Latest Update

I've not done much since the last update. Family, work and DIY have been a pretty good excuse to keep me out of the cold, apart from a couple of days where I was playing with some toys that I got for Christmas (trolley jack, imperial spanners, head torch).

I decided to use the trolley jack to lift the car to give me a better look at the underside of the sills/floor to see what needs doing, however this came with its own problems - the chassis legs. I was going to jack under the chassis legs until I realised that the nearside leg was shot...

Nearside chassis legs with obvious corrosion

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Realising that the chassis legs will need replacing, I decided that this going to need a lot of clear space in the garage and plenty of access around the car. This also means removing the engine so that I can get into the engine bay floor and take the weight of those rotten sections. The recent cold snap has forced me to change the water in the cooling system, so have to leave the engine in for the time being, but I took the bonnet off anyway.

I didn't know if there was any coolant/anti-freeze in the engine, nor the last time the water had been changed. The engine is going to come out soon and it seems a bit pointless to change the water now, but it would have been a shame if the engine block had cracked due to neglecting this little job.

Changing the water also gave me an excuse to get the car started, and get it up to temperature - something that turned into a much bigger job than I expected. The battery turned out to be a bit of a dud, and even when connected to the battery charger, I needed the starting handle to get it going. The previous owner said the dynamo needed polarising, which also meant that the car couldn't even keep itself going once started - the car could only tick over using the power from mains electric!

Still it was really nice to hear the engine running, and the little burble from the exhaust. Considering the structural state of the car, it actually runs quite sweet - I really love these little cars! This was probably the last time it'll be running before it's taken out and rebuilt.

Current state of the car