Finally have time to update this thread.
Drive shaft inner boot has been replaced. My theory on this is that the plastic bearing in the boot jams on the shaft when it moves a long way in the direction towards the wheel, then when it has to return in the opposite direction it can't so the boot is forced to stretch an split.
If this is what's happening it is important to make sure that the driveshaft is clean and shiny beyond the normal running area of the bearing on the wheel side when fitting a new boot. The only boots you can get these days are pattern ones so may not be the same quality as Fiat originals.
Betty now has another carb (second hand) and this seems to have cured the problem of stalling at tickover.
Also, the accident damage is now repaired.
At the time this pic was taken the wheel arch trim was still to be fitted and the interior needed putting back together, we had to remove the back seat, rear trim panel and door trim to gain access at the back of the dents in order to knock them out as much as possible before filling.
The cunning plan was then put into action :devil:.
Not that cunning really, we decided to paint up to the edge of the last body line (not counting the waist line) so that we could make the join between new and not so new paint less visible. As it turned out you can't see the join at all, this was helped greatly by using some of the paint left over from the respray giving an excellent colour match, normally impossible with Oslo grey.
This takes us up to a couple of weeks ago. At the moment the workshop is being re-organized so most work has been on hold till we have a half decent working environment again, a couple more days should see that materialise, then I'll need to refer to the snagging list to see what's left.
