Digging out the DHC

As the title states I went over to the shed this weekend to awaken the DHC from its hibernation. But not before all the on-board tools etcetera were transferred from 't Kreng to the DHC (you never know :-).

As I already had checked the essentials a few days ago it was rather straightforward to bring her back to live after an almost 6 month long rest. And as expected she was rather reluctant to start. One of the disadvantages of a mechanical fuel pump in combination with a long period of idleness. You need to crank over the engine quit long to get some fuel to the carburettors. But I came prepared! With the aid of start pilot spray the engine fired up long enough to build up the fuel pressure necessary for a half decent idle.

Usually the next thing on the to do list after taking one of the cars out of hibernation is a short (about one hours) drive to shake of any cobwebs. Sadly not this time. During the last drive of the year, almost six months ago, I managed to upset the front wheel alignment when I hit a low protective barrier at a filling station with the right hand front wheel. No real damage to any parts of the car but I could feel the alignment was slightly out. So to prevent the tyres from any damage caused by uneven wear I won't drive the car till the alignment is checked. This is scheduled next Thursday.

Another reason to keep the drive short was that while checking everything last week I found two things that needed looking into. The first was the engine oil, it looked like two years and far too little miles hadn't been kind to it. The other problem was a weeping thermostat cover gasket. So when I got home it was time to get some of the spanners out to change the engine oil and the oil filter. All rather straightforward, especially when you have a proper tool to remove the old oil filter ...

And the thermostat cover gasket turned out to be even more straight forward as it was completely dry when I inspected it while the oil was draining from the sump. I think I need to use the car more often this year! But I did make a mental note to change the fitting bolts of both thermostat cover and inlet manifold for stainless steel ones. These are less prone to galvanic corrosion. Which means a trip to a local stainless fastener company will be on the agenda soon. Especially as I have some repairs still to do on the engine of 't Kreng ...

After refitting the drain plug to the sump and fitting a new oil filter the last things remaining for the day were putting new oil in, and a final check for any leaks. So after running the engine for a few minutes I had a last glance underneath the car. No leaks!

Let the good weather begin!