I've been deciding what to do about the seats I bought - they're seriously uncomfortable and the runners were falling apart. I was deliberating over getting rid and buying some new more comfortable ones. But in order not too make the same mistake twice I would want to try before I buy and that's not possible on the internet. The other possibility is making my existing ones more comfortable and doing away with the runners. This is by far the cheapest option, and have decided to do this in the first instance. If it doesn't work I'll have to resort to plan A.

The problem with the seats is there is no lower back support and too much upper back support (feeling like it was pitching you forward) so I had the idea of tilting the seats back to overcome this. trying it out I realised that I was going to need to increase the height at the front by about 4 inches - and just hope I could get my knees under the steering wheel!

Got some inch flat and a bit of inch box section and made some subframes to bolt straight to the floor, as can be seen from the picture (excuse the dirty floor and lack of carpet, I'm trying to locate a leak I've got!)

This is much more comfortable, but they do look very low slung now, and thankfully I can get my legs under too!

Yesterday I did the work for the recalibration on the speedo and today took it to Brown and Gammons to be reconditioned, so should be back in a week or so.

Fitted the mk 1 quarterlight latches today, so the doors are all finished now, yay.

Also found out there isn't a reversing light switch so I'm going to have to go for a manual switch.

Had a large amount of oil splashed in the engine bay, found out the cork gasket had shrunk and hence was no longer oil tight, and the bolts loose. Tightened them so hopefully that's cured now.

A stone fell off a bridge last week and cracked the windscreen so she's booked in to Autoglass in Letchworth to have a new screen in 2 days. I bought a new chrome surround which they will fit at the same time.

That's it for now I think.

Been spending a bit of time and cash on the car over the last month.

Firstly I've been looking at replacing the mark 2 door and window mechanisms with the correct (and NLA) ones. Managed to track down some second hand mark 1 bits from Watford Classic Cars, I managed to get the complete passenger side (window regulator, door mechanism, strikers, winders, openers, pulls etc) and all but the window regulator for the drivers side (all for 50 quid!) and the guy also created me a template for cutting mark 2 doors to fit mark 1 regulators. Went back a couple of weeks later and managed to get the remaining regulator. Picked up, from Brown and Gammons, the correct year interior trim to match the exterior (black with red piping) as opposed to the black and light blue to match the original mineral blue. When I got to fit them the doors were the original mark 1 ones so didn't need to modify them, which was nice. The windows open and close beautifully now, and the doors look fantastic.

I've bought new quarterlight locks (curved not the non-original straight ones that were fitted) which I'll fit soon.

I decided to replace the early Motolita steering wheel with a new one that can accomodate a modified push horn (from MGOC) as the homemade horn-push I made wasn't quite suitable.

So with that lot done I've got lots to stick on ebay!

Also fitted an Eyots style quick-release fuel cap, which looks great.

Had a bit of a nightmare the a while back. The clutch felt like it wasn't disengaging properly - I had to knock it out of gear before it stalled when I stopped. Suspected the slave cylinder and lifted up the rubber boot on it and a load of fluid ran out. Ah ha. Started replacing it outside and the heavens opened, it got worse and worse, but I thought "I'm half way through, I might as well crack on" but it started hailing and then disaster struck. The bonnet stay bracket snapped, the bonnet came crashing down and the stay gouged the scuttle panel. Oh joy! Thankfully the bonnet was undamaged. Cured the clutch problem though.

I intend to keep this page as my live "what I need to do to make it how I want it" in no particular order. So here goes...

Fit new speedo cable. Work out recalibration for speedo and take to B&G - DONE

* Drill sill tops to waxoil sills, castle rails and doors - DONE - and everywhere else

Get S/S threshold plates - DONE

* Get nearside splash plate - UPDATE - Need to fashion my own as OE ones are too narrow for Sebring arches

Get mark 1 door mechanisms, window winders, door cards etc to replace my existing mark 2 ones - DONE

Get rear mount spot for reversing light - DONE

Get oil breather catch tank - UPDATE - Replaced rocker cover with new one with smaller vent on cap. Oil smell in cockpit gone.

