Plod's HDi 140

[plod]

Got me new front calipers today
Absolute steal with the pads for £26
Were collection only but guy insisted on dropping them off to me as only works done the road
Tried to offer him extra money but again he refused
Said if I had any issues to let him know
I said it's not a problem
He said no, any problems let me know as I'm a brake engineer for MIRA ( Motor Industry Research Association )

[plod]

Sold a couple of bits on the bay, and i'm half tempted to buy some of the Drilled and Grooved front discs off the bay for £62.95 posted
Car doesn't need them for my driving ( generally ) but well, if I dont spend it and the misses finds out I have funds, she'll be spending it

[Bailes1992]

Tried the drilled and grooved pads thing, result was a nackered set of brake pads in 5,000 miles. They just eat them up

[plod]

What with loads of decorating I've neglected the plodmobile for ages
Needs some love desperately

Anyway, fan has played up in the past which I've mentioned before
Made a start on stripping the glovebox out although the torx thats in backwards and the one in the side with bugger all access stumped me
Read a guide on here and seems the trick on the one in backwards is to get mole grips to get is started
Borrowing some special torx drives tomorrow to get the other

Had a couple of quid in Paypal before selling toy car to Lozz and bought some "Anderson" connectors rated at 50amp and will be soldering them in fingers crossed tomorrow afternoon

[plod]

Anderson connector is now on the heater cabling, and blower is fully functional again
I can finally fit the bit of carpet i've had off at the back of the glovebox for the last year

[lozz]

What are these Andersons Conectors for plod?.
have you by passed the Fan blower ?

[plod]

On mine there is a brown connector that plugs into the blower
A few inches down there is a white connector that connects the red and black into a grey and green wire of the loom
This white connector failed on mine last year and fitted the highest rated spade connectors I could find
These were ok for a fair time then started playing up themselves
The anderson connector, was used to replace the spades, that initially replaced the white connector

This the same as the one I used

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Anderson-Style-Qu ... 45f8fbac46

[plod]

Right droplinks

I replaced the front when doing the front springs because it seemed the wise option at the time
On the rear in 5 years of ownership I've only replaced onehorizontal

Now you lot refer to the rear verticals as chocolate and how bad the eBay ones are
I can have QH ones from local motor factors for under £9 a piece
Service Pox says £42ish
I have money in Paypal so eBay is preferable
Now there is a seller doing genuine pug ones for £30

Do you think it makes to pay extra and get the genuine for £30 rather than buy cheap and risk buying again?
I tink so but thought I'd ask

[lozz]

Id go for the Qh ones ,
ive not long changed the Rear top links, Ebay ones, theyre Furked already, alot of its down to the bad roads we have here but,
Qh ones wouid last alot longer than these cheap China imported ebay ones

the fronts ireplaced 7 mths ago there not Clanging yet but the rubbers have bust, dunno if thats an Mot Fail or not tho,
but theyve lasted longer than id expect ebay ones too,

you get what you pay for aspose,

[plod]

you get what you pay for aspose,

Well, that's why I was tempted by the genuine one for £30 posted

The one on there has obviously lasted at least 5 years and it's only the nearside, which I guess is the one that takes more abuse

Normally I'd usually go the QH route on parts from the local motor factors as I get discount there but sometimes you got to know when to spend the extra money e.g the crank pulley

[lozz]

ipaid £18 each for my front Droplinks, ( ) about 7mth ago,
igot ripped off realy as they shouid of lasted longer than they have,

if someone lives in any area where the car is driven on Tidy roads, id say Ebay links are Fit for purpose,
im up against pot holes, speed humps and raised manhole covers with mine so, it gets Regualar abuse,
The 406 is an Heavy motor so id say its gota be prone for eating these links,

as someone said before on the forum the droplinks shouid be treated as a Service item im in total agreement,
so if someone services there car every 6 mths and adds Ebay links to the list then theyre worth using,

[plod]

Oh, I agree with you on links being a service item

Roads here aren't too bad, I don't attack speed humps, and I try to avoid potholes if I can

I do however have a hole in my parking spot
This parking spot is on an incline, and with the notoriaty of the 406 handbrake, I reverse the car in, and drop the front passenger wheel into the hole
This means I put the rear nearside through the hole getting into and out of, this hole
I think this is what has caused the failure of the drop link

If your roads are bad, then I agree, buy the cheap ones and just replace regularly
I however am still swayed by the genuine one for £30 off the bay
As I haven't transfered the money I got for the toy car (luckily got paid the rest of my wages last week), it ain't going to feel like I really bought it


On another note, spent about 4 hours cleaning up the plodmobile after neglecting it whilst getting the decorating done
Hoovered it all out, washed it with AutoGlym shampoo and body conditioner, then polished with AG polish as well

I did go down the tip yesterday and took an old tele
Unfortunately it has damaged the door card - it wasn't perfect beforehand, as some tufts of fabric missing, but not bad enough to warrant changing
However it has took a good chunk of fabric off the card, so now on the lookout for a D8 offside rear door card in grey

[plod]

Also, before I cleaned the car, the paint felt very rough
Afterwards, felt better, but still not smooth

Is it just a case of keep polishing regularly, or do I need to clay the paintwork??

[lozz]

plod ive got some D9 rear Door cards in the Luxury grey colour,
they have the Mechanical winder holes for the windows tho,
dunno if yours is Elecy windows or not, ?

Ive gone with the Black Rapier, door cards there a big improvement,

[plod]

Cheers for the offer Lozz, i'm just not sure I fancy the fun with trying to sort out the switches out just yet
But appreciated all the same