You raise a good point. For an engine rebuild, the car would probably be off the road for at least a month. Even so I think I can live with it. When I'm away in the country (about 7 months of the year) I need my car. The rest of the time spent in Sydney working is repairs time. My Job is a 10 minute walk from my house, and the centre of Sydney is only an 8 minute bus ride away. That's about 5 months a year in total, including a three month summer break, when I can happily take my car off the road and tear it down.

The last two summers were spent taking the car from undrivable smashed wreak to vaguely roadworthy vehicle. This summer we will make it a restored classic. I have the assistance of a rather good apprentice smash repairer to get the body perfect. There's a very friendly garage on my block if I choose to have someone else take the motor out and put it back, or I could use the engine lift at my Grandpa's place.

I'm feeling much better about the project now. The next few months using it as my everyday transport are going to be stressful, but I'll keep it rolling. I took it for a burn tonight, and it still has some fuel delivery issues (it accelerates well enough, so long as you use the throttle and gears with maintaining fuel pressure in mind).

I'll also have to buy a multimeter tommorow and find out what gives with the electrics and try and diagnose the fuel system.
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Drive it like you hate it