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Channel IX, 1960 Mark IX

Thu, 16 Oct 1997

Spit & Polish - and thank you

You accolades are overwhelming - I am honoured and humbled... and by the way the book of the saga will cost... hah!

Kon Kakanis - thanks for the info re brakes - yes please for the contact details for the people who did your servo and someone (anyone!) who understands what a MkIX is and what sort of brakes they have. I did phone PBR in Sydney - they were helpful but their stock line ends at MkIX master cylinder seals - no wheel cylinder seals.

My love affair with the damn brakes continues unabated (see below) - and I reckon it will be time (after the rally) for the servo to be given a good talking to!

BTW, I do actually take time to read every digest - all the news is fascinating - paint, steering columns, underspray, locking wires and nuts, how many MkIIs there are in Connecticut - I store every digest knowing that I will need the info sometime in the future - it's great to be a part of it all.

I am worried though - On Sunday we will have to meet other Jagnuts face to face and communicate verbally - this will be a new challenge!

Now, where were we? ah yes - Spit & Polish.

First the spit- With e seatbelts duly certified John took her along to the Testing Station (That place where the Lord High Executioner of automobiles resides). Over the pit, our man peers up at the brand new sparklingly clean brake hoses "they'll do" he says. THEY'LL DO? - what did he want, titanium plated kevlar? He oozes back out of the pit and wanders round to the back of the car - stares at the near perfectly orange coloured indicator lenses. "Hmmm - OK". The checklist is stared at. He then looks at the seatbelt compliance certificate which cost us (well, the bank manager) megabucks and glances at the belts. "OK" He didn't even try them out! - they could have paper mache replicas for all he knew!

"Right then". John's spirits lift - clearly he will issue the paperwork now. "I'll test the brakes" - John's spirit plummets as the man drives the IX on to the rollers. The handbrake has never been her strong point! The rollers grind away and to John's horror, the dials hardly flicker as the handbrake is put on. "Failed" says the snake charmer. Bring it back when you've fixed the brakes. John's spirit is now down in the inspection pit along with all his hopes to get the wretched car fully registered before the weekend (it is Thursday now - only one working day left).

I get the gloomy phone call at lunchtime. "I'm depressed" he says, "Are we ever going to make it for the rally?" "YOU BET!" - I drop every thing at work (my boss must be getting the message by now!) and race home. Into the playsuit, up onto axle stands (the car, not me) and the handbrake mechanism is getting the twice over (I gave it the once over once before and it obviously wasn't good enough - see previous mail - months ago). The sages on this newsgroup had said "the cables hardly ever stretch - it's always the rest of the system" - I sort of believed them but didn't really, there was just too much slack everywhere. I stared up at the cables, springs and levers somehow wishing Samantha would arrive and wiggle her nose. When she didn't arrive I reckoned I would have to get my brain round the problem. I wiggled everything in sight checking out where all the wiggles lived.

Bingo! too much wiggle in the lever mechanism on the wheel. Now, why is there too much? - the adjuster bolt was tight enough to make the pads just kiss the disc but still everything wiggled. There was obviously too much play in there. More closely I see that each of the linkages wobbled on worn pins. The combined wobbles made up a megawobble to give too much wiggle in the cables!

I also saw that when I had re-assembled the things last time I had not realised that the inner nut on the adjuster bolt HAD to be hard bang tight in against the fulcrum lever (inboard side) otherwise a lot of effort went into taking up the slack before the levers would do their thing. There was also a lot of jiggle on the hinge pin (I know what I'm talking about - to non-IXers you must be lost - although - the MkII is not a lot different) which rests in the outboard pad carrier. I delve into my special store of things (you know, that jam jar full of odds and sods which you keep for a rainy day) and find *just* the right size washers to take out the jiggle. I make sure the backing nut is hard up and do up the adjuster bolt. Shazam! half the wobbles and wiggles have gone! I rush round to the other side and repeat the exercise. Sh*t - I can't get the adjuster bolt to tighten the pads up to the disc. Everything is too tight - all the cables, everything - too bloody tight! Sheepishly I have to slacken off the adjustment block mid-system - I had been so lazy to expect that it would cure the problem previously... Yes, you guys, you were right, the cables DO NOT stretch - just everything else!!!

I lower her down and take away the chocks - biff her into 'drive', with the handbrake on - and - she stays right where she is. Hoorah! No more chasing that level parking spot...

Polish (no I hadn't forgotten) - Carried away with all this success, John's depression vanishes and we rip out the Solvol and attack the radiator grille. You IVs, Vs VIIs VIIIs and IXers out there will know that the gaps between the fins are just narrow enough to tear the skin on your fingers as you polish them and then rip it off as you take them out! - but by gad the final effect is stunning. The Lord High Executioner will be blinded by the gleams and just have to give us our certificate!

You will be pleased to know that you will be the first to get the final result - a World exclusive from Channel IX...

------------------------------

Channel IX


Saloons

MK VII-IX

 

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