Well this was certainly one of the more ‘interesting’ weekends…. While the panels are being painted, I thought I have another look at why the hydraulics didn’t mo last time I ran the engine.
The engine started easily, but runs a bit too low revs at idle - have to read up how to increase idling speed on the Weber carbies… and it’s still a bit smoky as the paint burns onto the exhaust, but otherwise all good so far.
So I bled the system a couple of times and kept an eye on the reservoir level - as I was pretty sure the system hadn’t filled up properly yet… topped it up and the suspension started lifting! Success!
Then LHM levels seemed to drop again, so I “went for a look” and bugger: there’s a 2m diameter puddle under the right rear suspension… ouch! Engine off, not hard to find… the boot had split completely. Crap! But easy to fix, just need to order a couple of new boots.
Probably a two man job… one concentrates on engine and reservoir, the other spots for movement and leaks…. Might need to find my “intimate COVID partner” next time

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Lucky I changed to LHM - less corrosive. The garage floor won’t rust for a while

. Also had one normal leak at the front, where I mustn’t have tightened up one of the unions - easy fix.
So, park the hydraulics… onto something else, simpler, fun and shiny. Assembled the front bumper. A bit of fiddling around aligning all the pieces, the thing has a surprising amount of bolts holding it together.
Installed the town & country horns, not happy yet with the fanfare… it’s not loud enough, a bit too squawky. I have another horn, might try that…
Another job awaiting assembly were the headlamps and the Marchal auxiliary lights. I had quite a number of lights, buckets and glass to choose from - I went with two Marchal headlight glasses as well to match the auxiliary lights.
Hyqual in Queensland re-silvered the buckets and I used a thin bead of Sika 291 to glue the glass back in, then carefully hammered the rim back over the glass edge.
And then the fun started. Sometimes you think you got it all covered and then realise you don’t after all: of the three buckets I had, only one worked for the Marchal lights…. The other two were for another type of Marchals and for a Cibie light…. Hmmm.
But I also had two headlight support rings… they at least work for what I have, but they of course have “no bucket”… what now?
This is how they look installed. Conceptually OK, the front chrome ring attaches as planned but it is too open at the back.
Looking at the manual, the upper light is what I wanted to recreate, but I would need another bucket as I don’t have a matching pair…
The lower light is what I have now, just a ring, with the light clipped in. I can recreate the “sock” to seal it, but it appears to be for years to 62…
Question: Would anyone have another bucket or a photo of what the “sock” looks like?
I post a photo of the missing bucket next… 10 photo limit.
that’s the fun part of a restoration.
Sven