What did you do to your x40 today???

[Haizum74]

Originally Posted by clarkey1984

I think I've finally finished ebaying now and near enough everything is here, foglight bulbs as got one blown, front and rear drop links in preparation for the new suspension, towbar electrics backplate as I somehow managed to lose the one that came with the bar and an aeriel as I didn't have one, all that's left now is the brake pads as noticed the rears are really low and the fronts aren't much better.

35% off pads at Eurocarparts with code MID35 :-)

[clarkey1984]

Originally Posted by Haizum74

35% off pads at Eurocarparts with code MID35 :-)

Ahh bugger it, I'd already ordered them off eBay before I'd posted as the pads are the last thing I'm waiting to arrive, managed to get front and rear mintex ones for just over 40 quid though which I didn't think was too bad really.

[Haizum74]

Originally Posted by clarkey1984

Ahh bugger it, I'd already ordered them off eBay before I'd posted as the pads are the last thing I'm waiting to arrive, managed to get front and rear mintex ones for just over 40 quid though which I didn't think was too bad really.

Definitely not a bad price for both front and rear.

[clarkey1984]

I thought it was a pretty good deal, was hoping they'd come today as had a spare few hours this afternoon but no sign yet, so I spent the time changing my light bulbs instead, got a h3 h7 capless set, after autobulbs told me that the foglight are h3, are they f--k, h1, so did the sidelights and main beam and left the undertray off ready for when I get the right ones, the ballasts were really easy to remove, turns out they just unclip once you've disconnected the power cable and can then be lifted out and hung over the front of the light, then it's easy peasy to undo the 2 torx bolts and pop the ballast housing and bulb cover back a bit, you'd need to remove all three to get the bulbs swapped if you had hands of a regular human males size but I have little baby lady hands so was able to do it.

[clarkey1984]

Well todays tasks were to change the pads all round and complete the towbar wiring by adding in the buzzer for the indicators and fit the backplate for the 12n socket, the rears came apart easy peasy and amazingly the handbrake mechanism was in impeccable condition on both sides, all nice and free and resting on their stops like they should, I still have them a good few wiggles back and forth while spraying wd40 on them though just to give some extra piece of mind, then I remembered that these are wind in calipers and I don't have the wind in tool anymore, I borrowed one last time, so bangernomics at play here, a bench grinder, ball joint splitter and a spanner had it sorted.

The fronts however were a pig, the drivers side had got some nicely rounded off caliper bolts and as the front pads looked pretty good still I nearly gave up, but then I chanced on some imperial 6 sided sockets which I managed to use by hammering a slightly undersized one onto what was left of the bolt heads, the ratchet still wouldn't budge it, so in for a penny with a short breaker bar, almighty crack and finally undone, luckily they supplied new caliper bolts with the pads.

Then onto the passengers side, which all undid fine but this side had the bottom slider pin seized absolutely solid, so I unbolted the carrier and fired a load of wd40 under the rubber boot and left it for a while on its side to let it soak in while i went for a coffee and a cigarette, bolted it back on the car and an open ended spanner finally got things moving, out cleaned and regreased, all done, and I'm glad I did persevere too, as despite not being that worn both sides were distorted and beginning to delaminate from the backing plates. I had also planned on reverse bleeding the whole braking system from the calipers using the syringe method because the brakes have always been spongy and just crap in general, but both front bleed nipples do not undo because they are made of cheese so didn't risk buggering things up even more, but I don't think I need to do that now, as although they've not fully bedded in yet the brakes have much more bite now, probably the pads and that seized pin causing it.

The towing wiring and backplate took barely 15 minutes, then the postman arrived with the correct h1 bulbs so popped them in and the undertray back on.

[druid]

Today's list did not all get done but I did refit my undertray and wrapped my top hose

[baldmosher]

Originally Posted by bimmer49

'Kin drivers exterior handle broke! The back link that opens the door. Drilled the exterior and put a long wood screw in it. That'll do for now!

I've got a spare. Chrome?

[baldmosher]

Originally Posted by bobthecabbage

Fitted a new front antiroll bar drop link. I went for a lemforder part although it looks cheap in places we shall see if it lasts more than a few months!

At least I haven't got the rattling any more!

Oh and a word of advice. If tackling this job a small grinder with a cutting disc is essential. Maybe some mole grips and a nut splitter.

I also went Meyle HD and never looked back.

[baldmosher]

Hit a picturesque mileage at a picturesque time with a reasonably picturesque trip counter....

[emtor]

Brake pads all wheels.