Bugger !!!

Our car developed a seized front right disc brake which was causing the disc to heat up alarmingly, not only that it was costing us money in petrol pushing the car harder to gain the same speed.... So I bought a brake refurbishment kit which replaces all the seals and rubber bushings....

It's not a hard job to do, you just need to remove the brake caliper from the wheel and push the piston out and clean everything up in there, replace the seals and away you go..... normally ...... 

The piston proved harder than I thought to get out... I eventually reverted to pushing it out via hydraulic pressure on the existing brake line.... and at the moment the piston left the piston chamber..... I was doomed :( but I didn't know it then.... I only discovered how doomed I was later...

the worst part was figuring out that you can only put the dust seal on AFTER you have pushed the cleaned and lubricated piston all the way in which took about an hour after various combinations I was ready to fit it back on the car and bleed the brakes......

But it wasn't to be....... I was defeated by a minuscule bleed screw which had last been opened in about 1998... it was rusted solid into the brake housing/piston chamber..... it didn't matter what I tried I couldn't get it loose or get it to even move.... I could have used brute force but all that would have done was ripped it clean off the piston housing......

Which presented me with a problem.... without being able to bleed the brakes they wouldn't work as they are intended....So the only thing I could do was to fill up the piston chamber with brake fluid through the tiny hole where the brake line attached (not an easy thing to achieve) and "try" and make it air free.... then reattach the brake line and hope the braking on that disc was good enough....

unfortunately it wasn't although they work  there is a lot of travel in the brake pedal and the brakes fade.... naturally because they aren't air free.... 

My father is arranging a visit to a blacksmith to remove the offending bleed screw by welding a nut onto it and getting it out....and putting a new bleed screw in if that fails it's a new caliper I'm afraid and they ain't cheap :( 

Which has more than hacked me off because I've already spent more than I wanted to on the refurbishment kit and pressure bleed system.......

Moral of the story..... Always have a exit strategy before embarking on something which might not work..... 

Mortality

See the guy at the back of this picture ? Dean Partridge a bloke I served with in the Royal Signals at 11th Signal Regiment, sadly died in April, he shared the same birthday as me and he was born the same year as me, from what I can tell he died of cancer @ 48 years old !!! I have some excellent memories of Dean, we laughed and grafted together and got through basic training together....

A sad day... I only found him a few months ago when I started a Facebook group about Ouston and 11th Signal Regiment where we did our basic training and he popped up out of the woodwork, I had no idea he was terminally ill, but that's Dean for you.... I'm glad I got back in touch before he  passed away..... RIP Dean Partridge 9th March 1963 - 28th March 2011...

We're not on this Earth for long .... so make the most of it while you can because it's gone in the blink of an eye...... My basic training with Dean is still fresh in my mind it only seems like yesterday...those 10 mile runs around the airfield, the change parades, the immaculate bulled boots the sleeping in freezing trenches..... S/Sgt Mold beasting us.......it's 32 years ago now .....WOW ....(I'd do it all over again if I could)

Gone in a flash

(And yes... that's me flicking the V's)


Certa Cito Dean.....QBG.....QEF 

Bonny Scotland

Well Andrea made it back in one piece and her time for the marathon was 4 hours 34 minutes, which is pretty astounding considering she had a lot of time off training because of her leg injury... She had a lovely time up in Scotland and came back positively buzzing.... however her buzz has left her now and the early start she had this morning to catch her flight has hit her on the back of the head and she's wimped out and gone to bed.....

I'm immensely proud of her :)

I'd also like to welcome a reader of my blog called Claire, knowledge is power even if it does leak out..... ;¬) What I have learnt about Claire is that don't ever going shopping with her she is a walking security tag apparently ....(private joke  probably only appreciated by Claire and Andrea).... I'll get my coat....

Andrea escaped the big blow over Scotland by an hour as all flights were cancelled an hour after she left for Cardiff, by the looks of the news they got hit pretty bad, with large trees uprooted and at least two people killed which is awful, we on the other hand had a bit of a breeze and a light spotting of rain in sunny Wales.

The car is playing silly buggers again with its ABS whereby it activates at slow speed usually when rolling up to junctions at under 10mph... I'm determined to crack it, mainly because it's so bloody annoying .....I suspect it's the rear ABS sensors thinking that one of the wheels has locked up, considering the front ones were replaced recently AND have new reluctor rings on its hubs when I replaced the bearings. Although I think I will have to remove the drive shafts from the back to have a look see..... I also have to refurbish the front drivers side disc brake because it's starting to show signs of grabbing the disc, which means it isn't retracting properly, but that won't be expensive (£20+time+swearing+spanner rash)

A man has to have a hobby ;¬)

I don't mind repairing the car as it saves massive amounts on the garage bills which is always good.... plus I'm not going to add anything to the bill I didn't do or in fact fit. Not that I don't trust garages....

Anyway onward and upward