Cycled over to collect the car and to inspect the failed y-section, which had indeed failed at the circular weld. It had obviously cracked much earlier and the cracking had gradually increased - only about 15% of the circle was bright metal.
Driving home, it was clear from the start that there was a serious misfire with the engine under any load, and tickover had dropped indicating one cylinder may have gone walkabout. I decided to carry on home and have a closer look myself.
Having let the engine cool a bit, the plugs were removed one at a time..... the spark gap on no 1 plug was completely bridged with carbon. As I had mislaid my plug-cleaning wire brush in the house move, I decided to fit a new set of plugs, although these had shorter bodies - a quick call to Max confirmed these would be OK.
So on to the test drive - a bit sluggish to begin with (probably no 1 cylinder was a tad gummy) but a few miles at high revs improved things considerably.
A very hot day so windows down meant it was a bit difficult to judge noise levels - but the combination of the new propshaft, a full set of cylinders and an intact exhaust certainly seems to have improved noise and vibration levels.
Note to self - check plugs more frequently.
Wire brushes and new feeler gauges purchased, ironically a 10% discount for me as a British Cycling member!
And I should have said, I've settled on tyre pressures of 24f/28r.
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