The missus is out of town, so I had a little "private time" to spend on the
car this weekend!
Changed the oil and filter, put a new set of plugs in, and filled up the
petrol tank (since I fixed the leak last weekend!). BTW, anybody have a spare
tank sender for a Arrow/Hunter estate? The float is half full of fuel. Wish
they never went to plastic floats!
Had to clean the carby a little, as it was sticking just a bit. Strange carb -
first Rootes engine I've ever seen with a CD150 that says Solex, not
Stromberg. There's an electric fuel pump mounted underneath by the tank. I
don't really care for those, I prefer the regular mechanical one. I think I
have a spare one somewhere.
Got her running pretty well, probably needs a valve adjust, but that's to be
expected. Drove it around the block for the first time, which is always a
great boost to my enthusiasm. Got brave, and drove it down to the local car
wash where I could use the industrial vacuum to clean out the interior. Seems
the country bugs liked the inside of the estate - must have been a few dozen
dead wasps in there. All the windows are intact now, so hopefully we won't see
any more of those!
I'll have to change out the clutch soon, as a new slave cylinder helped but
didn't totally return the clutch to normal. The heater valve has a little
leak, hopefully a fairly simple repair. The speedometer bounces from one end
to the other, probably NOT a simple repair. At least the lights and wipers and
such all work!
This week comes the fun part - having the State of Nebraska inspect the car to
make sure it isn't stolen, and getting license plates. (Even if I won't be
driving it yet, I have to license it, as there's no room for it in the garage.
Darn city ordinances!)
Cars like this are very scarce here in the US. I'll need to beg some help from
you folks in other lands, as I have to find some interior trim. It's got no
left front door trim panel, and the upper trims are shot. I'd like to find a
set of wood cappings for the doors if I could, as I'd like to change out the
original dash for a wood one from an Alpine/Rapier GT. In general, if you know
of anybody parting out a Hunter/Vogue/Gazelle/Sceptre/Arrow, let me know, I'll
probably need some bits!
Jon Arzt
Omaha, NE USA
"Rootes Group Refuge"
|