Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - To gas or not to gas(less MIG) - 09/11/24

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Nothing of interest has happened of late. Although I did decide to play with some video settings on my camera as I have a few video essay/mini documentaries I fancy filming for which I will need slightly more professional video footage (and a tripod, evidently).

The test footage features shite.

 

what no over complicated brackets being welded on? (its a must when you use that music  )

otherwise very nice work

[dozeydustman]

On 5/5/2019 at 9:12 PM, captain_70s said:

Nothing of interest has happened of late. Although I did decide to play with some video settings on my camera as I have a few video essay/mini documentaries I fancy filming for which I will need slightly more professional video footage (and a tripod, evidently).

The test footage features shite.

 

Why can I imagine a man with a bubble perm and a luxurious moustache dancing provocatively to that music?

[dozeydustman]

Cap’n

were you looking for a pair of these earlier this year to attach wipers to one of your fleet? Found them in the garage in a box of bits left by previous residents.

yours if you want them

 

[captain_70s]

On 5/7/2019 at 1:38 PM, dozeydustman said:

Why can I imagine a man with a bubble perm and a luxurious moustache dancing provocatively to that music?

You've been watching my "special interest" videos?

22 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

Cap’n

were you looking for a pair of these earlier this year to attach wipers to one of your fleet? Found them in the garage in a box of bits left by previous residents.

yours if you want them

Cheers for the offer but I've filed out the holes on the wipers to fit metric bolts, an un-reversible move!

May be of use to somebody though as they seem impossible to acquire easily.

[dozeydustman]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

Cheers for the offer but I've filed out the holes on the wipers to fit metric bolts, an un-reversible move!

May be of use to somebody though as they seem impossible to acquire easily.

No worries sir, I'll put them in the Freebies fred. Plenty of Rootes/BL/French chod that used them I'm sure.

[captain_70s]

Started fettling the Acclaim in preparation for it's MOT. Fucked it.

 

Essentially the front right brake kept squeaking and I wanted to know why. A glance showed the pads looked alright so I whipped the wheel off and set about taking the caliper off.

Firstly, it's amazing how much nicer they came apart than the Civic's and the slider pins were in perfect nick, but I ran in to some issues. Firstly the piston wouldn't return, secondly the bleed nipple was battered to hell and wouldn't budge.

Many tactics were implemented to try and get it to move including, but not limited to:

Using the breaker bar for maximum leverage.
Using a variety of metric and imperial spanners.
Hammering a smaller socket over it
Cutting some new edges into it with a hacksaw.
Clamping it with mole grips.
Swearing.

Due to this I had to loosen the flexi pipe to push the piston back and bleed the system. The result being the brakes are now utterly shit due to the system being full of air.

The other side all came apart fine. naturally...

I then finally replaced the tie-wrap rear brake line bracket with a jubilee clip and re-jigged the variety of jubilee clips which hold the exhaust on which has reduced the rattling slightly. I also fitted new wiper blades and bashed most of the remains of the headlight splash panels off with a hammer as the rusty jagged edges looked dire.

Tomorrow I'm going to pop to B&Q after work and buy a blow torch as a final attempt at getting the fucking bleed nipple to move. One day I'll follow my own advice and stop buying Scottish cars... 

Another guy even started working on his modern BMW up the road, must be a car fixing day...

 

 

[Angrydicky]

Heat is your friend with the bleed nipple. I'm amazed it didn't shear off with the breaker bar! Trouble is that the heat could well melt the piston seal if you're not very careful. Normally this work would be carried out as part of a rebuild with new piston, seal etc.

 

[plasticvandan]

When I was dailying a variety of fucked Reliants and working out in the open such as yourself,the blowtorch was my go to tool,after I got one I didn't know how I managed,they really do make undoing siezed nipples,nuts and bolts easier,and often the difference between snapped or fixed.blowtorch,mole grips,get some plus gas as well,wd40 is shite did this sort of thing.

[dome]

If you can stretch to it MAP gas is the way forward for portable blowtorches. They are more expensive though.

The last one's I freed off responded to heat then spraying penetrant straight on to it, then leaving it for a few hours/overnight and repeating the process.

