The clutch is finally fixed.

I got the gearbox off (had it done in an hour) and it was the spring for the release mechanism that has come off. I got it back on and put the gearbox back on. When the time came, the clutch still wasn't right so the gearbox had to come off for the THIRD time. I made sure this time that the release mechanism was fine. I decided to check the rest of the clutch and I'm glad I did because the clutch cover springs didn't look quite right. When I removed it and compred it to the old one  I noticed that the new on was a few milimeters thicker than the old one so I re-used the old clutch cover and it went on fine. I'm normally loath to re-use parts but the alternative would've meant that Becky II would be stuck in the garage for longer and the old clutch cover had plenty of life left in it. I'd accelerated the demise of the old clutch plate last year when I tried to tow a Fiesta off the drive. I almost burned the clutch out so it was no surprise when the clutch started slipping when it did. The gearbox went back on and once again the moment of truth came. I started up and was able to engage reverse with a bit of difficulty and I managed to get to the top of the drive when diaster struck. The clutch felt loose again. I had visions of taking the gearbox off for the 4th time. With noting to lose I adjusted the clutch cable and it was working perfectly albeit with a low biting point. A bit more adjustment brought the biting point to where it should be. This has restored performance and the car is a lot more responsive. A result! The road tax is due on this car so I retaxed it online.

Brown started running like a bag of spanners from Thursday. Yesterday I started to investigate. I started with the ignition working back from the HT leads. No 2 wasn't firing. I eliminated the HT lead by swapping 1 & 2. I swapped the cap and then the rotor arm which didn't work either. When I checked the points I noticed that the gap had closed up so once the gap as adjusted Brown was running fine again.