Whilst the scuttle was sitting on the chassis, it was a good plan to complete the clutch operating mechanism.

The clutch lever was shaped from 4mm mild steel sheet. For the chain link holes (I didn't yet know which I would use to best effect) and the opening for the welded boss, I used the mill to make sure all were properly aligned.

And whilst I was in the metal shop, I welded a reducer into the stainless elbow. An early morning visit to George saw the striped thread in the thermostat housing welded back up and re-cut. It was still touch and go as I discovered that a manufacturing error in the tap was causing it to pick up on extraction.

Mr Holmes had noted that I hadn't made provision in the setup for the clutch release bearing to fully disengage - in other words no clutch return spring. He was correct and I broke out the box of springs to devise a clever system to do just that. I wrestled with the problem for about an hour....

... and this was by far the most effective solution.

What's more, I've got 15 spares to carry with me. There's still some work to be done as the operation is much too heavy at the moment. I think I may have to increase the diameter of the sprocket on the pedal shaft to make it easier.

The last of the brake pipes is complete - this easy one was just as awkward to get right as the rest.

I'm starting to work out how I'll attach the scuttle to the chassis using the CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) process. The steering column will provide some triangulation and I'll bung in a strut on the nearside to even things up across the firewall.

The Great Collector has kindly donated an electric fan to the cause...

... and the final piece of pipe for the cooling system arrived. The three different diameters caused a few headaches, but all is now resolved.

The air inlet tract cleaned up nicely and the earlier engines' 'Home' style air cleaner will fit neatly under the bonnet.

I found three swaged tubes in the scrap box which if I attached them to the bonnet side would hint at a triple carb setup?

Work on the Talbot 75 engine has again come to a temporary halt. The crankshaft dropped into place without disturbing the cam timing (or chewing up the fibre cam gear) but when the main bearing caps were even finger tight, the whole shebang locked up. Wiser counsel was sought, the upshot being it's to go back to the works to get right.

The Great Collector's Crossley Silver head, now removed, needed some careful attention.

The valves and their seats were in mostly poor condition and the core plugs had all but rotted through. A day was spent correcting these problems...

... before replacing the head ready for reassembly of the rocker gear. That operation is not straightforward as some of the pushrods prevent access to the head and pedestal bolts and annoyingly, even with the rockers completely slackened off, the pushrods can't be inserted or removed. Moreover, the pushrod cups are separate and soldered into the tops of the rods. As we discovered, some of them had come adrift and could have fallen into the block without us noticing. Lots of rag everywhere is the answer.

Working on the Crossley demonstrated again how blinkin' difficult it is to work on cars with massive wings between you and the engine. With this in mind, I'm working up a scheme to hinge the whole of the front of the Special...

... on the superstructure attached to the Riley's subframe - a bit like the E-Type. That should put me on my mettle.