hi peeps, not been on here for a while and yes im still hunting for the perfect si!

ive found one local and tis very nice and clean, got tax till april but MOT failed on a few things. im always one for getting my hands dirty and doing things myself. not greatly skilled but with a manual and a freind it gets done.

please could you advise me on how much work, time and money it would be to put these things right.

The MOT failures :-

Bulb on O/S main headlight
N/S, O/S front brake pipe corroded
O/S rear brake pipe corroded
Seat belt anchorage N/S requires welding.
N/S front brake binding which is causing ABS warning light illumination

the car is a bargin and is very nice.

thanks in advance

michael

welcome to fsi

your not to far from me

cant really help with some of your problems but i'll give it a go , but some of the issues it has dont seem that hard to fix

*Bulb on O/S main headlight is easy, just remove a little rubber seal from the back of the head light, un-clip the bulb and replace and then re-fit rubber seal

*N/S, O/S front brake pipe corroded - maybe look to replace both front bake pipes with braided items?

*O/S rear brake pipe corroded - think my fez had this and iirc all my mate did was rub down the brake line to remove the surface corrosion and paint it/grease it up again or as per the fronts buy a whole kit and replace the rear brake lines with braided items as well! do you know if its the main line from the front to the back? or the line that connects the main line to the rear drums?

*Seat belt anchorage N/S requires welding - you or your mate handy with a welder?

*N/S front brake binding which is causing ABS warning light illumination - didn't think Si's had ABS? unless it was an option extra?maybe worth just replacing that caliper and see what it does then?

going with terry, i'm not much help, but it doesn't seem like a major list, so if you have access to a welder i'd say go for it

cool cool thanks for that.

hopefully seeing it later today but i might get a better chance on ebay as its on that. guy wants £500 for it which is good but i havent got alot of money as moving out next month!

see what happens might be able to get it cheaper on ebay, as it has no reserve.

where you live onslack?

imo £500 seems a bit steap for that for an MOT failure i'd say £350 maybe!

i live near crawley

£500 is a bit optimistic

£300 tops maybe!

If the pipes are corroded, I would NEVER sand them down and grease over them. For starters, I've heard of MOT places making you wipe the grease off to check the pipes are in order, so that'll be a waste of time doing if you happen to get one of those garages. Also, I recently replaced ALL of the brake lines on an Escort, and they were that bad that when I was manouvering them round the back of the suspension, they literally just came apart with very little force.

Imagine them bursting when driving.

Doing them is easy enough, just can be a bit time consuming getting them into place and then bleeding the whole system afterwards is a ballache. Cost about £8 for a roll of copper brake pipe which you just cut to size and bend into shape, then put the new connectors on and use an appropriate flaring tool to get the right ends needed.

While you're doing one, do them all. The pipes underneath the car are usually protected and made from stronger material, so they'll be alright more than likely. The fronts go from the servo to the caliper flexi pipe, and the rears go from the back end of the car where they connect to the run of pipes to the drums. On the Escort I had to drop the petrol tank to get one of the pipes out though. Otherwise simply enough.

As for the rest of your problems, easy enough, and agree with what Onslack has said!

_________________


Quote Clarkson, Top Gear, 17th July: "I'm not having a stroke... just driving a Nissan!"
Quote Ry, Mallory Park, 3rd Dec: "Ahhhh crap... Just a bit too over eager really!"
"I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee"

so your saying Terry is a dodgy bugger!

cool cool thanks for advise.

£500 is a bit much so just going to have a look this afternnon and then see what happens on e-bay for a couple of days.

might just take £300 cash and see what he says lol.

onslack- not too far mate thats cool

covering his tracks now

Braided lines are only applicable for a replacement for the flexi hoses though. If it's got on the MOT fault sheet that they are corroded, it's going to be for the metal pipes from the servo/brake fluid reservoir, which are a bit more tricky to replace than the flexi hoses

_________________


Quote Clarkson, Top Gear, 17th July: "I'm not having a stroke... just driving a Nissan!"
Quote Ry, Mallory Park, 3rd Dec: "Ahhhh crap... Just a bit too over eager really!"
"I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee"

true true

it lasted me till i got the cossie, but as you said its not the best way to do it, best all round is to just replace the lines with new

good thing its being broken, saves a dodgy car on the roads

only joking

Yeah, spot on. Don't bugger about with the only thing that stops you

_________________


Quote Clarkson, Top Gear, 17th July: "I'm not having a stroke... just driving a Nissan!"
Quote Ry, Mallory Park, 3rd Dec: "Ahhhh crap... Just a bit too over eager really!"
"I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee"

sounding like its more trouble for my liking now

well it depends on your mechanical knwo how, available time, budget etc if its generally good nick apart from that, its up to you, but it might be worthwile, give it a good look over but its not worth £500 with no T&T

my big know hows are mainly sound systems! few bits and pieces but my mate knows more than me.

got a manual though so can just look in there for help. also if it is too much see how much a garage will do it! dont want to go down that line though.

Brake lines aren't that hard to do, just a fiddly job. Take your times and all will be good.

the rest of the stuff that needs doing is easy enough, it's just the welding you'll probably need to pay someone to do if you don't have access to a welder or someone with the know how.

_________________


Quote Clarkson, Top Gear, 17th July: "I'm not having a stroke... just driving a Nissan!"
Quote Ry, Mallory Park, 3rd Dec: "Ahhhh crap... Just a bit too over eager really!"
"I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee"

now a proud owner of a 1.6 si. knocked him down to £350 booked in for mot on monday so tuesday/wed i should be on the road. cant wait. has also been lowered 30mm which saves me doing it. pics up soon