...no, I won't say it.

That was my Sunday morning taken care of. Whilst I was in the swing of things, I knocked up the manifold nuts and spent the afternoon timing the engine and putting a few extras on that had been in the paint bay (sitting room). The distributor cap came up nicely after showing it the polishing wheel, as did the plug lead tube. I toyed with the idea of a piece of copper tube but I thought that would be over-egging it; I'll stick with the original Bakelite which has only a small bit of damage on the side facing the block and won't be noticed by the casual observer. I must order up some of that smart braided plug lead and turn up some brass plug nuts.

The Great Collectors Darracq had its first official outing last Saturday. It was about 4 degrees going on -10 so I rather archly suggested that it would be wise to take along a support vehicle - just in case - and I would be happy to forego a seat in the Darracq on this special occassion...blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I was the only one not suffering from mild exposure at the end of the day so all-in-all a smart move. I did take some pictures with the intention of posting one but they seem to have got lost in the system somewhere. Perhaps I'll find them by next post - so to speak.

Then Chap came along who wanted his Riley Special windscreen putting together - that was a fiddle; cutting mitres in the brass channel and tapping for 1/8 BSW. You only get one chance and luckily the job went smoothly.

I've also been thinking about the mounting of the brake master cylinder. I've decided to mount it on the cockpit side of the pedal so 1. it won't interfere with the scuttle construction and 2. it won't be on view. I also revisited my aircraft manuals to confirm that, provided the fluid reservoir is remote from the cylinder, the cylinder's orientation is largely immaterial. So I'll mount it on its side and the brake pipes will be well away from the floorboards.

And whilst I was putting it all together and eyeing up the job, I cut the handbrake lever - hopefully in the right place - ready for the insertion of the extension. Once I've welded the 3 bits back together again there'll be quite a lot of trimming and fettling; it's almost as if the 2 levers I've used have come from different foundries because the thickness of the forgings is quite different. Then a new rod for the ratchet mechanism and that'll be another job out of the way. I still haven't got a new sector shaft for the steering box but I'll have to bite the bullet sooner or later;  then that'll finish the steering.

There's so much to do before I even start the body (the exciting bit) and I notice that the blinkin' garden's starting to grow which means the lawn mower has to be attended to.

That's enough to drive you nuts.