.The recommissioning was more straightforward than I thought and still can't believe this car, all the lights, windows, sunroof and even the wash wipe back and front worked without any adjustment needed and the brake discs and drums were shiny and no rust.... just needed a service and new fluid.
The time was spent on the head with a full strip down, there was no head gasket failure but I thought it a good idea to do as I was doing belts and water pump .
Glad I did as the water pump was full of kseal or looked more like egg to me
as you can see.
So set about cleaning this up and the head waterways
Head was aluminium ground, you get a better finish grinding and you know it's flat. The head was in good nick and no indentation but as it was off so no point not doing this.
Being early fixed liners, these were checked for height to each other with a proper straight edge (not a ruler) and .001 inch feeler and were spot on.
The biggest issues were the front lower and back coolant pipes which had rusted from the inside out
not surprising really , bottom one was fabricated up and top was replaced from my spares bin .Engine all back together and no tapping from top end. I was a happy chap. The car flew through the MOT, no advisories, couldn't believe that either, wow.
I emailed the previous owner and she was over the moon the car got a second chance.
I did more miles in her yesterday than she's ever done in a day in all her life I should imagine
it's a time warp. Feel like I'm back in the 90s 
.
