Gerrymcd

What calipers are they? Assume they aren't the same as the Dolly?

So glad to see you've finally got it 🥳!

On @SiC's great idea to contact the third owner, I dropped him an email. He was kind enough to take the time and send a reply with some photos, that I'm sure he won't mind me uploading. So the previous owner confirmed he did indeed paint the 1100 blue from its original connaught green....only he painted it panda car blue! so aye that was a nice surprise! Hoot knows when it was painted the shade it is now. More layers than an onion I suspect. The hunt continues 😆.

I would love to know the colour too! 😆. It's a really nice thing to be a custodian off, definitely getting under my skin. Haven't joined them yet, need to get around to it. I'm sure I've seen those clamps as one of the fixes on the guide I followed. So far so good with the one I used. 🤞 Replaced the calipers and put in the greenstuff pads. Job made a million times easier by you previously going through them and sorting the flexis etc. Brakes still aren't brilliant but a noticeable improvement. I've just been spoiled with moderns I think. The inner offside piston wouldn't go back in without a lot of force. All the pistons were tired and pitted so worthwhile replacing both calipers. Will hopefully be able rebuild them for spares with new pistons and seals.

Practical classics. The 1100 continues to shine. It's the keys I grab when I head out, it's just such a happy thing to potter about in. The Toledo and Mx5 are feeling neglected I think!

Not done much recently. Sorry for the lack of pictures below. I forgot to take many. The 1100 developed a pretty substantial hydrolastic leak from the nsf. I think having it sit on it's front-wheels for a while whilst sorting the fuel tank meant the crimp/ end of the rubber pipe in the suspension (sphere? - I'm not sure of the naming convention for bmc stuff) gave up the ghost. I could send away for rebuild but thought I'd try to fix(bodge)it myself first following a Guide I found. The old crimp was removed by using a dremel, tin snips and pliers (easier than it sounds it was a right faff). Rubber pipe trimmed back (still plenty of movement in it) Then a heavy duty hydraulic climp (rated to something silly like 3000psi) was used to clamp it back on: Pumped back up. I've done around ten miles so far and all seems well. I'll keep an eye on it.

I'm "into cars" and "oh you work in IT" so I'm regularly asked which PCP/HP/negative equity "it's only 400 a month" modern they should buy or which RING doorbell they should get. How the fuck should I know?

🦭 acquired: Tarted up: Back together: Next job - Brakes.

Very cool. The way the MK8 badge stands out due to the back light is very neat. 😎

New calipers with greenstuff pads sitting on the shelf waiting for my motivation to come back 😁. Would have preferred some Mintex fast road pads as I've been really happy with them on the Toledo, but they don't seem to exist for these calipers. Hopefully the greenstuffs give a bit more initial bite.

Cheers Si 🙂 I'm glad it's something simple, rather than a hole in the tank! It's got me off my backside to tidy up the underseal and I can do a more thorough job with the tank out the way. Every cloud!

This is quality. Looking forward to the updates. 😎

Whats been happening? Well not a lot really. Works been sucking all motavation from me the past month or so. Apart from driving, I've not done much fettling. Mx5 Nothing. It's hardly moved since being Mot'd. Toledo I've been using it for most local journeys. Starter is sticky so I'll need to investigate... 1100 Was using regularly. Runs great. The 1100 has always smelled a bit wiffy of fuel when walking into the garage. More so than the Toledo, but I couldn't see anything obvious. I filled the tank with fuel last Thursday only to look down at my feet and see my lovely new trainers swimming in a puddle of petrol. Baws. After the fuel tank self-levelled I carefully drove it the 1/2 mile home to try and spot the issue. Couldn't find anything obvious. Fearing the worse (a hole) I dropped the tank to investigate: The culprit (turn up to hear the dribble). The sender unit was wobbling in its lock ring: 20210523_111819_1_1.mp4 Some spanner has fitted the sender unit without a gasket....instead they've tried to seal it using a bit of heat shrink. Fannies! Whilst waiting for the £2 gasket to arrive I figured I might as well start to tidy up the subframe and boot floor as it was covered with several layers of horrible flaky bitumen underseal. Happily underneath it's solid, bar a 20p sized hole on the subframe that will need to meet the sparkle stick. My intention is to vactan, red oxide primer, paint then underseal with dynax ub/uc. I've never had to underseal such a large area from bare metal so interested in suggestions if you think I'm doing it arse about face.

Not yet mate. I just used flux wire to superglue the hinge together. Thick enough bit of metal and you can't see the join as its out of site. On the to do list! Off next week so I might get a chance.

Update The ls400 has moved onto pastures new. The Mx5 passed its MOT with no major issues. Toledo - I dropped the oil again and replaced with halfords 20w50 to see if seal swell snake oil helps with the rear oil leak (I know the answer already I suspect). 1100: The bonnet is awful to open and drags across the OSR part of scuttle chipping paint in the process (it really is a painful noise). I removed the bonnet. I couldn't get the hinge out from underneath the scuttle due to space constraints and seized screws where the hinge sits into the bulkhead. Dremel used to massage the hinge to a smaller size to fit: I suspect that the main issue is the hinge mechanism had totally seized putting pressure/ twisting forces on the area of the bulkhead causing it to pop (rip) from its mountings. The bulkhead doesn't seem *that* bad rust wise, so I wire brushed that area and hit it with zinc primer. The hinge was treated to heat, love taps and left to soak overnight in wd40 to free it up. Hinge pigeoned back together, zinc layer and completely wrong colour blue (RAL5012) used to paint. A thick bit of metal was ground down, zinc'd and used almost like big washer/mounting plate to stop it popping through it's mount again. I'll see how this repair goes, the hinge is mega loose now so this area shouldn't be under too much stress any more (It looks a complete bastard to weld, so fingers crossed) Scuttle filled, sanded, masked, primed and yet another wrong shade of blue (BLVC-65 Tahiti) applied as an interim measure until I get the paint colour matched (hopefully): Whilst waiting for the scuttle paint to dry I gave the rocker cover a spruce up with some green engine paint I had. Need to get some replacement stickers (ignore the blue overspray): BMC/BL's finest*: What's next? 1100 I have a pump, vacuum pump and hydrolastic fluid on order. I will get around to replacing a bit of rubber pipe under the car as it has a small drip. Brakes - I need to freshen up the front with new calipers and pads that hopefully have a bit more bite to them. Underbody tidy up - needs cleaned up, but will probably wait till peak Mx5 🌞 time before I start. Mx-5 Service and use it. May get around to that long overdue hood replacement. I'm thinking red.... Toledo Tidy up some of my dodgy paint and hope that leak doesn't get worse.