ARM RESTING

For some while I have been cutting lengths of 22mm pipe insulation to make arm rests for Marjorie. Good thing that they are only 92p for a metre length as it has taken four goes to get the right fit, that is, tucking in neatly at the front end and slipping in at the side of the back rest.

Having got them carved correctly, it was time to cover them and a metre of black leatherette fabric was ordered from an EBay supplier.

I covered the drivers side first, I used spray on impact adhesive to wrap the fabric around the foam, having first checked on an off-cut that the glue didn't melt the foam, I then trimmed and stuck down the ends by brushing on the adhesive and the finished item looked good, that was until I fitted it on the car. As I spread the foam roll to go over the side rail a large, irregular ridge of loose leatherette appeared along the top, disappointing!

OK, so it would probably be best to glue the fabric onto the foam with it in place on the car. With the fabric cut for the passenger side and lots of masking off, the glue was sprayed  and the fabric applied and smoothed down. I waited fifteen minutes or so before I removed the foam from the side of the car and then I sprayed the remainder of foam and fabric and tucked the fabric around all of the edges.

When I fitted the finished passenger side arm rest it looked just perfect, no wrinkles and neatly filled the gaps fore and aft. I am going to have to lash out another 92p for one more length of foam pipe insulation, at least I have got plenty of black leatherette fabric left over, but I am going to have to redo the drivers side.

There is a small quadrant of exposed fiber glass at each end of the dash board, above the new armrest, that still needs to be filled and I will cut a thin piece of board to fit this area and wrap it in the leather cloth to neatly trim this area.

Other jobs to be done, is to start preparing Marjorie for the MSVA test by removing all the bits and bobs, such as, spot light, honky horn and eagle mascot and fit the bull bars to the front.

MOT'D

The first step towards registration has been achieved, Marjorie passed her MOT test with no problem.

Actually Marjorie didn't need to have a MOT test as the MSVA test is the big one, which if passed allows registration, but it is considered a good idea to have an MOT test first as it will highlight any potential problems.

The six and a half mile journey through busy South London roads was nerve racking, but was achieved with only one engine cut out whilst waiting at traffic lights. The next nerve racking time was driving the car over the pit and lining the rear wheel up with the very narrow centrally placed U channel, but the tester waved me on accurately and all was well.

I stopped on the way back at the Goat pub for a celebratory pint and to phone my long suffering wife with the good news and to take a couple of photos. First one off Marjorie basking in the sunshine in the rather scrubby car park and the second one of that all important piece of paper.

The MOT appointment nearly got cancelled, as on Wednesday, during a final drive around the block, the front brakes locked up again and I had to ask a local resident for a bucket of water to cool them down. My build buddy Pete had said previously that it shouldn't be necessary to skim the pads and Arthur came up with various suggestion to track down the problem. After a sleepless night and lots of head scratching, all it took was 1/8 of an inch adjustment to the length of the master cylinder actuator rod to allow it to fully retract into the cylinder when I took my foot of the brake pedal, problem solved. Hooray.

SKIMMING THE SURFACE

I've sorted the brakes and it didn't take three hours, nothing like it.

Removing the pads was only possible by first unbolting the callipers from the support brackets and pulling the callipers complete with pads off the discs, it was easy then to remove the pads.

One by one I gripped them in the vice and applied an abrasive disc to the surface of each pad, which took only a few moments. When I put pads back in the callipers and bolted the callipers back on, the wheels spun freely, job done I thought. A couple of runs around the block and the brakes didn't lock on and the discs were only warm, but job only half done, for when I firmly pressed the brake pedal the back wheel locked up long before I felt the front brakes bite.

Not surprising really as my assault with the angle grinder and abrasive disc was a bit brutal. I put on the thinking cap and pondered how I could get a uniformly flat surface to each pad and eventually I got the answer.

The answer was my electric drill fitted in my cheapo drill stand and with a large router cutter fitted in the drill. I lightly oiled the the base of the drill stand so that the back of each disc would slide easily on it. Next stage was to lower the drill and cutter so that it touched the pad, I then slipped the pad out and lowered the drill and cutter by a tenth of a mil. With the drill revolving at its fastest speed I pushed a pad back under the cutter and it started to skim away the surface, I kept moving the pad around until all of the surface was moving freely under the spinning cutter.

There was an area of the pad that was still lower than the rest of the surface, so I went through the same procedure, lowering the cutter by a tenth of a mil. and after the pad had been under the cutter this time,  the whole surface was absolutely flat. The same procedure for the other three pads and then back in the callipers and back on the car and out for a test run. Perfect! I nearly hit the little Brooklands windscreen, full braking power restored and no over heated discs.

The only mistake I  made was when I took the photo I had my phone on video, at least I now know how to upload a video clip to the blog site and apologises for the appalling quality. Ohh, by the way, I wore a face mask all the time I was grinding and skimming the pads, I know they don't contain asbestos anymore, but I still didn't want to be breathing in any of that dust.