... those things wot I 'ave left undone. I've faced up to the engine mounting bolts. Without disturbing or dismantling too much (I thought at first I might have to mark up and take the engine out) I just managed to get the Dremel flexible drive into a position where I could drill a pilot hole and then, after borrowing Learned Counsel's right-angle drive for the grown up drill, I was able to complete the job in about an hour - much less time than I thought.

I went for 5/16th bolts in the end, largely because that was the size of the hole in the vulcanised plate and the 5/16th drill was sharp - always a factor. I was then able to assemble the radiator and associated pipe work for keeps. Great.

It's worth a look at the new inlet pipe in detail - I wish I could weld as well as this..

And the radiator with the repaired badge has scrubbed up well...

I hadn't heard from the Jowett Johnnies for a while and I had a quick look round the corner to see if there was any progress. I saw that the wheels and their associated sparkly bits had been fitted,

and if you look carefully there's a windscreen wiper mechanism and some bonnet hinges so no doubt there'll be a roll-out accompanied by a lot of noise and fanfare before long.

The Great Collector's Darracq back axle has been rigged. That took a whole day because with no facility for adjustment, taking up any slack - or as much slack as Counsel and I thought prudent - was a case of taking it all apart, turning up a shim and putting it all together again until it was as near as sounded and felt right. I think we had half-a-dozen goes. That may sound like we're just a bit useless but there's no way of measuring accurately the meshing in either the diff carrier or the crown wheel and pinion. And when you think you've got the meshing halfway decent, a bunch of end float appears in one of the half shafts when the wheels go back on. As it's only a jury-rig for lafête du haricot, I'm not particularly concerned but there's going to have to be a proper appraisal and a longer term plan once the party's over.

The 'new' hub I'd selected for the nearside half shaft proved to be not as good as I'd hoped so I've resurrected the second of the 2 hubs I found in the spares depot and have extracted (happily with ease) the broken and bent studs and have since found enough 7/16 high tensile bolts to create new ones. That's next weekend's little job along with something a bit more exciting - I was in Morrisons and noticed they were selling electric wall clocks for 98p. I snapped one up because I need the motor for the rather nice but broken clock I have for the dash. After a busy half an hour with screw drivers and implements of persuasion, I had an exploded diagram on the kitchen table but with a little bit of work, it'll be right as ninepence.

And that's how we get things done.