I arrived at the point where all the shiny stuff was on the outside and the hard parts of the interior were in. I’d just organized all the parts and bought a new Optima battery so electical sorting could begin.
I had most things working and no smoke within a couple hours; I decided to take a break and see if it’d run. Cranking resulted in a spray of brown goo radially in the arc described by the cooling fan, and while it’d fire the carb was completely gummed up from sitting the best part of 2 years. A closer inspection of the engine bay revealed a lot of filth and the master cylinder/pedal box/top of footwell had all bubbled up from weeping brake fluid.
I’d already removed the radiator and carb and all the bonnet hardware was off. Besides, the trans tailshaft and rear main seals could use renewing, and everything under there was covered in blue overspray…
