Burnside

Slapped the new nearside caliper on. Quality is definitely not as good but it fits and seems to work fine. Drag feels the same on both sides.
Bled the rear brakes on both sides for good luck. Fluid seemed pretty clean - I think because the rear lines have been replaced at some point recently. Fluid in the brake fluid chamber is a bit manky so I might bleed the front brakes in time. 




 
Noticed someone attempted to stop a heat shield rattling with hot melt glue. Nice choice of glue on an area that gets hot 🤣

 
Air con panel arrived too, so fitted that to see if that sorted the fan issue. Reasonably easy to get to.


Stereo doesn't fit properly, looks like someone broke the screw holder that goes into the plastic. Crazy thing this plastic considering its supposed to be holding the radio in. I think someone forced this plastic piece in the wrong way around and broke it. I can't say the design of this car doesn't have the feel of durability as a priority.

Discovered that someone has fitted a Aux port for the stereo which is neat.


Also a whole load of extra wires and connectors hidden behind there. I think it might have had an ancient car phone mount at some point in it's past. The mic looks like a 2000-era Nokia hands free mic.


 
Test fitted the new panel. Fan still doesn't work properly. Damn, parts darts fail.

 
So dug into the glove box to see if I could find the hedgehog resistor pack.

Connector wiring doesn't look very promising. Screw was loose so someone has been in here before.

Single screw and connector it was out. 2014 date code suggests it's been replaced. These are NLA new and don't seem to have any aftermarket options available either.

Connectors definitely had too much heat through them.




 
So what caused that?
I think two things.
Firstly, despite being a genuine part, that terminal doesn't look like it was soldered properly. I don't think overheating has melted it as the solder hasn't flown elsewhere. 

Compounding the issue is the pollen filter is filthy and full of leaves. This will cause resistance to the airflow and make the fan work harder. (I don't know what that random yellow wire goes to yet!)

 
So what next? 
Second hand units can be had for £80 or so. More than I want to pay really. Plus I need to sort that connector. There is one with a loom snipped at the resistor which could be an option.
First thing I'll try is cleaning all the contacts up. However cleaning crimp terminals isn't easy and often doesn't really work as you can't get any mechanical cleansing tool in there. As this is a high current connection, if it's not clean then it'll just happen again.
Another option could be to drill a hole through the case and put a fly lead from that terminal directly into that dodgy melted terminal. Either soldered directly or with a bullet terminal/similar. However that said the other terminals aren't in great shape either.
So the next thing could be snipping the connector and soldering directly to the terminals. While bodge tastic, it'll work. Given that if this every needs replacing again will need a new loom connection anyway, perhaps isn't so bad thing to do? Plus lets face it, this isn't a low mileage minter. It's a scruffy high miler that is unlikely to be around for another decade. 
Or of course pay out for a second hand resistor pack and a loom connection. But that's something that could be done if the above doesn't work.  

This evening I had a few hours to put these new rear pads in. 
Apart from the E320, pretty much every car I've bought in the last year has its rear or front end in the air soon after I've bought it. 🤣

 
This is the offending side.


There certainly isn't much meat left on this pad! (More in a moment)

 
Slider pins are covered in white grease. Now I'm never sure if you should grease these pins? I thought you did but I have read that BMW say not to.

Pulled it all off and inspected it all.
Disc looked reasonable. It's had some heat through it but no massive scoring that I could see.

Slider pins were covered in grease. The bottom one I'd already started cleaning up (then remembered to take a photo) hence why it has less on it in this picture.

Piston doesn't look too bad under the boot from what I can see?

Carrier was crusty and filthy. I cleaned this up and greased the pad touch points. 

Piston went in but did take a fair bit of force with the spreader.

Now those pads...
Bottom is the inner and top is the outer.

I don't know what the pros think but my view is that I bloody luckily got away with not damaging the disc! There is a wafer thin amount of pad material left and the top just started kissing the raised lip of the disc.


