[Mick O'Malley]

This morning's sortie in the A352 was, once again, to the above. The beast started perfectly and was singing along until I got to the B4063, only a few miles from the airfield, when a swiftly increasing backfire manifested itself. Over only a couple of hundred yards it had deteriorated to the extent of sounding like cannon fire - a poor bloke was walking his dog which bolted, fortunately without slipping its lead. I dived down a left turning, performed a quick three-point turn, and retraced my route, startling the poor hound once again. The misfire gradually corrected itself until, after a mile or so, the engine was running more or less OK.

On returning home I let it cool and investigated - first port of call being the distributor, in particular the condenser, which had failed a year ago tomorrow with similar symptons. However, I noticed that the pip under the cap was hanging a little low, a gentle tug revealing its spring was very weak. I'd only bought this in February when its predecessor failed. I'll get another from Canley or similar and renew the condenser as well. The points were fine, but I ran a folded strip of fine emery cloth between them anyway.

I want her well again for Shelsley Walsh next Saturday, so fingers crossed.

Regards, Mick