Brakes!

It's been a while, that's for sure.  I don't get to give poor Hugo the attention he deserves so much as I'd like. This is the price you pay when you're refurbishing a house and moving and working non-stop...
So we had our MOT test done last weekend.  Went to a great garage called Ferndale Autos.  Never been before, but I was quite confident that all would be okay.  My only concern was the rear brakes, as I didn't get a chance to do them before the test.
The chap at Ferndale was really nice, and let me participate in the MOT process - I got to pump the brakes, turn the wheel, etc.  I know, not very exciting, but it was my second MOT test in the UK, and I didn't get to watch the first one (it was on my other car, a Golf).  He was impressed with the shape the car was in, particularly underneath.  I was lucky enough also to go underneath, and I got a good look at the gubbins down there.  The exhaust is good - a bit scraped at it's lowest part due to the very low suspension I had at one point.  There were similar scrapes on the frame just behind the front wheels from the same thing.  The plastic splash guard that protects the bottom on the engine was a bit loose, but I now know how to fix it when I get underneath.  I noticed the gearbox was a bit oily - it was a bit wet, nothing serious, and it looked like engine oil, but he said it's likely old ATF fluid (remember, this is an automatic!).  It didn't raise a warning for him, so I will replace the gasket at my leisure.
Everything else under there looked lovely - in good shape and not rusty at all for a twenty year old car!
Then came the brake test.  It did excellent on the rolling road bit, and he got out and said that I need to replace the rear pads, but it was still gripping really well.  That was the only warning on my MOT.  (It needed a bulb, but I replaced it before he wrote it up).  I told him I had the parts at home and I would do it straight away.  He saw that I had done lots of other stuff, and he asked if I did the work.  I said yes, and he said he would trust me to do the brakes real soon.  Top lad!
So, new brakes...
I was anxious to do them, and started bright and early.  I got the wheels off the back, the car set on jackstands, and chocked the front wheels.

Dirty old worn out discs!

I'm glad I read a bit about how to do the rear brakes before I started, because it wouldn't be immediately obvious how to push the piston back without knowing - there is a hidden screw inside the caliper that you unwind to retract the piston.

Here is the caliper off the axle, with an allen key in the piston retractor.

Here you can see the piston has been retracted - because you can't see the piston anymore!  It's gone behind the rubber seal

Once that was done, it was dead easy to remove the old discs (a quick tap with a hammer), and fit hte new pads:

Here you can see the difference between the new and the old.  the old ones were just starting to make a scraping sound.

Installed!

After getting stuff bolted back into place, I turned the allen key to seat the pads against the disc.  I turned them until there was resistance.  At that point, I couldn't easily turn the disc by hand, so I backed off the piston one full turn.  Then I threw the wheel back on, and went to the other side.

Not very visible, but that's okay - I know I've got some good brakes back there.

It took me about 45 minutes to re and re the passenger side brakes.  The driver's side took about half an hour, just because I knew what to do.  A few things I figured out in the process:

• The first time, I took the caliper right off the axle and then tried to remove the screw that hides the retractor screw.  I couldn't get the leverage, so I had to stick it back on.  So for the other side, I made sure to remove the screw before I removed the caliper.
• When I tried to fit the caliper with the new pads around the new disc, I had to wrangle it on - there wasn't much room.  So on the other side, I took the small metal guides off the caliper, brushed off the loose dust, resat them, and installed - much smoother going on.
• When getting the pads around the new disc, I quickly found I didn't have enough hands to hold the disc in the correct position, hold the pads apart, and guide the caliper into place.  I put one lug nut back on the lug and got it finger tight - this was enough to hold the disc steady.

So an hour and a half later, I had new brakes - yay!  I knew I would have to adjust the handbrake, so I got the car down on the ground and tested it.  The handle went up all the way with no resistance, so with the hand brake released, I took the cover off, and turned the adjusting screw clockwise about 15 revolutions.  Now the handle will only go up about 4 clicks - it used to go about 8 clicks before I did any work.  So I tested to see how well they held.  I started the car, put it in drive, engaged the hand brake, and released the foot brake.... I drove forward.
The hand brake is not engaging at all....
I tried adjusting the handle a bit, but no real difference.  Not sure what to do, I did some testing to bed the brakes down (long, slow, light pressure stops), and had a quick look online.  I found my fatal error quite quickly.  I had backed the piston off a full turn after they grabbed.  Apparently I only need to go back about a third of a turn.
So I set out to re-adjust.  And you know what happened?  It starte to rain.
So now I have a car with great brakes - the pedal travel is solid, and it feels good - but no hand brake.  I guess that will have to wait a few more days.  The car's parked until the weekend anyway, so I'll have a go at the adjustments then.
Anyway, it was great getting back under the car and getting grease under my nails - I missed working on it!
So next weekend, brake adjust and a polish of the paint - the paint has faded again, so it's looking rather pink - a bit embarrassing, so best to sort out as soon as...