I reckon the disc will be perfectly okay to reuse and isn't damaged? Incredibly close to doing so though.
I'd rather not change it if I don't have to, as they're not that old. Doesn't feel to have any high or low spots either.
Bloody lucky though!
The other side has loads of meat on the pads still. I didn't take pictures as I wanted to get it finished. The caliper piston and carrier were actually in far worse a state than the passenger side. Yet it span more freely. 🤷‍♂️

I put it all back together with new pads, cleaned up sliders and carrier. After pressing the brake pedal, the drivers side rear rubs ever so slightly but you get a tiny bit of spin after letting go. The passenger side however is really stiff and you need the wheel on for enough leverage to turn it. 
To me I definitely need a new passenger rear caliper. But tbh I think I might need both and be done with it. My thought is also that the drivers side might either be or become soon seized if the other side already has. 
I should also say while I think about it, I did try some hard braking on the way back. It didn't brake straight and true. More squirrelly and needed a fair bit of correction to keep it braking straight. Hopefully two new rear calipers will sort it all out properly.
Also noticed the passenger side has an older (rusty) Bilsten damper while the drivers side had a shinier newer looking Sachs damper. Tempting to lob a new one on that passenger side to have a matching new(ish) pair. Depends how much they are though.

That's brilliant.  Tatty and honest - just the ticket.
I remember in 1999 I was 16 and me and my mate knew another guy who was a year older than us and he'd just passed his test.  Lovely guy - Christian family - and his NAN insisted that her car went to him.  Robert therefore had a brown Mk2 Escort on a V plate and everyone (other than me) felt sorry for him.  His contemporaries had Clios, Fiestas, the odd 205 and Novas - and he had to park his Mk2 Escort around the corner to avoid getting RINSED by his mates.  
Nowadays, he'd be everyone's hero.
Same with Cortinas.  Our caretaker had a brace of MK5 Cortinas and by 1999 I remember marvelling at them in the school playground thinking 'Fucking hell they look shit nowadays'.  They were both 17 years old, my daily is now 25.  
Crazy how things change so quickly.
Anyway, enough bumbling of the insane - well bought @HMC

No, but as many non-native English speakers I guess my vocabulary was pretty much shaped by US pop culture from early on. I do try to adjust once in a while but I just don't agree with the UK spelling most of the time 😂
Some more bonus content. The Corona is still a lovely car to drive. It rides so well considering it's roots.

Should anybody be bored from looking at the Celsior by now, great news! The Alfa is back! It actually didn't go anywhere for months. 166 are anything but resistent to rot so it hasn't seen the road since October unfortunately. Which sucks as its so fun to drive!
First up was a wash, it turned a little greener than usual in the time it didn't move much:

Took a little while but much better. I just can't get enough of looking at this paint. The color absolutely makes it, I don't think I feel that way about any of my other cars, so well done Alfa.


I've also finally put the wheel arch liner back on the car, it's been off since probably a year ago when I replaced the alternator. I'm not sure if I showed this before but the wooden steering wheel, shifter and center console trim from @sdkrc's old 166 are now installed and really improve things inside.

People keep complaining about American manufacturers and fake wood but that center console trim is by far the least convincing faux wood I have ever seen in any car. Still better than boring matte silver with broken clips though.

I still need to find a replacement switchpack for the fuel door release that also has the sports throttle response button. Harder to find than I imagined. At least the cigarette lighter surround lights up now, its the little things etc. etc. Hopefully some more progress in the next few days.
And since I can't leave a recent post without a Celsior photo, have a size comparison between Toyota's second biggest and its smallest domestic luxury car offering back in 1992.

There's a bit of of fish eye lens distortion going on here but the difference isn't as big as you'd imagine. The Celsior would be 7 series-sized while the Corona Exiv is more of a 3 series, although officially based on something one size smaller (Celica).

Ordered a replacement gas pedal for the BMW for 18 quid. It's probably the throttle body that's the actual issue but its worth a shot.
In Celsior news, the car finally received fresh brake fluid, pads, hoses and wear sensors this weekend. I've also done a few other minor jobs while in there and unfortunately revealed a little more carelessness by the bodyshop. Let the wrenching commence!
Front brakes first. I actually didnt end up using the caliper piston rebuild kits on the left, the pistons were still sliding back in nice and smoothly.

Well, I think we can say I got my money's worth out of those pads. I don't know when these got changed the last time but it certainly been a while considering the car didn't do that many miles in the last 15 years.

