Last weekend and Monday night we did a load to the car - raised the front suspension, re-fitted the scuttle, gauges, fitted the replacement thermostat housing, refilled it with water, fitted the new oil catch tank, fixed the brake fluid leak, strengthened the wing mirror stays, tidied the wiring - all the little niggly jobs we've been putting off.
So, this weekend, we thought we'd do a bit of tuning, so we'd know it would start when we wanted it to, and could get it rolling roaded.
So, it started OK, we started playing with the fuelling to make it idle a bit more nicely, and we noticed the breather filter on the catch tank was giving off vapour- I figured it was just a bit of condensation as all the metal bits were cold, as it was -1 when we went out
After about 5 - 10
minutes it was still giving off stuff, and coming faster when we revved the engine... I smelt it, and it was..... exhaust! Bollox. I thought it might have been a dodgy valve stem seal or 2 - called swmbo's dad, who reckoned we'd probably got a knackered piston ring - compression tester out and 2 cylinders are down on compression. Balls.
So, this morning I was thinking of getting the car to the rolling road, and maybe a pre-IVA trackday, and tonight it's up on axle stands again, with the head off and all the oil and water drained out - tomorrow the sump comes off and one of the big ends comes off so I can measure the piston rings to order a new set....
swmbo was expecting to be decorating the hallway today, so managed to dodge that 
Ahhhh well. Tomorrow's another day.....
)