Mended itself

A week's trickle charge and milder weather seemed to have put the Rebel in a good mood. The starter turned the engine over at the first try without any of last week's drama. It took a while to fire up but it ran as well as ever once going.

There's a bit of a fuel leak however - that's going to need urgent attention - having fuel dripping isn't the safest thing I've ever seen.

It seems to be coming from the pump outlet, either at that elbow or the short piece of pipe before the inline filter.

It won't Start

I haven't taken the car out in a while as the weather hasn't been up to it. This weekend I was called upon to use it as a prop in a photo shoot for the school teddy bear.

Went to garage to find I'd forgotten to leave the battery trickle charging - I think the electronic flasher is draining current somewhere (to earth of course!) so the battery was flat.

Unfortunately, jump starting wouldn't work either as the starter seems to be jammed. One for next weekend.

A few more odd jobs

Finally checked the tyre pressures - they weren't too bad.

The boot lid has never stayed up in spite of having counterbalance springs on each side. The guy I bought the car from said it was due to the body filler in it. On investigation it seems there's a way to adjust the spring tension. It's not easy but after a bit of messing about - the boot stays open.

The bolts are now at the other end of those slides.

Also fitted the electronic flasher unit that I've had for about 25 years (!) It is better - and an interesting side effect is that if the ignition is turned to "off" with the flasher stalk still down (or up), the courtesy light behind the driver's seat flashes! There's a path to earth there somewhere - one for another day.

I went around the hinges and locks with spray grease as it was all looking very dry.

Cleaned the roof with "Armor All".

It's been a great fine weekend, so took the car for a spin yesterday. Miles now up to 93555 and my nieces have even taken a shine to it.

Put another 10 litres of fuel in - noticed a small drip of cooling water after paying for the petrol - I checked it later and there's no noticeable drop.

And another

As I had the previous ODO reading, I now know I did about 20 miles today - we're now up to 93540 and I'm pleased that my new top and bottom hoses seem to be holding up well with no sign of leaks. It was another bright dry day and I saw an easy 70 on the Motorway, although the very high winds persuaded me that 55-60 was a more sensible choice.

Went for a drive

I put the dashboard back together (more or less), and as we were blessed with a fine (if chilly) day, went for a drive. I reckon I did about 25-30 miles after putting about 25 litres of fuel in (the gauge doesn't work). I forgot to check the ODO reading before, but the after one was 93520.

I was surprised by the speeds (used the gizmo I bought to check as the speedo needle's still thrashing about all over the place) the old bus seems to accelerate better than I expected. Driving is characterised by a lot of torque developed from low revs and once rolling only minimal throttle is needed to maintain decent progress.

Jobs to do (!)
Find out what the shimmy about 40ish (as I now know) is
Get Interior retrimmed
Check tyre pressures (I Know!)

Fusebox Located!

I have a wiring diagram and the shop and owner's manuals, but I was having trouble finding the fusebox. I guess they could have found a more inaccessible location, although it's hard to see how (and to be fair, someone may have moved the panel).

Of course, now I read the book again it makes sense (sort of). It says the fuse panel is located to the far left side under the the instrument panel. Mine's behind and above the instruments, (on the far right hand side) partially obscured by the bracket for the parking brake.