Engine Re-Start - Part 2:
Then I refitted the spark plugs, fan belt & alternator and double checked that everything was connected.
The noise of the starter motor brought one of my neighbours over to have a look / chat and this turned into a big stroke of luck.
As he was able to see, and point out, I had a fuel leak when I made my first attempt to properly start the car.
It turned out that in my haste to fit the new jubilee clips to the temporary fuel line arrangement I'd made a mistake.
I had accidently fitted the fuel line to the carb overflow pipe, not the inlet pipe.
I now realise that this pipe should have a drain pipe fitted (as per the front carb), but at least it was an easy mistake to fix.
I had also put a few squirts of this in the carbs before I started and kept the air filters off.
It took a few attempts before it burst into life, but when it did I was so happy, it was an unbelievable feeling of deep joy.
But it wasn't all rosy as I realised the throttle cable had come away from the accelerator pedal.
This actually happened a couple of times during my attempts to restart the engine and I think there may be a layout problem.
As I have a pedal from a 1500 and a MkIV bulkhead, so the "factory" hole for the cable may be in the wrong place.
But it should be possible to fix this properly with a bit more thought & research
Going back to the engine firing, you can see the smoke in the video clip where the oil from the bores was being burnt off.
Also the engine appeared to want to rev all by itself, rather than idle, without me doing anything.
I can't say what the revs were, because by now I had worked out that the rev counter wasn't working.
So I did keep turning the engine off, but thankfully it did restart every time I tried it.
The way I look at it, even if the engine runs like a bag of old nails, at least it runs.
( I will get a professional to set everything up properly for me at a later date. )
All things considered, if really was a land mark day for my build.
There will be no car time for me today, so until next time, take care, Paul.
