MORE FIDDELING

The recent spell of good weather and the fact that she is on wheels, has allowed me to work on Marjorie outside in the sunshine.

When I launched Marjorie the long, side panels were only temporarily fitted, just in case I needed to get at anything, but once I was happy that everything seemed fine, I decided it was time to glue and rivet both side panels onto the chassis. First both panels had to come off and the chassis and the panel edges wiped down with white spirit to ensure the adhesive stuck properly. I had kept the tube of adhesive in doors to keep it warm and I was able to place two fine beads, either side of the rivet holes. The amount of glue was just right, with the minimum being expelled as the rivet gun pulled the panel and chassis together. The job was soon completed with very little mess to clean. Although I deployed my compressor and pneumatic rivet gun, for these little 3.2 rivets I found my old, hand pop riveter to be quicker.

Another job was to fit the seat belts, Arthur advised me as to what and where, and Stafford Vehicle Components provide me with a pair of static rear seat belts. It was only when I sat in the seats and adjusted the belts that I realised that long, over the shoulder straps, should cross over at the top of the back rest on way to their respective anchorage points. So it was off with the barrel back again to allow access and swap them over, it looks right now.

I said earlier that I was not happy with the engine, I hope I have identified the problem, if not yet fixed it. I had pulled out the old Moto Guzzi silencers to fit them for the MSVA test as I thought they would be quieter than the Brooklands. I chopped off two 4in lengths from each of the bikes old header pipes, to act as a reducer for the cars smaller side pipes. I got one silencer ready and popped it on in place of the Brooklands and started the engine and it actually sounded louder than my stuffed Brooklands silencer on the other side of the car.

Have I overstuffed the Brooklands? resulting into much back pressure, that might explain the loss of power as I climb a slight hill on my test runs around the block, she's fine on the level and downhill. Next job then, is to semi permanently attached the old bike silencers to the car and do a few runs around the block and see if she pulls better, if that is the case then I will have to start fishing some of that stuffing out of the Brookland silencers. Fingers crossed that it is as simple as that.