Further to my post yesterday, I had a go at starting the '76 2500S donor
car. The paperwork proved that it had been standing for eight years at
least.
Checked the points and plugs and, using the primer lever, managed to pump a
bit of fuel through, right through the perished, cloth-covered rubber fuel
lines.
Put some temporary new bits of rubber line on but the priming was the fuel
diaphragm's last performance. So, rigged up a gravity feed from a 2 pint
tank.
Fresh battery-churn, churn, churn, wriggle, cough. Churn, churn, chug,
sneeze. Churn, churn, vroom!!.
After a period of deciding which cylinders would work, it chimed in on all
six, as sweet as you like.
What's more, the power steering works, the brakes work, the servo works, the
clutch not only works but is also free, and the lights and wipers work. Bear
in mind that this car is so rotten that, if two people sit on one side, the
doors on that side won't open. It has no sills at all. Moreover, the car has
been sitting out in the open in North Yorkshire all this time.
They don't make them like they used to.
Dave Hill
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