I've re-thunked the wheel cylinder mounting because, having revisited the dust cover, I've found that it's stiff enough to improve on and, with a strategically placed doubler, will provide stable anchorage for the piston. I've mocked up the idea in plywood just to get the basic dimensions:

... added the clutch slave cylinder..

... and then the pushrod.

There'll be a gusset fore and aft to tie the 2 bits together and they'll make it both very rigid and help to keep the weather off. The brake part people were a bit cagey about this particular cylinder's application (I know I raised an eyebrow at the price) but having trawled the net, I think it's a pattern part for an Aston Martin DB something - hence I'm back on stale bread 'n' scrape for the week.

I can fabricate the mounting from various gauges of steel plate and bolt it to the dust cover. The dust cover is secured by 8 x 3/16th machine screws which I'll drill out and replace with 8 high tensile aircraft nuts and bolts - so that won't be going anywhere. I've just got to draw up the plates and get them laser cut. One of the plates is 10mm thick; I wonder if they can do 10mm?

I got the Hillman 14 out this morning and popped along to see Chumley. We've arranged to ream the spring bushes and knock up the two bronze bushes for the front spring hanger castings on Wednesday evening. Luckily, this ties in neatly with my being in Norfolk and in striking distance of the prize sausages. I look at Chumley's lathe and milling machines with a certain amount of envy; what takes me an hour on my tiddlers is the work of a moment for him. You always want a bit more muscle - the raison d'être for the Special.

Back home, I opened the workshop door and surveyed the amount of work still to do. I've yet to get the parts back to reassemble the Austin - that'll be a good couple of days work in itself. Then I've got to take the sump off the Hillman tourer and make up a stepped stud for the oil filter - someone has stripped the thread in the alloy and tried to Araldite the stud back in. Then the head's got to come off as it seems that soon after the engine was rebuilt, a hole in the top water casting chucked the water over-board and the subsequent over-heating looks like it might have warped the head. The head's held down with capped nuts which I'll change for standard ones because when you come to re-tighten the head there's no telling what's going on. And then, as I think I might have mentioned before, I've got to make a new hood.

I'm meant to be experimenting with the nickel plating kit this weekend.

There's no rest for the virtuous.