Halleluja!

Today I made another attempt to start up the engine. I still hadn't bought the "jumpstarter "(battery booster). So I used the small tractor battery which turned out to be poor again. Previous time I had tried to start it but figured the carburettor had become dirty over time. I was hoping a little new fresh benzine would have some kind of positive cleaning effect. But apparently not. So the plan was to replace the carburettor today. Some photo's I made beforehand:

Still I wanted to have a deeper inspection inside. So I removed the top but also slightly opened up the top half to check the floater (but this was only partly possible as I left al the gas-bars in place).

 All looked good and not poluted as far as I could tell. So I did put everything back. And then hooked up the battery cable to the large tractor battery. 

I also took the effort to clean the ground cable attached to the engine and mount two new battery clamps and cleaned off the corroded wires. (I also noticed another ground cable mounted between the steeringhouse and the chassis - but I did not touch that). 

The engine did turn much better now and I could see the carburettor gasket became "wet" again. Still it would not turn on somehow.

Then I recalled last week I did download the spark cable connectivity as that was something I wanted to doublecheck

And yes, it turned out that 2 & 4 were swapped but also 7 & 5 were swapped. Not sure when or who made this mistake.

When turning the ignition the engine started up in almost one go! I left it running for a few seconds only. I was baffled. After 30 years the engine ran like it was used the day before. Incredible. Hurray for robust American engines!

The following video is the 2nd start I made:

It started up so easy. And it runs so well, no hiccups or whatsoever. And to my surprise it runs idle as well. Something I never expected (all the vacuum hose rubbish is not connected or topped off - I guess I will leave it like that).

Despite the oil is/looks clean I will get it refreshed though. Also I will buy new belts for the alternator, fan and steering pump obviously. And then build it up again. I will clean the fuel line and install the gastank again (something Jos need to deliver on his next visit). Then I will try to repair the brakes as well so I can do a small test drive. Guess I will be occupied the coming months (saturdays).

And now I do have a brand new carburettor spare as well! Suppose I can reuse the gaskets at least.

For now it's time to celebrate this moment. So I will treat myself an award winning whiskey 35 YO !Sherry cask finish - by Lidl ;-)