Done another 20 miles this evening. Popped down to the ferry terminal and back home. Still looking good, (shockingly), no sign of any fresh oil leaking out. Have decided to throw my usual caution to the wind and I've just booked the return ferries to Mainland for the morning. Going to spend the day in Lerwick and hopefully buy some of that chemical metal I've banged on about in the last few updates. I'll update you all again tomorrow. Will I make it to Lerwick and back without the oil leak returning with a vengeance? Watch this space.

Quick update:- Got the 60 miles down to Lerwick without mishap and still holding oil. Have bought some chemical metal from Thulecraft in Lerwick to hopefully do a permanent fix. Just got to get back home later without any mishaps.

Okay, I'm home. And still no sign of a fresh oil leak after some 180 miles since I "fixed" the leak. Have pretty much decided to leave it well alone whilst it's holding. At least I have the right stuff to hand when I do need to tackle it again.

Yay. Nice to know it can be done so easily.

Clocked up another 20 to 30 miles today and still holding strong.

Managed another 20 to 30 miles today, and still oil tight. Can't believe my luck so far, I'm sure it'll change soon. Just wish I'd got around to fixing it weeks ago.

Got a blowing exhaust around the crossbox area, I'll be looking to hopefully fix it in the next days or so, but I also seem to be getting a degree of 'pinking' on load. Would a blowing exhaust near the manifold cause 'pinking' or is it purely down to the timing?

'No' & 'yes', in that order...

Fair dos.

Well the exhaust crossbox bought from ECAS at the Kelso World Meeting in 2005 has finally bitten the dust. The seam across the entire length of the 'box has split open. Getting much banging, popping and farting noises, especially on the overrun.