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Thanks for the advice chaps! I dealt with the problem today at my local recycling centre. Expecting to be refused point blank, I was instead very surprised to hear "Just chuck it in the metals bin mate, no probs." Apparently, most recycling centres will take fuel tanks providing that they do not contain any fuel. As a precaution I hosed mine out beforehand.

Work continues to progress on the Estate. Numerous items removed, cleaned, painted and put into storage pending eventual reassembly. Welding is now required to the inner front wings and a box section beneath the driving seat, nothing major though.

Finally got around to removing the engine, can now clean and paint the engine bay quite easily.



Lacking an engine crane, I decided to improvise and use my trusty scaffold tower instead!

Ideal weapon scaffolding, you can get the engine out and paint the guttering at the same time

FTW

i like that, thats good... getting on well there buddy.. very good. paint the gutter..lol very good....

As it so happens, my gutters do need cleaning, handy things scaffold towers, a multitude of alternative uses and much safer then using ladders.

hello buddy, looks like its going well.
you going for the same colour ? i think i shall stay green as i like it. it be much better after a respray.. but rolling proj still at the min. just found out today that its £55 a litre of paint... phaw.. not sure what winter i'll get that done lol. but if i keep same colour then it will be nice..
i do have an engine hoist tho... lmao..

I'm keeping the same colour, initially patch painting pending perhaps a full respray far later on.

£55 a litre for paint sounds a bit steep, that's about twice the price at my local auto paint suppliers. It may be an idea to shop around and find a good local firm who will do small quantities at a more realistic price.

An historic moment today, PPJ 177L 'The White Knight' was fired up for the first time in 23 years. Once initial adjustments were made she ticked over quite nicely, no coolant or oil leaks, yet!

However, for some reason the gears will not engage. It looks as if I will have to whip off the gearbox and investigate. I have to admit, I did pop it straight in without carrying out any checks, but not to worry as I have a spare in my attic. The clutch is brand new, no issues there unless I have put the clutch plate in back to front. Highly unlikely, but I shall check this as well.

Excellent news, shame about the gears, lets hope its something simple.

Peter

HBPeter wrote:Excellent news, shame about the gears, lets hope its something simple.
Peter

I popped in my spare gearbox today and all is well! No idea what is wrong with the original box, I may well carry out a post mortem sometime. At least this now explains the mystery as to why the original owner took the vehicle off the road in 1989 shortly after paying a considerable sum to get it through the MOT.

Further engine testing/tweaking undertaken, had to replace the alternator due to worn bearings but that was all. A compression test has shown all cylinders to be within 5lbs of each other and still no signs of oil or coolant leaks!