Another MOT for the DHC

Yesterday morning I drove the DHC to my friendly garage for its biennial inspection and a thorough check of the front suspensions alignment. As almost everything had been checked in the previous weeks I wasn't to worried about the inspection's outcome. And my gut feeling turned out to be correct. Nothing wrong and no advisories, though in my opinion the CO level (@ 4,22% within the limits) was slightly high. But that will be addressed soon when I am going to fit the refurbished carburettors.

Another smallish issue came to light on the brake test bed. Both front and rear brakes were OK (with the rears exactly the same left and right!), but the hand brake showed a 50% difference between left and right. As the combined retardation for the LH and RH side was well above the minimum figure that was also a pass. Again something to address when I returned home.

And the last item on the to do list was a thorough check of the alignment of the car's front suspension. Turned out to be slightly worse than expected. But easily corrected with the proper equipment! But when I wanted to set off for home (via some lovely country lanes of course) the owner of the workshop rushed out to tell me he forgot to refit the outer cable ties for the steering rack's gaiters. Not life threatening so something that could wait till I returned home.

After lunch and some housekeeping duties the tools were out. As the engine bay still was slightly hot I started at the back of the car, adjusting the handbrake. After disconnecting the handbrake cable and depressing the brake pedal a few times, a rasping sound from the left hand rear brake proved my suspicion. The self-adjusting mechanism hadn't adjusted properly due to the hand brake cable's tension. Should have disconnected it in the first place. But glad it was an easy fix!

Time for the last and even more easy job, fit two cable ties to the steering rack gaiters. But while working on the LH side I noted a slight fuel smell, which was stronger on the RH side. And while finishing the cable tie on that side I thought I saw a small drop falling to the ground. Time to get he light out. Turned out the fuel hose between the fuel pipe and filter had become porous. And my attempts to find the exact location of the leak (hose or clips or cracked filter) had made it worse. So something that had to be dealt with immediately. Luckily I always have some lengths of spare hose lying around. Sadly searching for a correct piece of hose actually took longer than fitting it!

As can be seen in the picture above, this one was well and truly fit for the bin. At least it showed me again that current quality hoses really have become a regular service item! And while working on the hose, I found out that the front pulley's oil seal, which was replaced last summer together with a new front pulley was leaking badly. How I hate this disposable society!