As the sun went down....

... and the moon rose,

... I packed my bags ready for demob early the following day. We'd docked in Nordenham, Northern Germany and were halfway through loading a second lot of cables at the Prysmian factory when the crew was changed. A hire-car back down to the Hook of Holland - taking in Arnhem on the way - and the next morning I was back in the workshop. Yahoo!

Further investigations revealed that the pressure relief valve in the original filter cover plate was in fact a by-pass valve, so there was nothing to worry about when turning up the new cover plate. I had only one piece of aluminium that would fit the bill and I was determined to get it right - which I didn't. The extra holes, now sealed off with suitably sized rivets, were a 'welcome home' from my measuring equipment. I've yet to drill and tap for the fittings and will hold off until I know what thread they'll be.

Learned Counsel has been hard at it getting on with replacing the front bulkhead and doing some scuttle repairs on the racing Jowett.

He's also turned up a couple of ported heads which we hadn't noticed before in the pile of heads and blocks that he's collected over the years. Normally, there's a rather curious return under the semi-circular portion of the combustion chamber walls to the side of the valve heads. On these heads, the returns have been machined away and the ports smoothed out and polished. They're cleaning up very nicely.

The Great Collector has been up to his usual tricks and bought this very nice Hillman Minx...

... and an ex-military Austin 7. He's also found the time to remove the body from his little Peugeot Camionette - if that's the right word....

... restore the chassis and replace a good proportion of the woodwork that had seen better days. I don't have to turn my back for long before something new turns up.

Just before I went away, I bought a seized, but complete Wolseley 6/80 engine. It's a Series II with the extra water gallery on the head which could be useful if I continue with the supercharging idea. The engine mount rubbers looked in much better condition than the ones I've got and the dynamo bracket is something I'm missing. A gallon of diesel down the bores and left for a month should see the engine turning again. All the ancillaries were present - starter motor, dynamo, carbs etc and, I also came away with a box of bits and pieces which, to my delight included....

... a vacuum gauge. Father fitted one of these to the FB Victor in which I passed my test and for some reason it's always stuck in my mind. I think I can have some fun with this by adding a much larger and period face for the dash of the coupé.

There was also a 'go-faster' instrument binnacle of the kind I hankered after for my Mini, back in the day.