It's one darn thing after another, sometimes, with the Moggy. I'd been waiting for the weather to get better before putting the nice new tyres on the front. And a sunny day duly came along, last week. So I did the portside wheel, cleaning up the brake pads while I was at it ( a quick rub down with sandpaper, to deglaze them). Then I found that one of the starboard brake cylinders was sticking, which explained the squeaky noise and general sense of slowness that I'd been meeting lately.
So I squirted some penetrating oil around the piston, and hit it a bit with the rawhide mallet, andput it back together again so that I could drive over to the Morris centre for some new cylinders and brake pads.
Yesterday morning looked a bit fresh and windy, but I really wanted to get the job done. So I started.
And it started to rain.
I put the new brake pads on, and then couldn't get the drum back on over them. Because I'd repaired the snail cam adjuster, exactly(ish) one year ago,
...and the added thickness was OK for a part-worn brake pad, but didn't give enough adjustment for a new one.
So I took the new brake pads off, and cleaned up the old ones as best I could, and put them back.
And put everything back together, and bled the brakes.
And it was pouring down.
Reminded me of my last trip in the North Sea, working on the gun deck on a stormy night in March, with the ship rolling and water sluicing down on me from the helideck above every time it rolled. And I wondered what strange fate had led me to this.
So I lugged all the oily, dirty, soaking tools up to the kitchen, and wiped them dry and sprayed them with WD40, and balanced the tool boxes on top of the oven to dry them out, and threw all the clothes into the washing machine, and stood in the shower until I started to feel warm again.
And looked for a new snail cam on Ebay.
And when it arrives, I can put it on and then put on the new brake pads.
Keeping a close eye on the weather.
A snail cam as seen by Charles Rennie Mackintosh?
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw snail cam I thought of you filming your journeys from wheel level.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this post wasn't really about real soggy snails - it would have been good weather for them.
You are a handy person to have around. My back wheel on the car is making strange noises (like something stuck in the wheel going round) and it has become worse throughout the week becoming more of a grinding. I was hoping it was just some grit but am worried now as my daughter want me to drive her to Leeds in Wednesday. Do you reckon it will be safe? The train cost £ 120 - toooo much.
ReplyDeleteAs seen by Fibonacci, Delia!
ReplyDeleteSnails have more sense, Anji....
It sounds like it might be a worn brake pad. Advise not going very far until fixing, or you will wreck the disc and that will cost lots! Do you have anyone to look at it? I could pop over if not.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has Oily Things in the house!!
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad the Wreck has its MOT at a slightly nicer time of year.
ReplyDeleteAt least you are fortunate enough that all your brake parts are available. Some Wreck bits have edged into the history books by now.
I do try very hard to get the oily stuff much less oily before it gets near to the kitchen, Gwynneth! -the engineers I used to work with were very good at creating a mess and just walking away from it, figuring that cleaning it up was Somebody Else's Problem. And a little dirty oil, left unattended, can rapidly befoul a surprisingly large area...
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that on Saturday, Jenny- how fortunate that I could buy a tie rod end off the shelf at a dealers within the city!