I mentioned the other day that Chumley would be turning up a pulley for the Buick's Dynastart.

Whilst I waited for a call to tell me it was ready to collect, I rigged up an idea for mounting the body using the existing 2" x 2" x ¼" angle that stretches across the width of the car and supports the end of the gearbox.

I happened to have a piece of angle of the right size, left over from the textile printing table's registration bar setup; I knew it would come in handy one day. I'm thinking of machining an aluminium saddle, something like the wooden block in the picture, that will be bolted to the angle. A stout metal strap straddling the lower ends, will take the weight. Side loads produced by the belt's tension, should be reduced to a minimum if everything is a snug fit. Belt adjustment is a bit of a poser in this scheme as the bolt hole on the front casting is awkwardly placed on the side away from the chassis rail. I'll think of something.

I'd forgotten that Chumley didn't do keyways; I know a chap who does, but that would involve a fifty-mile round trip. A quick look on the web gave me a pointer. Firstly, I would have to machine the pulley so I could grip it in the jaws of the Myford. Then I would have to grind up a tool the exact size of the key. Those operations went surprisingly well, though I suspect that clever chaps will tell me the tool angles are all wrong.

With the centre of the tool set so the cut would be at the 9 o'clock position on the pulley when mounted in the chuck, it was just a question of moving the cross-slide in and out, taking about 001" at each pass.

Once I'd got into the swing of it - trying to take more than 001" to speed up the process just caused problems and put too much strain on the cross-slide gear - within a couple of hours (including a tea-break) I had a perfect keyway. After dressing the slot's edges with a needle file, the pulley slipped on with a few gentle taps from a hide-face knockmeter.

As a diversion from the ongoing saga of the wiring, I decided I would have a go at making the radiator badge. The first job was to dome the copper Special Builders Breakfast Club device. A Saab 900 oil filter (I used to have Saabs) worked perfectly.

With Clingfilm and silicon matting making up the mould, the coloured UV resin was poured into the tray.

After an hour in the sun - I didn't have a UV light - the resin was set hard, but I left it until the next day before linishing off.

I think that's going to work perfectly. I might also get around to cleaning my kitchen windows at some point.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mr Laken's supercharging project has taken a great leap forward. With his beautifully neat installation complete, a trip down the road has revealed no discernible improvement in performance and a tendency to stall at idle. We would be lucky indeed if our experiments produced the anticipated results first time around. Now, the development work begins; patience will be the key.