Today saw Rachel's engine fully assembled, for the first time in 21 months. Due to rain my progress was slow, but this was offset by how little I had left to do:
- The mystery choke vacuum hose fitted onto a mystery connector I noticed.
- The brake servo vacuum tubes all fitted in place like a jigsaw once I saw the mounting holes hidden behind the radiator.
- The exhaust mount I'd disconnected was a pain to refit, but with a bit of crowbar action I drove the bolt home.
- I noticed a few loose wires, which all connected to the starter coils.
Of course this was all too easy. I managed to get my finger over a spark plug hole, finally, to feel if it was in compression. It gave quite a rush of air, but was offset 240 degrees from the timing marks, which will make setting the timings quite a lot harder. This was a simply because the flywheel's got 6 bolts, and wasn't lined up with the correct holes. For future reference, I'll be adding this note to the Haynes manual. A little bit of maths and measurement got the distributor repositioned though, which didn't take that long in the end.
Once everything was in place, I reconnected the battery and gave the started motor a quick go (without the spark plugs fitted). Everything turned properly, and nothing blew up, meaning it should be ready for some timing once Frank's back. A pretty successful week...