The loose wire in the left photo is the wear indicator sensor btw, for some reason whoever replaced the pads didn't know how to or didn't bother installing it again. This is also what I originally expected to be a cut ABS sensor wire a few years back btw, the sensor plugs into the wiring loom of the ABS sensor, bit of an odd design on early Celsiors.

Can't say these are the worst pads I've seen but we haven't had a look at the rear ones yet.

Quick look underneath to see where the minor exhaust leak is coming from. Like the exhaust shop said, one of the exhaust temp sensors is blowing, they tried to goop it up but no luck. Unfortunately impossible to buy now, not sure if it could get welded? I've also had a look at the O2 sensors and tried to measure their resistance. Well, it seems like there is infinite resistance which of course isn't right, it should be somewhere between 5.1-6.3 ohms at around room temperature. I unplugged them to see if it would make any difference to the way the car runs. It doesn't so new sensors it is!

The 135 quid Maxpeedingrods which I only bought to get the car through the MOT are holding up surprisingly well. I've greased them up before installing them so everything is still moving nicely. Unfortunately I just remembered while writing this that I should have put some fresh grease on them... I also found the source for my very noticeable front suspension clunking. I originally blamed the coilovers but its actually the front swaybar bushes that are so worn out that the swaybar can freely move from left to right. So new swaybar bushes are added to the shopping list. I've also fixed the messed up passenger side bumper corner I accidently caught on a wall. No photos yet but some hot air, a tactical ziptie and reinstalling a bumper bracket did wonders.
The rear is next. Working on an incline lifting a rear weel driven car is always fun.

If you are wondering why Im using different brands for pads and hoses compared to the front, so do I. I think they just ended up reducing the combined shipping costs when I ordered them from Rockauto like 2 years ago. Motul RBF600 is probably some of the best brake fluid you can get if pedal feel matters to you.

Yeah, I think its about time to replace those pads...

The disc is getting very thin as well so rear discs are added to the shopping list...

Certainly cutting it thin with these. The rears actually had the wear sensors properly in place, replacing this one finally got rid of the last (permanent) dash warning light. Unfortunately the passenger side rear caliper piston was really struggling getting pushed back in so I might need a new caliper there. I'm not sure how much extra I paid for the Bosch pads compared to the Beck/Arnley ones but they were certainly much more neatly packed and actually came with a sachet of brake grease. I used copper grease on the sliders for the front calipers instead.
About the bodyshop's carelessness mentioned further above:

The rear trailing arm bolt is completely loose, the nut was never tightened after the sill got welded there. Mistakes can happen but I'm really starting to get the feeling that things were just slapped together in the end to rush the car out the door. Something like this is pretty dangerous. I had to replace the nut (with a Mercedes one no less) as it wouldn't properly tighten anymore, I'll have to have another look the next time its on a lift though.

While having the wheels off I finally had a chance to raise the rear coilovers by 20mm to level out the car a bit better. I don't think its perfect yet but lowering the front should result in a nicely balanced stance.

Let me know what you think! The rear discs, swaybar bushes and O2 sensors will hopefully be the last few bits to make it mechanically solid. Being 32 years old now it'll probably always need something but any MOT relevant work should near with these 3 things soon.
Some bonus content, the Cadillac is finally moving again and received a wash. That immediately revealed the various paint defects it has, the photos are hiding them remarkably well fortunately!

Another big blue landyacht that will receive some more attention this summer.

While I'm there, I might as well listed the rest ! 
Malaga models.
1.2 cc variants: L, LE, Touring, Special, XL, GLX. 
1.5 cc variants: GL,  Nov 86 Primero edition based on 1.5 GL, GLX. 
Also 1.7 Diesel, no spec given for 1990 only?
Ibiza models up to 1990.
900 cc variants: Disco 3dr, Comfort 5dr. Special, Designer.
1.2 cc: Junior 3dr, Crono, Designer, Special, LE 3dr, L, XL, XLS, XLS, GL 3dr, GLX. 
1.5 cc: Special, Crono 3dr, GL, GLX, GLX Injection 1990 5dr, SXI 3dr.
Special edition June 88: 1.2 Del Sol based on 1.2 GL 3dr. 
 

