... Mr Larken has engineered a belt & braces mod for his new homemade 6/80 valves.

Thinking twice about relying solely on the threadlock, the threaded stems are now pinned to the valve stem. We can all sleep soundly once again.

He's also been busy converting the column shift gearbox to a floor shift type.

My conversion looks somewhat more complicated as I elected to pass the second shifter arm over the top of the box rather than under. Knowing Mr Larken's capabilities, his version will be more finely engineered.

Following a jolly in the Hillman to the Lacy Scott & Knight auction viewing with Mr Pfaffenbach, he kindly sent this rather splendid picture as a thank you. In the background is British Sugar's Bury St Edmunds factory - something of an eyesore nowadays - where I spent seven winters (it was seasonal work) in various capacities whilst also getting the Avro ready for the next airshow season. I have to admit that it was a bit of a lifesaver in terms of a winter income, so I shouldn't judge the site too harshly.

One of the cars at the auction had been standing for a very long time and as a result the fuel pump was not cooperating. Coupled with the usual gallon or two of stale fuel lurking in the system, it took some time to strip out, adjust and reassemble the pump. The method for getting the correct setting of the diaphragm is to screw in the shaft until such time as the points assembly will almost, but not quite go over centre. You then back off the diaphragm to the first available screw hole, then four more. Further adjustment might still be needed as the strength of the coil can vary considerably from pump to pump.

As I was in the swing of things, I decided to refurbish another pump that I had in a drawer and was careful to take a picture of where everything was connected. Of course, I broke a connection in getting it all back together again which took me another half-an-hour to sort out. The pump worked - it didn't before, but the diaphragm had to be adjusted several times after setting it according to the book. Probably the material was just old and a bit stiff - I know how that feels.

Playing around with the dash position on the Riley Special, I remembered that Mr Holmes had kindly given me a Wolseley 6/80 dash coaming.

It fits the curve perfectly and saves me a lot of time in that the air vents for demisting are incorporated - they would have been a fiddle to fabricate.

A trip to Awkward and Leon's workshop coincided with a visit from this Fordson Major, on its way to deliver a plough.

What a pity manufacturers don't take trouble to design colourful badges anymore.

More fun with cardboard has given me an indication of the door shape and position. As it curves inwards towards the top, the glass is going to be something to think about.