Detachment.

I am a bit late with this update on yesterday’s progress – some real life after a day in the workshop!

I was a little late starting as I was waiting on bolts to mount the engine. I did some tidying and then took the manifolds and fuel pump off the block. Before the manifolds came off the carburettor mounts needed to be removed only slightly truly part was removing the inlet manifold spacer and liner. The spacer was cracked already but still took a bit of effort. The liner needed some gentle radial tapping to free.

Manifolds came away easily and I also took the studs out of the block. this gave me a better look at the broken down pipe studs. I am going to drill and tap these and if needed tap them to a slightly bigger size (maybe metric!) and fit modified studs

Removing the fuel pump was straight forward and I did also remove the cam cover bolts on which it is mounted expecting it to come away which it did not. I’ll leave that for now.

Bolts then arrived and of course they are not correct (I had looked in the book of lies for the thread rather than looking at the bolts) so I moved to Plan B which is probably better although more involved. This required plates to be fabricated to bolt to the block with the original bolts such that M16 bolts could run back into the engine stand tubes which accept an M16 reassuringly snuggly.

With the engine mounted and the gearbox out of the way I could continue detaching the rear axle from the chassis. it was amazing how much rust was rattled free by the impact wrench!

With the spring bolts out, dampers off the chassis was left resting gently on the springs. With the chassis somewhat precariously balanced I naturally concluded that now was the time to try to get the steering relay out.

I must admit that I cheated. It dawned on me that I was going to split the chassis into sections to dispose of it so why not cut the steering relay out. The main aim was not to cut the relay itself! This operation was akin to opening a tin of beans with an angle grinder.