Post MOT service DHC

With a fresh MOT for the DHC, it was time for her postponed service. Most important being the fluids (the hydraulics were ignored as these were changed last year) First the old oil filter and drain plug were removed, so the still warm old oil could drain from the engine. Pretty easy when you have access to a four post lift!

With the engine oil draining from the engine I turned my attention to the fluid levels in the gear box and back axle. Both turned out to be fine. Which was hardly surprising, as there were no signs of any leaks from both. This couldn’t be said from the engine’s front crank shaft seal (UKC 3344). This was leaking badly, though it wasn’t a fail yet! But bearing in mind it was fitted less than 5 years ago (together with a new front pulley), I can only conclude the seals quality was rather poor. So I decided not to use the normal TR7 suppliers, but my trusty vernier caliper and a specialised bearing supplier. Taking reference measurements from a spare front pulley and timing cover, I found out I was looking for an 1 7/8” x 2 5/8” x 3/8” oil seal. And I ordered a few of these, from a renowned manufacturer (Eriks) and reasonably priced.

And with the car on the four poster lift, access to the front pulley and the oil seal was easy, making it a straight forward, 15 minutes job. The biggest challenge (if it could be called that!) was putting in the new seal. This took a few extra minutes as access is limited by the fan shroud. What was obvious though, was that the quality of the new seal felt much better. The old one felt much harder. See if that was the cause for the seal’s short life span! Final job was cleaning the filth left by the oil leak.

Next in line, and final job for the day, were the custom-prop shaft’s union joints grease fittings. Greasing them was easy, but getting the surplus grease from between the yokes wasn’t. As the amount of grease against the gear lever extension clearly shows (I might fabricate a shroud to prevent this happening in future to protect the connector!?)

After which it was time to enjoy the car for a few hours. The most important point of attention here were the brakes. And I am pleased to say that they are slowly settling in. The pedal still is very light, but the feeling is starting to get confidence inspiring. Will do my best to add some more miles before September …

Various small jobs on the DHC

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!