Hydraulics
Before I could have a go at starting the engine, I figured it would be useful to have a clutch (to try the gearbox) and brakes might be handy. First up was bleeding both brakes and clutch. There is a bit of debate on which fluid to use but in the end I went with Dot 5.0. This has the benefit of not wrecking paint- which in the end turned out to be very handy: see below.
I finally got to use the vacuum bleeding kit that had been sat on the shelf for a while
The process is fairly straightforward. For the brakes, you start at the furthest away point from the master cylinder (rear, left) and pull fluid through until (you think) the bubbles have stopped. A couple of times around and the pedal felt reasonably firm.
The clutch is similar. Although the slave cylinder is harder to get at.