Today was mostly spent changing the cam belt and messing with the petrol taps.
The old cambelt was very reluctant to move off the pulleys. For some reason, I did not want to cut it off in case the camshaft moved and I lost the timing position. As a precaution, I dabbed some paint (I could not find a small brush so it was quite a lot of paint) on the timing marks and noted that the starting position for the crankshaft mark seemed to be about half a tooth out.
With such a short belt and no adjustment on the trailing run of the belt, I reasoned that it had been built that way as there was no way it could have been otherwise.
Eventually, the old belt tore and it was off. There had been about 8mm slack in that old belt. The new belt at first appeared too short and I contemplated taking the camshaft pulley off but I did not have a puller that was capable of getting behind the pulley. The two holes in the face are not threaded so I could not easily fabricate one. After a bit of a struggle and the application of some rubber grease the new one was on in the exact same position as the old. The slack on the belt on the trailing run is about 4 mm.
taking care of betta fish
There are two petrol taps on the Morini, a reserve tap which is a normal lever tap and the main tap which has an electric solenoid that opens it when the ignition is switched on. Both were completely blocked with crud from the old tank. I removed the solenoid part and put both taps in the ultrasonic bath for about an hour. The reserve tap became usable but the solenoid tap has a stepped internal routing which means blockages cannot be removed with a drill bit or electrical screwdriver. Also, when I tested the solenoid bit it showed no signs of life, so it looks as though I shall have to source a new solenoid tap (or a suitable non solenoid tap).