Tamber

Oh! Marvellous, and thank-you! Now I feel like a right goof. :embarrassed: Hopefully this uncovers something thoroughly interesting! (I shall have to buy you a drink, at some time, or something!)

I'm going to try knock them down a little bit more, but filler might have to be involved if I can't get it to something acceptable without thinning it too much (I try to use as little in the way of filler as I can; if it's not just a very thin skim, the voices in my head start shouting at me. ) Still plenty of metal to go back in yet, even just in the roof; I'm just glad it's mostly simple shapes to make.

I'm afraid it's RLW327659! :embarrassed: I've fed that into their chassis number search, and I'm hoping that it turns something up. It used to be the carriage and wagon wheels workshop at the Horwich Loco Works; over a hundred years old, by now. It's even possible to see the remains of the mountings for line-shafting along the walls. We also use the unit across from the back of it, which was the patterns shop for the foundry. My boss is on the hunt for another building to move to, due to requirements for more space -- and because it's really quite frustrating how much time we lose 'unpacking' the building to get stuff out of the middle of it that's blocked by other work. It's almost as if the shop was designed around stuff running through on rails, or something -- but it's apparently quite difficult to find a place that has a roof tall enough to tip a 40ft long tipper trailer to full extension, as well as overhead cranes, and space outside for storage, etc. Also amusing is how the foremost old overhead crane in that picture is still running strong, a few occasional glitches in the retrofitted pendant controls aside; whereas the much more modern crane throws a hissy fit every few weeks and stops working in certain directions. The one right up against the far wall is unfortunately dead, and has been cannibalised for parts -- mostly bearings, since the modern maintenance schedule in is play: do nothing until it stops working, then run around screaming about how critical to the business it is and it needs to be repaired NOW. *eyeroll* -- to keep the other running.) I'll be quite sad to leave the place, honestly; as much as it's a pain with the roof leaking so heavily, I feel quite a pleasant connection to the building. It just feels right and proper somehow, with those big windows, tall ceiling, etc. Meanwhile, right next door, they've just about finished knocking half of the old erecting shop down; they pushed the old 50t cranes off the end of the track yesterday, and chopped them up where they lay. It's a crying shame, how we've let our industrial heritage rot. They're levelling everything they can, to make way for 1600 cookie-cutter houses, and some generic office buildings. :undecided: I have an album of pictures (and, occasionally, video. Unfortunately, nothing from when they pushed the cranes off, I missed that. Though... they went, not with a bang, but with a whimper... well, a quiet crunch.) from the past year or so, snapping what I could as they collapsed it to nothing; because, by the time they're done, there'll be no trace anything ever existed there, least of all a huge part of local heavy engineering history. https://goo.gl/photos/yb5CzaHbuZCWdJf56 (An effort was made to have the buildings listed, but it failed because the buildings are of "utilitarian design with a few special characteristics of craftsmanship or decoration”; and, on top of this, they don't have their original equipment any more, and there have been other changes such as knocking new doorways in, etc. And then, I expect, people will turn around when everything's just vast expanses of generic shopping centres and identikit houses, and lament our 'inability' to produce anything, and how bland everything is... Ho-hum.) *removes rose-tinted spectacles* Such is progress, apparently.

Thank-you anyway! It'll be useful to someone, somewhere.

Hmm. The pictures of the servo and master cylinder seem like they match the ones in the workshop-manual I have (the air valve on top of the servo seems very familiar, anyway); but they don't quite match the ones I took off the truck, unfortunately. :undecided: In those attachments, it looks like the whole servo and m/c assembly is mounted on 3-bolts from the side of the servo; whereas on my truck, it had that same 3-bolt mounting cast as part of the master-cylinder and the servo hung off the back of the m/c. (As regards the price, I am wondering if the one they have on the shelf is one they've perhaps sleeved/rebuilt at an earlier date... We shall see what appears when I get to look at it in person; playing phone tag often leads to confusion...) Asking whether or not I've screwed up reading simple things is never a dumb question; I do it all the time! First thing I check when something doesn't match up... It would be nice if I could get a clearer picture, but that plate is obscured by a storage locker and even with my phone pressed right up against the back of the locker, I had to take two photographs and stitch them together to get the whole plate. Late 1950s is in the ball-park, anyway; 6/VEH/26215 is on the books with a date of 27.9.57. Perhaps this is one of those cases where the card has gone missing over the years? In other news, some metal was cut out... ...the patch panel I made a while back, offered up... I had originally intended to joggle the edges of the roof where I was fitting the new metal into, thus the holes for plug welds; unfortunately, the rot extended a little further than anticipated and the areas I intended to joggle turned out to be not substantial enough to survive the joggling. Next patch panel, I'll not bother punching the holes in it; and then I'll end up needing to joggle it and punch holes, probably. ...and welded in. (Mid-process pic. It was beginning to get dark by the time I'd finished welding; and I was in a bit of a rush to apply paint, and get the truck out of the workshop, so didn't take any further pictures. At that point, I had a repeat of the last time I had the truck pulled into the workshop: not enough fuel to start and run back to the parking spot. Thankfully, since I'm not running out of the jerry-can any more, I had enough left in that to refill the truck's tank and hurtle back to the compound. I dread to think what an ear-bashing I'd get for blocking up prime workshop space. )