Get water heater valve and cable - DONE

Fit hazard warning lights - DONE

Replace indicator switch and rework horn - UPDATE - Replaced steering wheel with new motorlita wheel with larger centre boss to accomodate modified OE horn - SO, DONE.

* Pipe air ducts in front valance onto brake discs

* Replace grill with mesh one

* Upgrade windscreen washers. Fit dual bottles, electric motors - DONE - and additional jets.

* Fit 2 speed wiper motor and smartscreen intermittent wiper unit.

* Repair bonnet stay bracket (find aluminium welder)

* Restore dash

The replacement of blibs and blobs is still going on.

I replaced the oil only gauge with the correct dual oil/water one - it's the centrigrade one, not the normal c-n-h, and it took some finding! Big shout out to Sussex Classic Car Parts, Horsham!

I also replaced the horrible wooden gear knob with the correct teardrop one (simple things, aye?)

To save the carpets I also got some mats too.

Not much to go now til it's perfect! And the continent beckons for some Safety Fast!!

The git at Jack's Hill motors had told me it was running lean on tick-over but done nothing to it. So armed with some reading the night before I attempt to richen the tick-over slightly. I do this, and it seems to be running sweetly.

A few dats later I notice it's belching smoke out the back. It was night and I could see it in the headlights of the cars behind me. Arse! The engine is wear is worse than I thought. So the next day I take to an MG garage nearby that I trust and that had replaced an engine for me a while back (Brian Brown Classics at Hitchin, Herts - big thumbs up to him!) I ask him to have a quick look and let me know what I can do. He does and says it's not oil, it's fuel. I've gone and over-riched the Weber. Ooops, but phew! He knows nothing about Webers but gives me the details of another guy. OK. Lets give him a go.

I turn up and explain the problem (couldn't get him on the phone) and he says he can fit me in now and starts work on it there and then. What a star!! He gets me to drive onto the rolling road and has me do the driving while he tweaks - yeah, this is more like it!

He was so knowledgeable and explained each bit as he did it and what all the emissions outputs mean. He methodically tests everything to do with the carb (fuel pump pressure, etc, etc) I go in there with an emissions count of 3000-odd (for a post '76 car the allowed emissions for an MOT is 1200 - oops! He works his magic, replaces the idle jets with some smaller ones, and we're down to 300! Wow, what a star, again! Then he tackles the timing and the advance. He says that the reason it's blowing from the breather is because the timing is far too advanced. It sounds nice at low revs, but has little power at high. So he retards it for where it should be and wow! we're producing 115bhp at 5000rpm - that's a bit better than 75! However the timing is wrong at low revs and it lacks power until about 3000rpm. So he recommends either a buying a race dizzy or modifying mine for £75 - I go for the latter and arrange to come back the next day.

With the cam the engine wants to be fully advanced to 25 degrees and the dizzy advances to 30, so I'm firing 5 degrees to soon on low revs. He gets a guy to blob a bit of weld as a limiter on the advance stop. And times it again and now it's spot on. Woohoo! I take it for a spin and it's a thing of beauty and very fast! It's no longer breathing through the rocker cover either. Yippee.

He recommends routing both the crankcase and rocker cover breathers into a bottle (to catch the oil) and then a pipe to vent it under the car which I will be doing shortly - no more smells in the cockpit for me!!)

So to cut a very long story short. The engine is sweet an is properly set up now. Producing 115bph @ 5000 rpm at the wheels and running a lot more economically, with oodles more power.

One advisory was one of the engine blanking plates for the cooling system has started to leak slightly and that will need keeping an eye on.

Oooh I almost forgot. The hero of this story is Peter Baldwin and the garage is Wilsher Garages, Wimpole, Cambs