The main winter/spring job is getting a new hood made for the car so we can go out in dodgy weather. Over the last couple of months have measured the hood on a sister car, started to make a set of dummy hood bows to check dimensions, begun looking for an experienced coach trimmer to make the new hood and started sourcing a new set of hood bows.

Been rather busy with the car lately hence no posts lately - she is now drained down and laid up for the winter, after a few weeks driving around getting used to the car. Had a super weekend with the Steam car Club of Great Britain   at the Prescott Hill Climb autumn Classic and took her up the test hill a couple of times.

Took the car for a 15 mile run yesterday before the weather broke, east along the A4 from Marlborough and back via Ramsbury over minor roads including a 17% descent. It ran nicely - according to the Satnav max speed 35 mph (downhill on the A4), average 19mph, pressure oscillating between the low 400s and 500 all the way. Brakes fine.

Pilot light may have gone out once 3 1/4 miles out from home) still not 100% sure if it actually did but noticed fumes from under bonnet so shut down and pulled off to relight just in case. No problems for the rest of the trip. Have topped up the pilot fuel tank with Aspen 4T alkylate petrol (very pure non-additive, £18 for 5 Litres) as I can not get Hexane, so was watching pilot closely.

Checking the car over afterwards I noticed slight leaks from the fuel and water pumps, so jacked the car up in the garage and ticked it over slowly at 200-100 psi (with the burner off)  to check things out and tighten the glands  little by little until drips stopped.

Of course made a few mistakes........2 or so miles out  from home noticed a slight hiss and found I had not tightly closed the drip valve. When relighting the pilot did not follow my check list and forgot to open the pilot valve on the dash, which caused about 5-10 minutes of head scratching,

Two successful test runs so far,including venturing into traffic for a trip to the garage to take on half a tank of fuel (50/50 Petrol Diesel mix - to the consternation of other motorists and garage staff). Next hurdle is refilling the pilot burner fuel tank - preferred fuel is hexane (very clean burning and low boiling point), only 1/2 a gallon left now.  Canl't get Hexane round here at an affordable price, so have to try Aspen 4 Akalyte petrol instead (very pure, no additives which clog burners)

Spent the last day checking over the car and preparing it for the first steaming at home - weather forecast looks good this afternoon, so after lunch will push the car our of her garage and fire up....

Justin Goold of J R Goold Vintage Steam Restoration  has just emailed that the car is finished and ready for collection, will go over & pick it up tomorrow afternoon.

Boiler certificates arrived today, all in order.

Today's decision - we will try and drive the car to the Shalbourne Manor Classic Car Show on Sunday 23 September - its only just over 10 miles away. 

Checked progress with Grant Goold, car passed boiler tests ok, only one extra bit of work to be done now. Phoning Grant next Tuesday to arrange collection.

Tidying up Stanley's garage, putting up new shelf unit, sorting out tools, and checking recommended feed water treatment amounts in readiness for getitng the car back.

Car now has a MOT certificate and the boiler inspection is scheduled for 5th September.

Meanwhile am getting tools and supplies, and have entered the car in the Prescott Autumn Classic event http://www.prescott-hillclimb.com/october2011.aspx

Car delivered to Grant and Justin Goold of J R Goold Vintage Steam Restorations Ltd today; we should have the her back in a few weeks time, ready for the road with MOT (its first and last perhaps!) and a new boiler certificate. Now have to get cracking ordering tools, oil and spares.

Only hitch so far is that the Ifor Williams car transporter has proved too big to easily move in our drive & line up with the Stanley's new garage, so that will have to be sold and replaced by something smaller.

And I am still trying to find a supplier for 25 litres of Hexane, the best pilot burner fuel for a Stanley.

Car cleaned; numberplates, lamps, mirrors and toolbox fitted. All ready for our comissioning  slot at the car restorers next month.

Had a fuel leak when checking with the system unpressurised that the burner valves were free - traced to a loose pipe nut on the main burner valve.

The car is now home and in the new garage.  Cleaning and tidying, fitting number plates, toolboxes and mirrors in progress. Only snag so far is discovering that our Ifor Williams CT177 car trailer is a bit too big to easily line up with the new garage, so need to sell it on and get a smaller lighter one sometime..

The Steam Car Restorers will be able to  to take Stanley for commissioning in August; meanwhile the garage floor paint is hardening off, so should be able to get her out of storage next week - weather permitting!

The garage is nearly finished - last job is painting the floor - then we can get the car out of storage and bring her home. Meanwhile still looking for sources of Hexane pilot fuel at reasonable prices.

Not a lot happening at the moment, poor weather has held up the roofers so Stanley's new garage is not 100% finished; however am checking out sources of pilot burner fuel so I can get some in stock, and have nearly finished the axle jacking block I started making a couple of months ago.

Not much to report on the car at the moment, all efforts focussed on finishing the new garage. But have just bought a nice looking Oldfield rear oil lamp for her off ebay.

Work on our Stanley's new garage is well advanced now - 90" clearance under the roof beams so the car will fit in with the hood up and 6" to spare. We went for a wooden garage partly because it will be better for storing the car (more museum storage experience drawn upon here, plus advice from other Stanley owners).

The garage is as wide as the planning authorities would permit; it will take the car plus 3' working space all around.

Pulling together a checklist for starting, running & putting away the car. The combination of google documents and the Steam Car Club of Great Britain Forum gathered many helpful commencts from experienced Stanley owners in the US.

Now that I have been 'retired' work on our Stanley has restarted with the help of some redundancy money. A new garage is being built for her, and she is due back at Stanley experts J R Goold Vintage Steam Restorations for comissioning in the summer.