The '66 Mustang with the recently completed engine rebuild is back in for its 500 mile service and check over. The owner also wants me to carry out a couple of additional jobs to improve the car, one being the fitment of an export brace and Monte Carlo bar to strengthen the frame around the engine and across the strut tops, another being the replacement of the fuel filler neck with a modified type that'll stop splash back of the fuel when it's being filled. I'm also going to

This '68 Mustang was dropped off earlier this week with a view to checking it over and making it reliable. It was supposed to be driven down on Monday but ended up being trailered as the owner didn't feel confident it would make the trip. I'm glad he went this way, on arrival the steering ram bracket had pulled the captive nuts from the frame and it wouldn't turn right. The owner has fitted a 302ci engine but it needs snagging, the battery leads are a fire waiting to happen,

There have been a few TR6s in recently and here's another. There's a problem with the brake servo, indicated by the engine revving up at idle when the brake pedal is depressed, and it's leaking oil from just about everywhere around the differential so I think I'll be taking that out. It came in with a set of coolant hoses, I've drained the cooling system and replaced the full set. There was a question about the steering, the column lower universal joint securing bolt was loos

Along with the El Camino and 505 GTi that came in yesterday, and tying in nicely with the recent big engined black coupes, was this Bristol Brigand. It's been in before, never really needs much as it's a well used example. This time I was to look into why the driver's seat wouldn't go back and forth, which seems to have fixed itself, and there's an ugly noise from the engine bay, which turned out to be worn bearings in the under 3 year old aftermarket alternator. As the alter

It's been a while since I worked on Peugeot so it was nice to see this one struggle in this afternoon. It appears to have developed a fault with the LE2-Jetronic fuel injection system, it's running as if the choke is on, really rich, thick black smoke, won't idle, but when it's cold it's ok. That seems to indicate a coolant temperature fault so I'll be looking there first. I'll also be checking for vacuum leaks and good earths. Beyond that there are some other niggles that in

I've always liked the Chevy El Camino/Ford Ranchero idea so it's nice to have this come in. It'll start but won't run for more than a few seconds so I've got a few checks to do. An initial look at the ignition/choke wiring doesn't bode well, there's a lot of non-standard wiring and I've yet to find where it all goes/comes from. The carburettor looks recent, fuel lines look ok and there is a fuel pressure gauge fitted so I should be able to get an idea what's going on with the

I've known this car for 3 or 4 years now, the last time it came in it had snapped the oil pump drive shaft, fortunately without causing any damage as it was stopped right away. The owner is concerned about coolant loss, it coughs every now and again and spits a cloud out of the right side tail pipe and the last time he changed the oil there was a little water came out first when removing the drain plug. As this oil change has just been done I will crack the sump plug and see

This rather nice BMW 840ci was dropped off today with a view to me doing a bit of detail work and then offering it up for sale. I've always liked these, just about my favourite BMW, so it's a pleasure to have one in the workshop. The main issue is the headlining, I'll be removing it and having the board, sunroof panel and maybe the a- and c-pillars retrimmed, that will really lift the car. It's running beautifully so there's nothing mechanical on the list but I'd like to see

This is something new, I haven't seen one of these on the road for many years let alone work on one. Other than the gearbox it's a pretty straightforward and nicely put together car, or at least appears so after an initial look over. It's got a problem with the fuel pump, when I called the guy at DAF Classics about it he knew the car very well, apparently it's had a re-profiled cam and since then the fuel pump actuating lever doesn't ride on the cam journal as it should. It's

Last week I threatened to put the Mustang engine back in the car as it was just about ready to go, the refitting went really well, the hooking back up has thrown up small snagging issues that have all, now, been resolved. The new manifold and carburettor meant finding somewhere suitable to mount the coil, a spare lug on the back of the air conditioning compressor seems well suited. I also fabricated a new fuel pipe from the pump to the carburettor, sourced and fitted a thrott

The reassembly of the VW Type 3 engine progressed well since the last post but I had a bit of a delay whilst I worked out how to secure the engine and flex plate, the nut that held the two together had to be wound up to 235lb/ft. I made a cardboard template for a jig that would bolt through the three torque converter holes in the flex plate with a break that would allow me to secure it to a bench and a hole in the centre for the 36mm socket. I am fortunate to have Robert Fox

It's been a little while since I last saw this TVR, which can only be a good thing. I helped the owner find and buy it a few years ago and have done a couple of jobs on it since. This time I'm investigating an issue with the steering and will be adjusting the valve gaps for good measure - it's always had a bit of a rattle in the top end.

It's taken a little longer than I'd hoped to get the Mustang engine to this stage. It was all going well until I tried to fit the new roller rockers. I'd replaced the rocker pedestal studs with screw in type as some of the originals were worn, with the help of my trusty engine shop, but when the rockers were installed with the original pushrods the action point on the top of the valve was way out. That meant heads off and back to the machine shop to have the rocker pedestal b

I've had this TR6 in before, that time it was to replace a couple of the o-rings in the fuel metering unit. This time it's to tighten up the steering column (a couple of loose nuts behind the dash) and work out why the overdrive has packed up. The relay and overdrive solenoid tested fine so it had to be in the switched side of the relay, through that on the column and on to the 2nd gear and 3rd/4th gear switches in the gearbox. After a bit of tightening up of the column switc

The last time I posted about this job I was about to dig into the engine with a view to uncovering the reason for the low compression, that was back in April. As it came apart it was clear that it hadn't had any serious work carried out on it for many years. The low compression was down to a crack between the valve seats on cylinder 3 but it was blowing past the head to barrel joint on all cylinders. It was also found that the cylinder heads didn't match, the bores were glaze

Following on from last week's 400 here's another rare Bristol, they only made 2 406s', one with a body designed and built by Zagato and this one, designed and built in-house. Typically it only has a couopleof small problems, a slight exhaust leak where the pipe meets the silencer - the only joint, and the bonnet vibrates at speed.

It's been a few months since I talked about the Mustang engine so here's an update. I found that, basically, it needed everything. The crankshaft needed grinding, cylinders re-boring and new pistons just for starters. I stripped it right down and cleaned it up enough to deliver it to my machine shop, it was pretty filthy and I want to stay friends with them. The block has been bored out 0.030" and honed to match the pistons, the crankshaft has been taken down 0.010" and the w

And not just any Bristol 400 either, this is chassis number 1, the start of it all. It's got some judder under braking so I've taken the drums and one of the hubs to my pal who sorted the Derby Bentley brakes recently to have them turned back to round. As with all of this customer's Bristols it only needs a little work, they really are great cars, get them right and they'll do a million miles.

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