So,
As we know, PUD's been collected. So, we sailed through the MOT?
well, sort of....
the exhaust was passed it's best, and no amount of sealer was going to fill the holes, so a temporary fix (slice out the rotten boxes, insert pipe) was done.
(yes, the darks nights were setting in by this point!)
So, all ready! Insurance got sorted - Agreed value, which needs photos... so here they are:
And the insurance sorted, MOT was booked, and off we set. The brakes felt a little poor, but I figured I've cleaned and greased the sliders, so it's probably got 9 years of standing rust to clean off right?
Well, arriving at the MOT station with smoke coming off the fronts meant this wasn't going to end well!
Actually, not too bad for something that hasn't moved in 9 years! Kicking myself over the horn - Completely forgot to check it! The tester advised he thought it may just be disconnected as he could see the wires dangling down through the undertray.
So, front discs, pads and calipers were the order of the day.....
Only, no-where had refurbed calipers available off the shelf. So plan B was formed.... Rebuild time.
That's what we started with.... and it got worse on the passenger side..
Yes, there
should be a bleed nipple there.....
However, first they were attacked with a spinning wheel of death; This obviously meant I spent the next 3 days pulling random bits of wire out of both myself and the clothing I was wearing...
I
always wear safety stuff; This is what happens when the spinny wheel of death hits a safety glove...
Through the glove and the top layer of skin....
thank heavens for the glove taking the worst of it!
Next the new owner was consultanted on his choice of finish for the calipers. Thankfully, his choice was the same as mine and Mr Henry Fords - "any colour you like as long as it's black"
And so....
Yes, thats not black - Yet - That's Vactan, a rust killer. Which after killing the rust goes like this
So then we coat it liberally in red oxide primer. The old piston and seals make for handy masking!
Then finally a coat of high temp black paint, along with new seals and piston.
Repeated again on the other side after carefully drilling out the remains of the bleed nipple and we're onto fitting up..
The horn proved to be an interesting one. Was expecting to simply plug it back in, but on removing the undertray, I discovered the reason for a lack of horn, was in fact, a complete lack of horn. Both were just missing! I planned to borrow both from R1, but discovered why the youtube stars were struggling with getting it working...
There
should be two terminals! So pud got one horn!
Also decided that we need a clean MOT sheet, so this happened....
All fitted on the driveway, at night, with the retest booked for the following day.... Fun times!
However, Pud sailed through with a clean sheet.
The 17 miles I drove her were nice - My first time in a 2 litre. I can see how they'd make an excellent daily driver; Modern enough to be reliable, comfortable enough to be a daily (once the aircon is fixed of course!). Its a little odd to open the door and see a space on the driveway... but I know I've got R1 and soon, R3 to be getting on with!