Having revised the front engine mounts and made cardboard patterns, I set about drawing them up ready for laser cutting.

My drawing programme is not particularly flexible and I wasted a morning trying to get all the angles right. In the end I deleted the lot and popped down the road to get some 3mm sheet steel and 3mm wall rectangular box section.

By the end of the day the front supports were ready to be welded to their backplates. Here I paused because I need to drill the chassis rail and weld in the tubes which will carry the mounting bolts.

The angle of the box is such that a drill won't be able to get in, so once the back plates are clamped in position, I'll knock the box off (it's only lightly tacked) mark the pilot holes, lift out the engine and for accuracy and a clean cut, offer up the mag drill.

Counsel and I picked up where we left off on The Great Collector's Bentley. The inlet manifold was time consuming to replace as the studs underneath were all but impossible to get at and when a nut eventually bit, half a flat, then turning the spanner round for the next half, made for slow progress. Valve clearances were re-set without too much fuss though there was the usual game when the locking nut was tightened and the clearance closed up. Why Bentley, with all their resources and cleverness couldn't have come up with a better idea, is baffling.

No such palaver with our Bedford HA van where a single special locking nut in the centre of the rocker made adjustments the work of a moment.

By the end of the day we'd got everything back in place; fingers crossed on the ignition timing - we're very good at getting that 180° out - and we were ready for the radiator which had been re-cored. Unfortunately, the drain tap thread was clogged up and we didn't have a 3/4" BSP tap to clear it out. As the drain tap looked like it might be impossible to fit with the radiator in situ (we weren't going to take the risk of finding out later) a couple of hours were lost in sourcing a tap.

While I was rummaging around looking for a tap, I came across these 'bolt savers'. One is an 'Edwards' Whitworth threaded tool and the other a 'Wolseley' for BSF threads, each accommodating all sizes of bolts from 1/4" to 3/4".

They're going to be very useful as I get deeper into the dismantling of the Riley chassis.

It's the time of year when I extend a sincere thank you to everyone who’s kept up with this blog; your comments and encouragement are hugely motivating. I continue to be side-tracked - this year with offshore adventures - and I don't doubt that next year will present even more diversions, though with the Teardrop Special project now a reality, Special building content should be in the ascendant.

A very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2020.