So, it lives, and well enough to pass a WOF (Warrant of Fitness- a 6-monthly roadworthiness check), get a 12 month registration, and a full wheel alignment.
Now for the minor setbacks: on the way back from the wheel alignment, one of the rocker adjusters came loose and wound itself out. The noise was horrific, but hopefully no damage has been done to the lovely new cam.
*Update*: Future me here, just letting you know that the follower under this lifter was still in good shape when half the followers turned out to be bad.
Off with its head!
It turns out that the fancy copper head gasket we fitted wasn’t so fancy after all, so we’re fitting a good standard gasket (a Payen BK450).
While the engine’s apart, we’ll also fix the speedometer which reads bizarrely low (I’m thinking someone pulled the needle off and replaced it in the wrong position), and the heater which rattles like a bag of spanners.
Here’s Brian reinstalling the speedo drive cable. Or sobbing disconsolately. I forget which. Maybe both.