Since last update I’ve painted a few panels, all of the aero kit in satin black, fitted 6.5” speakers in the doors to replace the in dash ones, fitted vent covers and some fog lights as well as swapped to the earlier front grill.
The speakers are quite neat, though the door panels were made by the last owner.
Unfortunately I didn’t have time to do all the paint in one go so due to the need to get to work I rocked the extreme rat look for a while…
But finally bit by bit I did the painting. I had a lot of trouble with this, and the results are pretty poor, even after rubbing back the orange peel but at least she’s mostly the same colour now. I didn’t paint the driver’s door because they’re both getting replaced with less rotten ones eventually.
Holy orange peel!
Painting the body kit satin black instead of the standard anthracite colour went much better. I think it contrasts better with the bodywork.
She took a few days off sick recently after a brake bleed job went awry. The first circuit bled fine, but then the front left wheel wouldn’t stop spurting bubbles. On closer inspection of the reservoir bubbles were also coming up through that circuit’s port. So off came the master to find seals and bores looking in fine condition. Ordered a new one anyway because I didn’t have time to play, and also some new front pads. Went for Ferodo DS2500 in Mk. 2 Ford Escort fitment, which drop in with only slight modification.
The DS2500 replaced worn out EBC yellowstuff and they feel pretty similar, but with a bit more initial bite especially when cold. I fitted 9000 brakes to my last 900 and they were great but since Helga is a front handbrake model, I don’t fancy converting the front hubs, handbrake mechanism and rear axle to rear handbrake at the moment. So for now I’ve chucked all I can at these brakes to get them as good as they can be.
