It's been a while....
I haven't had much chance at all do to any sort of work on the car or do much driving either. The missus and I have been very busy, and Hugo has taken a back seat.
So to speak.
The MOT is due soon, though, and I knew I needed to do the brakes. I found a good deal on brake discs and pads, and got them - the discs are grooved and dimpled, so they look cool. I know there is a lot of debate amongst experts over whether or not grooves or cross-drilling offer any sort of benefit. As braking is so subjective, I'm not in any position to say how much better they are, and I don't often drive in controlled situations where brake fade is noticed. I do know they look cool...
So the stuff came, and I got set up to install the brakes. I decided to start with the front brakes. I got the car up in the air, took the wheels off, got my tools all laid out, and went to grab my camera from the boot to start taking photos for the blog....
No camera.
Bullocks.
Well, I had to get on with installing the brakes, so on I went.
The brakes came off smoothly, the only thing worth noting is that I had to fully remove the caliper sliders in order to remove the outer brake pads. I don't know if this is S.O.P., I didn't do any research on installing the front brakes.
One of the discs wouldn't come off with all the banging in the world, so I thought of another way to get it off. The disc has a small screw hole close to the center. I inserted a 10mm bolt I happened to have lying around, and tightened it, pushing the bolt against the spindle - and therefore the disc away from the spindle - until the disc went 'pop' and off it came. Very clever, putting that hole there!
No other issues reared it's ugly head during the removal or install.
A while ago, I installed lower ball joints on both sides. I had to in order to remove the dampers. In the process, the front wheels went out of true, so I've had to constantly fight the wheel to go straight - it always pulled to the left, and the steering wheel wasn't centered - 12 o'clock was closer to 11:30. So while I was under there, I disconnected the passenger side tie rod end, and spun it off the steering shaft by two turns anti-clockwise. I then eyed it up, and it looked much straighter - obviously there's no way I could get it perfect by eye, but it was noticeably straighter.
After doing that, I also raised the car about 1.5 cm at the front. I was constantly scraping speed bumps and I was beginning to worry about the undercarriage suffering. The plastic skid plate that protects the front of the engine (it sits under the pulleys and the fan) was damaged and dragging, which I'm sure was causing most of the noise, but I figured if it was damaged, better to prevent any further hurt.
I put everything back together, and took the car for a quick spin. I only drove about two miles, and I was very gentle on the brakes, letting them bed in. There were no squeaks or rattles from the front brakes, and there was much less pedal travel before they bit, so I knew they were better.
The car still drifted a bit to the left, but the steering wheel was at least pointing in the right direction! I will need to have some further proper geometry work done, but it seems to be okay for now.
By far, the most surprising thing was the change in the handling of the car! Raising it that small amount seemed to take a huge amount of jumpiness and skittishness from the front end. It seems far better planted, and I think it's now almost as smooth as any Eunos with original spec suspension!
It's obviously not perfectly smooth, the shocks are meant to be sportier and therefore stiffer, but the difference is tremendous. I can't wait to try it out on the motorway.
Well, I did all that a few weeks ago, and the car has sat there, waiting, begging to be taken out for another run. Tomorrow is Saturday, and if it doesn't rain, I'll be installing the rear brakes first thing. Next weekend we're going a long trip, on the motorway to Lincoln, which is a few hours worth of driving. Hopefully the car will be nice and sorted by then. I have to get new tires as well; the poor alignment was pretty much destroyed the front tyres.
I have also in the mean time found my camera, so I will take some photos of the finished front brake disc change, and also some photos of the instal process for the rear brake pads and discs. I've noticed a distinct lack of web pages showing the install process for rear discs - lots of pages on how to change the pads, but not the discs. Hopefully someone may see my page and say 'ahh, that's how it's done!'.
I'll grab a photo of the scary front tyres as well. I am also contemplating installing a subwoofer this weekend; time (and guts) permitting, there will be photos of that as well!
I'll return soon....