While I'm there, I might as well listed the rest ! 
Malaga models.
1.2 cc variants: L, LE, Touring, Special, XL, GLX. 
1.5 cc variants: GL,  Nov 86 Primero edition based on 1.5 GL, GLX. 
Also 1.7 Diesel, no spec given for 1990 only?
Ibiza models up to 1990.
900 cc variants: Disco 3dr, Comfort 5dr. Special, Designer.
1.2 cc: Junior 3dr, Crono, Designer, Special, LE 3dr, L, XL, XLS, XLS, GL 3dr, GLX. 
1.5 cc: Special, Crono 3dr, GL, GLX, GLX Injection 1990 5dr, SXI 3dr.
Special edition June 88: 1.2 Del Sol based on 1.2 GL 3dr. 
 

I had a new front pipe fitted @ATS Wallsend, to my ToMM© Carina II.
It thrubbed and blew, so it went back....
Canny lads, reckoned the clamping studs were karrkedd and set about remedial actions.....
Gas 'to cherry' got the old studs out, new studs in & reclamp + gasket/washers...
About an hour and a half = no charge 👍
To be quite fair, all round, they agreed they shouldn't have attempted the fit... with the studs as raggy... Fair Doos 2 them 😎
🚙💨

New exhaust manifold gasket arrived this afternoon.
Old and new.

Exhaust manifold to downpipe joint now has new gasket, washers and nuts.

Exhaust manifold went back on without any problems.

I refitted all the other bits and tried to start the engine. Nothing, the oil light came on, the ignition light was barely on, as were the dashboard lights (when I turned the lights on). The battery was dead.
I brought out my battery charger to join the party.

After 5 minutes on fast charge, the Pinto fired up.
Not sure what caused the battery to go completely flat. The battery survived the two month lay up whilst I was fiddling with the Sierra and everything performed just fine during last Sunday's outing. 
I let the engine idle for a few minutes. Once warmed up, I could hear a very (and I mean very) slight tick tick tick from the exhaust manifold / top of the downpipe. I'm sure all the nuts are nice and tight. Perhaps there is a small crack in the downpipe somewhere? I will tighten up the exhaust manifold nuts tomorrow.
 

Certainly! I didn't realise it was already on the list 
 

Although over the years my fleet has included Aspen, LX, GLX, Si and Ghia models there are a few gaps that are triggering off my OCD. The fact that I've never owned a V6 isn't really that surprising due to my use case. After all, no sane driver would ever consider renting a V6 from me to do 50,000 mostly urban miles a year.
I never owned a Ghia X TD either. There's a logical reason for this though. If I wanted a Mondeo with leather seats I'd have just bought a set of hide seats from a salvage yard and fitted them to a lower spec car. Other than the leather trim the only bonus of having a Ghia X is having both sunroof and aircon as the Ghia X in TD spec didn't come with cruise control. 
The only saloons I owned were a couple of Aspens and one solitary GLX TD.
The biggest gap in my Mk1/2 CV is the fact that I've never owned, hired or rented out an estate. There's no logical reason for this as estate cars rent out easily. I've got nothing against estates. After all, I've had about half a dozen Mk4 estates, it's just that no estate appeared when I was Mondeo shopping.

That looks saveable.

May 1993 1.6 LX seen on X/Twitter that was spotted by Jude Currie.  Last MOT expired December 2008

Oh wow, I've done hundreds of deliveries down to the Airbus/GKN site at Filton over the years and seen this many times outside one of the stores.

I'd believe the advert story to be true, it very rarely seemed to move and often looked a bit unloved, but it always looked straight and tidy underneath the dirt. I mentioned to the lads in the stores to give me a shout if they ever found out it was being let go, that went well for me! To be fair I've not worked since November last year so it would be a bit unfair to moan at them.
 

While I'm there, I might as well listed the rest ! 
Malaga models.
1.2 cc variants: L, LE, Touring, Special, XL, GLX. 
1.5 cc variants: GL,  Nov 86 Primero edition based on 1.5 GL, GLX. 
Also 1.7 Diesel, no spec given for 1990 only?
Ibiza models up to 1990.
900 cc variants: Disco 3dr, Comfort 5dr. Special, Designer.
1.2 cc: Junior 3dr, Crono, Designer, Special, LE 3dr, L, XL, XLS, XLS, GL 3dr, GLX. 
1.5 cc: Special, Crono 3dr, GL, GLX, GLX Injection 1990 5dr, SXI 3dr.
Special edition June 88: 1.2 Del Sol based on 1.2 GL 3dr. 
 

