Tue, 07 Oct 1997

MkIX - more successes & Seatbelts

An update on the continuing story...

It's bloody freezing outside in the garage and my fingers are cold but here goes.

A trip round the Jag places in town today. Got the rear indicator lenses (NZ$20 each) and found 2 places for brake hoses. In NZ there is only one certified manufacturer for brake hoses (in Christchurch). Anywhere else and you have to buy "a clutch hose" - I suppose it's fair - if your hose fails you need to be able to talk to the supplier and get some decent care and attention! Anyway, at one place (Appco in New Lynn) they have front and rear hoses that look much the same but of course I didn't have the old ones off the IX... At the other (Brake & Trans, Stock Street New Lynn) they told me to bring in the old ones and within two days they would have new replicas sent back from the approved manufacturer in Christchurch. Not bad.

Back home after work - into the playsuit and rip off the offside front hose - - yep it's bad alright, the outer casing is torn. The design of the hose entry onto the wheel unit is downright bad, the hose has to do a double twist onto the metal pipe union thingy. No wonder it has torn where it has. Then I notice the tiniest of dribbles on the outside of the wheel cylinder around the piston seal - drat and double drat - another job (Shipwright's Disease in excelsis!) Off with the caliper unit and onto the bench - the MkII brakes experience had me set up in good stead and the thing was apart in 10 minutes. Oh woeful sight! rust, sludge and corrosion on the outboard cylinder. Cleaned up the mess and see the cylinder walls are lightly corroded in places - the dust cap is almost worn through. As I took out the pads I noticed one was thicker than the other... I found out the reason why - the inboard piston was totally immovable. With much delicate tapping (I must buy a soft-faced hammer!) and wiggling with levers, jack-hammers and a neutron bomb I managed to retrieve it from rust valley. After a clean up with emery cloth it doesn't look too bad - the corrosion/pitting is pretty grotty though.

A salutary reminder to all of us who think "she's alright" , the brakes are sort of fine! - I would recommend a total brake/caliper/wheel cylinder strip down for anyone who thinks their brakes aren't quite up to scratch. Leaving them for 10 years (or using them very little) is not a good idea!! We're off to the brake seal place tomorrow, naturally... and then on to the brake hose man to see if his hoses will match our originals.

The indicator lenses have been fitted - and a point to watch all you budding mechanics - don't be too heavy-handed when you are easing the chrome divider strip away from between the indicator and brake/side light lenses. The bent-over ends of the strip which hold it in place (and keep the lenses together) are FRAGILE. One of ours went *ping* when the strip broke at the sharp bend and I have had to resort to contact adhesive to keep it in place.

Seat belts - it;s reassuring to see others have been upgrading their belts and what they have found under their carpets! Our II has diagonals only and maybe when I buy that luscious 'S' I'll need to refer back to the last digest!

The IX's belts aren't in yet - we are still trying to see if we can avoid removing the cigar lighter surround on the 'B' pillar. There is a little square of veneer below it, possibly at the right height (maybe a little bit low) for the top belt anchor. Our gasts are flabbered though trying to work out how all those pieces of veneer stay in place. Here in NZ we have registered seat belt installers - we'll be trying them out to see what they know - we do not want the registration man to declare the whole new installation as un-certifiable at the last minute. More on this later.

Rally day is upon us in two weeks time - Auckland to Tauranga with 200 other British cars - should be a real sight - and we are the *ONLY* IX in the bunch! I will try and get some photos scanned for the web site - who will I e-mail them to?

Channel IX

Saloons

MK VII-IX