Ford XR3i Part 2

The first day I drove my new pride and joy to my garage and had a look with my trusted mechanic Mr M. It’s got rust on the sunroof he says. On the way to the garage all the rust from the sunroof had decided to get lose and fall all over the place on my head and seat. Yes the sunroof needs sorted.

Having a look at the brakes it looks like the last garage had fitted the wrong pipes and the fluid is just not getting to the brakes. There might be rust in the lines so i need to drain the brakes and start a fresh. After draining the brakes there is all sorts of shit in the fluid. I get to work with this , it’s a dirty job and you will smell like an old man mechanic after this job, for at least 3 days . Just a warning.

The brakes are still rubbish after new fluid so i do lots of research on Xr3i’s and its true, all the chat out there is that the brakes are shocking. I want mine to be the exception so I rescue the ABS and going to get the rear compensators refurbished to start. That took time as nobody knew how to rebuild the rear brakes but i got it done in London after a week or so of digging and chatting.

Fact; When you next have your mot you will have to tell them that the ABS light on the dash board  goes out with the hand brake thats how they was back then and i got it to work again. Proud moment.

I also got new brake lines fitted so the brakes are better than they were ( not that hard to be better)in the first place. I have driven this car and the brakes are nothing like todays cars brakes but i can stop now in the XR3i , which is called Shaun now, after his last owner. It’s all shiny new too. Horrible job with heating of wires and glue and all sorts of burns and cuts. New Steering wheel and gear nob fitted too , that was easier than brakes. On to the other jobs soon. I need to fit a heating panel and get the inside door handles off to someone to sort , fit the door cards too. First i need to look at the sunroof, i wonder what i will find. Rust i think… Loving the car. Might get a new exhaust to make it sound old school.

July 2024

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