Made some good progress this morning. Had a go at degreasing the engine bay. I have read that its possible to achieve good results by soaking with car shampoo, then degreasing (its needs to be done several times). I tried this and have shifted some of the crud from around the inner wings. I put microfibre cloths over the spark plugs, coil and distributor. I ran the engine afterwards for 5 minutes to create some drying heat. Engine started reasonably well, after a few goes and ran alright but the voltmeter had stopped working and I don’t know why. I gave the carbs a rub after soaking with degreaser and car shampoo and a little of the crud has come off these. They will need removing for a full clean in due course.  

I moved the car outside and it was hard to push so I jacked it up at the rear and removed the wheels. I found the thing that releases the shoes on the inside of the drum so turned that and the wheel then moved more freely. I then proceeded to strip more stuff off the rear hatch including the rear lights, reversing light, inner trim panels and badge. I failed to fully remove the lock, but on checking the manual later there is a locking ring you must remove, so I will try that on another occasion. The big achievement however, was removing the rear glass. The rubber seal took a great deal of cutting before it was possible to start levering it out. I persevered and got to the stage where the glass was loose. At this stage I obtained a helping hand from Helen with the final thumping and shoving. The glass came out okay and we laid it in the boot on a rug. The wires for the heating element (one each side), pass through the rubber seal so that might be a bit tricky to replace, although the new rubber will be more pliant – I intend to get a specialist to do this anyway.  

Another failed activity today was attempting to remove the doors – turns out I don’t have a large enough screwdriver (Philips type). So, I need to make a purchase, but internet searching isn’t very clear on where large diameter screwdrivers can be obtained.  

Passing Halfords later so bought some more wet and dry, including very fine (2000) for polishing carbs and the like eventually. Also brought some mole grips because mine had broken.