IT LIVES! IT LIVES! IT LIVES! (Was: The End...?)

[steve_earwig]

What a pair of beauties! Very nice work guys, it really sounds like she's in good hands G.

[Doggy]

Top stuff.

What a pair of beauties!

The red ones are the best.

(Was the Union Jack for Mark's benefit, Graeme)?

[highlander]

That's not my flat!

[highlander]

OK, over the course of Monday through Wednesday, Mark and I:

- took the stainless section of the exhaust off, applied liberal quantity of exhaust goo to the sleeved joint, and put the stainless bit back on (I polished the boxes and tailpipe while it was off the car)
- replaced the brake discs, pads, calipers, handbrake shoes, and handbrake cables
- replaced the rotten sections of brake pipe
- bled the brakes thoroughly
- replaced all indicator bulbs (the orange paint on the bulbs had all but peeled off and the light was practically white in comparison to how it is now)
- got the wheels back on, having had the new tyres fitted
- removed the front seats, stripped back the leather, repaired the seat heater elements, reassembled them, and put them back in the car
- removed the door cards and replaced the black standard door handles with shiny metallic ones, and put the door cards back on

While the seats were out, I took the opportunity to give the carpeting a bloody good hoover. We also checked the cabin air filter (remarkably clean), and I pulled enough soil out of the scuttle to pot a plant with - the soil was really damp, so I wonder if that's where some of the condensation was coming from on the insides of the windows.

To be fair to the original tester who failed it, 8 out of the 9 things on the fail list really were quite severe - the brakes were absolutely shot, in a really shocking state. The indicator bulbs, minor though this may be, were basically white. The front tyres really were completely unsafe. The only thing Mark and I found to be a bit overstated was the "major" leak in the exhaust; it wasn't all that bad, and should probably have just been an advisory.

Mark left on Wednesday night. We were fortunate enough to have brilliant weather on Monday and Wednesday, and almost all of Tuesday (it did spit with rain a bit in the afternoon, but not enough to stop play). Absolutely top bloke, really nice guy, and really knowledgeable about Coupes. His own Diablo is a lovely looking and lovely sounding thing.

My car is now at the MOT centre for the re-test. And I'm currently absolutely bricking it. I'm at work and I just can't concentrate!

There'll still be a couple of advisories - the subframe corrosion, the number plates, and the slight oil leak are the ones that spring to mind - but I'll get them sorted out at some point. I also need to replace my side indicators; the clip on the right side broke, but Mark helped this by putting a piece of foam material in place to help the clip spring back into place once the indicator is pushed in. The left side lens fell out, and I bodged a fix for this with a small tube of PVA glue (here's one I made earlier!)

* goes back to nibbling fingernails nervously *

[steve_earwig]

That's an impressive list of achievements, well done ;D Fingers crossed for the correct result, if there's any justice he'll see you've addressed all the main issues and issue a ticket there and then.

[highlander]

MOT PASSED! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*breathes*OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Many, many thanks to Mark.W from the Coupe forums for all his hard work; I could not have got the car back on the road without him.

No idea on the advisories yet, will be picking the car up on my way home this afternoon.

SO PLEASED.

Thread title amended accordingly!

[Welly]

Great news indeed!

I guess if anything this has proved a lesson as to how fast a car can go downhill (not literally) and that a regular crawl about underneath with some spray grease in all the right places will slow down or prevent many of the things you suffered. I guess it would be ideal to learn how to strip/clean/copper slip your brake calipers and pads in order to keep things working well, and save you money long term.

I'm now coming round to thinking more about how to prolong the life of my own car and stop it becoming an uneconomical mess. In the summer I'm planning to have a day or two under the thing and going nuts with the rust-away shiz WCPGW?

I used to work with a very intelligent man of advancing years and he always said that you can replace anything attached to a car; Engines, gear boxes, etc but once rust takes hold you're f*cked (his words not mine) and how right he is (was)....

[benczuk]

Well done.

[steve_earwig]

That is indeed splendid news Now don't let it happen again

[Doggy]

Brilliant result, well done!

[DaiRees]

Excellent work! Another one saved from the scrapyard in the sky

[jasper5]

Glad you got it back on the road

This is classic proof that preventative maintenance can save you lots of grief in the future!

[highlander]

The last MOT showed nothing wrong, no advisories even. Those old discs and pads only went on at the end of 2013. I knew the handbrake was crap, but it's never been all that great anyway, and the 406 handbrake seems to be notorious for being poor (especially on cars with rear discs, rather than rear drums).

Also, at what point does a casual owner have to ask a garage to go inspect the brake lines for corrosion? You need to get right under the car to see them, especially the bits that had (in my case) gone crusty as hell. Even with the car jacked up and on axle stands, Mark found access to some of these lines to be hideous.

I take my family out in that car; if I'd thought the brakes were as bad as that, it'd have been straight to the garage to get sorted out, rather than waiting for an MOT fail. This is why I was so surprised that it had 9 fails. NINE! I'd never seen that many advisories on an MOT before, let alone outright failures.

The other thing I have to note is that while I was driving the car around the car park after Mark had finished fixing things, the brakes didn't really feel any more effective than they had done previously - my brake pedal has always felt quite squashy, and I've never felt the car pull to one side when braking. Granted, the handbrake felt immediately better. Other than taking the calipers off and checking the movement of the pistons and sliders, how else can I tell the calipers have had it other than by how the car feels under braking? How do the MOT testers test brake function? Is this something I can easily replicate once a week/month?

Also, my tyres were completely bald from the middle to the inside, indicating camber is set incorrectly. Can this be rectified?

[Welly]

Wait until your discs and pads have bedded in, then you'll notice how bad the brakes used to be. We get used to things over time and find ourselves compensating for wear by driving differently so you would be forgiven for not knowing anything was wrong.

I personally think the MOT place were a bit harsh on yours but to be honest they've done you a favour I think.

The tyre wear should be corrected asap with a Wheel Alignment check, try and find somewhere with a Hunters Machine and ask about a 4-wheel alignment. A properly aligned car can drive totally different (i.e. MUCH better) when set correctly.

[Bailes1992]

I guess if anything this has proved a lesson as to how fast a car can go downhill (not literally) and that a regular crawl about underneath with some spray grease in all the right places will slow down or prevent many of the things you suffered. I guess it would be ideal to learn how to strip/clean/copper slip your brake calipers and pads in order to keep things working well, and save you money long term.

Nothing truer than the above.
I've ignored a few problems with the missus KA for a few months due to work and all of a sudden the amount of work it needs means I'll be purchasing her a new car this weekend. On the bright side I have a KA to use as a base for a track car.


Glad you got the 406 back on the road! Would have been a shame to see another 406 Coupe go to the scrap yard!