Removed the battery again and put it back on charge.
Next morning I decided to give the start-up a go. Reset the trip inertia switch in the battery compartment, slid into the drivers seat, turned the key to position 1, the fuel pump charged up, turned the key again........the engine cranked over for about 3 or 4 seconds then roared into life!
It's alive!
I then set the timing up to 16 deg BTDC, which was very straight forward - thanks to the write-ups for that! I also did the excercise that mickmick carried out, turning the cas from one way to the other to witness the effect it had on the timing reading.
This also allowed the engine to warm up nicely prior to the running in to come.
Then took the car out for the first of 2 sessions I planned for the initial hard running-in.
I did 10 miles of high rpm, hard acceleration, hard engine deceleration and returned to the garage to check for any leaks. All was good!
Then took it out for the second 10 miles - more of the same. Returned to the garage. Still no leaks!
The car was accelerating really, REALLY well! Sounding nice and smooth, nothing untoward. Pulling nice and straight, and responding well to changes in throttle.
This method of running in is also particulary good for when 2 knob-ends in a crappy Nova pull-up alongside at the lights and attempt to have a go.........I wouldn't normally respond to such juvenile behaviour, but come on guys, give me a break, I was running the car in as prescribed!!
On returning, I let the engine cool down for 45minutes, then did the 20 mile oil and filter change*. The oil was full of silvery residue - I have posted a pic below but you can't really make out the colour of the contaminents.
*tip: loosen the filter and then place a clear polythene bag completely over it before unscrewing all the way out, keeping the bag secure. it catches all the oil, preventing it from dripping all over the exhaust, driveshaft and longeron. I didnt spill a drop!
Replaced the oil with non-synthetic Duckhams 10W40, which I will keep in there for 1500 miles. The filter is the Fram type.
I have been running the car over the past couple of days, and everything seems fine.
On sunday afternoon, I installed a small key switch into one of the blanks near to the steering wheel. This switch replaces the paperclip short that is inserted into the aldl plug for checking fault codes and for putting the car into service mode. It's a nice and simple install that will make a fairly easy job, even quicker and easier. The parts cost me the grand total of £5.00
and took me about 20 minutes to complete.
I then gave the car a good wash and polish. I bought some Maguires products following the recommendations from some of the guys on here. I must agree, that it is really good stuff........especially the polish which is real easy to put on and take off leaving a lovely shine.
I then took some pics. See here
I did say you would love it..
