I have brakes! (and finally some new wheel studs)

Oh hindsight is a wonderful thing! First, I have been busy working on the car.  No blog update for a while, but not because I haven't done anything - I struggled for weeks with my wheel studs.   Its a long story but I leaned the hard way the studs I had were simply not going to go in without some serious persuasion, meet my new 6 ton press:

 

I couldn't resist giving it a quick try in the Kitchen, don't worry the rest were completed in the Garage like so (well earned biscuit break included):

Before I purchased the press I ended up snapping a couple of studs, threading a couple, wrecking two wheel nuts, bending my vice (!!), pulling my back and eventually deciding that something definitely wasn't right.  I still don't know if for some bizarre reason the studs I had were the wrong size, because they were immensely difficult to get in.  I checked the default size (they weren't oversize, 13.1mm) and even purchased a micrometre to double check.  A small amount of copper grease helped each as well as a little heat with a blow torch and the correct length studs are set to go:

Moving on now to the brakes.  After having to dismantle them completely to replace the studs, I was keen to finally get the system bled and that was made easy with this little bargain from Halfords:

It has a none return valve at the top (black pipe) which slips over the bleed nipple.  I was a little sceptical at first because everyone seems to go for the EasyBleed system, but at 6 times the price I was willing to give it a go, after some patience it worked perfectly and my system is bled.  I did have an accident, after a few hours I lost a lot of fluid from the reservoir and traced it back to the pressure sensor above the diff - apparently a common problem, it needed PTFE tape to seal properly.  Looking more like a car each day:

Glad I went for Yellow in the end - they are the same colour, its darker at the rear of the garage:

I did some tidying up of the rear suspension, cutting the bolts down to size with the dremmel and smoothing with a file they look much neater and "factory finish" now.   Small job but pedal box now assembled fully, only finger tight as it will need to come off later on:

That's me done for today - I may tackle the scuttle tomorrow, but that looks in depth and requires some thought.  I need to tidy the garage.  Steering column is on order, along with new barrel fitted at GBS along with a new set of keys.  A guy on the rhocar forum is also sending me a Sierra steering wheel (IVA) for postage which is very kind of him.