I had to do something about the adjustment wheel on the wheeling machine. Because of the design of the frame, the rim of the wheel rubbed against one of the tubes and, as the wheel wasn't slotted for a key, it was all a bit of a flaky nonsense.

It was a simple job to make an extension and now it all works as it should. In wheeling mode, I decided to revisit a few of the things I'd learnt (and hopefully remembered) from Geoff Moss's wheeling course in Liskeard.

I managed to produce a perfectly even dome which matched my original on the right, but the finish was terrible. Hmm, what was that about?

Closer examination of the upper wheel answered part of the question. I've no complaints about the quality of the wheel, but what I hadn't realised was that it was a turned finish, not ground - hence the minute lines running along the work.

I noticed also that the 'blow' area on the anvil was bracketed by two polished lines indicating that the radius and the flat of the blow area weren't running into each other smoothly. The same was true for all but the flattest anvil. The only way to correct this was to polish out the ridges. I made up a stout mandrel and applied some 1200 emery cloth lubricated with metal polish.

That did the trick. The upper wheel I've taken down to the engine shop and in a spare moment they'll pop it on their crankshaft grinder - talking of which....

.... I was pleased to bring home the reground crank the other day. Just the block to deal with now. I think I mentioned that it was touch and go with the standard pistons and it turns out there's too much wear in the liners so .020" or thereabouts pistons will have to be found. My first port of call was the ever-resourceful Mr Holmes and sure enough, he has come up trumps again.

The later cam covers on the MS and 6/80 engines were two-piece affairs that allowed you to adjust the cam clearances without disturbing the distributor - a nuisance factor on the earlier engines. The other slightly irritating design anomaly is that the oil filler and the dipstick are on opposite sides of the block. As I'm going to use electronic ignition running off the crankshaft pulley, I can get rid of quite a lot of metal by removing the distributor pillar and relocating the oil filler.

A few minutes with the disc cutter and abrasive wheel was all it took.

I'll make up a couple of plugs and get George to weld them in place. The hole with the two bolt holes on top of the cover is for the breather which connects via a tube to the air cleaner. I might also get George to weld the two parts of the casing together on the inside so I can grind off the joint flanges. A rivet counter is bound to see it and say, 'That's not right'.