kevin s's blog

[tractorman]

Having bought a set of stainless hoses for my Land Rover that were made by a famous British Part supplier, I was rather annoyed to find that all three hoses had the short end used for connecting to tees - one should be like that (for rear brakes), but the front ones should have both ends to suit a double flared pipe. I went back on eBay and checked various other sellers of that product and they show the same, incorrect, ends for the front pipes! To save time and hassle, I bought some Aeroquip hoses (the two pipes cost 25% more than the set of three!). I wonder how many of the "less experienced" would think that the pipes were correct and fit them straight to the wheel cylinder (as they'd leak when connected to the pipe) and end up in a dangerous situation.

What bugs me is that the suppliers and manufacturers get away this such things; they have the mantra "we don't make it right as it costs more and people won't pay the extra". Perhaps if they DID make it right and charged the extra, people would HAVE to pay more. Of course, this would mean that there should be some legislation that outlaws the cheap rubbish that the dealers import. Come to think of it, doesn't the Trading Standards regs say something about "fit for purpose"? Perhaps we should start shouting to them - especially as our lives (and others) may depend on these parts.

[SirTainleyBarking]

And these are the morons who complain about type approval of parts and how it would destroy the aftermarket parts business.

Well boys don't shift sh** then. There is a hell of a difference between fettling repair panels to fit, and something that will at best leave you stranded (Chinese made Lucas branded dizzy parts come to mind for me) and at worst leave you needing aftermarket body parts 'cos you've just whacked a wall

[kstrutt1]

There certainlly is a good case for safety critcal parts to have to meet some sort of quality standard, even a voluntary one so at least we could identify the good parts from bad, something like the red tractor mark would do it for me.

[kstrutt1]

Fitted the new master cylinder but as always with the landrover twin leading shoe set up bleeding is now a problem I can get a pedal by clamping the RH front off so there seems to be air in in there, I will need to take the drums off tomorrow and fully retract the cylinders, I find this usualy does the trick.

I did at least manage to prime and stone chip the windsceen frame on the mazda which was rusting due to stone chips, tomorrow i will top coat it.

[tractorman]

One of the things I want to do with my Land Rover is to "reverse" the piping on the front brakes so that the bleed nipple is on the top wheel cylinder. That should be the next brake job - the new lines are fitted apart from the ones on the front "stub axles" (flexy pipes to wheel cylinders) and I am leaving that until I sort the seals on the spheres (hopefully this week).

[TerryG]

Which land rover have you got?
if you have an older one, Discovery / range rover brakes are really cheap so you could upgrade to vented discs not much money.

[kstrutt1]

Spent most of today fiddling with the brakes on my series landie, after several attempts I now have a reasonable pedal, still a little soft but good enough to lock the wheels, one of the front bleed nipples was very tight but eventually I got it off and fitted new ones, next summer I will replace all the seals, the dodgy adjusters and move the nipple to the top which requires a bracket for the hose and a short steel (or kunifer) pipe to go to the bottom. I also fitted the new shoes to the rear but even with the adusters fully backed off they are binding, I suspect the new linings are running in a slightly different part of the drum so I will drive it around for a day or 2 and see if they free off, also finished the windscreen frame on the mazda which has come out well.

[kstrutt1]

Been a very quiet time on the car front, we went away for the first week of xmas and the second week has been full of family things I did get one day to go over the landie and sort out a couple of issues, firstly there was the hole I noticed in the bottom of tge chassis, it appeared to have started in the double skinned part above the bump stop. So I decided to cut it all out and replace with a thicker 4mm single skin.


As found and first cut made

landie chassis1.jpg (36.22 KiB) Viewed 1662 times

All cut out

landie chassis2.jpg (52.28 KiB) Viewed 1662 times

Repair patch cut out and trial fitted.

landie chassis3.jpg (38.47 KiB) Viewed 1662 times

Patch welded in, not particularly neat but plenty strong enough.

landie chassis4.jpg (30.77 KiB) Viewed 1662 times

Just need to remember to wax inside it later in the year, I was actually pleasantly pleased with how solid the rest of it was, and it was obvious the previous wax treatments were doing a reasonable job.

[kstrutt1]

I also had another go at the brakes, firstly I replaced the seized front adjuster, which only took a 10 minutes to chop the old one off and bolt the new on, then I had another go at bleading them this time with an easy bleed as I had been given one of the universal adaptors for xmas so it would fit the landie, this is the adaptor.

eziadaptor.jpg (77.23 KiB) Viewed 1660 times

As supllied it is absolutely hopeless, with 5psi in a tyre and the strap as tight as I could get it I had fluid spraying all over the place, it's a good job it was the landie and not something a bit prettier.

So I had to make this to clamp the cap on.

eziclamp.jpg (79.21 KiB) Viewed 1660 times

This time no leaks, but by just pressure bleeding I still had a spongy pedal. Finaly I tried pumping the fluid through using the pedal with the ezi bleed attached, this seemed to do the trick and I now have a nice firm pedal.

Hopefully things will slow down a bit now and I will get some evenings in the garage, I would like to get the welding finished on the minor so we can paint the interior and engine compartment this summer and begin the mechanical build up over next winter.

[kstrutt1]

Decided to sort out why the landy would not run on petrol as when it gets cold my local lpg pump seems to pack up, no petrol was getting through but the pump was clattering away, I tool the pick up out the tank and found it thick in rust, I then took the gauge sender out and had a look in the tank, there is a lot of rust particularly on the top surface which must be conensation. To get it running I pulled the gauze off the pick up and added a in line filter, this also explains why the gauge has packed up it is also heavily corroded. I guess lack of use has caused this, later in the year I will get some fuel tank coating.
It now starts and runs on petrol fine though.