After the brakes and
fittings were successfully sorted last week, it was time for some smaller servicing
jobs. To start with the renewal of the fluid in the clutch system. Bearing in
mind I had no assistance, I first emptied the reservoir on top of the clutch
master cylinder with a large syringe and cleaned out all the rubber muck that
had gathered there in the previous two years since I did this job. After that
it was simply a case of topping up the reservoir and pump the clutch pedal till
the reservoir was almost empty and then quickly close the bleed nipple. By the second
time I did this, the fluid coming out was clean and without any air bubbles.
Time to quickly close the bleed valve again and switch to another minor task in
that same area. Check the oil filter for leaks.
During the renewal of
the oil and the oil filter a few weeks ago, I encountered a small problem while
removing the old filter. Trying to unscrew the filter resulted in the adapter plate
turning too! Turned out that the filter seal was stronger than the adapter plate’s
seal. Resulting in the plate turning underneath the mounting bolt. After unscrewing
the filter less than a ¼ turn broke the seal between filter and plate. In
theory this could have dislocated the seal between adapter plate and engine
block. So just to be sure I fired up the engine and let it idle for a few
minutes. An inspection afterwards revealed no leaks. Though the area could do
with a proper clean to get rid of some older oil and road grime …
Next job was bleeding the
brake system. As with the clutch system I had to perform this task without
assistance. Though it is slightly more time consuming this way it all went pretty
smoothly. Starting with the rear brakes, I filled the brake fluid reservoir,
opened the bleeding nipple and pushed the brake pedal down a few times to start the fluid flow. Keeping
an eye on the fluid level in the reservoir, I continued until clean fluid
without air bubbles was emerging from the bleed hose. The same procedure was successfully
repeated with the front brakes, though I have to admit that lying alongside the
car to keep an eye on the bleeding hose and pressing the clutch or brake pedal
by hand is fairly hard work!
While working on my
cars I usually store the various parts that are coming off in the boot. And
that is when I noticed that one of the screws to fix the number plate light was
missing.
Originally they are
fitted using small plastic screws. As these were all badly damaged when I
removed them in the context of the car’s restoration I decided to use small
steel screws instead. But to prevent damage to the light armatures I didn’t
tighten them down fully. In combination with a slightly worn spring clip meant
one screw managed to escape. To prevent this from happening again I pinched the
clips back together and decided to place small rubber O-rings under the screws’
head to prevent the armatures from cracking. Will see how it holds now.
Another fault that came
to light while working on the brakes were the dust covers for the hand brake
levers where they pass through the back plates.
As you can see from the
picture above they were well passed their prime. Nothing to worrying were it
not that these were renewed only last
year. So another (be it small) job to grace the to-do-list. But not before
finishing of the work by cleaning the wheels in order to get rid of some road and
brake dust. Hopefully I’ll be able to take the car for a drive tomorrow!
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