I spent yesterday trying to get to the bottom of the Dyane’s occasional poor running. Sometimes it’ll idle very nicely. Sometimes it’ll idle not at all. I’m having to employ a lot of heel and toe – using all three pedals at once. This is bothersome.

What I actually ended up doing was splitting the carburettor, then somehow dislodging the floats so that when I tried starting the engine, it filled one cylinder with petrol.

Floats in the wrong place. ie my hand.

You can probably see the issue here. With the carburettor rebuilt, I then had to remove the spark plugs as so much petrol had flooded in that the engine would not turn. The pretty, potentially-explosive fountain thankfully was not ignited. I’d cleaned out all of the jets while the carb was in bits, but this seems to have made no difference. More work to do.

Or, I could go greenlaning instead. Guess which option I went for!

Greenlaning Dyane in the hills of mid-Wales

Yes, greenlaning. That is, seeing “Unsuitable for Motor Vehicles” and going for it anyway. The Land Rover is our neighbours, who were joining us as we went Vulcan spotting. Sadly, we failed as the Vulcan was actually running late. This particularly scenic part of mid-Wales lacks any phone signal, so we had no idea. This was the first time I’d tried this Byway – checked on an OS Map and then with local greenlaner types. You’d struggle in a modern, but the Dyane lapped it up. Must do the whole lane at some point.

Having failed at plane spotting, we turned around and headed home. When I got there, I found this:

Ah. The fuel line really shouldn’t be on the ground.

Not good. The fuel line must have got snagged on some long grass and had been pulled away from the chassis. Thankfully, there’s a short metal section near the front, which was so firmly bonded to the rubber either side that the pipe had not come away entirely. Just enough to cause a minor leak. I like this car. It seems to refuse to die.

I’ll replace the front pipework and will include an in-line filter. I’ll also find a better way to secure the fuel line further back. I’m prone to explore greenlanes. I need a better solution! It may be that this isn’t helping with the poor running. We’ll see.

One thing I must say though. I may have to fast-forward my art project plans for this car. Some have told me I should keep it as it is, and I do see the appeal in that – it appeals to my lazy side. However, the biggest problem with this car is that EVERYONE jokes that they can’t see it when I post photos. It was slightly amusing the first time but every time? Really?!

I’m going to have to get creative all the sooner I think.