Mick, from Dublin , appeared on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and towards the end of the program had already won 500,000 euros.  "You've done very well so far," said Chris Tarrant, the show's presenter, "but for a million euros you've only got one life-line left, phone a friend. Everything is riding on this question. Will you go for it?" "Sure," said Mick. "I'll have a go!"  "Which of the following birds does NOT build its own nest? A) Sparrow  b) Thrush,  c) Magpie,  d) Cuckoo?" "I haven't got a clue." said Mick, "so I'll use last lifeline and phone my friend Paddy back home in Dublin .."  Mick called up his mate, and told him the circumstances and repeated the question to him. "Fookin hell, Mick!" cried Paddy. "Dat's simple it's a cuckoo." "Are you sure?"  "I'm fookin sure."  Mick hung up the phone and told Chris, "I'll go with "D" cuckoo as my answer."  "Is that your final answer?" asked Chris.  "Dat it is."  There was a long, long pause and then the presenter screamed, "Cuckoo is the correct answer! Mick, you've won 1 million euros!" The next night, Mick invited Paddy to their local pub to buy him a drink.  "Tell me, Paddy? How in Heaven's name did you know it was da Cuckoo that doesn't build its own nest?"  Paddy rolled his eyes and replied, "Because he lives in a Fookin Clock!”

Head gasket? 

Seems that not many interesting older cars are on the go this summer? Bucking the trend were these two this morning (getting their messages at Lidls in Wick). Doing the NC500 west , north and lastly the (often overlooked) east coast   Ian

Compression is about 50 psi in the front two cylinders and they sound like a steam train when I'm doing the compression test, so something has gone between cylinders 1&2. Sucks for me, hopefully some interesting photos for you guys!

New alternator fitted, and running fine! Had to do a few idle tweeks but otherwise all good! Had it sitting steady for about 10 minutes no issues. This is good. The only other thing is the rpm drops when the lights go on, this engine really doesn't like idling below 900, probably the cam and setup, headlights do drop it a bit to the point I need to topup the rpm a bit. I will test the battery too as it is quite old now. I know the drop is normal, but I'd just like it all to work nicely The pain in the arse bit. Cleaned the oil off around the box, ran it. Bone dry. Bone bloody dry. Not happy. ive watched it from cold drip slowly onto the exhaust. Very annoying. I checked the level and had a little start weeping out when I took the fill plug out, so its not low. Need to drive it with the cover off and let it cool, then restart and hope to see it

Engine turns over freely, valve train goes up and down as expected, sump is clean, timing chain tensioner is good. Plugs aren't great though, and cylinders look a bit carbon-y. 1&2 are sooty and wet, 4 has some white bits. I'm stumped. Maybe it's vibration and something solid knocking hard on the chassis at certain resonances. Knowing the timing chain is good, I think I'll put the cover back on and put it all back together again so I can record the noise.   Really confused.

The chain tensioner looks ok.  @Nick Jones how did you diagnose the broken crank? I'm going to go check timing marks, pull plugs and see if I can spot anything catastrophic in the pistons, and any other smoking guns I can find!

Looking at the YouTube “how to” it’s not so bad if you have the right sized Alan And multi spline ( not torx) tools you can even get a complete drive shaft for less than £100 https://www.gsfcarparts.com/products/drive-shaft-lh-or-rh-gsp261003?auto_apply_coupon=ROAD24&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21459462676&gbraid=0AAAAAD3pBNAT--p46vryhKF-T0P-QRoVJ&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrrnrvMmKjwMVZ4BQBh0ZCxKiEAQYASABEgLdBfD_BwE   but I have a VAG specialist within walking distance. He does my classics mots https://www.votexltd.co.uk

That's not good! Not sure about that car, but I've never enjoyed changing/replacing CV boots.   

this week I have had carried out 4 mot’s  and 3 passed. Of course it’s my daily driver that failed with a defective front off side cv boot.    when they say defective it means missing in this case !!! I checked the obvious - lights wipers, tyres etc it was due in sept the mot man says the pass will be on the system regardless ( then the fail becomes apparent when the “current” mot expires.  but the car is still a fail !!! think I’ll be farming this job out as no time this weekend as I’m racing at Curborough sprint both days.