There is a plate that contains all of these, indeed. 11 CE 32, 27659, and 6VEH/26215 respectively. Unfortunately, that's the point that it starts to fall apart. The RLC Archive doesn't hold a copy of the relevant B-vehicle card; or if they do have it, they haven't yet found it. (They do have a copy of the relevant contract entries, though!) The closest I can figure out is that it started life as a GS with a drop-side body (unit unknown), then got retrofitted to turn it into a field artillery tractor (Supplement No. 5 to the manual covers the details; and I found what appears to be a Royal Artillery recognition flash.), but nothing that really helps me narrow it down to a unit. That's all based off the plates and other little scraps I've found. And therein lies another rub; it doesn't appear to have ever been registered with the DVLA. Apparently this was common practice up until about 1984, for vehicles owned by a garage for recovery work: "just throw the trade plates on and have at it..." I, honestly, wouldn't be surprised if the servo/master-cylinder set-up is not original to the truck; considering the wild abandon with which trucks were (and, to a marginally lesser extent, still are) shortened, lengthened, and otherwise modified! Duly noted; I'll be checking it over at HTS, just to make sure there aren't any horrible surprises. That'd certainly make things more ...interesting than planned.

Well, it's supposed to match up exactly with the one I took off; which was mounted on the outside of the chassis by 3 studs that have an outlet in the middle of them. The particular bit of chassis that it came off looks like it's seen a lot of modifications and changes in the truck's life, though; honestly, it looks a bit like Swiss cheese... So your comment about inside/outside mounting does make me wonder if that master cylinder was originally meant to fit on the inside of the chassis, and got moved to the outside so that the current servo could be used, or something... Pure conjecture, though. This truck is a real head-scratcher, sometimes; and it would be nice to know a bit more about its history.

On a different note... That's optimistic! It slams straight back down to pointing at E if I ground the wire out, so I'm going to have to have a fiddle around with the sender. May well be that I've managed to get the float stuck on something; or it's not making good electrical contact. At least the gauge works, though.

Having the old one bored & sleeved would have run me £500, and the new one off the shelf is £530. I guess, at that point, it already hurts; so a little more pain won't matter.

Well, my long-suffering wallet has taken another vicious beating; or, rather, it's been handed an "IOU" for one. I got reminded that I needed to phone HTS about that master cylinder, this morning, when they turned up at work to deliver some parts. It's been about two weeks, or so, according to the calender and my phone logs; but my de-sync with normal weeks (Mine runs from Friday to Tuesday... :nut:) makes it very confusing to keep track of what day it is... (But I still retain enough knowledge of what day it is to become Very Angry Indeed™ when other people's broken junk keeps me at work until 1845 or later on a Sunday. If I'm going to still be at the workshop at that time, I'd much rather it be my own broken junk... :-D) Anyway; bizarro-time tangent over! They've assured me that the one on the shelf is in pristine condition, sans corrosion, has good seals, etc; so I've gone with that option. Time will tell as to whether or not it was the best choice to make; but, after all, it's only money, right? So when that's turned up, and I've finished recovering from the bill, I'll resume trying to return the braking system to something that resembles functional; because stopping via Jedi Force-powers is disconcerting at best. In order to reduce the sheer amount of effort required to move the wheel-nuts, so that I can fight the wheels back off and make another attempt at removing a drum to assess the situation in there, I've gotten myself a torque multiplier... Best investment of £45, inc. delivery, I've made; I can take those wheel-nuts off with two fingers. (The one I bought: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011P3QQBW/?ie=UTF8&psc=1 For the price, I was expecting it to feel a bit chintzy; but I'm pleasantly surprised. I don't think I could even get the sockets alone for that price... :wow:) Now I just need to get a better bottle-jack, and a nice beefy axle-stand. And some more money, of course... :-D More updates to come as and when I break stuff. Or brake stuff. Ideally the latter.

