I've bought another clutch slave cylinder with a view to finishing the front brakes so that the experiments with master cylinder sizes can proceed. Also, the gear change mechanism is about to take shape as soon as I've put the lathe back together again (I found all the drive belts split and/or the wrong size). As a reward for my lathe endeavours, I've located yet another track rod in much less rusty a state which also has the benefit of being straight. Hopefully I can resurrect this and save a bob or two. I've still got to have one of the threaded plugs made (it seems it's always the left-hand thread that's the problem) but that won't be as bad as having the whole show re-done.

Just re-visiting the cooling problems of the Series I Morris Six engine; if the needle does continually hover near the danger zone, I think I read somewhere that the Series II head with its additional water gallery can be fitted to the Series I block with just a slightly different gasket. I'd lose the curvy exhaust manifold but that's better than losing the engine. I'd also have to make up the special tool for removing the distributor drive (and keep it to myself - you may recall that my record a propos the manufacture of special tools is not glowing).

The different inlet manifold:

And the extra water gallery:

I've got another Series I engine (a Gold Seal one as it happens) which I'll probably move on to make a bit of space in the workshop. There's only so much of this stuff that you can keep and one extra engine and gearbox is more than adequate - everything else can be repaired.

To continue with the design and manufacture of the radiator insert, I had to re-install the engine in the chassis. I needed to confirm the exact amount of room between the engine and radiator, get the angles and the route of the inlet and outlet pipes established and see that there wasn't a 'gotcha' about to surprise me. Of course, I had to put the wheels on to see how the car looked with the engine in....

And another angle:

When I'd finished dreaming about racing through the mountains to Monaco, I set about the dismantling of the back axle. I think I've got enough bits and pieces to make up a good rear axle, complete with all the brake fittings and so on. The offside hub took a 10 ton hydraulic puller and heat before it shot across the room. As the nearside hub was missing along with the remains of its broken halfshaft, I could put away my tin hat. I've got a rear hub that's rusted to a rear drum - it could be the original - so that's in the bucket of diesel for the duration.

Once again, there are several loose ends that need not tying up but, further development. The pedals, the gear lever linkage and the steering column and box are all clamouring for attention. I can't finish any of these jobs because I'm trying to avoid re-doing them if something I hadn't thought of crops up. All a bit frustrating as time is short.

I consoled myself with a quick peek at the Jowett Jerrycan.

Chap wants to put his glasses on else he'll miss bits out won't he.