Hi Robin and Al:
My thoughts on blowing out the fuel lines were an amalgam of what I had read on HMVF, Ferret Heaven, G503 and here on MLU. Robin mentioned blowing out the lines in a post on HMVF on 06-09-11 and it must have stuck in my head along with Al's comments. The important thing I took away from all the comments was to not get buried in the minutia of carburetor and ignition circuits until the basic fuel supply was verified. I'm going to tap into the fuel system and add a boat tank fitting (most of my vehicles have been so modified) as it allows me to move vehicles around the yard without leaving stale fuel in the tanks. Some of the critters haven't had fuel in their own tanks in years!
I really appreciate the collective wisdom that can be found on the 'interweb' and I'm glad that folks are so willing to share their hard learned lessons with the rest of us. The Ferret is different enough that I'm facing a whole new learning curve just reading the books! Heck, the British manual terminology is so different from US manual terminology that it brings to mind Churchill's famous quip about the English and the Americans being two peoples separated by a common language!
I only have the heated space for a few weeks so I'm focussing on quick and dirty stuff at this point. A tidy up of the most obvious points and some rust scraping are high on the list. Narrowing down the rough running problem and doing a fluids replacement/top-up are important and the biggie is to sort out the leaking fluid coupling. As I don't want to overflow my drip pan, I've decided that the fluid coupling will be babied until the warm weather returns and I have the time (and the warmth) to pull the powerpack. If time in the garage permits I may start the paint touch up and start turning the wee beastie into a tan tiger.
As part of the identity search I had started sanding the rear engine panel and could make out some symbols but they were difficult to decypher until the online conversations narrowed the ARN down to the 18EA series. I haven't sanded the area above the driver's hatch yet but hope to get to it soon. One interesting marking on the right side of the rear panel is a foot high black "A" or perhaps its an upsidedown "V" which was the allied vehicle marking in the Gulf War. Strangely enough I've found some vinyl stick on lettering "U.S.A. 2B3673" on the panels aft of the driver's side hatches. I'll contact Brian Asbury to see if these are a relic of film making at sometime in its past.
I now have the Ferret's history from 1967 up to 1993 and I can work backwards with some gaps: me late 2011, Gary MacKenzie 2010-2011, Peter Wilke xx - 2010, Brian Asbury 1994-xx. Al where do you fit in?
Well, back to the shopping list!
Cheers, Mike