Also pushing a drill bit into the bleed nipple can prevent it from collapsing in on itself. 

[captain_70s]

I don't think it's going anywhere... I suspect it has been cross threaded.

Time to buy a new caliper I think. Thus the act of checking the brake pads has cost £120...

[Sir Snipes]

May as  well try and drill it out now. I've never had to but always wondered if it is actually doable without ruining the caliper.    

[captain_70s]

Don't have a drill good enough to drill it. Can't afford a drill good enough to drill it. I don't fucking know anymore...

It is increasingly unlikely the 1300 is going to see the road again purely as I have no funds to spend on it. Even if I manage to get the free engine to my house magically for free I can't afford any remedial work it may need to be an actual usable engine. Then it'll need welding which will be utterly shit as I'll be the one who has to do it. The Acclaim is deteriorating and is crusty in places I'd rather it wasn't, but I lack the facilities to do the repairs and can't afford to have it off the road for any length of time because I need it for commuting. Every job I try to do just ends in disaster, I've just spent a third of it's MOT budget on work that didn't even need doing until I went near it, the Dolly 1300 is scrap fodder, the 1850HL is actual scrap, even the Civic got broken for spares after it left me...

The only way I managed to not go bankrupt last year was by taking out a £2k credit card which is now all gone and I'm earning even less now... I technically can't afford to run a car at all. I'm only managing because classic insurance is less than half the price of a modern policy. All my mates from college are earning £30k plus and are buying houses... I've just totally fucking fucked it big time, mate...

[SiC]

I'd probably have stuck a drill bit into that bleed nipple and crushed a pair of mole grips as hard as I could on it. Then took all my anger out by whacking the mole grips with a mallet. 

[SiC]

3 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Don't have a drill good enough to drill it. Can't afford a drill good enough to drill it. I don't fucking know anymore...

It is increasingly unlikely the 1300 is going to see the road again purely as I have no funds to spend on it. Even if I manage to get the free engine to my house magically for free I can't afford any remedial work it may need to be an actual usable engine. Then it'll need welding which will be utterly shit as I'll be the one who has to do it. The Acclaim is deteriorating and is crusty in places I'd rather it wasn't, but I lack the facilities to do the repairs and can't afford to have it off the road for any length of time because I need it for commuting. Every job I try to do just ends in disaster, I've just spent a third of it's MOT budget on work that didn't even need doing until I went near it, the Dolly 1300 is scrap fodder, the 1850HL is actual scrap, even the Civic got broken for spares after it left me...

The only way I managed to not go bankrupt last year was by taking out a £2k credit card which is now all gone and I'm earning even less now... I technically can't afford to run a car at all. I'm only managing because classic insurance is less than half the price of a modern policy. All my mates from college are earning £30k plus and are buying houses... I've just totally fucking fucked it big time, mate...

I reckon you need to shake your life up a bit. Get a new job/career, go travelling or something. I know you love your cars and these especially, but they do risk becoming things that drag you down. End of the day they're only material possessions. 

Maybe you need to pick a few tips up & guides from Bucketer and go exploring?

[captain_70s]

9 minutes ago, SiC said:

I'd probably have stuck a drill bit into that bleed nipple and crushed a pair of mole grips as hard as I could on it. Then took all my anger out by whacking the mole grips with a mallet. 

I did attempt that (with a screwdriver rather than a drill bit, but the nipple just twisted off. It really is stuck in there... I've never encountered a fixing so entirely stuck before. The only thing it won't do is shear...

[SiC]

What happened about the engine and stuff for the Dolly?

[captain_70s]

10 minutes ago, SiC said:

I reckon you need to shake your life up a bit. Get a new job/career, go travelling or something. I know you love your cars and these especially, but they do risk becoming things that drag you down. End of the day they're only material possessions. 

Maybe you need to pick a few tips up & guides from Bucketer and go exploring?

The issue is I need a car for work. The Acclaim is incredibly cheap to run but is still too much... I've been trying to get a new job but I lack any decent qualifications and my current job is a considerable step down from my old one, which looks bad on a CV. I've also no idea if I'm capable of anything other than production line grunt work at this point. 

