Brake bleeding ( bleeding Brakes !)

 Big day today as set to to bleaad the cluth and brakes .

Bought myself a vacuum bleed kit as thought it was the best way to go 

There is a choice of brake fluids on the market DOT 4 DOT 5 and DOT5.1 

Dot 4 is what is said on the lid but looking into it DOT 5 has a higher boiling point so figured that might be better  however Dot 5 can not be mixed with anything but Dot 5.1 will mix with Dot4 

Dot 5.1 it is then .

Started out fine with the ki and got the fluid all the way though to the bleed nipple but couldn't get all the air out , moved on to the brakes and encountered the same problems

Vacuum kit 

No matter what i did i always seemed to have air bubbles coming though  after an hour and god knows how much brake fluid  resorted to the old and trusted method of bleeding with the glass jar and pipe 

This worked a treat so for some reason the vacuum system was sucking air in and the joints ,

now all blead and working fine good day in the garage .

Also adjusted the handbrake as didn't bite until 4 clicks up .

Surprised how easy the clutch pedal was to press expected it to be a lot harder .

Brakes Clutch pipes

 Was never totally  happy with the way the brake and clutch pipes went from the chassis to the body  as seemed to be in the way and just attach to the reservoir  but couldn't see an alternative 

That is until i got talking to Global Hydraulics  who told me they could make new pipes with an elbow on each end .

Three  things i had to be careful of was 1:- the angle needs to be spot on ,2:- the length needs to be spot on and 3:-the treads are different  so had to identify the right thread .

Had a selection of elbows to work with and used my pipe as reference for length and angle.

Old pipe with new elbow used as templete for new pipes 

The new pipes were made and then fitted by Steve ( the perfectionist )so happy with the result  bleeding is the next job but time for a beer now,

Pipes in and secured with metal bracket courtesy  of Steve
flex pipes secured with "P" clips  

New pipe elbows really neat job dead happy 

Huge thanks to John from Global Hydraulics ( Grimsby ) 

Storage pockets

 After trolling though other peoples blogs I noticed that a lot of owners fit a map pocket for the passinger .

I ordered these from e bay and 3 came instead of 1 .

with 2 spares in hand came up with the idea to fit them behind the seats as bit of  extra storage .

Also put one behind the drivers seat as well 

Cold

 I have heard all about these cheap diesel heaters so fed up of being cold so bought one 

quite easy compared to building kit cars  2 brackets 2 holes for intake and exhaust  plus a battery 

took us about 3 hours and really impressed and a lot cheaper to run than propane heaters ofrelectric fan heater 

can feel me fingers at last .

cheap to run and warm 

Windscreen

 I was all set to fit the dash when I realized that the windscreen needs fitting first so.

We had already fitted it once, so it was a relatively easy job (but a bit scary as a lot of money) windscreen was fitted and then rechecked the measurements to make sure it was still right .930mm from the windscreen to the back i had 931 mm so good enough for me.

the 2 covers were placed on the pillars, and it becomes apparent that they need bending to the shape of the car, did this with a piece of decking wood a 1/2-inch drive extension and a vice, nice smooth bend.

other blogs seem to use self-tapping screws to secure these plates but wen i drilled the hole for the outside it was so close to the station hole i was worried it would split 

I have opted for 4mm bolts 

the outside ones need to be 50mm due to the curve, ordered these so hex head fitted for now.

once these were fitted, removed everything again and applied black silicon to the gap and underneath the plate then refitted te plates and windscreen.

once the button head bolts arrive i will be able to swap one at a time without disturbing the seal 

All fitted and waiting for the silicon to cure 

Just checking his head was below the roll bar/windscreen  

Wiring and undertrays

 Had a bit of time so went for wiring the undertrays, pinched an idea from other blogs and wanted an aux socket but wanted it hidden, Also wanted to be able to charge the battery from this point. Didn't want to overload the wiring so took an extra feed from the battery with an in line fuse and broght it though with all the other wires .  

Its quite tight for room but can just get it all in ,the main feed from the batt come to the extra fuse board and then feeds the aux socket sends a fed to the drivers footwell lamp.

I have decided that phone charging is going to be an issue so opted to hide a usb outlet behind the pass seat .

usb twin port behind the pass seat 

now all the wiring is in should be able to fianlly fit the dash.

Mirrors

 Next job was to look at fastening the mirrors .

From the CD the 5mm threads need to be on the ceter line and bottom one 10mm down from the second windscreen hole and the second 38mm up from that .

Expected it to be hard drilling but it went surprising easy ,drilled 4mm and tapped to 5mm (should have need 4.2mm but only had 4mm drill) 

removed the mirror from the box and quickly discovered all i wanted was the shell and the glass ,removed the glass and the securing bolt and fitted to my pillar.

fitted and checked that the bolts do not show through 

Left the glass out for now as they have to come off to fit the windscreen .

Leather

 First piece of leather to fit is the transmission tunnel top cover ,was dreading this so needed moral support in the way of Steve .

Marked the top of the gear stump with grease and placed the leather on top to give us a clue .

then cut a small hole just big enough for the shaft .

Cutting out the small hole 

It would then lay on the transmission tunnel in the right place ,between us we came up with the idea of replacing the bolts with sharpened studs which will mark the fiberglass backer 

sharpened studs 

this worked very well and gave us the position of the three holes  then using the ring we could calculate the diameter and position of the gearstick hole .

This was drilled out with a hole saw and then the leather was cut with a knife .

The gater was eased into position and stretched until it fitted in the ring and then screwed down.

sure, he hates me 

the finished effect looks brill thanks Steve 

the back of the leather lifts up but that should be trapped by the back piece and if not going to glue some velcro tape to the back which will stick it to the carpet .

Steering wheel

 Got the steering wheel out of the box and surprise its doesn't fit, quick call to Andy and he tells me that the splines on the housing need to be filed a bit or i can just force it on .

Didnt like the idea of forcing anything as knowing my luck i would need it off, using needle files set to and filed each spline until it fits, assembled the steering wheel 

idea was that the Column can be moved back and forth until it is fixed in place so wanted to make sure the driving position was correct.

Wheel in the correct position 

Now i know where the column wants to be i can sort out the cover and fit the dash .

More Fault finding

After the excitement of the start it was time to get   on to the issues found .

I noticed that the fuel gauge reads full and I know there is only 4 gallons in there.

when I took the cables off the sender the gauge went to empty so appears to be a sender problem 

When i looked further the sender is reading wrong should be high resistance when empty and low when full but mine is the other way round

empty should be reading high 

full should be reading low 

One for Andy GD to sort 

Next 

Ignition warning light ---now lights up but still not charging so strip down and see what going on there 

Wipers -- ok changed over the park and now ok but very noisy in operation so might have to bend the tube some more 

Washer -- now working bad earth (my fault)  

Brake fluid light -- now working Lamp blown  

Reverse lock out --ok

Boot lights work with side lights 

and big one for me the start button illumination goes out when engine starts