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Forgot to add I also bought some generic bulb covers on Ebay which fit both the main and full beam Siem lights. I was not a fan of the originals which do not provide good sealing to the bulb area as the connectors poke through rather than are contained within.

Peter

Good result Peter.
I did something similar with mine
C

Thanks Nigel.
I invested in a power probe and I can apply 12 or earth directly from the battery to anywhere via the tip.

Managed to confirm rear earth is ok, and "injecting" 12v solved the issue.

I found the rear connection you mentioned and that accounts for nearly 1v so tracing the loom back is on the list.

That's a really neat job you've done Peter.

Those Chicago fixings work well.

Cheers, Nigel

John,
Your issues mirror mine in many ways.
As you know earthing points are a go-to first look, I had checked all mine and
still had low voltage.
The loom is plagued with multiple connectors on the live side. One is the
16/20 way block in the pax footwell. The rear looms also have connectors each side.

I also found that wires, although appearing sound, corrode within. Stripping back a wire
to redo a connector often finds a copper core that's gone black. This condition is un-solderable
and fails to make a good joint even when crimped.

My issues were wipers and indicators. I ended up completely rewiring these 2 circuits, and the result
was excellent. I expect to have to do a lot more in the future.

Hope this helps in a small way.
Nigel

One of those jobs which I kept putting off was the leather pull tabs on the catches for the rear drop down hood. The catches are perfect, the leather not on both of them, one had broken off at the rivet. I had put it off because the rivet is a blind type and I was not confident in replacing it successfully.. you can get the rivets, but I thought I would make a mess of it without any specific tools to compress them. After a bit of Googling I came across Chicago fasteners which seem to be used to fasten books with loose sheets in it. They are available in a wide range of shaft diameters and heights and simply screw together. So ordered a pack of 5mm shaft, 8mm internal height in stainless. Also I ordered some 3mm black leather offsets and a 5mm leather hole punch. These arrived this week and the result I am pretty happy with, never having done anything with leather before.

First photo shows a Chicago fastener, second is new pull tab installed.

Peter

Finally plucked up the courage to resell the headlights today. It actually went quite well, just messy sticky stuff which you need to try to only get on them places you want it!

I installed the lenses dry then put the sealant around the lens, finally smoothing with a flat bladed screwdriver.

The bulb holder to bowl sealing was a similar technique.

As a test on these first one I actually did yesterday, I ran water over the lens to check no water could get in, so a bit of confidence I will not end up with water in the lights when out in the rain.

Peter

Nigel, apologies for not seeing this but I have a bit of time to diagnose.

I've had new ignition switch in for a while and still about 9v at rear lights, and on first few fuses.

I've also replaced the battery to fuse box cables (one each side of fuse box).

Has anyone else found a solution before I start tracking the voltage through the car?

Hello Nigel
Yes, I met you two years ago.
At that time I had no idea I would buy HPE.
I am sorry I did not have a conversation with you.
Are you coming to the AGM again this year? The location is Arundel.

Masataka

That would make a nice drive so maybe I will! Well done on your HPE, I hope you
have fun with it.

Best regards, Nigel

Hi Steve,
Just coming at this from a different direction to consider.
Maybe there isn’t any air in the system and you have successfully bled the system.
Maybe there is a mechanical issue introducing ‘play’ into the system. If a calliper isn’t sliding correctly in the cage then after you release the pedal pressure the calliper will settle back too far from the disc and the next time you press the pedal you will have to take up the play again.
On many cars with different calliper sliding designs they can experience seized sliders which would give uneven pad wear ‘and’ a spongy pedal.
Maybe, just maybe some mechanical part of the system is flexing, assembled incorrectly or simply not seated properly.
Presuming you have a right hand drive car? Then you also have a fair amount of linkage from the brake pedal to the master cylinder on the opposite side of the car. Many times I have found excessive play in these linkages which spoil brake pedal feel. RHD cars are more like factory converted LHD than true RHD cars in some ways.

If you can safely drive the car to a test station and put it on the brake testing rollers it will show you what is and isn’t doing it’s part of the work.


Good luck
Ian

Interesting....When I bought the car 5 months ago I have never since driven it on the road except to a roadworthyness testing station ( Western Australian equivalent of the M.O.T). When the car was delivered to me in the first place the front discs and pads were almost new so the previous owner had done some work on the fronts. This is such a simple job to change the disc and pads so cant imagine what he might have done to mechanically compromise the brakes. Having said this he did neglect to fit any spring retainers for the pads which is so typical of the sort of carelessness of all the other problems I have had to fix.

However...thanks for the advice, I will test out the mechanical operation of the fronts to ensure the carrier slides and centres. I will also remove a pad to ensure the piston is moving in and out smoothly, The previous owner had definitey some other work as the caliper has been cleaned or even replaced and also put on new flexi hoses.

Also, not sure how the linkage from the pedal is supposed to be set up. The previous owner may have tampered with this although I suspect not as there would ne no reason to.

This is all driving me nuts although I now understand the primative operation of the brake compensator device and have cleaned it all up and changed the bushes......just because that is we all do.

Cheers,

Steve