Thanks doug; it is nice to occasionally have the feeling of making progress, though I must admit it's few and far between. Still working on my plan of attack for the cab floor; it's an interesting puzzle to figure out the order things need to go in, so that I don't bring the whole cab crashing down around my ears. I need to find my notebook, but I suspect my starting point is the rear cross-member: The previous repair needs to be -- carefully, considering the what it's supporting -- cut back to allow me to clean out the original section, because it's full of rust flakes and other detritus. Once it's brushed out as much as possible, I'll figure out some way of wire-brushing it all and coating it with a rust passivator. Cut the original section back to solid metal as much as I can. (So far, it looks like the middle foot or so of it is still good. We shall see.) Shove a new full-width piece of box-section through the remains of the original (after coating it with something, inside and out, to prevent the same old rust traps.) and plug-weld or drill/pin/weld it in place. Not quite sure how badly gone the floor is, except for the strip across the back, because it looks and feels solid from above. Perhaps the flaking paint makes it look worse than it is; though everywhere there's a patch, it's usually totally gone -- patch and all. I'm a little scared to attack it with the wire brush o' doom at the moment, though, it uncovers a lot, and some of that rust might be structural. :-D Still, getting to do this while leaving work on Saturday was nice:

There was lots of standing back and despairing. I do have a plan forming, though; but it's a few more steps back before I start to move forwards again. The centre third of that rear cross-member(?) of the cab -- where the central cab mount goes -- seems to be solid enough; but the ends of it have completely gone. And all the rot has been boxed over with unpainted steel, which was then plated over with yet more completely unpainted steel, then the whole lot painted over; obviously, this has made sure that it keeps corroding quite nicely, and great big thick carpets of rust grow between all the bits. Just going to have to keep cutting back all the hack patches until I can get back to the original structure, and re-build from there outwards with fewer layers. The real worry is I'm risking having the battery box fall back out, as it's partially welded to the bit that I've been cutting out today. :-D

No worries, thanks for taking the time to have a look at it.

I did definitely have an :wow: moment when I found out how much it was going to cost to have it sleeved; but we'll see if they have one sitting around that might be in better condition to start with, as they think they might. (Makes sense that they'd corrode on the shelf, too; so that'd definitely be something worth checking.) Current thought is to prepare as if to have the old one sleeved, while waiting to hear any more info; then I can -- as my boss likes to put it -- panic accordingly.

Right you are on that front, Sean. (Someday, I'll learn to listen to people first time. :n00b: ) I've heard back from HTS. It is going to need boring and sleeving to be usable; but the rebuilder (whoever HTS has sent it to, I don't know.) might have one on the shelf somewhere, so I'll hear back next week on whether or not they have one already ready to go. If not, then at least I know how much it's going to sting to have the old one sleeved and rebuilt. (I managed to get to the end of the phone call and they hung up before I went "aaaa!", so there's that.) Wouldn't be a project if there wasn't something horrible and expensive just around the corner, right?

Ah, but what are parades if not for being rained on? :-D And it just wouldn't be a project without potential horrible problems, y'know? HTS (Who I really should phone at some point for an update...) have taken the master cylinder in to send it off to a specialist rebuilder of some description; so I'll have to see what news has occurred on that front, but it didn't seem all that bad, the condition of the rubbery bits aside. Though it's nigh impossible to tell from the picture, the black spots on the walls seemed to be just grunge that rubbed off with the end of a pencil (Hence why it's got 'scratches' in that patch on the left.); but I'll admit that hydraulic bits aren't my specialty (Turns out, spool valves aren't supposed to require a mallet to fit back into the valve block; who knew!) so it could still turn out to be U/S. I suppose we'll see; I'm bracing myself for the worst while hoping for the best.

