Thanks Steve and Col very helpful will try both. Could brake fluid be getting past the master cylinder piston?

Ok. So this is the culprit for the misfiring. New gasket in place. Running sweetly. But...the brakes are still awful. Despite all the air having been purged from the brake lines the pedal bvwhen first depressed is still spongy. And the rear wheels lock up under medium braking (the offside...

Thanks. What’s valve lapping?

Hah. The cylinder compression test shows: 1: 130, 2: 120, 3: 20 and 4: 20. Looks like there is a head gasket failure between numbers 3&4. Head off! Any tips as to which gasket set to buy, and what else i should do with the head off?

I am now suspicious that the misfiring is caused by the distributor. The reason is: the tappets all have the right clearance (0.010”). All the valves seem to be operating as designed. The engine slows slightly when i remove plug lead 3 or 4. When i remove lead 1 or 2 it stops. When touching...

Thanks for the jam down the brake pedal trick - it worked. But the misfiring is more serious. We took off the air filter trunking and started the engine. As before it seemed to be firing on 3 cylinders. Air gasped out of the carburettor barrel accompanied by a spray of fuel. Verdict: an inlet...

Thanks. Will try the jam-down-brake-pedal solution. As for the misbehaving piston could the extremely advanced spark have caused the valves to collide with the piston? The ‘pinking’ - if it was that - was very loud.

Ok. So i have replaced all the wheel brake cylinders and am now trying to bleed the brakes so they don’t need pumping. This is proving difficult. But...more worrying the engine is a challenge. A chum came round to fix the stalling. He loosened the distributor and rotated it (quite a lot -...

Any tips as to how to remove recalcitrant screw holding on front drum? Have tried WD40, large screwdriver, impact driver. No success. Yet!

Hmmm. Don’t think it is that. The longer the engine runs (and the harder i work it) the more running-on it does.

Very helpful thanks i will do that now. To check the running-on (after i switch off) i took two of the spark plugs out. Carbon deposits by looks of things. This means it is running rich?

Thanks both. Have now confirmed the near side rear brake cylinder is seized. I can just about turn the piston with a large screwdriver. The offside one is not but is rusted. Do you recommend i replace both cylinders or try to unsieze both?

OK thanks will try that. I have now removed the drums on both rear wheel brakes. Shoes and drums look ok. But the piston looks sorry (on both). See photo. I can move the back brake shoe where it connects with the cylinder, but the forward shoe is stuck solid (and the shoe is only worn over...

Tyres are ok i think. Throttle response is poor. I keep having to blip the throttle to keep it going until it is very warmed up. Even when warm it stalls.

Good morning!