Looking at my March/April 2000 Parkers Guide. The highest UK spec listed, was the 1.5 GLX. Spec included Central Locking , Leccy front windows, Alloys, Velour Trim. 
 

While I'm there, I might as well listed the rest ! 
Malaga models.
1.2 cc variants: L, LE, Touring, Special, XL, GLX. 
1.5 cc variants: GL,  Nov 86 Primero edition based on 1.5 GL, GLX. 
Also 1.7 Diesel, no spec given for 1990 only?
Ibiza models up to 1990.
900 cc variants: Disco 3dr, Comfort 5dr. Special, Designer.
1.2 cc: Junior 3dr, Crono, Designer, Special, LE 3dr, L, XL, XLS, XLS, GL 3dr, GLX. 
1.5 cc: Special, Crono 3dr, GL, GLX, GLX Injection 1990 5dr, SXI 3dr.
Special edition June 88: 1.2 Del Sol based on 1.2 GL 3dr. 
 

Looking at my March/April 2000 Parkers Guide. The highest UK spec listed, was the 1.5 GLX. Spec included Central Locking , Leccy front windows, Alloys, Velour Trim. 
 

not a UK car but phwaaaar 
did we get that Sporty Malaga over here too
 

I either didn't know or had forgotten about the Linnet - what a classic piece of Ford marketing to shift some Popular Pluses.

My Dad had a brand new 1.3L 4 door in 1980 as his first company car, it was a huge improvement on his Viva which got passed on to my Mum. Seven years later my brother bought a 4 door Popular Plus as his first car. He got it resprayed, fitted a black vinyl roof and front and rear spoilers plus 4 spoke Capri Laser wheels, it looked great. He was stopped by the Police for speeding over a hump back bridge with all 4 wheels off the ground, when they stopped him they asked why he was speeding, he said he was late for an appointment. They then told  him that they had been watching him go back and fore the same stretch of road perfecting his jump.
A few years later I bought a 4 door 1.3 Linnet off my next door neighbour for £200 just to sell on, all three in our family were  4 doors in Venetian Red. 

Sticking with the Escort theme, shortly after I turned down the Harrier, I was planning on selling my Guards Red Porsche 924 for £3.5k with a view to buy a Mk4 Escort cabriolet. Trouble was, my mum wanted the Porsche for herself but due to logistics, I had to wait a couple of months before she could give me the money. By the tine I got the cash, spring had arrived and Mk4 convertible prices increased to the point that £3.5k would only buy a Mk3 convertible. I missed out and bought a Citroen AX GT but that’s another story.

Similar. Back in the early 90s my first car - a 1977 mk1 Golf - had become pretty crispy on the inner wings and I was visiting a mate to get a price on having them repaired. My mate pointed to the field below where his younger brother's Mk2 Escort Linnet was parked. It could have been mine for £250 if I remember correctly. Apparently it needed a 'tiny bit of welding' but that would have been included in the price. It drove well but I passed on it as the Golf seemed more modern at the time. Ironic that I eventually chopped my Golf in for a 1969 Morris Minor!
 

Being Essex boys, me and my mates have had dozens of these and the other RWD Ford favourites.
At one point three of us were running around in silver 4 door Ghias, two of which were mine at one point. My main one was a 1.6 auto (on the left), the other two were 1300s, one very tidy one that my mate bought back from the guy who bought it from his mum when we were kids, and a shabbier midnight blue one - thanks to a 4th Ghia bought as a donor, all the panels were swapped over and the rest of the car rattle canned to match (the one on the right)

Several times we took all three out for a cruise and a slide around the lanes, the old bill didn't seem as impressed as we were.
All these cars were cheap, my auto was £150, not sure on the midnight blue one but probably similar. Donor Ghia was £50 and didn't deserve to be parted out but I didn't do it.
The then-silver one became mine then got sold on to a knob who didn't have a license and killed it ragging it around in the woods