The Loo Roll List

On my desk at home sits a list so long it had to be written on a loo roll.

Thereupon are recorded the many jobs I plan to tackle on 270 KTA over the next few months, now that the rally season is safely done.

Whilst I'm a long way from being able to tear off even the first perforated sheet, here are some photos to prove I've been winning...

First the broken injector pipe (No.2), which you'll recall unceremoniously fractured on the Kingsbridge Running Day. I've had a new one made at City Diesels in Plymouth, by a man who instantly recognised where it had come from.

"I used to work on those engines. They always did that - load of old sh*t!." Always good to find an expert...

I've now become an expert myself in how to fit No.2 injector pipes to an SU, a job which involves hooking it around the chassis and intricately feeding it along a path you wouldn't think something of that shape could take.

But it does... if you call it the right names.

One unexpected bonus is that, with the replacement pipe fitted clear of the chassis, the 'knocking' sound I've been complaining about for months (now semi-affectionately known as "Donk Donk Donk") has completely gone. That solves the mystery. One extra job for the toilet roll: I'm going to press ahead and replace the other three injector pipes, making some modifications to their shape to stop them from rubbing on each other, which at the moment they are.

By the way, I've been remiss in not showing you the outcome of my steering wheel endeavours, to which I've now put the finishing touches. Can you spot which is 'before' and which is 'after'?...

And while we're in the cab, a generous offer has been made by the two Head Sheppards to reupholster 270 KTA's driver's seat, which was left badly torn after years of stroking busmen's bottoms. Fortuitously, some years ago Mrs Sheppard Snr was presented with an industrial leather sewing machine as a gift from Mr Sheppard Snr (along with a roll of leather which just happened to match the seats in his Bristol FLF...).

The Sheppard Upholstery Works reports good progress. Here's the new leather, cut and prepared for stitching...

... and the foam from inside the old seat...

(Incidentally, markings on the base of the seat indicate this was originally the seat from 271 KTA - perhaps you'd like the old bits back, Mr Helliker?...)

Last weekend's mission was to flush out the coolant system and replace with fresh antifreeze and water; by the look of what came out, I'm the first to have done it for years. Having warmed everything up before opening the tap, it took a good 20 minutes of flushing through with the hosepipe before the water ran clear.

Poor old drains...

And so progress is made. Next up, the task of getting the electric door to work. As a motor retro-fitted to a weighty, previously hand-operated door, they never worked particularly well in service by all accounts, but getting it to work at all would be a bonus.

And, in a couple of weeks time, 270 KTA will have the responsibility of a little outing in celebration of somebody's 30th Birthday. Can't think whose...