Yesterday was a good day !

Trundled over to Andy's gaff yesterday, and after some rather nice coffee got to work on the car.
On the list today:
1. Remove a rather awkwardly sited bracket, making access better to the
2. Steering box, being changed for one from breaker
3. Christen my new 52mm hub socket
4. refit exhaust down pipe

The annoying bracket nearly got the better of Andy. Nearly, but only because he owns an angle grinder !

The next job was disconnecting and draining fluid from the steering box, and we managed to catch most of it!  We quickly released the track rod from the arm on the output shaft (hammer against hammer method - works every time), then with me under the car and Andy working from above we managed to drop the box out of the car. Quite how people do this on their own is quite frankly beyond me!
The new one was then offered up into position and we tried to get the 4 bolts back in, but struggled big time. On further inspection found the thread holes full of dirt and rust, and had to recut them with the bolts. Second time around it went in quite easily, though we did have to slacken the 2 bolts securing the support bar. All bolted back up, fluid lines connected and topped up with fluid.  Bled system to get the air out, followed by quick rest drive to check steering wheel alignment, and adjust.

The nearside front wheel bearing had started to come loose , i could feel it through the steering at speed on motorways etc. Andy had shown me about 6 months ago how to replace the bearing, and now using my own tools i set about the adjustment, with Andy tutoring me over my shoulder. How else am i gonna learn.

Finally and with the thought of more coffee, we set to work on the exhaust downpipe. Obviously when i fitted it a few months ago I cant of tightened it enough. We managed to loosen the flange bolts then refit the pipe in a better position.

Job done, and what a lovely cup of coffee we had. Nice to see Andy laugh when i talked about removing the BCB's from Waste veg oil. I think he's hooked on the idea, and Percy will be running on something other than diesel very soon! Shame to see the slightly dismembered Wallet, but Andy says it was time to go. Looking forward to seeing Percy. Ive got my eye on wallets old snorkel! Guess where that's going!

As i said earlier - it was a good day.

TTFN