearshift (it's stuck in reverse) and look into the charging system (the alternator was not working). The gearbox was an easy fix, the alternator was picked up by Ribblesdale this morning and tomorrow they'll let me know what's up with that. It's quite a machine, the all alumin

This Mustang has been coming in for occasional work over the last few years and now the owner wants me to take a look at the engine, not there's a specific problem but it has been blowing oil into the air cleaner and out of the filler gauze. It will more likely be a stock rebuild, no point in looking for more power when there's plenty for the roads around here. That will mean a crankshaft grind, new bearings, new pistons and a re-bore, new camshaft, lifters, valves, springs,

This Austin 10 was dropped off today with a view to me checking and adjusting the brakes and giving it a look over before the season starts. The first I noticed when it pulled up was the rather wayard tracking, toeing out to serious degree. The owner said he hit a rut on Quernmore Road, and there are plenty, after which it was horrible and he had to crrep along at 10mph. A wiggle of the wheels put them straight so the first thing I looked for was a loose steering arm, found t

With the Type 3 engine problem I carried out my own compression test and found much the same result as the previous tester, 70lbs on the left side and not much more on the right. I adjusted the valves but it made little difference so yesterday I pulled the engine and gearbox out with a view to tearing the engine down and seeing how soon the problem appears.

I've been putting some time in on the Triumph TR6 job and today it fired up for the first time. The engine was found to be in pretty poor condition, a lot of it had never been apart before. I had the crankshaft gound and block bored out and it's got new bearings, pistons, valves, guides, springs, timing gears & chain and various smaller parts. The owner got a set of refurbished throttle bodies from Fred Millturn, they were shipped ready assembled and engine tested so all I ha

This rather nice VW Type 3 automatic was dropped off today for some work. It's been getting progressively more difficult to start, hot or cold, and a compression check carried out elsewhere suggested issues with the top end. I'll carry out my own compression check first, if the results are poor I'll start at the outside and work my way towards the centre, depending on what's discovered. I'll check the valves are closing first, if they are I'll pull the heads and see if there

This Beetle 1300 came in on Friday, the owner has only recently bought it and it had a few issues, the most annoying being that it wouldn't idle when warm. It had an aftermarket carburettor fitted but came with the original Solex PICT 30 so I cleaned that out first and fitted it and thought I'd cracked it, it idled for ages and ran sweetly but wouldn't get up the driveway. Today I stripped and cleaned the Chinese made carb and that did the trick, it was a lot easier to set th

...but that's not quite the end of it. The final assembly of the engine and refitting all went well and, other than gasket error between the PCV spacer plate and the new Edelbrock intake manifold (that was fixed by inverting the plate), it fired right up. I had taken the liberty of priming the carburettor, that helped. I've yet to check the timing and the idle mixture might need a tweak to match the new engine but otherwise it sounds nice. After a couple of starts the starter

This Morris 1300 was dropped off a week or so ago, the AA man had got it going enough for the new owner to get it up to the workshop but it wasn't running right. As a matter of course I replaced the spark plugs, HT leads, cap & rotor and decided to refit points instead of the electronic ignition. I also replaced all of the fuel hoses with r9 and fitted a fuel filter. The test drive went well but I'd made a bit of a schoolboy error, when I refitted the air filter box in readin

This Rover 100 was dragged in last week, it would fire but wouldn't run. It had to be fuel starvation as I found the float chamber empty and when I sloshed some fuel in to get it in the workshop it fired right up. These cars have a fuel reserve switch on the instrument panel that operates a solenoid valve mounted on the fuel tank which selects from either of 2 sources, one deeper than the other. Having checked the fuel pump and cleaned out the internal filter it looks like th

Things with the Mustang 289 engine did work out much as expected, the entire engine was coated in a horrid mix of burned carbon and oil, the bores were worn, the cam gear was almost bereft of teeth, just about at end of life. I picked up the assorted engine parts from the machine shop just before Christmas and had the crankshaft, rods and new pistons balanced to ensure smooth running. The heads have new guides and exhaust valve seats, the block was bored out +0.030", the cran

This Chevy C10 came in today, the owner hasn't had it long and wants me to look into a transmission leak. It's got a 283ci V8 but it's mated to the 2-speed which, from past experience, is prone to leaks. It's also got a tiny steering wheel, massive front tyres and no power steering, needless to say the drive isn't as much fun as the looks.