The sketch-factor is up there, with some bits, but it does just about work. I do a similar thing with screws I need to reduce the heads on; against the bench-mounted grinding wheel. Gets 'em mostly round, rather than trying to do it manually. In other news, headlights! In the process of swapping these over, I've discovered that one of the light holders is heavily corroded, down to paper thickness in some places; but it holds the light firmly regardless, so it's low on the list of priorities at the moment. The Old... One of these still works. The other work worked briefly, but obviously had leaked a little air into it, because it quickly filled with rolling white smoke and went out. They are nice to look at, though. The New... These are Lucas LUB328, straight drop-in replacement for the 7" sealed beams that take a H4 bulb, which has great availability. Admittedly, not terribly convenient to change the bulbs on, if you just swap them straight in; as you still have to go through all the faff of pulling all the front off, etc. just as if it were a sealed beam. (Simple enough modification to make it easier to change bulbs, though, if desired.) And, with a little wiring and fettling later... The bulbs currently fitted are nothing special; fairly standard 100/80W H4 halogens. Nice and bright even in daylight, though. Feels like progress! Now I have to get the wire for the rest of the lights, etc. (Why, no, I'm not putting off tackling the rotten cab, not in the slightest. I did have some bits planned for Sunday evening, but work interfered, and I was in no mood to tackle rust after a day that long.)

And so! Nut (non-nyloc) welded to the head of a bolt; the bolt chucked up in the drill, and the whole mess spun while carefully applying a flap-wheel on a grinder to make it round and neat. Then, stand back and admire your progress. The straps are a tiny bit loose, because of where the extensions stop them tightening any further; but I'm going to get some rubber strips to add as padding between the tank and the tank straps, which will take up the slack. Cut off a section of the old hard-line to use as a hose-barb, then proceed to tighten it onto the fitting out of the fuel pickup so tightly that the line twists off. Curse profusely. The miracle-wire with a spade terminal on it, is the level sender connection. The original terminal had near enough infinite resistance, and I didn't want to destroy everything trying to undo the corroded lump at the top in the vain hope of fixing it. So I drilled a hole in the brass strip, soldered a wire in, and stuck that through a tight-fitting hole that I drilled in the lid; I've also added a ground wire because there's no other way that it'll all ground through the freshly painted tank and brackets, it runs down to the pump, where it joins a 6mm² ground-wire that runs up to the bolt through the freshly-drilled hole holding the tank bracket on. Recovery from destroying the pipe: Cut the twisted bits off, leaving just enough that a hose will push on and a hose-clamp screwed down really tightly holds well. Then, the moment of truth: My funnel wasn't long enough to reach the filler neck without being nearly horizontal, and I left my little transfer pump (the bulb type) at home. Thankfully, I don't ever throw anything away, and this redex bottle turned out to be pretty much perfect for turning into an extension funnel. Then I needed a temporary filler cap, while I sort out the 'original' one. :-D Turns out, if you cut the threads off a Scania locking fuel cap, and file it smooth, it wedges in there quite nicely. (No, I didn't sacrifice it for that purpose; it was already scrap. Someone left it screwed into the aluminium filler neck while they plasma'd it from the tank. Turns out, aluminium is really good at conducting heat; and those plastic threads don't like heat very much. :n00b: ) EDIT: Oh! I forgot to mention; I also sorted the leak in the fuel filter. Couldn't get the threaded fitting to seal with ptfe tape (it just dissolved); couldn't get an O-ring to stay put under it without a washer, but a washer meant the threads wouldn't engage any more because of the taper; so I stuck the O-ring on with the silicon gasket-maker, then gooped the hell out of the threads with the same silicon. Tried it this afternoon while on my dinner-break, and it seems to be holding very nicely. Considering the pressure behind it, I'm going to call it good. (When I pulled the little black & blue pipe cap from the stub pipe last time, to unscrew the fitting and make another attempt at sealing it, there was enough residual pressure in there that petrol spurted up higher than the level of the truck roof.)

Fuel tank is on, fuel pump is mounted, and all works as it should; except for that damn hole in the top of the fuel filter for whatever valve is meant to go in there in its original application. Trying a new method of sealing it, hopefully it'll stop the seep of fuel. Tank was a minor faff to get re-fitted. The forward bracket didn't want to line up with the holes I took it out of. (Bloody hole fairies again.), so I had to drill a new hole. Then the studding I put on the tank-straps turned out not to be long enough, so I had to make up some extensions on the poverty-lathe. And then I broke off the pipe from the pickup in the tank; leaving me with only a stub to attach a section of rubber hose to. However... :cheesy: What an exhausting, frustrating, but successful day. Some more detail pictures will follow later.