Me and girlfriend_70s would like to get out more but at the moment the most I can afford is a drive over to Loch Lomond and getting time off work is problematic...

 

The Dolly needs an engine. There are engines I could use but they are very, very, very far away, Transport = costs. They would also require fettling to get usable. Fettling = costs. Everything is money and I have none to spare.

[SiC]

Can you get replacement calipers for the Acclaim? Can't see anything on eBay? 

Is another compatible/similar?

[vulgalour]

Autodoc have calipers listed at considerably less than £120.  You might have to send them your fucked one to qualify for the price, I'm not sure.

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/abs/7798511

[SiC]

Problem with autodoc is that they may or may not fit, while either come between a week and next Christmas.

[captain_70s]

Right. Tea consumed. Misery postponed.

A mate is coming over tomorrow to aid me in bleeding the brakes via the flexi union in a slightly more professional* way than wedging down the pedal with a crook lock and hoping for the best. New calipers can be bought for £50-60 a side, full rebuild kits are also available for something like £18 a side. The bonus of it all being Mk2 Civic parts.

If I can bleed the system to a satisfactory manner the whole wretched ordeal may not matter. If the union can be carefully drilled out at a later date that would be most helpful, we'll have to see. I am taking some solace in that at least the calipers still work and aren't completely and utterly fucked like the Civic's were...

(I am, somewhat unfairly, including the cost of the new blow torch in my repair costs. Although it'll no doubt be handy in the future...)

 

[vulgalour]

I just spoke to Mike and he said he'd be willing to have a go at replacing the bleed nipple for you if you get really stuck, you'd just need to stick the caliper in the post, he'd fix it all being well, and post it back.

[TrabbieRonnie]

I feel your pain Cap'n, I have been playing catch up with this thread, and your devotion to the cause is admirable.  The above offer is a good one, and one I would happily make too, if you ever need again.  I have a decent workshop at work, and anything postable is nae bother.  Appreciate that even posting stuff about isn't exactly cheap, mind! 

One job at a time, keep your pecker up, etc!  Iirc, when we met you were at an egg factory over in Aberdeenshire, what are you up to now?

[captain_70s]

14 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

I just spoke to Mike and he said he'd be willing to have a go at replacing the bleed nipple for you if you get really stuck, you'd just need to stick the caliper in the post, he'd fix it all being well, and post it back.

Thanks hugely, fella! Sadly it'd take the car off the road for too long. I work shifts so public transport doesn't work for me due to awkward times early in the morning and very late at night despite the fact work is only 8 miles away!

TrabbieRonnie, I'm a machine operator at a whisky bottling factory in Glasgow now. That sounds better than egg packing when telling folk where you work but I think I might have preferred the bloody eggs!

[alf892]

Would be better to take the caliper off and pop the piston and seal out then properly heat it and quench it a couple of times......tap the nipple on the end plenty and then be surprised how easily it comes out with small stillsons.

or it'll break off

[TrabbieRonnie]

Good luck with the bleeding tomorrow Capitan, keep us posted!

[blackboilersuit]

Do not try to drill out the nipple, this always ends badly. Best solution (in the short term) is to get it bled via the banjo bolt. You may need to take the caliper off to make the banjo fitting the highest point of the caliper but it should work out ok. I'm happy to help with Mapp gas or welding a nut onto the remains of the nipple to get it out but it's not 100% guaranteed so the best way to keep you on the road and give you time to track down parts is bleeding through the banjo . Best of luck and give me a shout if I can be of any help.

[Skut]

If it's any assistance I can weld with my gasless and will travel. 

[paulplom]

I have a blow torch you can have. It's very accurate. PM me your address and I'll post it out to you. You will have to buy a gas bottle though.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-disposable-map-pro-gas-cylinder-400g/25491

Much cheaper at a plumbing merchants. Less than a tenner usually.

[captain_70s]

Welding a nut on to the thing may well be a solution... I'm loath to scrap an otherwise fine caliper for the sake of one bastarding bleed nut but I'll have to buy one as a spare "just in case" regardless. Highly irritating. We'll see how the bleed goes tonight and work out a plan from there.

 

I acquired  a MAP blow torch yesterday, Paulplom! Many thanks for the offer though!