Front Outer CV Boot & Rear Wheel Bearing Bushes - Replacing

[steamship]

UPDATE - swings and roundabouts

New spring is in on the passenger side, after buying a set of spring compressors. Replacing the drivers side as well; as suggested; so I can do the CV boot whilst that is out of the way.

CV boot/driveshaft update - Having no success finding anyone who could do the job, I managed to purchase a brand new driveshaft (not OEM) suitable for the car specs. Pulled the driveshaft out, and discover that the new one is not correct, so it's back to replacing the CV boot. Thankfully, someone I know offered to replace the boot by taking the CV joint off, instead of expanding the boot over the joint with one of those tools. Job done, and driveshaft back in place.

Brakes - Something that wasn't originally in my plans, but I had noticed on a couple of heavy braking occasions recently that there was a vibration from the front right, so ordered up a set of discs and calipers. Already had the drivers side off to do the driveshaft etc., and discovered that the carrier was seized. Have to assume this happened after the last MOT, as the machine would have picked up on it, but since I tend to be light on brakes, it's never been an issue until there was sudden heavy braking. Turns out that the discs, advertised as the correct ones for the car (1LX), and every single dimension being identical to mine, are, not surprisingly, wrong. This time, the height is wrong. They should be 60mm, but instead they are 45mm. Basically, what that means is that it is physically impossible to fit the outer brake pads.

This is costing more and more, with now two returns processes being started. The driveshaft should be easy, since it wasn't removed from the inner clear plastic bag. The disc on the other hand will probably be an issue, since I had tried to fit it, although I purchased it based on the listed specs. I shouldn't have to then measure everything again. Another pair have been ordered from elsewhere, and this time the specs confirmed.

Another couple of days lost to an already tight deadline.

[sarg]

Originally Posted by steamship

Another couple of days lost to an already tight deadline.

fingers crossed for you

[steamship]

UPDATE - ♪ Back on the Road Again ♪

Brakes - Something I forgot to mention in the previous post was about the callipers, which I should have spotted as soon as I opened the box. They arrived without the carriers on them, despite the photos showing otherwise. That meant more work pulling the old ones apart, and cleaning the carriers before transplanting them over.

Anyway, this is how much of the spring that broke off (cut again with an angle grinder to get it out of the way):



This is the before and after solution, and yes, those are genuine old 'new' stock shock absorbers. Bought them in 2017, and even back then had difficulties getting them shipped across to NI. Ended up sending them to my brother who was still living in England at the time, and he brought them over when he came fishing.





And this is the final result, times 2:



I also bought two new pinch bolts thinking I'll replace them while I'm at it, since they're a known cause of heartache, even though I don't have to touch them, and true to form, one was seized solid. Ironically, it was the drivers side, the same side that I had to replace the entire suspension strut of (thankfully, A8parts came to the rescue on that)... because the mechanic couldn't get the pinch bolt out of the original. That was in April 2017, and true to his form, he hammered it in that tight, it's going to be another nightmare to work on.

There's still the MOT to get done, and even though mine 'expired' a week ago, I'm still able to drive it on NI roads because of the backlog here. My MOT date is at the start of July, so tomorrow I have to phone them and ask for an emergency appointment because I'm going across to the mainland. I still need to check around the rest of the car to make sure none of the little things are likely to fail it, and also get it washed top and bottom.

When I was at the physio during the week, we were talking cars, and he said he just booked his MOT, and the date he got was in October!

[sarg]

[tonupkid]

Good luck with the MOT Sean and hopefully you'll be able to make the meet

[steamship]

Originally Posted by tonupkid

Good luck with the MOT Sean and hopefully you'll be able to make the meet

Hope so. I phoned them at 9:00am this morning only to discover it's a bank holiday, so will try again tomorrow. Hoping to get it done and passed this week so I can get a good long test drive done before heading across. A 400+ mile drive to the meet ain't my idea of doing a test drive.

[steamship]

RANT - and I'm keeping this as polite as I can manage!

The DVA in NI is £$%^&* disgrace.

I phoned them first thing, and spent 10 minutes on hold. I'm told they issue 'emergency' appointments based on the same data that the drivers have access to. Bearing in mind that today is 28th May, these are the 'earliest' appointment dates available at all the NI sites:




I literally have to sit here on the laptop with their page open, refresh it, scan for a suitable appointment, and if there are none, refresh the page and start again. I get 20 minutes of this and then the session is terminated. I then have to start at the first screen and repeat the whole process.

Even if you do find a suitable date, by the time you've clicked on the centre name, the appointment has gone! She even said that some people are going across to Scotland to get MOTs done. Yeah, no problem, £300 plus fuel costs to get a MOT.