Worked on the pick up again this afternoon, removing surface rust from the load bed ready to treat and prepare for painting whenever that will be.
I have been away in Blackpool again over the weekend with Reynard and on the return journey he had a slight Hick up while climbing up in to Lancaster on the M6. It felt like fuel starvation and he lost power but after a couple of minutes it cleared. I put this down to some possible dirty fuel as I filled him up in Blackpool before I left. About 30 miles up the road he stumbled again but this time only for a minute then the rest of the journey was totally fine. I was going to investigate it today but decided instead to put it down to dirty fuel.
This evening I was to meet a mate in Edinburgh so I jumped in Reynard and off we went. Within 2 miles of the house and again climbing a hill Reynards symptoms from Lancaster returned but this time he cut out on me on the outside land of the duel carriageway
I managed to free wheel him over to the side of the road and popped his bonnet for a peek. Nothing was obvious so I flicked the points to start my investigation. The points were fine so I instantly ruled out that. I had a hunch it was fuel so I pulled off the fuel pipe to the carb and it broke as it was totally brittle so my initial thought was it may have been leaking. I then undone the lid from the float chamber and the pot was empty. Ok I thought, the pipe must have a split so I trimmed the split ends off and reconnected it carefully. After a good crank Reynard fired up again!
I then just decided to carry on with the journey and took the motorway in to town to make up some lost time. He performed excellent until I hit standing traffic in Edinburgh. While sitting in the middle lane of a large roundabout I suddenly got a whiff of petrol and it was strong. I indicated to pull off and in to the police lay by and eventually a woman let me in. Once in the lay by I popped the bonnet and petrol was spraying everywhere, the hose split again
I managed to doctor it up enough so I could exit the busy Junction and try and get to a quieter road to work out my next action plan then Reynard decided he want playing anymore and cut out. A quick phone call to the RAC followed!
On arrival I explained to the man what happened and he had a bit hose in his van, result I thought! After connecting up the new hose Reynard still failed to start and this time there was no smell of petrol! We popped the fuel line off the carb and I cranked him over again but no fuel came out. The fuel pump packed in too! Admitting defeat I just told the chap to hook him up and take me home
As soon as Reynard was unloaded, Jim, the RAC man had a neb at the pick up and didn't know that the Marina came in pick up form, he was also a previous Marina owner buying a new T reg one in 1979! After Jim went away I went straight to work and raided the stores for a new fuel pump and fitted it there and then! Reynard is now happy but I will need to nip out to the motor factors tomorrow and try and get some new fuel line for him as the one fitted isn't correct but at least it will do for now!
What an eventful evening. Who said Marinas were boring lol!
