Landmark Afternoon - Part 2:
On my way back from Sainsburys in the morning, I did stop off at the petrol station to stick some fresh petrol in this.
So I found all the parts for the filler cap, removed the tape that had been sealing the tank and poured it in.
This arrangement will certainly do for testing the fuel gauge.
You have no idea how relieved I was to see the gauge slowly move over a bit.
( As I had to remove the fuel gauge sensor in order to change the direction the fuel pipe left the petrol tank. )
Note:
I was very happy at the time, but I have now had the chance to think about that gauge reading a bit more...
I put about 18 litres in, so either my tank has a capacity of 144 litres, or the gauge is reading low/not working properly after all.
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Engine Re-Start - Part 1:
Well I can hardly build up the suspense about how the rest of my afternoon went, given that I'll already let the cat out of the bag.
But it is worth going back a few steps to put this in context...
21st July 2012 - Last time I could drive my donor car.
9th December 2012 - Last time I actually got the engine to run.
29th April 2013 - Last time I connected everything in order to
attempt to start the engine.
6th May 2013 - All my attempts at restarting the engine had failed.
At which point I had to strip everything down to begin my
Frankenstein build, remember this chaos?
Now what I
should have done, it prepare the engine to stand idle for a long time, but I didn't.
So rather belatedly, I have recently been preparing for another attempt at bringing the engine back to life.
I marked up the HT leads, so I didn't get them mixed up.
Was very annoyed to find the only way to get access to the front cylinder was by moving the alternator.
But eventually I was able to put a little oil in the plug holes and just had to hope for the best.
Either way, I was determined to take things slowly, keep checking things and not make a mess of this if I could.
Then, during the testing of the lights I turned the key the wrong way by accident and the starter motor kicked in.
At which point I figured I now had nothing to lose by seeing what would happen if I tried to start it properly.
So I removed the fan belt (as the alternator was still loose) and all the spark plugs, which were only finger tight after putting the oil in.
Then I turned the starter motor on a few times, keeping an eye on the fuel filter.
Again, I was really pleased to see this finally fill with fuel.
At which point I stopped and re-grouped, because the oil in the bores was now all over the engine & the nearest wheelie bin.