The Dark Wob

That windscreen surround being completely intact is not very entertaining.

Just wait until I do the backlight.

Not been up to the tractor again yet, but I will check all these points. I think the carb will have to come off for examination. My neighbour went up and thinks he's found a possible cause in the choke butterfly being stuck closed or some such fault. I'll update pending a future visit.

Most of the windshield shitwork is done, a coat of Hammerite to the worst parts tomorrow and, God willing, it'll be in and out on the road by Friday.

Will it be at Didsbury?

I sincerely hope so!

Have you registered?

Aye. Registered at the weekend, although I haven't yet received an entrant number or anything else other than a confirmation of registration.

Put the screen back in today, it went better than expected with only mild difficulty. Good call on the sealant Crooner, bitumen sealant must've occurred to me in a moment of madness, such was I caught up in the idea 'old school' sealants are no longer available. A quick eBay search and I obtained some Screenseal, it's butyl compound too, in accordance with the Rootes recommendation.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Windscreen-S ... Sw~y9ZAeTG

I really went to town with it, squirting a fat ribbon into the glass channel and then the part of the rubber which meets the body flange. It became a very ugly job as we manhandled the screen into position, trying to keep the cord pull in place at the same time. There was mess everywhere with much oozing out.
I wiped most of the outside of the car with white spirit to remove the excess sealant. This has been the most time consuming and unpleasant job as despite wearing gloves the white spirit began to soak my skin and dry it out, so I called it a day. Re-fitting the screen only took about 40 minutes. Still got to give the outside another wipe over before the acid test, and sort the interior out too, but that shouldn't take as long. All being well I can get this one to the Wakefield show in the evening as I really want to get behind the wheel of it again and take it. Hope it bloody keeps the water out!

I finished cleaning up from the windscreen job and went out in the car to test. For once I had to actually simulate rainfall. Precipitation over, I looked inside the car apprehensively... there is still a little water ingress from the passenger's corner but the driver's side, the worst offender, is now bone dry. That's a good result by me. The sealant may need a little time to find its way to creep around with the movements of the car, or I just inject a little more in between the glass and seal at the leaky corner.

Then it was off to Wakefield to sit in traffic, get lost, get angry and get nowhere, as there was a little FTP, or two. First one happened when almost at the park as I pulled into a layby to check directions. I pressed the accelerator pedal to move off again and the engine just stopped. Could I re-start it? No. I checked for petrol supply, I had a spark at the king lead and the c.b. points so I was at a loss as to why it wouldn't go. The coil felt very hot but they often are, especially if engine mounted like this one. I just had to wait for 10 minutes until things cooled down and I could go again. Once in the show I joined the entry que and I was suspicious of it cutting out again in traffic. Just as I got to the entry desk it conked out again! Fortunately Matt and Dicky appeared like magic and roped in some other helpful chaps (it took 5 men to push the car slowly out of the way).

If you remember that autojumble special of an ignition coil which had a small hole in the casing (I was wearing my glasses at the time so don't know how I missed that), I expressed doubts as to its reliability because they were oil filled and this had all drained out due to said hole. I think this is the proof. The oil is there partly to cool the windings, so I think a combination of warm weather and prolonged engine idling caused it to overheat. I shall fit one of my glass Runbaken Oilcoils (I acquired a later example that can be mounted in any position unlike the earlier upright-only ones) and see if that cures the fault.

As I got into the show I just made for the rear seat and basically enjoyed some home comforts. Didn't even walk around the rally field until people started leaving.

I'd agree with your diagnostics. I had a coil that was always wet with oil at the top where the plastic section was, after a few months it started doing the same thing.