Sunday cruise & cuppa

[Chriscross]

Hi everyone, not been on here for a while. I've been busy sorting issues on the RS2000. Engine and gearbox out again, new rear oil main seal, front crankshaft seal, auxiliary seal and an Elring sump gasket this time (this is the 3rd attempt to stop an oil leak) also whilst the sump was off I made the hole in the baffle plate for the dipstick bigger as it drove me made trying to get a flexi dipstick back into the tube. got it all back together and finally no oil leaks, soooooooooo happy. Went to Goodwood for a meet and had a strong smell of petrol, checked under the bonnet, nothing. Checked under the rear, nothing, put my hand around the sender unit and it was leaking past the threaded electrical post. I had a NOS replacement sender unit I bought from Australia so fitted this and now also have a fuel gauge that works. next issue was starter motor so replaced this. Then I had an intermittent grinding noise, so, Oil pressure is great, spray bar delivering plenty of oil. Removed the fan belt, noise remained so not the alternator or water pump even though they're new it was worth ruling them out. The distributor had a slight wear in rotation and I already had a new replacement ready, so changed this, noise still there. Removed the timing belt cover and noticed the top right bolt was missing but thought this was on the road somewhere lost. Removed the cam belt and checked the auxiliary sprocket and replaced it as the noise was from this area. Checked the tensioner which is new and this was ok but noticed the cam belt had a slight fray to the inner edge so fitted a new cam belt, noise now gone so assumed it was the auxiliary sprocket. Had the car in my workshop today checking ignition advance parameter and all of a sudden a horrendous grinding noise! switched off straight away and noticed the belt had frayed and tiny particles of metal everywhere. Stripped everything off again and removed the crankshaft timing belt sprocket and found this. Very lucky the belt didn't snap. new cam cover bolts will have Locktite.  I now have literally replaced everything with genuine items or rebuilt the original during this restoration and I even sealed the front & rear screens this week. Once the Gates timing belt & tensioner and the replacement crankshaft timing belt sprocket arrive from Burton this week I really hope I can just enjoy it and do the shows I want to do as I'm getting to old to keep working on this car!