kev's Fleet, TR7V8,Lotus Elan, Morris Minor, Range Rover, MX5, StreetKA and Fiesta

[kevins]

Servo is fitted to minor and brakes are good again, still seems to be holding fluid and no smoke a idle, need to raise the front ride height though as its hitting the bumpstop, intent is to make a tool to enable the adjustment on the crossmember to be moved.

Before that Range Rover needs MOT ,  gave it a look over today, knew the downpipe needed looking at turns out it was made wrong.

this is what it should look like.

this is what it was made like.

cut the excess pipe off an cleaned it up.

fitted back on and all seems well.

Then I noticed the new brake hose had been  rubbing on the wheel.

only a very light rub on the spiral protection so no damage. I decided to fit the new hose bracket I had to the hub as the old one was a bit bent.

All went easily enough until it came to bleeding, after using all of the 2L of fluid I had still had a long pedal, It usually bleeds easily, I think the piston for the second circuit in the master has jammed, as I bled it something offered a resistance  then moved so its now , I think, only operating one circuit. New master cylinder is on its way. I'll lay a floor round my daughters in the warm while I'm waiting and fit it later in the week.

Otherwise it all looks pretty good  so hopefully no major issues at the MOT.

 

[kevins]

Oh and to get it in the garage I had to get the Minor and Lotus out, both needed a bit of help from a jump battery but otherwise started fine and I took each for a short drive  in the snow.

[kevins]

new master cylinder arrived, fitted it, still the same.  Being new though I could clearly see than fluid was only being drawn from one circuit. Couldn't work out what was going on , eventually got the caliper for the other side out, and it became apparant. These have 2 brake circuits, one does all 4 wheels and the other is just the front, the calipers have 2 obvious bleed nipples on the side. What I missed was these are both for the same circuit, there is a 3rd nipple hidden at the back on the top!

£75 on a new master cylinder I didn't need......

After that I decided to take it appart to set the hub pre load as it had a bit of play.

Took the caliper pipes and bracket off as an assembly.

Then took the top swivel pin out 

It had 4 shims, ended up with 2 to get the 15lbs pre load.

went back together easily enough.

 

[kevins]

That was yesterday, today I decided to fit the new disc and caliper to the other side so they all match for the MOT on Friday.

All came appart easily enough.

back of disc was pretty bad state

Cleaned up all the surface rust on the spring and its seat and the shock.

put it all back together.

bled it remembering the 3rd nipple, then gave it all a coat of waxoyl.

While I was under there I made the mistake of proding a scaby area where the inner wing joins the bulkhead, ended up with this.

fortunately the hole is 350mm from the body mount so won't fail the MOT.  As a temporary measure I sealed it all up to keep the water out.

Later in the year I'll unbolt the wing, fix this properly (cut the whole area out and start again) and also the wing mounting rail as it's a bit scabby.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, kevins said:

£75 on a new master cylinder I didn't need......

Yet...

[kevins]

25 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Yet...

yes I wasn't to upset, it did look like the original 38year old one, appart from the pressure limiting valve it means all the hydraulics have been replaced in the last 3 years.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, kevins said:

yes I wasn't to upset, it did look like the original 38year old one, appart from the pressure limiting valve it means all the hydraulics have been replaced in the last 3 years.

It would cost more in t'future, great budgeting 😀

[kevins]

MOT passed, usual advisories (rusty springs, slight fraying to rear seat belt and minor oil leaks)  plus a new one on slight play in one front wheel bearing which must have bedded down a bit after I changed the disc, easy enough to nip up though. 

Also commented on how good the emissions were, amazing what a grands worth of injectors and ECU gets you. This means I can take all the LPG system off, nowhere to get it round here now,  saves a fair bit of weight and complexity and takes the restriction off the engine intake.  Anyone needs LPG parts let me know.

[kevins]

a look at the minor today, checked the fuel delivery at the carb, rougly 30L per hour, not massive but should be plenty for a 40hp engine breathing through a 1.25" SU. Then tried to start it which needed full choke and it wouldn't rev much above idle. warmed it up idles perfectly but still won't rev much above 3000rpm. Tried reving it and squirting brake cleaner in at the same time, much better. Checked float bowl, full but with loads of sediment in the bottom. Cleaned all that out and blew the delivery pipe from the float bowl to jet out (sending petrol everywhere). put it back together and all seems fine now, Didn't have time to take it for a drive, I'll do that later in the week.
Immediate priority is the boot on our daily 2010 fiesta filling up with water, done the lights, done the seams on the roof trim.

sealed a loose bung in the floor

 

still no difference, discovered today it only leaks when driven. A quick google turns up that then have 2 holes on the side behind the bumper sealed with duct tape (or not as they get older). Looks like I'm taking the bumper off next..

