The Lightweight was bought as a very good vehicle not needing extensive work, but it has needed a few items attending like most 30+ year old vehicles do.
Already on the list when bought were the replacement of the front seat belts with inertia-reel units to make them more effective, comfortable and easier to don. That went fairly easily, with only one seized fixing.  Also on the list had been the replacement of the bent track rod, swapped before winter with an existing spare. New wiper blades were an easy and cheap job. Also apparent during purchase was the poor state of the tyres – they had a fair amount of tread left, but had perished and cracked fairly badly. The front tyres were also very scrubbed and unevenly worn from the bad tracking caused by the bent track rod.
Thankfully, two brand new tyres had been included in the sale. That left me needing to locate three more for a full replacement. Unfortunately, those who have Lightweights already know that these 6.50 Goodyear High Miler Extragrips are very hard to come by, being long-since obsolete. I was lucky to find two unused tyres at Vass in nearby Amptill, 20 minutes away from home, and one scrubbed but but otherwise good tyre for use as a spare. Slightly disappointingly, one of the new tyres was a winter version, moulded with holes for steel studs (not fitted), so looks ever so slightly different from the others, but this is a minor consideration. I’m very glad to have a full set of new tyres of the correct spec. Since taking the photos, the rims, hubs, wheel nuts and balance weights have all been painted with matching NATO green (from the same can as the respray was done).
The rotten exhaust has been replaced with the new “Double-S” stainless system of the same pattern, changing only the longevity of the design.
The failure of the external electrics was confirmed to be the connections on the bulkhead mounted relay, with no further issues since a good clean up. The instrument lights, however, have been found to be unserviceable, so that’s a quick job (or, at least, should be) for the next day or two. The speedo had not shown even a twitch on the most recent drive, and the cable sleeve’s plastic connection with the speedo head was found to be snapped clean through, so a new cable has been fitted.
The biggest issue has been the poor running of the engine since being laid up over winter ( the last run before lay up had been perfect).  I replaced the spark plugs with the new set included on purchase with no effect (the old ones have been cleaned, checked and reboxed as spares) and stripped and rebuilt the carburettor. There was a small amount of dirt in there, but not a great deal. Some of the gaskets appeared to be sweating to the outside.
An attempt to make sure the four studs securing the exhaust manifold to the inlet manifold resulted in one of them shearing very easily, so the manifolds were removed and stripped. The three remaining studs were all found to be severely waisted at their bottom ends near their threads into the exhaust manifold, but were seized solid. Given that the gasket face of the manifold was corroded and uneven, which could cause air leaks into the inlet manifold and thus excessively lean running, it made more sense to replace the manifold (new ones cost £33+VAT) than to cut,drill and re-tap the holes for new studs. The head was cleaned up ready for a new manifold gasket and stud/bolt kit. I also took the opportunity to clean and repaint the left side of the engine that had been hidden by the manifolds and exhaust on the previous tidy up. A new dip-stick tube replaced the snapped one while access was good. The engine ancillaries were all cleaned, repainted where necessary (including the heat shield, which was given a good spray on both sides with silver Hammerite Smooth), and refitted, this time with the rubber hoses left black and clean and the carburettor/inlet elbow connecting hose cut down in length so that the elbow would no longer foul the underside of the bonnet.  The choke cable was also cleaned, the inner cable straightened of kinks and light oil poured down the uplifted end for full-length lubrication to cure the extreme stiffness it had exhibited – it now operates very smoothly and easily.
The gear box has had a sloppy feel to gear changes and has occasionally jumped out of first and second. I have replaced the detent spring for those gears’ selector rod via the top fill tunnel hole – fiddly, but easier than removing all of the floor and tunnel cover. The grub screw in the right side of the pivot mounting was also tightened, and both of these have given a much better feel to the stick. I want to adjust the reverse inhibit flap stop, too, to make the selection of reverse a little harder, which can be accessed by removing the yellow knob’s lower plate from the tunnel cover – a ten minute job.
I also removed the transfer box top cover and rear main bearing housing to check the tightness of the castellated nut on the back of the main shaft. It needed a great deal of cleaning of the casings before I dared to open them up, such was the covering of “military goo” and accumulated muck, but it’s pretty clean now. The nut was a little loose, so was refitted with a new lock-tab washer. Whilst carrying out that work, the transmission’s left mounting rubber was seen to be severely perished and damage, so both were replaced with new. I will be inspecting the engine rubbers tomorrow, but since only the left transmission rubber was affected, I think it was down entirely to the proximity of the exhaust – I’ll be applying a length of the exhaust wrap I bought for the 109’s Tdi down-pipe to that area to prevent recurrence.
Other jobs I hope to do (other than drain the fuel tanks for replacement with fresh fuel (the stuff in there has gone distinctly yellow and is almost certainly the cause of the poor running, and fixing the dash lights) is to grease the prop shafts and bleed the clutch and brake systems (always fiddly with the twin leading shoe system), and if I get the chance, adjust the brakes too – they’re good, but I’d like a firmer pedal, and the front left wheel seemed to be dragging when the tyres were being replaced. The starter solenoid may need replacing, too, as it seems to stick when the vehicle has been left for a few days.
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