Decisions have consequences. I was at home yesterday in the evening, a change for me as I normally work away from home. With Helen marking homework (a teacher’s lot in life) I decided to wash the dishes and then, drawn like a magnet, pop into the garage and take a look at the carbs which need a bit of love before they get bolted back in. I had recently bought some carb cleaner so I thought I would give them a bit of a squirt and see what good that did. I was looking to improve two issues: first, some aluminium corrosion in the float chambers which I thought would benefit from a good dosage of carb cleaner and; secondly a sticky cold start enrichment mechanism which I had previously stripped but was still not moving freely. Working in the utility room (not the kitchen – I am not that stupid), I lost myself for a good 45 mins, absorbed in what a good job I was doing. After a while, and sensing it might be a good idea to re-enter family life, I packed up, cleaned down and went into the lounge.

‘What’s that smell?’ Helen asked. ‘What smell?’ I replied, knowing full well what smell. In my solvent addled state, I had failed to realise that most of house was now permeated with a strong and pungent solvent aroma which, it was made clear, would not be tolerated. So I did that thing where you close interior doors, fling open exterior doors, put extract fans on full, use room spray and generally hope that the stink will shift.

Having thought I had done a pretty good job and congratulating myself on having recovered the situation, I was dismayed that when retiring to bed some time later, the volatile solvents had risen (as they do) and stunk out the upstairs.

At this point I had to admit to having royally messed up and that yes I was stupid, no it’s wasn’t funny and no I would not use the carb cleaner inside the house again but in a well ventilated space as per the instructions.

Lesson learned and no need to dig out the sleeping bag to bed down in the garage for the night.

Sadly, despite the dosing, the cold start mechanism was still sticky, better, but not moving freely enough so it will need stripping and lubricating / more cleaning. It will be the most pampered cold start mechanism in SU carb history soon…