There were some replacement gauzes for the pick up pipe reasonably priced on Ebay recently - you solder it onto the end of the pipe. New pick up pipes are silly money. Is there a gauze above the seal ring on the sediment bowl?

There "should" also be a gauze on the end of the fuel pick up pipe in the tank, and another above the seal in the fuel sediment bowl by the pump - for so much grot to end up at the carb there's a problem upstream - or the fuel pipe itself is rotting from the inside.

That looks like the wrong cap - it looks like it's off a lucas 45d4 distributor

If the carb is a Weber, there's a gauze filter in the fuel inlet, between the inlet pipe and the float valve, you can get to it via a large screw cap under the fuel inlet area of the carb. If that were blocked, that could explain the dry float chamber symptoms.

>>1 Forgive my ignorance but how do I measure voltage at the alternator, not a lot of room to be poking probes and where do I poke them? The wiring connector comes apart, you can take the back cover off it, and reach the terminals there. You'll find 2 big terminals [brown wires], and a smaller...

The large Lucar connectors on the alternator electrical plug can make a bad contact. These are live all the time, so, if you're going to poke about in that connector, it's best to disconnect the battery first. Does the charge warning lamp work correctly?, i.e., does it come on with the...

If you haven't worked on speedometers (or similar fiddly and delicate mechanisms) before, it's probably worth obtaining a cheap second hand unit to practice on. For me, this strategy worked well because I found that the fault in my speedo head [non working odometer] could be repaired by using a...

>>Could it be that the voltage stabilisation is off, and that the speedo gets a wrong voltage, for example? No, the voltage regulator is only for the fuel and temperature gauges. The speedometer and the mileage counter are not electrically powered. The speedo reading is determined by the...

You may have the wrong, or an inappropriate speedo head fitted. However, this may be helpful; http://obswww.unige.ch/%7Ewildif/cars/docs/Smith-jaeger_speedo_repair.pdf

I don't understand your point James - the scissor type doesn't put any load on the ball joint and cup - the load is only applied to the end of the threaded section of the shaft of the ball pin and the outer part of the taper. The only possible forms of damage to the joint is to the last thread...

No, the 40 degrees is not including the vacuum advance.

The green book gives 40 degrees of advance at the crank at 4500 rpm

Has there been some leakage between 1 & 2 also? There look to be some dark marks on the gasket. If so, is the head truly skimmed flat? As an example, if the milling machine had an adjustable head which wasn't truly at right angles to the bed of the machine, the cutter would cut a slight...

I haven't followed the story from the start, but, why was the head gasket changed to begin with?, ... is there a lurking root cause to look for?

It's interesting how the noise depends on the engine load. It might be possible to isolate the cylinder responsibe by repeating the engine rev test with each plug lead removed in turn. A compression test [snap! you said this while I was typing!] before you begin dismantling might also be...

I thought that when I bought one of those Lucas switches for the standard two type 380 brake lamps on my 109. It didn't last long. Nor did its replacement. I checked the current draw of the circuit, and it was exactly as expected, so, the current should have been easily handled by the switch...

There's no harm in doing this, but, it won't make any significant difference. Compare the angle by which #1 bolt turns to return to 40Nm with the total angle turned through during the later stages of bolt tightening. It's worth using tippex or similar to mark the bolt heads after the torque...

Concerning your permanent live wire - are you sure the relay is for the indicators - could it be for hazard warning lamps?

This page is handy; http://www.autoelectrics.net/12v_flasher_relay.html

As has already been mentioned, the 12v supply to the brake lamp switch comes from the fuse box - on mine, that fuse also powers the temperature and fuel gauges. As well as the fuse itself, and the sprung connections, it's also worth looking at the Lucar connectors on the back of the fuse box...