Another update as some more has happened lately.
With the car running well and with it all insured and taxed, we were keen to take it out on its maiden voyage.
We had only driven it 40-50 yards up and down the driveway and the brakes had hopeful signs of life, so we thought we’d take it for a run to see if we can get the callipers exercised before overhauling the brakes. If we could get the callipers operational it would save a bit in replacing them.
Before we took it out I wanted to change the diff oil. There’s no record in the tech log from the previous owner of this ever being done and it was showing signs of a leak, so thought it best to refresh this beforehand. The diff is also quite visible from the rear so I was keen to get it looking a little nicer also.
First thing to do was get the cover plate off and drain out the old oil. As you can see it was pretty ugly back there.
With the cover off we cleaned it up, gave it a coat of stone chip and fitted it back on with a gasket and a good bead of RTV.
At some point I want to give the whole underside a thorough clean and proper coat of underseal to protect it and make it look nicer. For now though, this will do and the priority was to get it mechanically sound.
It was sub zero when it came to filling the diff and the oil was like treacle. It took a bit of faffing about to make up a pump and get the oil up and in, but we used a foot pump and a Robinsons squash bottle to great effect.
25psi was as high as we’d pressurise it as we didn’t fancy an exploding bottle of oil, but it was enough to get the oil flowing into the diff. It took a little while as we needed to get nearly 1.5 litres in, but the diff eventually filled and is now leak free.
I didn’t have any faith in the flat spotted, cracked, mismatched and very old tyres so we also fitted the new wheels and tyres onto the car. These are the correct size and it sits so much nicer now. The old chrome wheel rings were very tired also, so we sourced a new set to finish it off. I know these aren't 100% the correct profile, but at £35 the set they look the part and will do for now.
The first drive was very exciting whilst being pretty nerve wrecking. At first everything was going well. It ran great, the gearbox felt nice, it tracked straight, the suspension all felt good and generally it felt really sorted.
We took it steady and headed straight to the petrol station to brim the tank with premium unleaded, but after that things started to get a little weird.
Although it drove very nicely, the brakes clearly had a major issue. It would stop ok, but the callipers would bind and the brakes would stick on. They would release and free up on their own quite swiftly, so we pressed on and were determined to see if we could get them exercised.
We got on the motorway and it was driving excellently. The overdrive worked, it cruised at 70-80mph comfortably with no untoward noises, rattles or vibrations and the gauges showed good oil pressure an no overheating. Very happy days.
But once we left the motorway and used the brakes again they just kept binding up. It was pretty scary at times, so we decided to nurse it home and call it a day.
We covered about 30 miles of careful driving and the brakes showed no signs of improving, so instead of messing about with the old callipers we bit the bullet and new callipers, discs, pads and flexi lines were ordered all round.
This weekend we got the car up on stands and pulled all the old brakes off and replaced with new.
As you can see, the old discs and callipers are looking a little past their best. What should have taken a couple of hours ended up taking most of the day as the old discs were seized onto the car and the old lines were a complete pain to remove.
But we got through it and once all the old parts were off, refitting the new was pretty straightforward.
Unfortunately we didn’t get time to fill with new fluid and bleed the system, but we’ll do that soon and fingers crossed it should stop well.
One other issue we noticed whilst driving was that the bottom radiator hose was cold even after a fairly long drive. The car didn't overheat and there was good heat inside the car, but I suspect the radiator is blocked.
Next jobs are to bleed the brakes, check there's no leaks and get these working properly. We then want to pull the radiator out, back flush it and refit with a new water pump.