I had a day off today so I decided it was time to attack the Snot Green Ariel 3.
First of all, I removed the bird's nest from the engine compartment:
Next, I decided to try and remove the lid to the engine compartment. The heads of the bolts were almost impossible to get a spanner on and the nuts were pretty well rusted on to them anyway so I had to attack them with a hacksaw:
I must be a bit slow on the uptake because it was only now that I realised that something rather important was missing - no fuel tank!! This is where it should be:
Next step, was to remove the carburettor and then the exhaust - I was pleasantly surprised to find that the nuts were all fairly easy to remove. What's left of the exhaust seems pretty solid but the silencer is looking a bit sorry:
With the exhaust out of the way, I could access the nuts and bolts holding the engine enclosure in place. Again, these were fairly trouble free and I soon had a naked Ariel 3.
The drive belt is missing but these are available on ebay for £28. I'll certainly need new tyres - these are also available on e-bay but cost more than the Ariel 3 is worth! Alternatively, bicycle tyres of the correct size are available for only £4.99. The Ariel 3 is barely any faster than a bicycle but there might be a issue with getting an MOT. I'm trying to spend as little money as possible, not least because I have several far more worthy projects.
I need to look into getting a log book for it. I know the registration number and it has an old tax disc still attached to it so I'm hopeful that I can keep the original number.
More piccies are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsanorthstaffs/sets/72157626010175587/show/