Filter in place! Yes, I need to do a lot of cleaning and tidying up behind there. :wow: So much stuff to do, so little time. I still have to run quite a few cables back down the chassis, but I've just left those bundled up for now, so I can deal with them later. (That's the wire for beacons at the rear, power for the rear view camera, and power for the fuel pump.) Onwards and upwards, however. Or, rather, backwards and downwards... The results of a thorough wire-brushing, and an application of Kurust. New threaded bit, and a couple of coats of primer... Then my tin of black paint turned up, so I decided to paint the tank. As you do. Mmmm, glossy. The camera does a wonderful job of picking up every little imperfection, naturally. It doesn't look this bad in person; and seems like it should smooth out no problem with a bit of elbow-grease and high-grit sandpaper. Painted one of the tank-brackets, then went on to the other. And y'know those days when you'd rather the bolt just snapped, because it'd be quicker than fighting the nut off it? Yeah, it was one of those days. Still, it's unbolted from the truck. Makes a pretty nice comparison between the freshly painted one, and the one fresh off the truck, though. So, once again for the second time; lots of wire-brushing, paint with rust-killer, come back when that's dried, 2 coats of primer, then when that's dried, slather black paint on. (Though this bracket will have another little bit of plate welded on to mount the fuel pump to; since it's got to go somewhere near the tank.)

:-D Oh, so that's why all the grumbling about getting the right shade...

I've managed to clean up the rheostat on the level sender such that it's reading fairly smoothly now, and I have some values! It's pretty linear, ranging at 0 ohms with the tank empty to 40 ohms with tank full. In other news… A fuse-box has found itself attached to the back of the cab. It just clears the back of the seat. So, with that in place, I could start shoving wire into places. And routing it around roughly where the old wires used to run. All the bodge-wires behind the dash were then surplus to requirements, so out they came; which was a bit of a step, since they've been running the truck since about the time I first had it running. Not that it looks much less bodged, yet. With that all at a nice stopping point, the next step was clearly the brake system; after all, I'd had that rebuild kit for a week or two now, so I might as well unearth the master cylinder again. A little exploratory poking, podging, and delicate prying managed to extract the pistons and springs, one by one... Mmm, crusty! The other piston's seals didn't look too bad, though. The bore seemed to clean up very nicely, and wasn't looking totally terrible to start with. A little more cleaning out and a dunk in the parts washer got rid of the remaining iffy spots in there. I'll be headed out to HTS on Wednesday to see about getting replacement seals, or something like. Further news on that front as it progresses. And, with another jump-cut... We end up at the fuel level sender (again!). I managed to snap two of the three little retaining 'hooks' that held the cover on, so I had to fabricate a spring clip out of some steel strapping. This was after the cleaning & measuring to figure out whether or not it was still even usable. Then, to the tank, which cleaned up very nicely and shows no signs of leaks -- though I'm sure something'll turn up once it's all painted, reassembled, fitted, etc. :rolleyes: -- so I started to paint it. Two coats of primer around it, so far; and I cleaned the uppermost end-part after this picture was taken. I'm sure it won't be quite as good as the old red lead that the chassis was originally primed in, but I'll make do with what I have. (Much to the chagrin of the DBG crowd, I'm sure, this will be going gloss black eventually. :-D) Now, with the electrical work I've done resulting in all the bodge-wires disappearing, the fuel pump didn't have anything to connect to any more; so I took that as my cue to move it to it's proper place -- or at least nearer to it -- as it's been connected about where the fuel filter should have been. This meant I needed to fit the fuel filter, so I could connect the two bits of pipe. I wouldn't recommend this fuel filter, with hindsight. I got it because it had the two 8mm fittings on top, and it's quite a large filter; but I hadn't realised it also has a strange feature on top that is meant to take a special fitting that I believe is a return/bleed from the pressure regulator in its original application. But, it's what I have, so it's what I'll use. I tried to plug the hole for the odd fitting, since it turned out to be about the perfect size to tap for 1/4 BSP; but I didn't manage to seal it quite tight enough, because there's a very gentle bubbling from it when the fuel pump is running. It's not to the point of actually dripping, but there's very definitely a lack of sealing. Since I'd decided to use it -- after all, I'd paid for the damn thing -- I needed to make a bracket to mount it to the truck. Some bashing, prying, and welding ensued... "A grinder and paint [...]" (No, I shan't be awarding prizes for guessing where that nicely-profiled bit came from. ) Some holes were drilled, spatter removed, edges cleaned up, and some paint thrown at it; and I bolted it to the truck. Though I haven't yet gotten a picture of it fitted, because I was too busy getting the truck to fire up on the new electrical system for the first time. It's nice to be able to start the truck with a key and a starter button; rather than twisting wires, etc.

