What I did with my Rover 75/MG ZT today?

[klarzy]

Originally Posted by pab

A nice upgrade, but expensive. This is something that I'm thinking about.

swelling hoses was an mot brake imbalance fail for me 2 years ago.... I changed discs / pads / piston seal kits etc before that worked...

[Jules]

Interesting post !

Approved Motor Factors don't generally supply braided hoses or LED head/tail lamps etc.
Wonder what that tells us

[klarzy]

Originally Posted by Jules

Interesting post !

Approved Motor Factors don't generally supply braided hoses or LED head/tail lamps etc.
Wonder what that tells us :rolleys:

It tells me that the normal oem supply chain is geared to a limited price product with a factor if safety and quality that meets the industry norms as cacluated by solicitors and accountants.

This does not mean that those products are superior or inferior to for example braided hoses which are preferred for the ability both to contain pressure by preventing unwanted expansion if the line and protecting to an extent from abrasion and puncture.

I am sure if the main manufacturers added braided hoses to the normal repertoire then the quality suppliers would follow suit.
If race regulations for example stipulate braided hoses do they do so for safety it for bling ?

I for one will fit them in the future as I do believe they are mechanically stronger and therefore safer. It is the same with corrosion resistant brake pipes ie stainless steel. It is only cost consideration that prevents it being a norm.

[marinabrian]

A new member to the forum Graham Saxo, contacted me with a tale of woe, no brake lights, and having spent a fortune at a "garage" to repair this fault, well let's just say I was speechless at the standard of absolute bodgery

This was on top of a raft of other maladies, that nearly gave T4 a nervous breakdown

First the brake light switch had been removed, and replaced with this rather sharp and raggy edged item, affixed with a couple of 1 1/2 roofing bolts




Wired with a couple of crimps (badly) to a switched live, and fed to the rear brake lamp wiring in the boot, with a delightful cross over wire fed to the passenger side......



So the column was removed to allow the pedal box to be unshipped from it's mountings, and a replacement switch fitted along with reinstatement of the original wiring.

Once reassembled, it would appear that the malfunctioning speedo/rev counter/HRW/ABS has been resolved.

Happy days I thought, not so after a short test drive, charge warning, ABS actuation, cruise and traction warning lamps, speedo off, rev counter off.

As this had taken most of Saturday to get to this stage, and failing light, not to mention the fact I was attending my mother's 75th birthday I left it until this morning to investigate further.

So what did I discover.... I'll let the pictures do the talking
























No fewer than sixteen individual wires had been compromised in one way or another, either completely broken, or insulation chaffed and corroded conductors.

The cure for this after carefully separating the loom, and washing the area completely, was to cut each damaged cable back, and let in a new section of the correct gauge and colour coded wire to replace what was bad, then use adhesive lined heatshrink sleeving to seal the repairs.

No mean feat, when some of the copper had turned black, even six inches from the original defect

This was remedied using a scotchbrite pad to remove the blackness, then a special flux applied prior to soldering.

After all had been made good, and tested, the wiring was carefully rewrapped in black tape, and all fastenings and fixings arranged to prevent a repeat failure

After reassembling the car, a 25 mile test drive revealed no more maladies, and T4 gave a reassuring fault free reading

This was one of those occasions where poor workmanship and a real apathy in regards to the care of their customers needs, could very nearly have resulted in the scrapping of an otherwise nice car.

Poor Graham was at his wits end with the car, and came to me as the last chance saloon.

Hopefully he left here tonight in a happier frame of mind

Brian

[A19_Graham]

Be interested to know which garage(s) he had used Brian, obviously being quite local.

(BR)iron Man, saves the day yet again.

Hope the Mutha Bacons Burpday went well.

[Jordan Apex]

Good thing you never went into full retirement then man of many talents, as well as a lot of patience obviously!

[Jules]

Originally Posted by klarzy

This does not mean that those products are superior or inferior to for example braided hoses which are preferred for the ability both to contain pressure by preventing unwanted expansion if the line and protecting to an extent from abrasion and puncture.

I am sure if the main manufacturers added braided hoses to the normal repertoire then the quality suppliers would follow suit.
If race regulations for example stipulate braided hoses do they do so for safety it for bling ?

I for one will fit them in the future as I do believe they are mechanically stronger and therefore safer. It is the same with corrosion resistant brake pipes ie stainless steel. It is only cost consideration that prevents it being a norm.

Agreed Klarzy
But there are "braided products" and quality braided products.
Those pipes which burst in above post were probably a cheap brand sold in fancy packaging !!
There are many racing type "upgraded" products which maybe better performing than original equipment when first fitted but so many I've seen simply don't last and end up performing less well after a few months than OEM stuff.

I had a customers car in last year with every upgrade imaginable on it.
Drilled discs, lowered springs, hard bushes.........it drove like a dog and felt like it had done 400k miles and didn't stop or hold the road as well as my bog standard ZT

Originally Posted by marinabrian

A new member to the forum Graham Saxo, contacted me with a tale of woe, no brake lights, and having spent a fortune at a "garage" to repair this fault, well let's just say I was speechless at the standard of absolute bodgery

This was on top of a raft of other maladies, that nearly gave T4 a nervous breakdown

First the brake light switch had been removed, and replaced with this rather sharp and raggy edged item, affixed with a couple of 1 1/2 roofing bolts



Brian

Why do they do it Bri ????
A little knowledge is dangerous as they say.
That must have been a Morris Minor mechanic who hasn't kept up with today's technology

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by A19_Graham

Be interested to know which garage(s) he had used Brian, obviously being quite local.

(BR)iron Man, saves the day yet again.

Hope the Mutha Bacons Burpday went well.

I don't know Graham, but it was shocking work and they had the audacity to charge the poor bloke £160 for it.

It wouldn't have been so bad if it actually worked, but unsurprisingly given the state of the job, it didn't

Brian

P.S. yes we had a super party last night, not every day you turn 75 after all

[Jules]

Bri
This was the pic I was trying to PM you with but it didn't work on my phone last night.
Here's the ECM voltage (14.3) compared to the cigar voltage now within 0.01 volts

Wish I'd taken a photo of when it disagreed by 0.8 volts !!

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by Jules

Bri
This was the pic I was trying to PM you with but it didn't work on my phone last night.
Here's the ECM voltage (14.3) compared to the cigar voltage now within 0.01 volts

Wish I'd taken a photo of when it disagreed by 0.8 volts !!

Hmm, MAF disconnected too

Brian