[kevins]

After using it for a couple of days I've started some of the jobs on the mazda, primarily sorting out the interior, this comes down to fitting new covers to the seats and sorting out the wobbly door cards.

firsty the passenger seat, stripped it all down, only repairs needed were to stick the wires the covers are fixed to back with trim glue. and fix some dodgy wiring. (pic is after I've added proper splices)

 

Seat came out fairly well, only issue is its a bit baggy on the headrest, this may be the aftermarket pioneer speaker assembly, the top unzips so at some time I will add a layer of foam.

fitted back in the car.

with the old drivers one for comparisson.

doesen't look to bad in the pic but it has been repaired and painted multiple times so is like sitting on platic, also both were begining to split at various seams.

Then onto the door cards, we have used a mixture of black and the original tan parts to give less orange look, the tops of the door cards were painted black. I could have got some proper black ones like we have for the handles  and dash crash pads, but also wanted something which was a bit less plasticy. So the plan is to make new ply cards for the bottom part, re use the original covering and cover the top in a quality stretchy vinyl.

Door card removed and dismantled.

New 4mm ply card cut out and sealed with laquer.

top pad removed, some of the overlaps cut off and re-covered.

bottom recovered

then all screwed back together.

Still need to hot melt glue where there were a couple of heat staked fixings then if the rain stops it can go back on.

Also started on the drivers seat, really needs new black plastic covers for the recliners as the ones on this are the tan ones poorly painted but it is no great job to swap these out at a later date if I can't find any at a reasonanble price immeadiately.

 

[kevins]

So its done, Both seats new leather covers, both door cards recovered top and bottom mounted on new boards.

Covers were expensive,  this was part of a calculated plan.  When I retired we looked at buying a year or 2 old mx5 to replace it but decided all they really offered over this was a less tatty interior and working air con,  therefore we decided to fix those on this instead, all in its cost around £800, so man maths makes it a massive cost saving!

 

[kevins]

Done some odd jobs on the daily Fiesta, firstly replaced the 16" wheels/195 45 tyres with 15" wheels/195 60 tyres. This is after getting through 11 tyres and 2 wheels  in 2 1/2 years, only 2 of which were worn. It actually drives much better on the 15" wheels too.

These are what it had before.

 

Also looked at the leaks into the boot, pulled the bumper off easily enough (6 screews) and found this.

one hole with the tape completely missing the other hanging off.

Took the air vent out, re-fitted it with non setting rubber screen seal sealer so it can be removed if required, then stuck dpm over the holes with a hybrid sealer.

Seems to have worked so far, time will tell.

[kevins]

Fiesta boot is still dry so looks fixed, gave it an oil change (130000 miles)and new plugs as well, both looked fine.

Raised the front ride height on the minor around 25mm , rides much better now.

Then did some odds and ends on the Range Rover, fixed the LPG(loose wiring connection) so I can drain it out and remove it, fixed a leak between the exhaust manifold and head (Tightened bolts and bodged M10 into one stripped 3/8 UNF).

Also stripped the twin SU's for the minor and put them through the ultrasonic cleaner.

appart from being a bit grubby they seem in pretty good condition, will get new Jets and float valves though.

[High Jetter]

4 minutes ago, kevins said:

Fiesta boot is still dry so looks fixed, gave it an oil change (130000 miles)and new plugs as well, both looked fine.

Raised the front ride height on the minor around 25mm , rides much better now.

Then did some odds and ends on the Range Rover, fixed the LPG(loose wiring connection) so I can drain it out and remove it, fixed a leak between the exhaust manifold and head (Tightened bolts and bodged M10 into one stripped 3/8 UNF).

Also stripped the twin SU's for the minor and put them through the ultrasonic cleaner.

appart from being a bit grubby they seem in pretty good condition, will get new Jets and float valves though.

Wheels & paint are jarring, tbh.

[kevins]

there are stainless trims and hubcaps to go on the wheels, left them off while I am fiddling with it. Colours are its original colours it is the sole remaining car or 4 Bristol busses inspectors cars, Corgi made a model of this very car.

[kevins]

Range rover today, last week we went out in it with the in laws, almost home and it started making a heavy knock somewhere from the rear at wheel speed, It sounded like something expensive in the back axle. Limped home and had a look, to find a chunk of bodywork jammed in one of the wherl spokes and hitting the brake caliper. Took the wheel off to find it was one of the rear tub support brackets underneath where the mother in law had been sitting, the tab that holds it to the chassis having rusted away leaving this.

 

it should look like this.

The brake caliper was fine but as can bevseen above the chassis behind the bracket had also rusted, the bolt on  bracket was a bit mangled but straighted up easily enough and I replaced the top platform as this was a bit scabby.

Appart from the small area of rust the chassis was rock solid so it took some doing to cut a clean hole, eventually got there and weled a new piece in.

made a new mouting tab.

them welded it on, had to cut some of the spring seat flange away for access and welds weren't pretty but plenty strong enough.

then replaced the tab

painted and back together.

At some point, probably when Ibreplace the brake pads I'll wax it inside and out, but for now all is good again.

 

 

[Surface Rust]

Nice work on that body mount. I hope you took the opportunity to tell your mother in-law about the structural collapse under her seat!