As long as something gets done, it's a success; even if the grand plans aren't quite achieved. :-D

Yeah, that's the "lots of error" method; I was just hoping that maybe someone had a mental note stashed away somewhere. If not, then I'll figure it out, then make note of it here; who knows, maybe it'll help someone in the future. A Wild Update Appears Some tin-abuse and welding was done. Not the prettiest, by far; but it is what it is. And the "stand back and squint" version: And the "in painful, hideous detail; warts and all" version: It's still only welded on the outside, at the moment; I need to do a little more work on the inside of the door to provide some solid structure to affix it to, before I worry about making it pretty. I also need to fix up the hole where the mirror support was ripped out, and mount the mirror arm again. Having mirrors would be nice. It's ... interesting, trying to park up against a fence, with cars parked behind you... when you can only just about see backwards through the window in the back of the cab. No major events have occurred yet, though. The replacement fuse-box was carried on a bit further, too; though I managed to blow some of the labels off with the air-gun while I was blowing all the grinding dust out. Looks relatively neat on the top, but the underside is an abomination unto Nuggan: This is mostly because the plan evolved as I was making it. If I were to do another, I'd start off by putting the bus-bars on the underside, and make slots underneath the relays/fuse holders rather than just single holes. A large-ish change in the plan was to build it into an enclosure; which is what I should've done from the start, but hey ho. If I knew what I was doing, it wouldn't be nearly as fun. Using the enclosure gives me a nice enough option for mounting the plugs, though; drill one rectangular hole in the side of the box, and stuff the plug through it. Make a tab, shaped like so: And then the connector can be retained, thusly: Finally, bung a screw through the whole lot (with a nut on the back) just to ensure the tab doesn't work loose. The astute amongst you may notice that there are two connectors in the box, now... One (labelled "Power") is the outputs from the relays and fuses to the various lights; the other (labelled "Switches"), runs to the instrument panel, etc. Using those plugs, I aim to get the fuse/relay box completed entirely outside of the truck; rather than fitting it to the back wall of the cab -- behind the passenger's seat, as there's enough room there, just -- and then having to try terminate all those wires in a neat manner while folded into unpleasant shapes. There will still be plenty of contortionism required, but this should reduce the amount of it required, with any luck; and the connectors will just plug right on... I'll just have to run the large fused power, and a matching ground, cable into the box via some glands. I do like these connectors; and they're pretty well-proven in an automotive environment, too. DAF use variants of them pretty heavily down the chassis of their trucks. (It should be noted, I've not bothered with the little rubber sealing bungs and whatnot in my plug; because I don't expect the environment to be invading that high up into the truck interior. Worst case, I plug the back of the, er, plug with silicon. )

Water-pump's back together again! Surprisingly, it didn't gush water out of it as fast as I poured it in. In fact, it seems to be holding water very well, a couple of loose hose-clamps aside. (Already had some slight complaints about my burble being somewhat incomprehensible, I'll add captioning at some point. Probably after work tomorrow.) So, I decided to trundle it on over to the machine-shop that re-made the flange I broke. Getting it back over and parked up was an exercise in frustration; which (un)fortunately, I didn't manage to capture because I forgot to turn the camera back on. It took me about as long to shuffle the truck sideways in shallow S turns, as it did to drive to the machine-shop. Combined with a very VERY warm cab -- no engine cover fitted, it's next to my work-bench, awaiting rust-treatment -- it was a trying experience. Not prodded and poked at the brake servo since my last post, since I was out all 'weekend' (the Weds/Thurs); I'll have another look at it and see if I can figure out what bits I'm missing. I think I'm actually missing the plunger of the assist valve completely, though; so that'll be interesting to deal with. :undecided: One of my next steps may well be to get the fuel tank cleaned and painted, ready to go back on. Not convinced that the level sender is working as it should; doesn't appear to be a smooth resistance curve from full to empty... jumps around a lot, going open-circuit at a couple of spots up the rheostat. May just be corrosion/deposits that might clean off. Long shot: Does anyone have a rough idea of what resistance I should be seeing between the sender output, and its earth, at the limits of its travel? (The WSM doesn't seem to list it, unless I've missed it.) If not, I'll just have to figure out what it should be, by the "lots of error" method.