Red too

Fit the second

After the fuel was obtained and I could actually get some into the tank, I tried to start him again, but Red [my MG Migdet MkIII — see my previous blog] still refused to fire.

Still no fuel at the carburettor.

Now many of my friends and colleagues will not be surprised to know that while I am at work I am not always concentrating on "matters at hand". I often think about other things and Red figured a few times. Sometimes, I had glanced at the manuals in passing.

When I bought Red I was bequeathed a few manuals and books that have proved to be of immense use. They include:

• Haynes Workshop manual
• Owners manual (not for my model, but still handy)
• (old) Parts catalogue

and I browsed through them for hints. It was in Haynes manual that I noticed that this model has an electric fuel pump (later models had a mechanical one), and it slowly dawned on me that if this was the case, I should have been able to hear the pump when I switched on the ignition. Since Red had been with us only a few short weeks, I couldn't remember this noise, it certainly wasn't 'clicking' now. So the fuel pump was implicated.

First problem — where is it? It turns out this requires a closer look at the manuals. Haynes proved surprisingly unhelpful here: it gives a photo of the offending, but a mere word or two about where it is! The other stuff, including the parts catalogue (amazing how much you can learn from an exploded diagram if it includes everything), was more helpful. It was underneath; next to the Petrol tank. I got to it.

This sounds easier than it was, since I didn't have any ramps or stands, and getting under with only a jack or two is not recommended.

I therefore bought (second hand) a couple of ramps. This took another few days, and also some trouble getting the car up on a ramp! I couldn't push it, it wouldn't drive up and so I had to jack it up and put the ramp under. This involved a few bricks and two jacks. [I wonder if Anne will let me dig an inspection pit?]