Dismal progress report, and a stern warning.
Had to use the HMMH today, so while it was out anyway, the decision was made to put "HMMH II" into the garage in its place.
Drained the JP8 (?) out of the tank yesterday and refilled with fresh diesel, so all that remained was to switch the left rear for the spare. Had to put a tire plug in that left rear when it first arrived as there was a nasty hole in it, so better do it while there was easy access.
Only two issues came to mind; how to remove the bolt holding the spare, and how to get the former left rear up into the spare's place.
Amazingly, the bolt could be undone by hand - those threads was one of the few places where the paint wasn't super thick.
Potential issue number two was naturally handled by (you guessed it) using the HMMH's crane. Proper justification to have a second crane.
So far, great.
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Secured the spare and hopped into "HMMH II", turned the switches on...and wondered if the buzzer had broken. Major surprise; after sitting for two days, the air pressure was still up. Hey, this was going great!
Cranked the engine and it fired right up. Only to start running crappy. That's when I remembered that I had turned the fuel valve off when draining the tank, and some idiot forgot to turn it back on.
Never ever, and I mean NEVER, forget to turn that valve on! It took me at least four times as long to get it running right again as it did to get it running the first time, when it arrived as a non-runner.
Still not sure that everything is completely happy in the fuel department, but at least it's now a garage queen. Until I can lube the cylinder seals, and check things out in general, before starting to change the fluids. Which might be next year at the rate I get things done.