With the Christmas holidays and a painful week of illness etc I've not been near the car until today. I didn't mention this before but I was sceptical I'd repaired the coolant overpressurising, not least because I didn't spend the £50 to have it pressure tested and on first running I let the temp gauge show an unnerving 111 degrees (without fans on) and I could have sworn the top hose got rock solid again
(I've also got other reservations about the quality of my repairs but I don't want to tempt fate and mention them at this point.)
So today I decided to have a tinker and see if any puddles have accumulated under the car etc.
With no fluid leaks visible I turned the ignition and waited for the glowplug light to extinguish - it seemed to take far longer than I expected but I assume that's down to the freezing cold weather? Rather pleasingly it fired up instantly again - before one crank I reckon - and the battery appeared to have kept it's charge well too unlike my petrol Ford that barely turned over before firing.
It sounds quite loud and "knocky" but I'm hoping this is more down to the flushing oil being thinner than the proper oil it should have. Even when I put the vacuum direct to the fast-idle device the noise didn't reduce as much as my MK1 did.
I removed the coolant cap and revved the engine while watching for bubbles and I'm very pleased to say there were none. That, coupled with the fact the top hose remained soft even when it was up to temperature, indicates I have effected a repair. How long it lasts is another matter and I still need to fix the fan activation failure but it's looking promising so far.
Again, before it got up to temperature, I set the climate control to warm and initially couldn't detect the smell (of curry) which was encouraging but as it heated up that changed and there was yet again a small cloud (of vapour?) emitted from the vents as the blower draughted through.

The curry smell was not so strong though so the jury's still out (and hopeful) on that one.
Previously, we could hear the turbo whistle and as I'd extended the wastegate actuator hoses to accomodate a boost controller, I assumed it was coming from the open ends but that wasn't the case. However, now I've plugged the open ends with the controller, the whistle is now absent so go figure!
I haven't bled the brakes and a brief run up and down the car park demonstrated their inefficiency so they'll be done next. The hydraflush may be having an effect, it's hard to tell but I wasn't overly impressed with the ride and steering but nothing to worry about I'm sure.
Once the above mentioned is all sorted I'll be looking to hook up a boost and EGT gauge and do some timed runs to get baseline data before I begin tuning it in earnest. I would like access to the max fuel screw but it's not essential as there's more than one way to increase fuelling when the time comes. It's interesting to note that a Pug owner was reported to have increase the fuelling so much the power increase bent the conrods!
Assuming these blocks are good for what, did someone tell me 250hp? I can't imagine just how much power he was making to bend the 'rods and am really looking forward to following in his footsteps 8)
p.s. The external temp sensor was telling me 11 degrees but it was literally freezing outside.