Took the Bug out this morning to the local car club’s Coffee Morning and arrived with a dragging clutch…Bugger.

Got talking to Mike Jacobson, Porsche guru telling him of my problem and how I seemed to be losing pedal travel at the same time. Mike’s answer was that it maybe the clutch fork is loose on the shaft and Mike was right, well nearly it was the lever that rotates the shaft. Why didn’t I think of that? This would have been a lot easier to fix with the clutch out but at least I now know what I will be doing for the next few afternoons.

On another note the gear stick seemed to be sitting further forward than usual … It’s cracked. This car must have done more miles than I thought.

This lever was only located on clutch throw out shaft with a weak interference fit, will get 6mm tapered cotter pin.

The broken gear lever, looks like it’s been welded before (badly)

Today is Saturday but because of the Great Wind† I’ve just caught up with the stuff I was going to do Wed-Fri, that is get the Bugatti ready for Sunday….I always need to deadline.

Multi tasking is not my best attribute, I can think or I can do, together they get messy. For instance after getting the clutch in I then connected the throw out bearing then the “Cotton Reel” (shaft that connects the clutch to gearbox) then picked up the ring gear so had to remove the last two  so it took eight hours getting the clutch back in, hopefully this will be a record so the next time will be shorter.

With only the radiator to install I think I’m just about done so when I’m cleaning the cross member:

This crack goes all the way around, luckily the cross member bolts on so I removed it in two pieces (as the chassis was holding it together instead of the other way around) and used oxy to glue it together as I’m not much good at electric welding.

Found some fast drying paint and it’s done, the radiator is back in, the bonnet on and I had no extra bits left over which I must say is a first.

†Great Wind was so great that it blew 2 of the 3 cups off my anemometer thus ending my $99 weather station, may spend more next time.

On Wednesday we had a storm that uprooted trees and deroofed houses but luckily not ours. However we did lose the power so we are adapting to head torches, candles, and a generator when available to keep the fridge contents edible and the i-things charged so very 19th century.

Due to actually having to attend work and setup generators out on various hills and then keep them fed has meant that not much has happened in the now dark garage. The Bugatti radiator has returned from Jeff Edwards with some guarded comments about how it was put together and is now polished to a high standard and hopefully leak free. Jeff stated he could not read the newspaper in the reflection so much hand rubbing later you now can, so pop in any time you feel the need to catch up on the news. I’m not sure what we will do when guys like Jeff decide to retire.

Assuming the power comes back on tonight, tomorrow will be a big day.